Tag Archives: hiking

Experience Niagara Falls: A Camping Adventure on the US Side

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Anytime you hear about someone visiting Niagara Falls, the question of which side is better to view the falls comes up. Discuss it with friends who have not yet been there or have been. “Is the US side or the Canada side better?”

Well, when we picked our 2nd camping adventure, we picked the US side, primarily because we had seen the Canada side many years ago on a non-camping trip. We looked for campgrounds not far from the falls and found a place called Branches of Niagara Campground Resort.

We stayed at Branches of Niagara in September of 2022. Since then, the campground’s name has changed to HTR resorts. The address is 2659 Whitehaven Road, Grand Island, NY. It took us about 8 hours to get there from our home location in CT. But the campground is only about 8-10 miles from the falls on the US side which was perfect for us.

It was a rainy trip on the road. It was quite an adventure for us as new travelers. We were pulling our 16-foot travel trailer with our older truck. We were so excited to be going. Nothing was going to stop us.

Because it was September, there were not too many campers at the campground – just a few – maybe like 6. The pool was closed but the pool area looked very nice and is well set-up. There is a fishing pond, and the grounds were very nice with lush green lawns. There are also some cute cabin rentals at this campground. It is a well-maintained place, and nothing looked old or worn out while we were there.

We were new to camping so we had no idea, but they didn’t give us the best site. It was number 71 on the map. My husband recalls it wasn’t completely level. It was good enough for us because we were newbies on the camping scene. It was a smaller site in an odd space. The bathroom was directly across from this site, which was handy. We have a bathroom in our small camper as well.

We couldn’t wait to go see the falls on the US side the day after our arrival. It was about 10 miles from the campsite to the falls park on the US side. We prepared for the day by making sure we wore good shoes and a sweatshirt with rain jackets. It had been mostly cloudy and rainy on our travel up to the campground. However, when we went to go visit the park, it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. I was so thankful for that.

To be honest, I was sold on the US side of viewing the falls immediately because you can get so close to the water views. There are a couple parking areas on the US side on Goat Island, and I think we were in parking lot 3. We kind of just winged it and parked and then found the trail and followed it. It was so much fun. You can spend the whole day following the trail here. And you can get very close to rushing falls. We loved it. There are many spots to stop and check out various views of the rushing waters.

We came across a seating area and things like that. We did bring a small bag pack of snacks and stopped to eat where there were some tables and I think they sold food there, but we didn’t check that out at that time.

Look how close we were on the US side to the rushing waters. It was a thrill to be that close. While the Canadian side has many benefits, you really can’t get this close to that view shown above in the photo I took.

This was another area you reach while following the paved trails. You can see how lovely it is. It is a spot you want to just gaze for a while.

You can see the observation tower across this water view. However, for me, being so close to the fast-moving waters was bliss. Hearing the rushing sounds of it felt amazing.

I could share lots more photos of our walk on the trail. I’ll save them for when you go visit the falls yourself. There are many points to stop. You can take in the views and feel the misty rainfall from the falls. I’m sure there were things we missed too because we just winged it for the day.

The next day, we did go over to the Canada side. I did think ahead to have our passports handy. It was easy to cross over a bridge to get there thru customs. The Canada side is more hectic. There is a casino and more restaurants, and lots more people.

As I mentioned before, we had been there on the Canada side many years prior. We didn’t do the walk along the falls on the Canada side. Nor did we venture to the wine trail. We are “been there, done that” type of people and like seeing new things. We had explored the whole Canada side of the falls many years ago, doing a boat ride and visiting the casino, and having dinner at the top of a building, stuff like that.

Canada side above photo with the view of the casino and other buildings. When we exited here, we saw a nice view of the falls on the Canada side. But there are walkways below this area to view the Canada side of the falls. The trip happened back in 2022, which was 3 years ago. It is difficult to recall everything. Let’s just say we had a pleasant time.

The campground was a great location for us. We ate at two places nearby. One was called Griffon Gastropub on Military Road. I recall it wasn’t too thrilling. And another place was called the Brickyard Pub and BBQ in Lewiston, NY which we liked.

I would say in regard to the campground, it was a very nice place. We’d go back in warmer weather months. We actually used the heat in our camper because it was very cool at night that visit. We had full hook ups, and it was a clean place with full bathrooms. It was also a quiet place in September.

Hope this helps you visit. You may decide to see Niagara Falls in the US. You could also choose to visit Canada. You can do both like we did!

