My friend CC and I decided to take a last minute hiking trip because I had a free weekend to use. I wanted to complete the Fulton Chain Trifecta, which is a set of three mountains – Bald Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Black Bear Mountain, in order to completely the Fulton Chain Trifecta Challenge. We were looking for a cheap, no thrills way to spend the night in the Old Forge area and we found Limekiln Lake State Campground. As I would find out later, this campground is typically completely full, especially the campsites that have lake access. Somehow I lucked out and when I booked a very last minute site, I managed to find a water site (#10) that was available for a single night. Woohoo!
🏔 LOCATION: Located in the town of Inlet (near Old Forge), Limekiln State Campground is conveniently located just a few minutes drive from the trifecta hikes that we wanted to do. It’s also a few miles away from the town of Inlet which is full of little shops and restaurants. Further down the road, maybe 20 minutes or so, is the town of Old Forge which is known for its waterpark, Enchanted Forest Water Safari!
🌲VIBE: For a state campground, I was pleasantly surprised at how private the campsite felt. We could hear our neighbors near us but we couldn’t really see them as the site was pretty well wooded. We also had a longer “driveway” so there weren’t any disturbances from the road either. It may have helped that we were right on the water, between the wind and the waves lapping up on the shore it kept the vibe pretty remote feeling. The only thing that was a little unnerving was the fact that the ranger had warned us about high bear activity. This is common in this area of the Adirondacks due to the high levels of tourists and their unattended food. Fortunately, we didn’t come across a bear while we were here.
👍CONVENIENCE: As is typical of a state campground, it was a pretty no-frills experience. The water access was nice, there was a fire pit with a grate so we could do some cooking, the driveway was nice and long and the site was fairly large for a tent site. There was also a bear box for us to store our food in overnight. The convenience factor was in the location, which was all we needed!
🧼 CLEANLINESS: Besides the obvious fact that we were outdoors, sleeping on the ground, the campsite was tidy, no litter around.
👍 CUSTOMER SERVICE: The booking process on the state website was easy and checking in was also easy. The park ranger who checked us in was very friendly and knowledgable and gave us a lot of good information.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ll give this campsite 5 stars because it really was a prime site to have! I’d love to come back sometime to this exact or similar site when I can spend a few days so that I can take advantage of the water access by bringing the kayak.
See my pictures from the experience below:
