travel dates: July, 2021
I talked about this campground awhile back on the RV Atlas podcast: you can listen to that episode here
We stayed at some really nice resort type campgrounds on this trip and very much enjoyed them. There are some resort type campgrounds in the Niagara Falls area that have wonderful reviews and would no doubt be awesome to stay at sometime (like Branches of Niagara, reviewed here by Kerri Cox of Travels with Birdy). But for this leg of our trip we were ready to save a bit of money and also to stay somewhere a little quieter and with plenty of room to stretch out; Four Mile Creek State Park, just a 20 minute drive from Niagara Falls, was the perfect campground for both of those objectives.
Location
Four Mile Creek is in Youngtown, NY, just down the road from Niagara Falls. It’s only a 10 minute drive from Old Fort Niagara, a great living history site that’s definitely worth a visit when you’re in the area. We also took advantage of the proximity to Lewiston for a couple of meals out without resorting to the extremely touristy fare in Niagara Falls. We ate at The Silo one night–right on the river and in an old silo with an old caboose selling ice cream next door.
Another night we had some very…interesting burgers at Cask+Cow. Dave tried the Hot Tempered Elvis with peanut butter, bananas, and jalapeños, but he doesn’t exactly recommend it. Or at least his stomach doesn’t…it did not sit well with him. Know your limits at Cask+Cow!
Booking and Arrival
There are a ton of sites here, and they were never full during our stay. Looking at the website now, it looks like the weekends get pretty busy, but there’s generally a lot of availability mid-week. Sites are $29 for electric or $22 for dry camping, so you can definitely save a ton of money here over private options in the area if you’re willing to forgo full hookups and some amenities.
Getting to the campground is pretty easy, but we did find that the Niagara Falls Scenic Parkway that our GPS had us take is a very bumpy road and we preferred using 18 to get to Niagara Falls and back and when we left with the trailer at the end of our stay. Check in is straightforward, but note that they do (as with all NY state parks, I believe) require you to show proof of your dogs’ rabies vaccinations, so make sure you have that along with you.
Campsites
There are three loops in the campground. The 100 loop, right by the registration building, seemed like the busiest, most crowded feeling loop to us. We were in the 200 loop, and liked it a lot. The best sites in the campground–huge sites that back up to the lake–are here: check out the even numbered sites between 222 and 240. We were right across from those sites, in 225, I believe. Our site was lovely and backed up to a big open area (which we could walk across to access the bathhouse). These sites are all electric only, but there are water filling stations located around the campground. You could even book a site right next to one of the water hookups and probably leave your water hooked up, provided you have a splitter so other people could still use it. I read a couple of reviews that mentioned doing it; I’d check with the park staff to make sure it’s okay. There is a dump station.
The 300 loop is no hookups; it’s quieter back there, and there are some nice sites if you don’t need hookups. They also have a few yurts available to rent.
Many/most of the sites are huge, with tons of separation from neighbors (that’s one of the water fill stations you can see–that small stone rectangle…we probably could have stretched our hoses over to it if we’d tried):
The sites are gravel, but in many cases they’re really more grass than gravel these days:
Amenities and Activities:
Bathhouses are fine here; there’s only 1 in each of the two smaller loops, so it could be a long walk from some sites:
There’s laundry available in the 100 and 200 loop. Interestingly, there was not a dishwashing station in our loop, despite the lack of sewer hookups. I believe they had one in the 300 loop.
There’s a playground, and they have activities for kids on weekends in season, though we didn’t take advantage of any. And the view of Lake Erie and Toronto across the lake is another great amenity. The campground sits up on a bluff, so we couldn’t get down to the water…at least not where we were looking at it. But the views were lovely:
All in all, we loved that we had so much space and a nice, relaxed vibe to contrast with all the craziness in Niagara Falls.
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Oh man! We’re going in July and decided to book Branches instead of Four Mile Creek. Sort of regretting it.
I hear great things about Branches of Niagara, too! We seriously considered it, and probably would have stayed there if we hadn’t already had other campground splurges on this trip.