Oneida Shores County Park

I use the boat launch way more then beach area. The launches are easy to access. There are multiple spots to launch from. Wide double spots. Not the deepest lake so take that into consideration. Average depth is 4-6ft around the dock area... average Memorial day to labor day costs $10 to get in. Normal Onondaga county park fee... multi species of fish in lake. Restrooms next to launch as well as in park. Beach is average. Swimming area pretty shallow. Blue green alge pops up here and there.... Check the report before swimming, pretty simple.

The campground is great and the facilities are excellent, but the management left a bad taste in my mouth. When we pulled in, we stopped at the check-in office which had an "open" sign. There was nobody inside. We waited for about 5-10 minutes and then called to see if they'd answer. The phone rang inside the empty office. We'd already received a confirmation and a site number so we drove up to set up our camper. There was a truck at the edge of the road so maneuvering was a hassle, so we pulled up through the unit across from ours to back straight in. The second I drove over into the grass, an old man came running out screaming as if we'd run over a dog. He immediately started yelling at us that I was driving into a huge ditch and there was water there and he just could not believe we were about to do that. He then aggressively backed us into our spot. He demanded our registration paperwork, so I showed him the confirmation email. I mentioned we'd be heading out after we dropped off the trailer and he started getting frantic again because he didn't know if anybody would be in our spot tomorrow. That's when I showed him our other confirmation that said we'd be there for 3 more days. Then he said, "Well that's not what I'm seeing on my side." Yet, sure enough, 10 minutes later he found our paperwork. Regarding the parking incident: there were absolutely ZERO signs whatsoever that we weren't allowed to drive onto the grass. We double-checked after we dropped our trailer. Also, I've attached the picture of that "ditch" I drove into. No, it doesn't drop off or get any deeper. It's just muddy. We also fixed any marks we made on the grass. This would've been entirely different if he had CALMLY explained the situation and/or put out even a single sign that said not to drive over the grass between campsites.

Clean, warm water. Tons of picnic table areas with grills. Large playground with public bathrooms nearby pavilions that can be reserved.

Location for our camp site was beautiful. We were spot 16 and other then hearing the raceway and boat launch we loved it. This time of year bring Is citronello candles. Beach wasn't open. Camp site ran $25 a night. The confirmation email did not say anything about secure bathrooms or picking up my instruction in an envelope at their camping shed by the bathrooms. BUT you will want to do that if nobody is on duty because it has carpass, map, and keycode for bathrooms. We never did locate showers. We believe they were through a locked door in the bathrooms but could not get ahold of anybody to help locate them. When park is not open for peak nobody is able to be located and using the park phone system leads you to voice mails. We tol walk up path to park office. It's pretty walk, short and paved. On way back we were greeted by an ice cream truck. We did splurge. My kids have never had that experience. The park is like 3 miles from Dunkin, Gas Stations etc... we were able to get would in town for our for. It ran about $6 bundle. All in all not bad little getaway.

I have stayed at Oneida Shores many times over the years and more recently they have added a lot of upgrades to the beach, playground, campsites and showers. My only complaint would be the bugs near the bathroom at night are insane! It was like a huge, thick cloud that covered the entire building. I'm not really sure what can be done about it since they're attracted to the lights outside the building but maybe maintenance could spray or something. It made the thought of going to the bathrooms at night a daunting experience. Overall, my experiences here have been good and the views of the lake are lovely. It is a nice park to camp at with a decent price and sites with electric and water are available.