I discovered the Betty Brook Campsite back in 2005 when I drove out to Oneonta to explore the college as one as an option to attend. Got off Interstate 88 and took the back roads to here – I learned about this campsite exploring the interactive DEC mapper – shortly after getting my truck and camper shell. This kind of became the place to go when I got into hiking in the Catskills in 2007 and 2008. Sort of on the way back from the Catskills plus roadside camping is virtually non existent in those relatively small and close to New York City.

I camped here – actually lower Betty Brook Road on the unofficial site now posted close – in the gully north of West Kill during the summer of 2008 when Barack Obama gave his famous speech to the DNC. I was at Betty Brook Campsite during that frigid Columbus Day Weekend in 2009 the weekend before the burn ban went into effect for the first time. I remember listening to Indian Summer and somebody calling in saying they would miss out on having bonfires with the new regulations. I remember scoping out burn barrels along the roads, watching people burn debris one last time.

That was the first of many more nights up here. There was many days spent at Mine Kill Pool and Mount Utsaytha. Days hiking and biking the Catskill Scenic Trail, Vromans Nose and Middleburg Cliff. Trips down to Cobelskill to get supplies and internet. That weird day in 2015 after it had hit nearly 86 degrees on March 9th camping up here. Big fire then, had a lot of winter accumulated trash to burn on up. Big fire, lol! Days mountain biking and a very colorful hike up a Columbus Day back in 2019.

There is something serene about the Betty Brook. The somewhat rough road and deep in the hollow makes you feel so removed from the rest of the world even if you’re not all that far removed. Apparently this campsite – from my Facebook friends – really has quite a cult following from all I can tell. But what’s so wonderful is it feels like the wilderness without being all the ways in the Adirondacks.