Mammoth Goes Birding…and stuff, Day 16

Wednesday, April 23

Sad to be leaving, but it was time to get to the second part of the trip—

Spring Migration!!!!

It was kind of a slow drive, but we didn’t care. Interstate 88 was very rough and had road construction out the whazoodle. Icky.

The place we ended up, Pine Crest Campground in Windsor New York…why is everything “Pine” this or that up here?  Why not call them Spruce Canyon or Hemlock Bay?  

Anyway, the place we ended up was very beautiful. Western New York State is a beautiful place, with huge rolling hills, majestic trees, and gorgeous green grass.  The trees were just beginning to bud out and there weren’t as many flowers as in Massachusetts, probably because we were at a higher elevation.

I called their phone number as directed, and the lady sent her husband out on a 4-wheeler to escort us into our site. He took us in backward; after he left Ed turned the Motorhome around which nearly gave me heart failure because he was backing up under a low-hanging power line that came within two feet of hitting the Starlink mount at the top of our ladder.

But the job was done and the hookups easily accomplished. Even Starlink—despite the pine trees it was able to find a clear spot in the sky to point.  There were a couple of big old hickory trees right next to our site. Love ‘em.

Ed and I took a stroll around the campground, right on the banks of the Susquehanna River. It was a little bit on the junky side, with many seasonal sites that were currently unoccupied. Which makes sense—if a person were going to explore the area or do some canoeing in the river, it would be a good place for a home base. Very quiet, too.

 

 

 

On our evening walked Molly and I walked out of the campground down the very long lane to the highway, then on the walk back we detoured on the mowed grass to the top of a giant, green hill.  The whole way up we were serenaded by a Brown Thrasher.  I loved the place.

 Nice places to go #1 or #2.

REVIEW:
Pine crest Campground $55
Seasonal sites in a lovely river valley
For an overnight it was good but not ideal—a little too far off the road and a little too challenging to turn our motorhome around and get into the site.  We had to unhook the Jeep to park it, but the manager was fine with us parking on the grass next to our motorhome.

But it would be great for a longer stay, especially if you were pursuing recreation in the area. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place in the springtime; quiet and peaceful.  The owners were very nice and didn’t even mention the $2 early check-in fee when we arrived at noon.   

I think I requested a pull-thru site on the web form, but ended up with a back-in.  Site 1A and 1B are probably the sites they prefer to use for short-term visitors.  We had to do a 3-point turn to get in the right direction for the hookups, and an overhanging wire came awfully close to the top of our ladder mount for Starlink  (12’3”) when we were maneuvering into the site.  If you have a very long or tall rig, you might want to check with the owner before reserving.

The very nice owner offered to bring us a picnic table but we didn’t need one. We had a firepit (a wheel ring, but it worked.)

It was very quiet and peaceful, especially when they wrapped up the construction they were doing down at the far end of the campground.  And although there were a lot of seasonal or permanent camper setups, they weren’t too junky and didn’t have a “private property” vibe like some places do.  We felt very welcomed there.

They had a swimming pool (not open for the season yet), a playground, and a little fishing pond. Nice.  Although it was right on the Susquehanna River I didn’t see any river access points where you could put in a boat or canoe. But there may have been.