I’m looking to go camping and hiking, preferably in the Vermont area. I’ve looked online but I kind of want to stay away from the populated/designated areas. I’m relying on you long-time New Englanders to help an old West Virginian out.
Here is what I am looking for:
I’d like to find an area that is very in the middle of nowhere. (preferably in the Vermont area) It should look like a Robert Frost poem, birds wisping through the air and streams gurgling over the buzzings of insects.
I miss the long windy roads of my old home and would love to drive around the countryside in my Jeep with its top off. And then to be able to park along the side of the road, set up camp with my tent, and read the stars (I can’t see a word in this city.) During the day I would walk around the open fields, maybe access water and woods as well. Meanwhile, forgetting all that is here.
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Is my weekend dream an attainable one? Thank you for any offerings of locations, resources, experiences.
I can’t offer you any specific locations but I can tell you your dream is certainly obtainable. I used to live in Vermont and it is very sparsely populated and very beautiful. It is also very cold for much of the year as well and I would wait until mid-June or later to go unless you like some degree of cold weather camping. The majority of the state is like you described to some degree.
You should check out Northern New Hampshire as well. It isn’t like they are far apart at all because NH and VT get very skinny at the tops. If you look at a map of New Hampshire you can see very large areas that are parks or privately owned. That would be a good area and is also strikingly beautiful and like you described.
Get a copy of the AMC White Mountain Guide – lotsa rtrails and maps of hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. You can find hikes as close or as far from civilization as you want:
In most National Forest land in New England you can’t just pull off to the side of the road and camp. There’s no camping allowed within 1/4 mile of the road unless at a designated spot, although there are exceptions. In state parks in NH and VT there’s not camping except at designated spots. Maine is different, but it doesn’t sound like you’re headed up there.
I’m more familiar with NH, and there are some places where you can pull up to some designated spots on FS roads and camp. They closely match what you are looking for, but may be somewhat busier than you want.
VT has more pastoral land, but keep in mind it’s mostly privately owned. The GMC guides would be a good place to start. There are two main ones, the guide to the Long Trail and the Day Hiker’s Guide, neither specifically addresses car camping.
I’d look for a quiet state park up north, set up camp there and explore a bit by car and foot.
Pick the wrong time of year and those insects will be black flies or deer flies, and there will be a certain amount of cursing wafting through the air as well.
Vermont certainly is pastoral and you can do drives or bike rides along Lake Champlain. The pull-over-and-camp is harder to achieve, however, as most of the land is private. In New Hampshire, you could drive the Kancamagus highway which is a rather scenic 34 miles with some campsites alone it.
You might also consider the Adirondack State Park in New York which is enormous and pretty far from anything.
Thanks for these links, I haven’t really gotten a chance to fully read them yet, but they appear to be helpful. Looks like I’ll be able to do this.
Thanks again.
Cheers. No, I didn’t have the chance to get to the Sandwich Dome, though I saw the junction signs and noticed it on the map. I did about a 5 mile hike which took my pretty much 6 hours to do. The terrain was still a bit icy in parts and Jennings peak is somewhat of an advanced hike, so I had to go off trail here and there to avoid some really icy slopes. I’d recommend bringing along crampons for about another month or so. But overall everything is very hikeable without intense winter gear and the mountains are just lovely. Boy, I had no idea what lye just two hours north. It’s going to be a good summer. Perhaps even for fly-fishing.
