Glen Island Campground

Glen Island is a state campground group spread through The Narrows east of Bolton Landing, with sites on several islands and on the mainland. It has 170 sites plus 42 cruiser sites for large boats with sleeping quarters. Even its 25 mainland sites are reached only by boat.

This is for campers who want a wooded waterside site and are prepared to arrive by boat. Reserve a site and arrange your marina launch and shore parking before you set out; walk-ins aren't permitted, so it won't work as an impromptu picnic stop. The campground generally operates from mid-May into October, with exact dates changing by year.

Each campsite has a dock for one boat, a fireplace, a picnic table, and a toilet facility. Cruiser sites also have a charcoal burner and privy. Most sites are forested and private, spread across the lake rather than arranged around one central campground loop.

Two sites, BM5 and BM6, are marked wheelchair accessible, and the group has an accessible privy. The boat transfer is still part of reaching them, so confirm the full route to your chosen site if accessibility matters. Drinking water and power details for individual sites weren't established; check those before you launch.

Dogs are prohibited on the island camps and day-use islands, including Glen Group mainland sites, docks, and boats moored at docks. Lake George is about 32 miles long and narrow enough for hard winds and fast storms; keep weather warnings in your plan and get off the water when conditions threaten. A local hydrographic chart is useful here: depths vary from sandy shoals to submerged islands and sudden drop-offs.

The ranger station on Glen Island is the group's registration headquarters, and there is a convenience store on the island. Campsites are distributed across the group, so don't assume your booked site is beside headquarters. The store's current hours and menu aren't published; arrange meals and supplies before the boat trip rather than relying on it as full resupply.

Lake George formed near the end of the last Ice Age, when glacial deposits dammed two ancient rivers in the valley. It stretches about 32 miles, reaches up to three miles across, and is dotted with islands, giving this campground group its unusual boat-to-site layout.

New York's Forest Commission took charge of the Forest Preserve in 1885. The state expanded its island campgrounds in the late 1930s and through the 1940s, with much of that work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps; the work included caretaker cabins and administrative offices for some island groups.