Bowman Lake, New York
Bowman Lake State Park - June 19th to June 24th
745 Bliven Sherman Road
Oxford, NY 13830
Thursday 6/19
Bowman Lake State Park is located in Chenango County, eight miles west of Oxford, New York. The 152 campsite campground has no electrical or water hook ups, but has wonderful wooded sites. The sites are spread out so you never see the campsite next to you unless you pick a double site. The restrooms have modern plumbing and there are two bath houses with clean showers. The showers are weak and not much hot water.
We stayed in site 126 which is on the outer loop on the north side of the campground. This location gave us short access to the beach on Bowman Lake. The lake is small (only 35 acres) but is entirely surrounded by woods. The only manmade structures are part of the campground.
Our campsite.
Sandy had a school friend gathering from where she grew up in Norwich NY. Bowman Lake was a frequent camping experience from her youth, so we decided to stay here during her visit.
We purchased a new screen room for this trip since the one we got at Costco did not work out for us. (It was too heavy (50 lbs) and was not water resistant). The new screen room is a 30 lb Clam Quick-Set. It literally took us 60 seconds to put up. It rained like crazy the first night and it kept the rain off the picnic table. This one looks like a keeper! We also got a new picnic table cover. This one has elastic edge to it grips to the table. No table clips needed. It also came with seat covers. Another win!
We were having some issues with our Cortez camper, so we scheduled an appointment at the Cortez factory in Euclid OH and stopped on our way out east to NY. The crew at Cortez was fantastic. They were able to address all the issues and had us back on the road the same day we arrived. The camper was good as new!
After getting camp setup, we headed to a Brew Pub called Hidden Springs BrewHouse. Sandy grew up in Norwich and we arranged to meet some of her friends at the Brew Pub. They actually had a decent selection of beer. It seems that most small brew pubs only make IPAs. This place only had 2 on the menu. They had lagers and stouts! There was also a food truck that was a permanent fixture at the Pub. The owner of the food truck had long white hair tied in the back and wore a lot of tye dye. Sandy remembers him as a neighbor of hers growing up. Dogs were welcome, so we brought our dog and hung out on the patio. They had live music as well. It was a great way to spend out first night in the area. The weather was bit all over the place. IT would go from sunny to full on rain storm every 30 minutes.
Hidden Spring Brewhouse.
Friday 6/20
Stopped in to check in on the ladies at the AirBnB. They were busy and had many plans so I checked out and headed north to Rogers Environmental Education Center. They have a large bog here with a trail that goes around it. Took Brody for a short walk around the bog.
The bog!
Saturday 6/21
The local Elks Club has a BBQ every Saturday in Norwich. This is where the famous Cornel Chicken is made. This was the origin of my mother-in-laws favorite dish. I had never heard of it until I met my wife Sandy. This soon became a traditional dish for our house as well. I was excited to try this dish from where it originated.
Making Cornel Chicken
While it was very good, I think I make it better.
Sunday 6/22
A big storm came through last night. I kept checking all the windows and vents on the ceiling of the camper. No leaks! Apparently over 7 inches of rain fell last night. There was a lot of running water in the ditches of the campsite and other random areas of the campground. Many of the campers in the campground packed up and left this morning. Our site was good, so I headed out to meet up with Sandy the and girls at the Airbnb. However, some of the roads were washed out and I needed to find an alternate route back into town. The afternoon was spent setting up a camera system for one of Sandy’s friends mother. I was glad to be able to help.
Road blocked by flooding.
Monday 6/23
Another warm day. The Airbnb where Sandy is staying has kayaks and tubes and a dock. I drove to spend the day with the ladies and relax in the lake. We had ordered out lunch from a local favorite, Ninas Pizza.
Nina’s Pizzaria.
The lake was refreshing and we spent a good two hours floating around and relaxing. Plans were made to have more of of highschool friend visit and dinner plans were made. I ended up grilling Cornell Chicken for the group and Marilyn found Salt potatoes at the local Aldi. This is a classic summer dinner for this part of the country. Needless to say I was a bit nervous cooking the local dish for the locals! Yikes! Luckily it all turned out good. After dinner another friend that lives on the lake took us for a pontoon ride tour of the lake. A nice way to end the evening.
Tuesday 6/24
Picked up Sandy at the AirBnB and returned to camp to break it down and move on to our next adventure at Watkins Glenn.
