New England in the Fall

You'll want to do your homework for sure and book ahead of time. We live in southern New England and hit state parks quite a bit. Many in this region are open until the weekend after Labor Day, with a few open until Columbus day or a little beyond. Prime spots in the fall will book out quite a ways in advance for weekends (you shouldn't have a problem getting sites mid week, though), so hop on to the internet as soon as you can for reservations. CT and NH are on reserveamerica.com and VT has their own online booking. I believe ME has their own online booking as well, but we've stayed at a private CG when we have been there near Acadia NP. Don't forget to look for Corps of Engineers camgrounds as well on recreation.gov, there are some good ones in the region!

It would be wise to book ahead during leaf peeping season. Campgrounds and most other lodging fill up pretty fast that time of year.

Some state parks and all commercial CGs close in early to mid October, especially in the north, so that's another reason to reserve your space.

The color starts in the north and works its way south. Usually starts in late September but the date varies with the weather.

Hope you have a great trip.

I was stationed at Fort Devens, Mass. in 1983-1984 and spent every free moment I had exploring the New England area. I visited several of the state parks and every one of them was absolutely wonderful, and beautiful. I did not have a camper then, and did not camp in any of the parks, but did enjoy swimming and hiking.

Doing a very quick search on Vermont, Maine, Mass, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, there is no shortage of State Parks. Just do a quick Google Search (Main Camping, Vermont Camping, etc), and there will be links to Reserve America as well as links to the official state DNR camping web site. Not to mention, a multitude of private campgrounds that will come up.

I'm not so sure about the time frame they are open though. Most state parks are open all year long. And you can camp all year through. They just turn the water off after a certain date. For this, you'd need to check with each campground for their dates.

Fall in the New England area is marvelous! Dress warm. It does get chilly.

If you check I think most of the CGs are still open for the color season. They don't like to miss money. You may also want to throw in a little bit of the Canadian Maritimes. There is a lot there also. Colors on the trees is a very unpredictable thing. Sometimes it comes a little later than usual. You may have to plan on getting North and then working your way South with the color. If the CGs are closed there is usually a Wal-Mart nearby or some other place you can fit. If you can't find a place I would stop at a Police station and ask. They may know where it is safe to park.