Nickerson State Park, Orleans or Brewster, MA I have not camped at Nickerson in quite a few years. This is a big park half way down the Cape. There are over 400 sites in 7 sections and they all have their positive points and some negative. Section 1, 2, 3, and 5 are small sections and some sites have water view since there are at least 7 kettle ponds throughout the park. Showers though are in section 4 and sections 6. They have started to rebuild some of their restrooms but the old ones are pretty dingy. There are no utilities here. They do have an amphitheater/ bike rentals/ boat rentals/ nature center and a park store. It is in the woods and be aware that sections 6 and 7 are miles away from the entrance to the park. We have stayed in all the sections. Every area has a pond that you can walk to down a cliff to swim at. Section 1 the swimming area is an easy walk. During the fall not all the sections are open. Sites are not all level but big rigs can find spots especially near the end of the second loop in section 4. Roads driving in the loops are narrow. This campground has 8 miles of bike trails in the park and it connects at the entrance to the Cape Cod Rail Trail which has 25 more miles of bike trail. This trail goes through towns and passes the Cape Cod National Seashore. There are also ponds for boating, hiking, bird watching and picnicking. In the fall it is beautiful and it is the only state park in MA that you can make a 1 night reservation. Unless you have a big, big rig you would not have needed a reservation this fall but in the summer it is a must. Staying here you are near Orleans for shopping, restaurants and heading east the Cape Cod National seashore with more biking trails, visitor center and beautiful beaches (love Head of Meadows). Golden age pass can be used to get into the beaches run by the National Park Service but some beaches are run by the local towns and you must pay for parking but not before around June 21 and after Labor Day but check these dates because they change. One thing you should try if you like Reuben sandwiches the Cape Codder Reuben with a small pot of beans is excellent at Hearth and Kettle restaurant in Orleans (easy drive with plenty of big rig parking, Shaws Supermarket is there too as well as a drug store). The Reuben is made with fish – melts in your mouth! Make sure you check closing dates for any campgrounds in New England because most close at the end of Columbus Day weekend. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We had an excellent time at this park. The bike trails into town are great. Our site was relatively private although not very level. Brewster is a great town and Nickerson is a must see park while in Cape Cod. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We stayed in Area 4, site 61 in a 25' travel trailer. Sites are large and most are at least partially wooded. Those designated for RVs/Trailers are easy enough to get in/out of. There are no hook-ups of any type but communal water spigots and bathrooms are available and easily accessible. A dump station is available. Most restrooms are "toilets only" and only have cold water at the sinks. There are brand new shower houses available for hot showers and dish washing stations have been added to some of the restroom buildings. There is one of these shower houses for areas 1-5 and one for areas 6-7. They weren't overly crowded even though the park was 70% full throughout the week. Nickerson has undergone major renovations and areas 1-5 just reopened. Areas 6, 6x and 7 are scheduled to reopen in late July 2008. We walked through areas 6 and 6x and the sites are in rough shape and will need a lot of work to make that happen. As a part of their water/electric system upgrade they also paved all the roads within the camping areas. The parks is heavily used by families and there tends to be a lot of very young (under 6!) children out riding bikes and such on the roads so caution is urged. Despite that, the area is generally very quiet. Peak "noise time" is Friday afternoon/evening as new arrivals tend to pour in. The Kettle Ponds are clean and fairly well used by swimmers, boaters and those fishing. There are numerous trails to wander and paved bike paths throughout the park. Park staff has always been great here for us and we've never had any issues with any of them. They do deal with complaints quickly and directly. Ticks are an issue within the park (this shouldn't be unexpected!). We picked up 2 in the course of a week while walking trails around the ponds. Proper precautions are recommended. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Wish I could give better than 7 as we really did like this place but the road are terrible for anything larger than a 25 footer. They had put us in a double site as our 34 footer wouldn't fit in any of the left over single sites they had (yes, we did have reservations). We were unable to connect to the hookups until they told us to go the wrong way on the roads so we could get the motorhome in with the hookups on the correct side. They had only a few Full hookup sites but the dump station was decent enough to make it OK just to have Grey water dump on site. Hookups were OK. Was raining when we got there so it was nothing but mud (nothing they can do about the weather). The fire wood for sale was terribly wet. You may think we didn't like this place by what I write but it is a very decent place if you want to be deep in the woods with peace and quite. We would stay here again, we just might need to be in a part of the park that is meant for a 34 footer or larger. Oh and no lights, best part of it, so bring a good flash light. We camped here in a Motorhome.

I took of 1 star for the attitude of the girl in the office when I first called to make the reservation. She seemed to think her time was more important then mine. The roads were pretty bad. Nothing is paved. The place was too much of a dust bowl for my wife. There was pretty much no grass at all. Also, we had a tree that was rotted out, I guess because of termites. I was actually concerned it would fall on my trailer if the winds kicked up. We were there while they were talking about a possible hurricane. When I brought it the attention of the office they said that they knew about it but they were not concerned that it would fall on my trailer. If I wanted, I could leave (with no refund). Make sure you use a filter on the water supply. When I disconnected it I could actually see rust and debris. I suspect it is well water. They gave us a key because the gate closes at 10pm. We came back at least 4 nights after 10pm and it was never locked. On the positive side, sites were big and pretty heavily wooded, especially for that area of the Cape. Other campers that we spoke to were very nice. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

This was one of the nicest campsites we've stayed at. Sites are large, clean and well spaced. The sites are mostly shaded and the campsite in general is very quite. Everything else has already been mentioned by the other reviewers. Will definitely stay here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.