Wellesley Island State Park

The campground was quiet and clean. Raccoons visited a few of the nights so it is important to put your food up or in the tent. Sites were all different sizes but generally spacious . Quiet time is observed after 10pm. Bathrooms were spacious and clean with 2 showers and 3 stalls. Minna Nature Center on the grounds was a great place to get closer to nature. Lots of places to ride bikes, wallk or hike .

A nice state park between the United States mainland and Canada. Coming on the island from either direction costs $4.00 for a car and $9.00 for a truck and trailer. It does not cost to leave the island in either direction. The Canadian border is about a five minute drive. The campground has primitive to full hook up sites. Loop F is the full hook up sites and there is no bathhouse. Most people bring their boats and leave them at the marina while leaving their boat trailers at the campsites. In Loop F, most sites are in the full sun and mostly level. There is a camp store selling ice and other necessities. The building with the store also has an arcade and laundry. There is also a public swimming beach.

5 Stars Wellesley Island State Park is amazing! The campsites are clean and spacious with beautiful river views. We loved the hiking trails, kayaking, and the nature center. The staff was friendly, and the facilities were well-maintained. Perfect spot for a relaxing getaway—highly recommend!

The campsite are right on top of each other, I don’t like people that much! The beach area is small and Too regulated, my grandkids that are 3&5 And know how to swim and also had a floatie on, was told they could go pass the first rope , which Only went to their knees,(what 6 inches of water), how are they to have any fun scraping their stomach on the sand if they wanted to be even in the water (WTH),,without an adult which we were right there next to the water. Your rules are dumb, and you had a life guard on duty so what are They good for, just don’t have one!!

Clean facilities, sites. Camp store has lots of items you might have forgotten to pack. Stall was friendly and helpful But best of all are the other campers! And the view of the St Lawrence!

Listen, if you’re afraid or nervous around raccoons and skunks DO NOT TENT CAMP HERE!! We had to sleep in our car the second night because we spent the entire first night trying to get a colony of 5 raccoons to leave us alone!! We thought they wouldn’t come back the second night but oh my did they ever. I didn’t know raccoons could growl and be scary until this trip-greetings to my latest phobia due to this distressing stay! Also, tent sites are so close together your neighbors tent will be butted up against your picnic table. Note: we are seasoned campers, this was not our first rodeo around wildlife and we’re still alarmed by the amount of persistent raccoons.

We were inundated with raccoons two nights ago and concerned. Then last night they absolutely invaded us they opened the hatch under our camper and climbed in under our bed. We have scratches all over the pickup bed truck from raccoon nails they were not scared by lights or noise or my husband running at them with a paddle. A campground we will not be back

Beautiful park. Lots to do. Grounds well maintained. Friendly employees. Needed: baby swing at playground locations & shade. Hose hook up on beam at the A dump station. Bathrooms not always cleaned the same way or the best, at time good at times disgusting as they just wet it down with no sweeping prior. Section H should get an award for the cleanest bathrooms or the people who work in section H should train the employees who clean the bathrooms in the other sections of the park.

The place is a gorgeous place!!! The spots get reserved fast. Some spots have cellular services for Canada and USA. Keep in your mind when you come up to the park for camping. It is easy to find the place and some sites have some leaves or branches covered which is you need to look carefully. I gave this park 5 stars for amazing nature and location. 4 stars for bathroom because limited showers per bathroom sites even though we have a lot of sites. They have washing station next to the bathroom sites which are great and get 5 stars for this! We all need some place to wash our stuff from cooking. 5 stars for grill station that they are in great condition which is I did not expect that! Bring a lot of bug sprays because they have more insects that you don't see that often in area where you normally live. Overall staying there for camping is a wonderful place and definitely family friendly!!

