Camping Companions

Have you been dreaming of a vacation where you are surrounded by blue skies, sand, and even bluer water? Can’t afford the airfare or to take the time off of work? Then let us suggest you visit Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville, NY. For a $7. day pass into the park, you could easily imagine that you are sunbathing in a tropical paradise. Thankfully, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars or travel long distances to get here. Located just east of the city of Syracuse in upstate New York, this state park is a must do for your summer bucket list. There isn’t anything quite like the meromictic lakes of Green Lakes State Park, and this park has two of them! A Meromictic Lake is one where there is no fall and spring mixing of surface and bottom waters, which creates the iridescent light blue-green waters you see when walking the edges of Green & Round Lakes. The area around the lakes is also very impressive. The trails are well maintained, and wooded, which is our favorite kind of hike. There is a large beach at one end of Green Lake that is raked everyday. Get to the beach early to claim the perfect spot. Abutting the beach is a large picnic area with picnic tables, grills, pavilions, and a large playground. The recreation building near the beach, houses First Aid and ice cream. What better way to make pain go away than ice cream?

Check out our favorite pictures…

Due to the sensitive nature of both Green and Round Lakes, no outside/private boats, kayaks, or canoes are allowed, however rowboats and kayaks are available to rent for $10. per hour. Tandem kayaks are $15. per hour, but for $5. more an hour, you can rent clear bottom tandem kayaks! We had brought our kayaks, so we took them to nearby Tully Lake to paddle around that very large, beautiful Lake surrounded by rolling green hills. Next time we go we want to rent the clear bottom boats.

Standard, non-electric campsites are $18. per night and include a fire ring and picnic table. Electric sites with fire ring & picnic table are $30. per night, and full hook up 50 amp sites are $33. per night. Cabins are also available to rent for $115.50 per night with a 2 night minimum. There are water spigots scattered throughout the park, but they are not intended to be used to fill your tanks. We found this out the hard way the first time we came. We spent a half hour using a water bandit, while holding the button for the water release before we had someone come up behind us trying to get through. That’s when we asked him if there was water fill up elsewhere in the park. Turns out – there is! There is a separate water connection at the dump stations which is actually outside of the loop. Oops! Lesson learned. Too bad we weren’t told that at check in. Would have saved us a lot of time. Something else we didn’t know the last time we were there is that there is a 18 hole golf course within the park!

Nearby attractions include The Wild Animals Park that is less than 6 miles away. One thing I would like to see when we go back is Chittenango Falls, which is a 167 ft drop waterfall just 8 miles from Green Lakes. For fresh produce, bread, seafood, and just about anything else under the sun, head to The Syracuse Market. There are also a few museums and a baseball stadium not far from the park. No matter what you’d like to do, you’ll find it in the area!