In a normal frame of mind, I’m leary of municipal campgrounds. Since I was already familiar with the area, we decided to spend some time here. The park is public with sports fields, boat ramp, playgrounds, and pavillions. There is no dividing line between day use and campground, but it is not a problem.
The entry and some sites are paved, the restrooms and showers are maintained quite well. The park is immaculately clean and mowed grass with giant old hardwood trees scattered around. Hookups can be a bit backwards in some sites but all utilities are in good shape. There are no sewer hook ups at your site, only two way service. The dump station is free to campers, $5 otherwise. The $15 nightly fee makes this place a bargain.
The village is a mile away and features boutique and antique shops with a nice mix of restaraunts and pubs. The local residents are very friendly, and quite proud of their little village. A trip to the cemetary on top of a mountain is a moving experience. Visit the grave of the Indian girl and take in a beautiful view of the village and the Susquehanna River.
Access to the park is easy from Route 17 for rigs of all size. There are a few warnings here. The pull-thru sites can accomodate any rig, but are a bit close for my taste. Other sites are just gigantic! The waterfront sites have a nice view of the river, but little access. The highway across the river is a constant noise. If you venture out at night bring a good flashlight because there is an extensive skunk population that is not afraid of you. Don’t leave food or garbage out at night, you will have stinky visitors.
No reservations here, just first come, first served. Pick a site and self pay. It’s open year around!
So dogs are allowed to camp?
I love this park! I’m so glad they are back open from the Flood! Sis and I take our dogs up to play in the creek and get some exercise – they love it! We come up there all the way from Endwell, NY whenever we can. Fun for everyone! Cricket – my pompoo pup -just had his first swim in the creek by the bridge. Loved it as much as my Sis’s Tibbie, Ellie (12)
We have camped many places, but none quite as nice as Hickory. Always greeted by NICE people who work there. Always immaculatly clean. Site are great size. I feel terrible that they flooded again, but they will be back and we will be returning. I think that people who leave their campers there should be more responsible and watch the weather. It is not the park personnel’s responsibility to get people’s campers out. That is the owner’s responsibility. It is a shame that they lost their camper but they must assume responsibility.
I agree that campers are responsible for their rigs and need to watch weather report. Are you the Linda D from Spencer?
Well I just have to say that I always like to camp at Hickories but we just lost are camper in the resent flooding, and nobody from Hickories or the town of Owego did not care to call anybody to tell them to get there campers out or just hook up to them and pull them put for people, they didn’t even care about us, so I lost everything that took 20 years to save for, but the bottom line is they don’t care about the people all they care is the money, so if you camp there and it rains you better get out cause they don’t care about you and if you loose everything and my camper was completly under water, then after the water went down they told me that it has to get out, but it was ok to stay there while it flooded and not help to get it out.
I don’t think that’s a fair statement. The people at Hickories Park do care are their park and their campers.
This park has never looked better than it does this year. Hope next year they have more tent sites.
I don’t know. All of my visits have been early or late season. I’m sure the Town of Owego has a Fireworks and July 4 Celebration. I’ll bet the best viewpoint would be from the Cemetary on top of East Beecher Hill. Check out an Events Calendar for Owego, you’ll find it, I’m sure.
I just wanted to know if there will be any fireworks at Hickories in July.