This site was hyped WAY more than what we got from it. For full hookups, there is only one loop (Loop F) for them and they do not support larger trailers/5th wheels. The sites on this loop have a max length of 40' back-in, but when we drove them, there is absolutely no way that there were more than 2 spots that would have accommodated this and it wouldn't have been an easy fit unless you're very experienced with backing in a camper/5th wheel. The sites were extremely close together as well, with no mature trees, and not real parking for cars. Also, we noticed a trend of cars taking up extra spots and many cars for one site spilling over into others sites. We stayed in H10 and he sites were much more spacious. There were no mature trees around the campsite at all, but plenty of room for our kids to roam and play. The sites are electric only with water pump stations around. Luckily, we were situated in a spot that we could run hose to the spigot for water. We would suggest having an extra 100-150' of hose if you're planning to stay here. There is a cute park right on this loop for the kids to play at. The dump stations had very low water pressure making it difficult to flush the black tank. Additionally, they only had 3 spots for dump which meant there is a wait and it kind of sucked in the rain. We did see a lot of wildlife which was fun for the kids (and man). It was fairly quiet even though our loop was completely full. The scenery is beautiful. The river is gorgeous and fishing was fun. It was harder to find a spot to fish from - you cannot fish from the piers which is very inconvenient with little kids to navigate wet rocks and risk a fall. They have a few very nice boating docks to launch from. The store has very minimal supplies - be ready to make sure you don't need anything, or you'll have to pay the toll to get across the bridge to get to the grocery store. There are no grocery stores on the island. There is no gas stations on the island currently and there is one being remodelled. Hopefully, it'll be ready next year. It was a nice stay, but it was not as epic as we had hoped to be (and it had been hyped to be). It really isn't our go to for the future.

Well-designed and laid out facility with some really nice forested trails and a nature center. I've been disappointed with the upkeep though. All of the toilets seats in the E bathroom are peeling, the laundry room appears to have years worth of spider webs covering the upper third of the walls and doors, and even after cleaning the showers are still covered with hair and mildew. The dumpsters are far away, resulting in a lot of trash being left in bathroom cans. We were here during Labor Day weekend and the park was FULL like a block party with a lot of blaring country music. Not generally my goal in a state park.

Spent a week there in August, the bathrooms were rarely cleaned, often had no toilet paper. The beach area was very nice, but the life guards were extremely over zealous. They were enforcing rule that were made up. When questioned they could not show any rules or policys in the state rule book. Totally rediculous! The campsites were very nice, and it's a nice park.

This is such a great park! It's extremely well maintained and large enough to easily spend the day. While I was there the beach was closed but I look forward to coming back to swim. I walked a few of the trails and they had gorgeous views and not a lot of elevation changes, so it would be perfect for a beginner.

I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed, caged up, and depleted here in the city. I needed to find a place where I would feel safe, that would offer me direct contact with water, trees and most importantly SILENCE. The minute I arrived to this park I began to feel connected with Mother Earth and most of her beauty. This park is absolutely GORGEOUS, go experience it for yourself.

I was so excited to finally get a campsite to spend a weekend at this park. I have heard nothing but great experiences. Sadly, we did not feel that way. We stayed in Eagle Loop, site 52 and it was NOT the site to stay at. First it was weird shaped so we needed to make everything work a little backwards that usual. Not a problem for us though. It was under our assumption that it was one car per site and the extras were to park in the parking lot at the end of the road. Our truck was blocked in the first day because three vehicles jammed into our area. The biggest issue we had was that where our site was there was a favorite spot where other people would go swimming. We would watch the people swim to the end of our site, climb up, and walk through our site to leave. They would do the opposite as well; walk through our site to get into the water. Worst part was these inconsiderate people didn't realize we had dogs and would startle them every time and get barked at. Sometimes people even gave us dirty looks. It was very bothersome. For such a large park, all but maybe a handful of sites were nice and secluded. My boyfriend, dogs, and I LOVED the nature center and trails. I suggest walking them, but don't camp at Wellesley Island State Park.

I am originally from Western New York. But I currently live in Dallas Texas. This is by far one of my favorite state parks to camp at. I usually go with my family and we have tents and campers. I have camped on the eagle loop and the spots next to the water are amazing. This year we camped at site E48 I believe. We were right on a bay which gave us direct access to the water. It was like having our own private beach. The water was crystal clear. I never travel without my pets and this park is dog friendly! Must show proof of pet vaccinations. I have an inflatable kayak from Sea Eagle. I was able to blow it up and keep it near the bay for the entire week I stayed. It did rain a lot the week that we attended. But the park was super awesome and helped with providing extra rocks and dirt for the ground to make it better. The park has a laundry mat, a small store, and arcade, and it's on beach with lifeguards. There are also several loops to camp at. They also have some cabins and cottages available. The cottages were kind of far away from everything so not ideal for me. The cabins are close to the beach with lifeguards, laundry mat, arcade, and store. Alexandria Bay, is a town nearby that we highly enjoyed going to for dinner, shopping, and touristy things.

Absolutely fantastic park and a definite stop for your Thousand Islands trip. The nature center is actually fun, with animal figurines to play with, puzzles, games, and scheduled activities like painting. There are 3 playgrounds. We saw two and both looked new, had interesting and unique parts, and rubber wood chips on the bottom. The swimming beach is great. I wish the hours were longer, as they don't open until 11, but the water was clear and there was plenty of room on the beach. The main lodge by the swimming beach looks newly built. It has a fireplace, shaded picnic tables, a store with snacks and soft-serve, and clean bathrooms. Parking is also convenient. Make this a day trip!

