We took a long weekend to spend some quality time with our adult children and their spouses plus grandparents. This was the perfect place! The measures taken for Covid Compliance were impeccable. All staff practiced social distancing and wore appropriate PPE's which made the guests feel safe, relaxed and confident in the team working hard for our safety and theirs. The restroom facilities were great! They were very clean and the showers had a strong flow of hot water. The trash receptacles were never over full confirming that the staff were monitoring the facilities regularly for cleanliness. As an added bonus, there are numerous water stations throughout the camping area making it quick and easy to refill water jugs to bring back to the campsites. The lake is not very big, but offers kayaking, canoeing, fishing and swimming in a contained area. The beach had clean sand and multiple trash receptacles. If you plan to swim, we recommend wearing water shoes when you go in as, with any lake, the bottom can be a bit rocky and slimy. LOL Management made rounds at dusk to ensure the guests were all set for the night. His parter, a beautiful Newfoundland (I think) lies in the bed of the pickup and is so well trained and mild mannered you wouldn't even know he was there. The respect and care shown to the guests is impeccable. The only downside was the total number of kayaks available to rent if you have a larger group. Having said that, the number of kayaks and canoes combined is certainly in ratio with the size of the lake. Overall, we found the entire weekend a huge success! The team of workers were respectful, informative, accommodating and so very friendly. Their interactions with each other as well as the guests put everyone at ease and made you feel so at home and welcome. We would highly recommend this as an excellent place to visit without hesitation. We will be back!! read more

Clearly past its prime. In brief - if you are looking for a place to chill by the water or swim, I would skip Rudd Pond and head for the nearby falls. This park is clearly past its prime. Although from the look of things, they might be doing some renovation. The changing rooms were boarded up and the sand was infested with ground bees that the kids dodged to get to the water. Once they got in, we advised them to just keep moving because not only were the blue gill interested, they were aggressive. I am not talking about gentle dermabrasion on your legs by fish, I mean hard bites on the thighs and toes if we paused in the water for too long. I know they are usually hungry and curious but wow. It seems like plenty of people have thought it wise to throw them bread over the years and now they just assume you are the bread. read more

I found this on a website listing all NY State Parks while scrounging for a VERY last-minute camping escape from the city. We had a car, they had two tent sites, the woman on the phone was exceedingly patient, and we left the next morning. Pros: The nearby town is adorable and had an outdoor craft market on the Summer weekend we visited. There are other hiking trails you can drive to and see waterfalls, etc. It's CHEAP (I guess most state parks are if you're a resident, but we've previously been traveling out to more all-inclusive sites like Kittatinny that are easily 3x this price). It's nice that you can take an on-site kayak or canoe out for a spin in the pond - that was probably the highlight of our stay. It's also nice to be able to reserve online. The fire rings have a hinged grill attached to one side that folds down to cover have the fire, so you don't need to bring a grill top. Cons: the sites are really close together and the quiet hours are no joke. I suppose that's a pro if you want it to be super quiet. This is certainly not the site for anyone whose ideal camping trip includes beer pong. The pond is...pondy? Even at the very small beach, the water does not look clean and inviting though many people were swimming anyway. The closest (no-driving-required) hiking trail that a few from our party embarked upon was dangerously overgrown. They lost the trail more than a handful of times, climbed around at least 10 downed trees, and encountered a fallen power line. Overall, it was satisfying for the short little overnight escape we were seeking. It's not on my list of awesome places to revisit, but the drive was relatively easy from the city, and we had plenty of calm, lazy hours to spend catching up in the sun and in the shade. read more

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I was there last weekend with my family and friends for the first time. The place is beautiful, showers are clean, staff is super friendly and we all had a great time! There was just one MAJOR problem, as other reviewers wrote: the camping site is infested with red bugs (chiggers). I really wish I knew this before. We all left the site with at least 200 bites each. They are super itchy and are driving us insane! It's been 5 days now and they are still super itchy. If you still choose to go there remember to bring a repellent with 20% DEET. The red bug bites first look like mosquito bites, than they change and start to look like bed bug bites. And we made the big mistake of arriving home and sitting on the cough. So we ended up spending the entire day cleaning everything: our clothes, our camping gear, our sofa and our car (we actually spend over $100 for a deep detailed cleaning, just to be safe). Still, I keep finding new bites on my body. Not cool. The bugs are a huge problem and I hope the administration does something about it. read more

