Waterfall a short hike from the campground.

We’ve only stayed at a campground once in Baxter, Maine but it gave us a pretty good idea of the party atmosphere that can be experienced there. Everyone is fit and healthy and in high spirits such that it could, according to some online reviews, be difficult to get a good night’s sleep. North-South Lake Campground in the Catskills, being the biggest in the Catskill Forest Preserve and close to the big city of New York I imagine would be no different. Activities galore which includes camping, swimming, boating, and hiking with many easily accessible natural wonders close by.

There is so much to see and do at North-South Lake Campground (named after the hourglass-shaped lake oriented north-to-south) that a little known waterfall, Ashley Falls, could hardly command the attention of the camper especially when dry spells in the summer could reduce the flow of water to a “drip”.

Such was not the case, however, when I visited one sunrise in late fall. The campground was closed (not sure if COVID-related) and so I was, as far as I can tell, the only soul around. Fall brings rains so the waterflow at Ashley Falls impressed. The few pictures of Ashley Falls I saw online seemed like quick cellphone snaps taken from a good distance away. None bothered to come for a closer shot. So I could—I like to think, anyway—be the first to make some time and take more proper photos of Ashley Falls.

Regardless, Ashley Falls is a great little waterfall along possibly the busiest trail in the Catskills where you can spend some time alone with Mother Nature away from the boombox-beat of the ever-frenzied North-South Lake Campground.