We had a great week at Wellesley Island State Park! For the first half of the week, we were in C Loop, site 13, and it was Great!!! Super close to the bathrooms, electric hookup, and lots of shade! Only issue was the raccoons! Our site had a trap and our kids got to see 4 raccoons over our time in C Loop! The second half of the week we were in B loop, site 29. We did have a water view, although across the road. We did have an electric hookup, the ones across the street right on the water don't have electric. The spot had absolutely no shade and was roasting all day. There was also snakes. We definitely preferred C Loop. Beach was great, the playground was great! Camp store was staffed well, and open convenient hours! We loved that they had soft serve ice cream as well!

A beautiful park with lots of nice campsites, rental cabins, a beach, a marina, a nature center, hiking trails, events for children and adults. We've camped here many times and enjoy the many roads for biking, the beautiful St. Lawrence River, boating, etc. They have a nice sandy beach in a protected cove. Highly recommend!

Great State Park. Very clean and nice small park with clear blue water. Definitely worth going to this place. Very nice small beach.

Amazing staff at the nature center, outstanding exhibits perfect for young children and adults. Peaceful hiking trails and nice beach facilities.

We had been looking forward to this camping trip for months. So glad that we were able to make it happen because this is one heck of sight. It is truly beautiful in this part of the country, for sure! Right on the Canadian border, so be careful using your cell phone, you might be charged international roaming fees!!! We were at camp site #41. It was kinda hilly, actually looked like we were camping on top of a septic tank hill! hahaha - this site was not my choice, but one of the men thought they knew better. Shoulda stayed with the site I picked (#61) because we all agreed that, that site was the perfect site! None-the-less, we had a great time. There is no electric on these sites, and no running water on the sites. There is, however, a wash sink by the bath house so that you can do your dishes there. and there is running water at the bath house if you need to fill up on water for whatever reason. We seen people filling up 5 gallon buckets with water. Maybe for cooking purposes?!? The bath house is used by lots of people, so expect that it is not going to be your house type of clean. Bring cheap flipflops because you don't wanna walk your bare clean feet in the shower water that everyone else has been using! The toilets need a little help flushing, just hold the handle down a bit longer than usual and you will be good to go. They do keep the bathrooms stocked pretty well. and they do clean them daily. There is staff on site most of the day. There is a family restroom that has a shower stall and toilet, but no bench to put your clean clothes on. They really need to add one. There is also a handicap bathroom, I never went in there but I am guessing it is much like the family room. There is a little store on site, we walked there a few times. They don't carry much, but we managed to NEED something several times a day. They also have a laundry room connected to the store. There is a bait and tackle store on site, not bad prices. In fact, the store was pretty reasonable as well. There are several boat ramps for your convenience. They also rent boats!!! So if you didn't bring yours or your just don't have one... you HAVE to rent one. The views are amazing, and you just don't wanna miss it. If we were ever in the area again, we would come back again for sure!

Pros: Trails along the peninsula is an absolute must. The following route will give wrap you around the peninsula with waterway, forest, and wetland views: East Bay Trail (1.1 mile) to the Narrows Trail (.45 mile) to the South Bay Trail (1 mile) to the East Trail (1.5 mile) to the North Field Loop (.5 mile) Cons: Park rangers are unhelpful during closing time.

What a great spot. Tons of camping spots spread out over the island with the best signage I've seen in a campground, it's basically impossible to not be able to find your way around. Restroom facilities are what you'd expect for a well maintained campsite. Some of the spots were a little small, but the vicinity to the water makes up for pretty much any shortcoming. The water is a pretty short walk from most of the campsites, so you can go for a swim in the very surprisingly clear water. We brought our kayaks to putter around. The waterway is relatively busy with weekend boaters, so be careful if you're trying to cross all the way over to the other side. Just a tip: since the campsites are side by side put away your valuables while you're venturing off, we had a phone taken off the table while we were here.