Taconic State Park - Rudd Pond Area - Parks Near Me - Millerton, New York

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NOTE: This is a review for the Rudd Pond Area, not the much larger Copake Falls Area, which has a separate Yelp entry. In order to properly explain the two-star rating, I'm going to go through all of the alleged "highlights" of this park, as-listed on the official website: Beach - Forgive my naivety, but when a park advertises a beach, I picture a long stretch of sandy shores with volleyball nets and children running around kicking beach balls. What they actually have, is a little 20x40 ft. box of imported sand and a similarly sized swimming area. The rest of the pond is untouchable due to swamp-like conditions beneath the surface. Biking - The actual bike rentals are apparently offered at a place in Millerton, which is a 2-minute drive from the park entrance, but you are more than welcome to bring your own. Where you are actually going to ride that bike is an issue addressed a few points down. Boat Rentals - 4-person row boats are available for $7/hour or $25/day, but require the full $25 as a deposit regardless of how long you want to stay out there. A few canoes were also available, but we didn't try them out. Please bear in mind that these boats are probably older than most of the trees in this park. You are given heavy wooden oars that slip into a metal pin socket on the boat, which squeaks and squeals loudly every time you row. Luckily it only takes about an hour to do a lap around the entire pond, so you won't have to put up with it for too long. Campsites - From the website: "Rudd Pond has 15 tent and 26 tent platform sites, each providing campers with grand views of the ridge, pond, and nearby countryside." If you plan on staying in campsites 1-5, as we did, this is just plain false. We were on a hilly back-road with the wooden platforms for the tents, and the only view was the trees in front or the service road to a gas tank in back. Fishing - If you want to take a row boat out into the pond to fish, go for it, but a good 50% of the pond is filled with plants right up to the surface and I doubt you could drop a line in there without getting it tangled up in something. Hiking - The Rudd Pond Area has a trail. Yes, one trail. It circles around the park area and is a few miles in length at most. You can try and make it around, but the DEET-resistant insects will eat you alive. Showers - Possibly the best part of the park, they were fairly new and clean, and we never had any problems with hot water. In addition to the above list, I would like to recommend that they add the following bullet point: Insects - Based upon the results of our 5-person group, there is a 3/5 or 60% chance you will be devoured by no less than 200 mosquitoes during your stay. Be warned that our 25% DEET spray held them off for maybe an hour at most, after which time we didn't stand a chance. Also be warned that the mosquitoes in this area are trained and deadly ankle-biters: the three of us that were assaulted left the park with red, itchy ankles completely covered in bites that multiplied every night. In summary, camp near a pond at your own risk. You are better off trying for the Copake Falls area, or any camp that has moving fresh water of some kind. Now if you'll excuse me, I have about a million bug-bites to scratch... read more

Terrible staff treatment but gorgeous place. Was here over the Labor Day weekend; the manager for the site came over with incredible hostility and seemed to be on a power trip while talking down to us. I can understand if he had some issue he had to communicate with the group but there is a way to say something and not talk to us like a bunch of animals. Incredibly disrespectful and the whole group was turned off from the experience. Would unfortunately never recommend someone come here just based on this experience. read more

As with the previous review, this is for the Rudd Pond Area, and not nearby Copake Falls Area. The first problem I had with this park was that the address given on the website did not lead to the park itself. Or at the very least not one, but two different GPS systems couldn't get to the park with that address. I was lucky enough to be able to call the rest of my group and have them guide me in. They however apparently had to drive around a bit to find the actual campground which was a few miles up from the given address and on the other side of the road. The campground also wasn't quite what I expected. The sites were very close together and the first night we were serenaded by the fairly loud music of the group in the site next to us. The campsite itself (we were in number 5) wasn't too terrible. Being on the end we had lots of space to the one side, but the campsite was basically a hill, which led to a few issues, although there are platforms so the tents could be set up on level ground. The lake itself was also a bit of a disappointment. The swimming was only offered on the weekends, and the beach wasn't quite what i was expecting, but wasn't the worst I've seen. We went boating, however, and we got to see the lake up close and personal. First, the boats were probably older than I am, and the noises of the wood screaming against the metal severely detracted from the activity. Additionally, the lake is full of all kinds of plants that make rowing a bit like trying to find your way through a maze. The feature of the park that made the trip not quite as enjoyable as it could have been was the bugs. The back of my friend's leg probably could have fooled a doctor into thinking she had chicken pox, that's how numerous the bites were, and that was with bug spray. But I can't hold the park responsible for the bugs, since they don't really have any control over them. The two redeeming qualities that I can think of were the staff and the shower/bathroom facilities. All of the staff that I encountered were helpful and the caretaker even went so far as to open up the lounge part of the bathroom so that we could take refuge in there if the thunderstorms that were coming got bad enough. The bathroom facility was one of the cleanest that I've ever seen in a state park, and despite having five people shower back to back, there was plenty of hot water. Looking back on the weekend, I can say ( and I think my trip-mates will agree with me) that I have no intention of returning to this state park, but that the location was the biggest issue and *not* the staff or facilities. read more

