Camping Memories
I posted a comment to George's recent post about camping and received several comments and e-mails back about it. So I decided to put up a post about camping trips we've taken over the last 10 years and our favorite places to camp at. We're not deep woods type of campers. Any site we've stayed at is within a few miles of a regular grocery store. And we do like campgrounds that aren't too crowded and that are tent-friendly.So here are my favorite sites.
1. Calvin Coolidge State Park in Vermont. This park has wonderful lean-tos that were built in the 1930 by the CCC. One of my favorite memories there is getting gold panning information from the park ranger, and standing in a freezing stream trying to pan for gold. We didn't have the right equipment but we did have a lot of fun. Plymouth is quite close to Quechee, home of the Quechee Gorge. Each year Quechee also hosts a great hot air balloon festival over the June weekend closest to father's day -- well worth the trip.
2. Towshend State Park in southern Vermont. This has a beautiful rangers cabin built by the CCC. There are some campsites just by a river, so you can fall to sleep to the sound of water. Also nice hiking trails.
3. Myles Standish State Forest in southern Massachusetts. We spent a wonderful week right beside Curlew Pond. Lots of wonderful swimming and canoing, thanks to the loan a canoe from a fellow camper. The forest is a short distance from Cape Cod, so you can make day trips there without difficulty. And we met several people who had been camping there for more than 15 years each.
4. Otter River State Forest in western Massachusetts. I stayed there over Labor Day Weekend 2006, just me and the three children. We managed to visit a nearby drive-in movie theater. It was too late in the season for swimming and too wet for hiking. But we're visiting again in June and this time we're staying in a Yurt. Otter River has four of these, each sleeping 4 or 6 people. It won't be the same as pitching our own tent, but I can't wait to try them out. The campground people say these are not good in very hot weather. I'm hoping early June will be on the cool side.
Besides these we've tried other sites in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. None of these are memorable enough that I can recall their names.
If you've not tried camping, now is a good time to start thinking about it. New tents are very light, easy to assemble and extremely waterproof. Tents go on sale shortly and they are very cheap at the start of the season. It's a great family investment and the stuff of memories for years to come.
Have you got any favorite sites that you can recommend?
posted by Bernard @ 6:18 PM
7 Comments:
There's a great little hiking spot sort of near to Otter River if you're looking for a beautiful easy hike along some great running water. I believe the official name is Doone's falls. Kids used to jump there, we used to when we were kids, before they shut it down of course, due to danger, but it's really pretty there. If you can't find directions and are interested (and remember by June) shoot me an email. :)
Its been a long time since I was camping, but it is fun as long as you are good about packing since you need to bring so much stuff along. A fair number of state parks (in Connecticut, anyway) permit camping and there are a few right on the coast, but you do need to make reservations in advance buy worth investigating if you're interested.
We used to go camping when I was a kid up to High Point, NJ.
It's good that you live in my area (relatively speaking) because you named places we can get to rather conveniently.
Off the subject, Bernard, but I just read your comment on Sarah's page about "the goats". Have you talked about this before? How many do you have? Do they make good pets? I recall my granny having a very mean billygoat on her farm (his name was "Herman")and we were terribly afraid that if he got out of his pen he'd run after us. This is bringing up a lot of fun memories for me.
I love to camp! New Hampshire's White Mts. have MANY great family camps and crazy fun sites I have also visited.LOL! I totally recommend "Dolly Copp" in Gorham,NH its a little bit of a trek BUT a really great camping atmosphere.. I also frequent "Tripole Rd." for some folks this is an infamous camp on an old fire road (some areas have lots of partying~police are strict though~ no toilets ) BUT once entering this road you could turn a left ummm? "something"pond(perhaps russell pond?)they have a pond to fish swim sm.boat in,showers, families, etc.. nice too! The next exit NORTH is downtown Lincoln for anyone in need of supplies etc..or visitor info. :Dawn newer blogger
Kind of far away for you perhaps, but my favorite place is the Boundary Waters: http://www.bwcaw.org/
Of course, if you go here, you would not be very near ANY grocery store!
I second Steve! GO to the Boundary Waters some day. (or Quetico Provincial Park in Canada) I go on a week long trip there every summer and it's definitely the highlight of my year. I have a trip log posted at www.bwca.com. Go to messageboard, then trip reports, then look for Dixie's first BWCAW adventure.
HAve a great day!
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