This is a big state park with over 400 sites. We were there during the week and it was at least 50% filled. Most people are respectful and not super loud or rowdy, which can not always be said for a state park. the bathrooms were surprisingly clean and very nice. There is a nature center about 3 or 4 miles away from the park (a long walk, a do-able bike ride) which is worth a visit. We enjoyed the butterfly garden, the hike up a large cliff (good for hikers), and paying to canoe in a large 20+ canoe that the park owns. The canoe rides go every week day around 9am...but you need to register ahead of time! Another highlight of the park is beautiful beach. A 10-15 minute walk from any site in the park...so bring a bike if you don't have a car. There is soft sand and it is very close to the park store if you need a refreshment, or (like us) get caught in a summer storm. The beach is only open from 11am-6:45pm so don't expect to swim until dark! The last highlight of the park is the marina. It has a nice bathroom nearby, cliffs were people (shouldn't) jump into the water, and plenty of big fish that can be seen right from the dock. We don't own a boat, but Clayton Island boat tours comes twice a day for a 3 hour tour that shows off the islands and takes you to boldt castle. The boat ride itself is $18 for adults (the castle is $8) but it is well worth it. Andy was our guide, and he has lived in the islands forever, and makes it well worth your dollar. I am so glad the boat tour comes to the state park to pick up people, because plenty of people do not own a boat, and don't want to drive to a mainland town to catch a boat. I can't give this place 5 stars because it is simply too big. The beach, the nature center, the store, is all quite a distance away from the sites, and I walk a ton. But when you are in beach shoes, or wet, it can feel like the distance is forever. Because of this, people used the boat launch near own campsite as a beach. People sat out on floatation devices because the ground is too rocky. This may seem fine, but in the state of NY no one is to be swimming without a life guard present. Then you have to realize that is is boat launch, and it is really just unsafe for people to swim there. There was next to no supervision from the park over rule breaking...and they seem to turn a blind eye to it simply because the park is sooo big. People made tent cities on their site (when the rule is just 2 tents a site) and took over the boat dock as their own private swim area. People think they are entitled to this since they registered 9 months in advance for their sites, but they still need to follow to the rules. Anyway, this state park was great and I hope you get the chance to go there!

This park is mostly just camp sites, with many different types of sites (and tons of sites). The swimming beach was nice and the water very clean, but even in August the St. Lawrence river is freezing (admittedly, I really dislike cold water). I ended up swimming in balmy Lake Ontario instead. We camped down the road in Dewolf State park in a cabin and I would say that compared to Wellesley cottages (which are admittedly bigger), Dewolf cabins have a much better view as they are right on the water. The camp store was pretty extensive, and there's an arcade and I believe laundry facilities all present in that building. If you have a boat, this is definitely the place to be. Several boat launches, and plenty of water to explore. The hiking trails near the nature center are well marked and rather interesting, with excellent views. It's about a mile walk but there are natural rock 'potholes' formed from a rock swirling in a crack. One is 15 ft deep apparently, but it's filled with water. The pothole about 4 ft deep doesn't fill with water so you can stand in it and get a unique picture. The nature center has a variety of activities for all ages, with plenty of friendly staff to assist.

"A Mouse in the House...." - The Mice have moved into EEL BAY COTTAGES On a recent weekend stay at one of the EEL BAY cottages, we were quite disappointed to see two mouse traps greeting us as we walked through the front door - each trap baited and waiting for their next victim. After having camped at the EEL BAY cottages over the past 6 years and having stayed in every single cottage at one time or another, we have never encountered a rodent problem except during the last two stays. Previously, during a one week stay, we heard what sounded like an army of mice in the bedroom walls - inches from my head. On a more recent stay, it appeared that the problem has now gotten out of hand. The people who clean the cottages informed us that a massive amount of complaints were received this past summer concerning mice in the cottages. Think mice droppings on the food, kitchen counters, beds, furniture, you get the picture. Our experience, was a dead mouse in one of the traps every single morning - great way to start the day. You would think that with all of the complaining, park management would be taking this very seriously and hiring a professional exterminator to fix the problem. No not really,...park management's response has been to basically do nothing and even downplay that there is a problem. I asked the cottage cleaners if they could recommend a mouse free cottage - they could not reply to my query... If you talk to anyone in the park office it soon becomes clear that the mice infestation is not even on the radar. If you plan on using these cottages be warned that mice do carry a variety of diseases such as: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Hemorrhagic Fever, Lassa Fever, Leptospirosis, Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM), Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Plague, Rat-Bite Fever, Salmonellosis, Tularemia. These diseases are spread through mouse droppings or bites. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) **Anyone with small children should be very concerned. If you plan of going despite this warning, I would recommend bringing mouse traps, at least four and do not leave any food out anywhere as mice can climb walls and table legs easily. Oh, and by the way, they can climb unto beds as well - we saw mouse droppings on one of the single beds where children usually sleep. Sweet Dreams... As for us, we have cancelled a planned stay during the Christmas holidays. I hope a solution is found soon, as like many others, we enjoy camping at Wellesley Island State Park and we look forward to returning soon.