If you can't find the answers you are looking for here, please give us a call at:
(908) 496-4333
For the 2024 camping season we will be open from April 26th to October 27th.
If you know when you'd like to come and camp with us, we recommend making reservations. For holiday weekends (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day and Columbus Day) we recommend you make reservations at least a few months in advance, as we expect to be completely full. We also recommend making reservations well in advance if you plan to rent one of our cabins. While reservations are not always needed for weekdays, it is always a good idea to call ahead to see what we have available. Reservations for campsites are a minimum two nights on weekends, three nights if it is a holiday weekend.
To make reservations, please call us at 1-800-545-9662 or (908) 496-4333. We will take your contact information and reserve a site or sites for you based on your needs and how many people will be in your party. In order to finalize your reservation, we do require a non-refundable deposit.
There are two ways to put a deposit down for a reservation. For reservations made more than two weeks in advance the best way is for you mail us a check or money order for your deposit. If you can not mail a check, or there is not enough time for it to arrive, we can email you an invoice that you can pay either with a paypal account, or with a credit card (without having to sign up for paypal). Both types of deposit are non-refundable.
While here at Camp Taylor, you may use a credit card for any purchases over $10.00
The deposit required to hold your reservation is non-refundable. If you cancel or change the dates of you reservation with at least two weeks advance notice you would get a 100% credit towards a new reservation. If there is less than two weeks, but at least 3 days notice you would receive 50% of the deposit as a credit. Rescheduling multiple times may incur additional fees.
We're sorry, we do not refund for inclement weather. We carry a variety of tarps to help keep your site dry and there are a number of indoor attractions in the area. Keep in mind that the weather in your area may not be the same as the weather here. To check the weather forecast for Camp Taylor click here.
We allow a maximum of two pets per site, and they must be leashed or caged at all times. They are permitted in rustic and deluxe cabins except D4. Please inform us if you have a pet when you are checking in. Do not leave your pet unattended on your site or in a vehicle, and do not bring them into the prohibited areas near our lake and animal pens. Please remember to pick up after your pet and that quiet hours also apply to our furry friends!
If you are staying in a tent site or an electric and water site, check-in is at 3pm. If you are staying in one of our cabins, or our RV rental, check-in for the rental is at 4pm. An early arrival fee may be charged for early check-in (please see our Rates page), and we cannot guarantee that your site will be available before the check-in time. Everyone must arrive by 9pm and check in at the office before going to the sites.
If you are staying in a tent site or an electric and water site, check-out is at 3pm. If you are staying in one of our cabins, check out is at 12pm, but you can stay on the campground until 3pm.
Toasting marshmallows around the fire is one of the best things about camping! Fires are allowed in the fire rings provided on your site. Fires should be kept small and never left unattended. Occasionally, due to extremely dry or windy weather conditions, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service may institute a fire ban. These are beyond our control and will be enforced for the safety and well being of our campers. We're sorry, but we cannot offer a refund in case of a fire ban. However, we do our best to notify our campers if all campfires will be prohibited so they can plan accordingly.
Destructive insects (such as the Asian Long-horned Beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer and the Gypsy Moth) as well as diseases that devastate forests travel primarily through the transport of firewood. The state of NJ has placed restrictions on transporting wood, and we do not allow anyone to bring wood into the campground. All of our firewood is cut from our forests and processed on the property for this reason.
Firewood is sold for $6.00 per bundle at the front office where you check in. You are also allowed to collect wood from the campground property as long as it is dead and has fallen naturally. Remember that trees sprout and drop leaves at different times, so just because it does not have any leaves does not mean it is dead. Do not cut anything that is standing. You may also see cut down trees and/or logs while hiking on the campground. This is wood we are harvesting to sell and should not be taken.
We allow a maximum of six people per site, no more than four of whom can be adults 17 or older. If you are renting one of our rustic cabins or deluxe cabin D4 the maximum number of people is four. If there is anyone under the age of 18, they must have a parent or legal guardian present on the site. We do not allow groups larger than 10 people.
We do not have group sites, however we do have groups of sites that work well together. If you have a large group, please give us a call and let us know how many people are in your party and what sort of camping equipment you have and we'll do our best to accommodate your group. We do not allow groups larger than 10 people.
If you are planning to have guests visit your site, you must notify us before they arrive. Please remember that everyone must sign in and pay before entering the campground. Guests cannot bring the total number of people on your site above the maximum of four adults and six persons including children.
Most of our sites will easily accommodate two cars, but we do not set a limit on the number of cars you can bring. There is extra parking available near the office if needed. Please do not park cars or set up equipment in the woods between sites.
The campsites have a metal fire ring with a flip up cooking grate and charcoal grills are provided on our cabin sites. Every campsite has a fire ring, and we do sell grill tops that can be used over your campfire, but you are welcome to bring your own grill. If you use charcoal, please be sure to dispose of the ashes safely into your fire ring. Please keep in mind that the picnic table in your site is made of wood, and can burn if tabletop charcoal grills are used on it.
Most of the electric and water sites as well as the office, lounge, game room, playground, and picnic area are within the range of our free wireless network. Please keep in mind that this area does have limited broadband internet access that has to be shared among our guests. Browsing web sites and checking email should not be affected however, downloading or streaming large video files may take longer than usual.
Unfortunately, we do not have sewer hookups here and cable is not available in our area.
We find Verizon to have strong signal throughout the campground. Other carriers are less reliable and you may find areas of marginal service.
We sell candy and snacks, including ice and Smores supplies, but do not carry grocery items. There is a grocery store just a few miles away in the town of Blairstown.
We do allow alcohol as long as it is kept under control and on your site, and is only consumed by those of legal age. We reserve the right to check ID. Please be considerate of those around you and remember to recycle.