A small campsite on Rudd pond and close to the cute village of Millerton. Perfect camping locations for a couple of days away - due to the slopes the tents are pitched on platforms and each come with a fire ring and a picnic table. As you are next to a pond just bring some mozzie spray - use common sense. read more

Overall, showers and toilets are good, but simply too many bugs and mosquitoes at platformed tent sites #1-#5 area. So distracting that you constantly need repel candles and fire burning to keep them away plus bug spray all over you. It's obviously pitch dark at the site, so a headlamp or flashlight is a must. Picnic table was placed on a slanted pitch and heavy, so there was no way of using it. (plus very old...) Don't know why, but so many Chinese families occupying 90% of the sites and very noisy. Early morning was the best time to enjoy the tent site with lots of birds chirping and nature at it's best. Surprisingly, trash can be placed at a garbage can at the dish washing station at where the shower station was. Park workers kept constant refill of toilet papers and kept the place clean for visitors. Rangers were on patrol till about 1am. Would recommend this site being only 2 hrs away from NYC, but the Copake Falls camp ground 20 minutes away was much more comfortable with no bugs and attractions like Bash Bish Falls near the site. read more

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For a car-camping site on a pond, it's fine. I think the other reviews seem a little harsh. It's not the most beautiful site (views of the pond are blocked by woods), but it's nice that it's just tent campers (no RVs, loud generators, etc). No motorized boating is allowed, either, so it was peaceful. I found the grounds to be well-maintained--the lawns were all freshly mown, the showers were clean, and I didn't see litter. There is a "comfort station" (restroom) in the middle of the main camp road, and showers towards the entrance. The restrooms are a little beat up, but it's camping! I was worried about the bugginess of the campground after reading other Yelper's reviews. I visited in a cool July, and while there were lots of bugs, they weren't too bite-y. We only got bit a few times. I covered with Deep Woods bug spray and it helped to keep the bugs out of my face. Not sure how much variation in bugginess and bitey-ness there is as the season goes on. We rented a light, nimble canoe and had a nice time on the pond. There is vegetation in the pond, but it's a pond, that kind of thing happens. We saw a lot of beautiful water lilies and spotted a few fish with shiny blue tails. TIP: Canoes rentals are $7/hour but you have to leave a $25 CASH deposit.. Also, there's a great little farm stand just a few minutes' driving outside of the campground, heading north on Rte 22. Bring an ice chest on the way up to Bash Bish falls and stop by to pick up fresh beef hotdogs for the grill. And, your Rudd Pond parking stub allows free entry to other parks, e.g., at Copake Falls, if you want to swim there, too. read more

Great place to camp. Quiet during the week. The staff is very friendly and they work hard to keep everything in order. The downside is the small beach is not good for swimming and the pond itself is very weedy. read more

Firstly I wanted to respond to Chris M's post: "The lake itself was also a bit of a disappointment." It's a pond, Chris - Rudd Pond. Not Rudd Lake. There's a major difference. I just got back from spending one day and one night at this park, and whilst the amenities were average (decent bathrooms, fire pit/bbq and picnic table per tent lot), I had a great time. I will admit that the lots were pretty close together so the slightest chatter from the adjacent lot would stir you in the dead of night. One thing I did not like about the site was the lack of "post-10pm quiet time" enforcement. There were campers well into midnight still partying - loud laughter, music, etc - not once did the park staff try to keep the noise down (I managed to get to sleep around 1:00pm). Despite that minor set back the staff were great, especially Chuck - I believe he's the on-site caretaker - super friendly and helpful. Thanks for checking us in quickly Chuck! Some of the reviewers also complained of the platforms for the tents - I'm curious as to how else they'd be able to pitch a level tent without one - also, the close by Copake Falls Area has the same platforms in the areas that aren't flat. I liked the platforms. I'll likely not return, only due to the lack of decent trails - there's one which is about one mile long. * A note about mosquitoes - neither myself or my wife were bitten once - not at all. We used a product from REI called Jungle Juice and we also had one of those large citronella candles (the one that looks like a metal bucket) lit. Not one single bite. To the whiners that got bit - wear something better (long sleeves and pants, better bug lotion) - and what did you really expect camping out in the WILDERNESS next to a STILL POND? read more