Family fun at Buck Pond
Buck Pond viewed from campsites 109 and 111.
By Adele Douglas
It was time for our annual camping trip with my friends and their children but Ausable Point Campground, our destination of choice, was still closed due to the spring floods. Nancy suggested Buck Pond, not too far away and with a nice beach. We made a quick visit to check out the sites that were available. Not bad, 112 and 114 are fairly close to the beach, close to a water tap and close to bathrooms with showers. It’s a much more densely wooded campground than Ausable Point, which proved to be a wonderful environment for deer flies and biting flies. However, once we got there we enjoyed two features that proved to be big hits with all campers and despite the bugs everyone had a great camping trip.
In addition to the endless supplies needed to camp for a few days we also managed to bring bicycles. The bigger kids, all around 10, had a blast exploring the campground and the moms felt very comfortable allowing them to go off together on the 15 mph campsite roads, all wearing helmets, except my daughter after I ran hers over with my car! They got more experience riding and reading maps in four days than they ever had before.
Please click here for a map of the Buck Pond bike routes
The other nice bonus at this campsite was a trail along the eastern shore of Lake Kushaqua. Our campsites were near the trailhead and we spent about 45 minutes walking until we came to a road and couldn’t see where the trail continued, so turned back. A swim at the campsite beach was the perfect way to cool off. I believe the trail used to be part of an old D&H rail line and that there’s a hiking trail that leads off it towards Little Haystack Mountain, but none of us felt the need to do any mountain climbing that day.
Buck Pond Campground is about a 45 minute drive away from Peru. It sits between Buck Pond (no motorboats allowed) and Lake Kushaqua. It’s beautiful, well maintained and has lots to offer. Canoe and Kayak rentals are available and I understand the fishing’s great. There’s a lifeguard, bathhouse and picnic area at the beach. For more information and to make reservations go to:
Posted: July 22nd, 2011 under General News, Things to do in & near Peru.