Campground Review: Wolf's Den Family Campground -- East Hampton, CT

The Facts:

Where: 256 Town Street, East Haddam, CT

Contact: 860-873-9681

Website: http://www.wolfsdencampground.com/

What: A long weekend of camping

Features: Pool, large wooded sites, full hook-ups, playground, camp store, mini golf, ice cream, right down the road from Gillette Castle State Park, 3 PM check-in/check-out

Cost: $78 for camper site for 3-day weekend

Wolf's Den Family Campground has struck a balance. They have managed to be kid friendly, and adult friendly, while still retaining the feeling of being in the outdoors. It's an excellent family campground. Wolf's Den has all the amenities that kids enjoy like a large pool, playground, game room, mini-golf, and a camp store. Wolf's Den also had several organized activities like arts-and-crafts, horse shoe tournaments, and softball. The weekend we attended was a theme weekend. The theme was safety. The campground had a fire truck, ambulance, police boat, police cruiser, and police dog all on display for the kids. The kids were able to climb, touch, and explore all the equipment in a laid back atmosphere. The equipment was so hands on that my son managed to blow the extremely loud horn of the fire truck right in the ear of his uncle! The highlight of the day was a state police helicopter landing. It's not every day that you get to watch a helicopter make a landing. The theme weekend concluded with a fun, family-oriented DJ dance on the basketball court. The kids loved it, and it held the interest of the adults as well.

The sites at Wolf's Den are large for a private campground. You can choose from wooded sites or more open sites. The open sites are closer to the activities (pool, etc.), but the wooded sites are more peaceful. We chose a wooded site. All the sites I observed were flat and well kept. Just a single site was plenty large enough for our camper, a large tent, and a screen tent. 7 people camped comfortably at the site. The only disadvantage to the site was that it was at the bottom of a steep hill, so we had to trek up this hill to got to the attractions. This was a minor inconvenience.

The campground was well run. The pool was extra large and there were plenty of chairs around.

There were few negatives about Wolf's Den Family Campground. If I have to list a couple negatives, I would say that one is that they tend to "nickel-and-dime" you a bit. For example, they charge $.50 for the mini-golf which could easily be free. There is also a charge for the arts-and-crafts programs. Although a bit annoying, these charges were not a big issue. The only other minor negative I could think of was the attitude of the guy in charge of the pool. He gave us trouble for having a morning coffee in the pool area, and was a little gruff at times with the kids. I hesitate to even mention it because it was definitely not an issue. I just feel I should come up with at least a couple areas for improvement just on the off-chance the staff happens to read this!

On the way out of the campground, we stopped at Gillette Castle, which is literally the next turn just down the road from the Campground. The campground is also within a 5 minute drive from the Connecticut River boat launch, and the Goodspeed Opera House. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at Gillette Castle (see previous post).

In summary, we all had a fun, active, and relaxing weekend at Wolf's Den Family Campground. The kids are already asking to go back. I guess the highest praise I could give is to become a repeat customer, and plans are already in the works for my family to return to Wolf's Den Family Campground.

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