Cathy Testa
Date of Post: 12/8/2025

Our First Camping Adventure at Moose Hillock, NY

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When we took our very first camper out for the first time, it happened to fit well with a trip my younger sister had planned to Lake George, NY with her family. She mentioned a campground called Moose Hillock and it is in Fort Ann, NY near Lake George.

It was in mid-June of 2022, and it turned out it was going to be a very hot and humid week during our first camper adventure. No worries, luckily our new adorable retro looking little 16-foot camper has excellent air-conditioning, and the campground’s website indicated it had a huge, heated pool.

My sister was also staying there for her family vacation with her two young boys and husband with their 5th wheel camper. She was excited to learn we had purchased a camper at an RV show in the winter so we arranged to do our first venture out to Moose Hillock where she and her husband would be there to assist us if needed.

I did feel overwhelmed when I first started searching for campgrounds online. There are so many to choose from and being a planner, I really like to research, but I quickly learned, there are so many that it would be difficult to pin down which place to select for our first camping adventure.

On top of that, I learned campgrounds have rules and many of them all listed on their websites. It made me go cross eyed reading them all – pages of them. I remember thinking, “Holy Moly, these places have so many rules. Will I like camping?”

It didn’t take too many future trips to realize rules are more about just being a really good camper person, doing the simple things like not being noisy after posted quiet hours and picking up your trash, or not walking through neighbors’ sites, and keeping your dog under control, etc.

I don’t have a dog, but my sister does. When she was walking her dog the day we arrived to Moose Hillock, she saw us at our camper site setting up. She walked over and said, “I promise, I didn’t intend to show up immediately, but I was walking my dog and saw you.”

You see I had told her before we left, “Please don’t run over right away. I’m so new to this camping thing, I want at least an hour to setup our camper inside while Steve, my husband, would setup everything outside”.

Rosalie continued off to walk her dog after a brief hello, and I was excited to unpack all the boxes I had staged on the floor in the camper into the camper’s cabinets. It turned out to be a good system for this smaller sized camper, and I did the same routine every time we traveled with it.

Moose Hillock surprised me because I had absolutely no idea there were campgrounds more luxury style. This pleased me right away. You see, when we got our first little camper, it was quite spontaneous at an RV show. And I really was concerned about if we made the right decision. I knew I don’t like flying anymore, for obvious reasons, but would I like camping? I really never liked tent camping the few times we did that years ago when much, much younger.

When I saw the pool at Moose Hillock with a rock wall of skulls and waterfalls with a slide for the kids, I was impressed. I thought to myself, “My gosh, this competes with pools I’ve seen at luxury hotels.” I was really impressed with the abundance of lounge chairs around the pool area, the clean bathrooms, and the pool itself.

My nephews loved that we were there to join them in the pool too. My husband is a kid at heart and had no qualms about going down the big pool slide right after my nephews did – and repeatedly. It was fun to watch them having such a good time. I was even a bit disappointed that Steve and I had booked a steamboat tour on Lake George that day because we were having so much fun enjoying the beautiful big clean pool on a hot and humid June day.

Another bonus about this campground is the fact it is very close to Lake George, and lucky me, there was a wine festival happening the week we were there. Steve and I attended that on the next day while my sister and her husband stayed at the campground to enjoy the resort’s amenities. She and I are 13 years apart in age, and Steve and I really enjoy visiting an area’s features while she prefers to stay at the campground filled with amenities and fun for the kids. Make sense.

Regardless of camping styles and goals, we all enjoyed the private sites at Moose Hillock. Each site is lined with trees on each side of the site, and each has a big firepit with large rocks. One big rock on the back side and a few on each side. This was another surprise to me. I just had no idea it would be this nice.

Our first camping trip to brought surprises!

Again, one of the fun parts was my nephews really enjoyed visiting us at our site, making popcorn with Steve and roasting marshmallows. To honor our first camping trip with my sister’s family, I got her and I matching t-shirts. I had decorated my camper with the whole black and red classic tartan plaid theme, and even our t-shirts matched. She loved it!

We visited them at their site too. It was so fun. It really kicked off our trip and first adventure, and I knew we would have many more. Moose Hillock was a perfect choice for us beginners.

To recap, the things I really liked about Moose Hill lock are:

Big private sites with trees on each site
Amazing massive clean pool with nice lounge chairs
Being close to Lake George and doing things like the steamboat ride and wine fest
Big firepit to make amazing camping fires at night
The rv style to this campground

And unique to us – being able to enjoy our very first camper trip with my sister and her family.

Cathy Testa
Date of this post: 11/7/2025