Our goal as a campground is to provide a place for people to go and enjoy nature peacefully without being disturbed by loud late-night parties. Conversations and music around your campfire should be kept low and should not disturb other sites around you. We do patrol the campground after 11pm to remind campers who are being noisy to respect their neighbors who might be sleeping or listening to the wolves howling.
Please let us know, either in the office or by calling 1-800-545-9662 (even after office hours). We want you to be able to enjoy your stay with us and you should not have to put up with disruptive or inappropriate behavior. Your identity will never be disclosed.
Putting glass in the fireplace creates a real danger for you and guests that stay in that site after you. Glass bottles can shatter violently if air trapped inside expands with heat, or when hot glass is cooled rapidly through dousing a fire with water or rain. Small slivers of glass can also wash out of a fireplace in heavy rains, ending up in the feet of children playing in the site. This is why, after each person leaves, we carefully check each fireplace. When we find evidence that someone has thrown glass into the fire we remove the entire fireplace and rebuild it to be sure that all fragments are gone. This extra time and work is why we will send a bill to those campers.
Here at Camp Taylor, we recycle glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jugs, and aluminum and tin cans. Other types of plastics such as bags, plates and utensils as well as aluminum foil and trays are NOT recycleable and should be put in the trash. 1lb disposable propane cylinders are also garbage and can be put into the trash cans.
Garbage is collected every day between 3pm and 5pm. If you have garbage after 5pm that you do not feel comfortable keeping at your site, you can bring it to the office during store hours and we will take it to our dumpster. Please remember that bags containing garbage mixed with recyclables will not be collected, and you must sort them out before departing or you will be sent a bill.
Black bear are common in this part of New Jersey. Most go out of their way to avoid human contact. Although black bear are not aggressive, they can damage coolers and trash cans in their search for food. This is why we ask all campers to store food in a secure location and keep coolers out of sight as much as possible. Never store food or coolers inside a tent or screen house.
Unfortunately, bears who share space with humans learn to associate garbage cans with a free meal. This is not limited to campgrounds – most of the homeowners in our area also report bears raiding their garbage cans on a regular basis. The problem with bear proof cans is that the bears still know there is garbage inside, and the cans do not cover up the smell. So the bears will actually spend more time in a campsite trying to open the cans to get to the garbage inside! This, coupled with the fact that bears can often break into the “bear-proof” cans anyway, make bear-proof cans a poor option for the campground.
We collect garbage from our campsites every afternoon. If you feel uncomfortable having garbage in your site overnight, you can bring it to the campground office before we close for the night and we will be happy to put it in our off-site dumpster.
Food and coolers should always be stored in a vehicle when not in use. Black bear are active during the day as well as at night so food and coolers (even if empty or only containing drinks) should never be left unattended in a site. "Bear bags" are designed to protect against grizzly bear and are not effective against black bear which can climb trees extremely well.
There is no fishing permitted anywhere on the campground but there is great fishing in the area. Swimming is permitted in the roped area of the lake. There is no lifeguard and children must be accompanied by an adult. Inflatable rafts and tubes are allowed in the swimming area only. Kayaks, canoes and other boats(NOT including paddleboards or other standing use floatables) without motors are allowed outside of the swimming area. You can not swim off the boats.
This is one of the most asked questions and is also one that is difficult to answer. Simply put, it depends on the weather. Most of the time bugs are not a problem at all. If it is a particularly wet season, we do get some mosquitoes and recommend using bug spray. Drought-like conditions can cause bees and hornets to become an annoyance but can improved by using hornet traps, which we would be happy to show you how to make out of an old soda bottle. We very rarely see deer ticks on the property and wood ticks (also called dog ticks) are primarily a concern if hiking through thick brush such as on the mountain. Overall, using some repellents or fireplace smoke should keep the bugs from interfering with your vacation in even the worst of conditions.
We do allow bicycles on most of our roads in the campground. Please remember that the roads in the campground are not paved and are not suitable for skateboards, roller blades and scooters. Also, we do strictly enforce New Jersey's helmet law which requires anyone under the age of 17 to wear a properly fastened helmet whenever they are on a bicycle, skateboard, roller skates (including roller sneakers such as heelies), scooter, etc. Unlicensed electric or gas powered vehicles including golf carts, powered scooters, atvs, or dirt bikes are NOT permitted to be used on the campground.
Unlicensed electric or gas powered vehicles including golf carts, powered scooters, atvs, or dirt bikes are NOT permitted to be used on the campground. Also please remember that anyone driving on our property must have a valid, non-suspended drivers license.
Sure! While you are camping with us, you can hike to the Lakota Wolf Preserve at any time during the day except during wolf watch times. If you would like to go on one of their tours you must purchase tickets from their website in advance. (Please remember that pets are not permitted near the wolf preserve at any time.) Don't miss the opportunity to see these majestic animals in a natural setting.
A seasonal site is rented from the end of April until the middle of October. With a seasonal site you can leave your equipment set up the whole time and come camping whenever the mood strikes you, without having to worry about packing up your gear. Seasonal campers taking the site for the following season can even leave their trailer on the site through the winter for a small storage fee. Renting a site for a season can save you a lot of time and money. Check out our Seasonal Sites page for more information or call us at (800) 545-9662 for a list of sites available.
We are very sorry your vacation did not live up to your expectations. We know that you have a limited amount of time to spend doing what you want and are honored that you chose to spend that time with us. If a problem presents itself while you are staying with us please do not hesitate to bring it to our attention at the office so we can try to fix it. If you have already left our campground, please contact us with your problem or concern by email at CampTaylorCampground@gmail.com or by phone at (908) 496-4333 so that we can try to resolve the situation.
85 Mount Pleasant Rd, Columbia, NJ 07832