June 2018 New England Trip

[okadventure]

My husband and I are planning a month-long trip through New England with our bumper pull trailer this June. We are new to camping with a travel trailer, and we've never been to New England. I would love any ideas and suggestions in regard to:

1. Which state to start in and continuing route
2. Good places to see/stop
3. Good campgrounds
4. How long we should allow for each place

We plan to take our bikes and do a lot of hiking. We are also interested in history, so we hope to include that in our trip as well. We will begin our trip in Oklahoma and try to make it to New England fairly quickly, driving approx. 8 hours the first days in order to get there soon.

Thanks!
Ok_adventure

[mdcamping]

okadventure wrote:
We plan to take our bikes and do a lot of hiking.

See if you can work these two stops into your initerary

VT: Winhall Brook COE Scenic Rail Trail goes through campground to connecting hiking trails. South Londonderry VT and general area has lots of country charm that you would expect from VT

CT: West Thompson Lake COE Air Line Rail Trail is down the street from campground, hiking trails from campground to around lake. Just a nice place to enjoy nature.

Book NOW if you want any hope of a W/E site https://www.recreation.gov

Lots of good advice on this thread, enjoy you trip to NE and safe travels!

Mike

[catkins]

Reservations can be a must and time is late to be getting them in some very popular areas. We did a Canadian Maritime trip last year and were advised, rightly so, to get reservations early for pre-trip and post caravan. Arrived NE in mid- June and returned to NE in late August, Never saw an empty campsite. Hoping you have a wonderful trip!!

[Flintstones]

I would try to make reservations, the rv parks up here are mostly on the small side, and could cause problems with your itinerary.

CT: Mystic Seaport area is worth a stop, the KOA is nice.

MA: Explore Boston, stay Normandy Farms or another high rated rv park.

ME: Acadia National Park is excellent with great biking.

NH: White Mountains/Mt. Washington/Kancamangus Highway/Franconia Notch are all excellent, plenty of rv parks including Danforth Bay and State Parks along the Kanc.

VT: Burlington and North Beach Campground worth the trip, Ben & Jerry's over rated, plenty of better things to do.

Not New England, but Lake George, New York in the Adirondack Park is terrific for biking and hiking and plenty of rv parks.

[bukhrn]

Looks like you already got a lot of good info, which is one of the great things about this site, then you'll get personal opinions, (like mine).
Unless you're tied to June for a specific reason (which really is none of my business) I find NE (& northern NY) far more beautiful from August to October.

[ACZL]

I think NY is someplace all by itself ! LOL

[Crowe]

There's also a ton of stuff in NY state if you consider that part of NE

NY is not part of NE. Beautiful area but not New England. As you can see by all the suggestions a month plus your travel time is nowhere near enough time. I'd take the ideas offered, spend some time (soon) investigating, then narrow down your choices.

[Padlin]

A ideas for where to go.

Mystic Seaport and the Aquarium

Newport Cliff Walk
Jamestown Is
Narragansett/Galilee area

Sturbridge Village
On Cape Cod, the bike trail, ferry to Martha's Vineyard, whale watches, Chatham Pier/Fish Market, Provincetown.
Plymouth
Gloucester/Rockport
Newburyport

Kittery
Kennebunkport
Cape Elizabeth
Boothbay
Rockland/Rockport ME area (a very slow drive on US 1, might be okay in June)
Acadia of course, nice bike/walking paths
There are more nice area north of Acadia but it gets fewer and farther between and might not be worth your time. Campabello Is just over the line in Canada is nice, but it's a long drive.

Kancamagus Highway (rt 112), White Mts (Mt Washington etc.)

Ben & Jerry's
Cabot Cheese
Champlain Islands

There's also a ton of stuff in NY state if you consider that part of NE., enough there for another month by itself.

[jplante4]

Hit Normandy Farms in Foxboro, MA. You can hit Cape Cod and Boston from there. You're a little behind for the season as far as reservations go, so you might need to go where you can get a site.

[DrewE]

I hoep you don't mind biking up (or down) hills...especially in the northern New England states, there isn't a whole lot of flat land.

How large is your Do you feel comfortable camping without hookups? A good many of the state parks have no or limited hookup availability; in particular, none of the Vermont state parks have any hookups. Most do have dump stations and water fill stations and shower houses.

Avoid roads called parkways as generally they have low clearances and are usually forbidden to RVs and trailers. Avoid the Boston area tunnels (I-90 and I-93 around the city center, primarily) as propane is restricted from them and the penalties for carrying it are quite stiff.

I agree with Crowe on pretty much everything said about Boston; lots of historical interest and cultural interest there. You do not want to drive through Boston if you can help it; take public transit, which will be much easier and quicker and probably less costly than paying for parking downtown. I often park at the garage at the Alewife station when I want to go, but that's far from the only option.

In Vermont, the Groton state forest and adjoining state parks (there are a number of them) are all interconnected by some nice hiking trails and a couple multi-use trails. The view from Owl's Head is quite nice, and there's a really neat little CCC stone shelter at the top. The area in general is fairly far off the beaten track, so there aren't a lot of services in the close vicinity.

Mount Ascutney is a nice hike; climbing the mountain is a reasonably strenuous day hike, or one can drive to the summit and hike around a series of trails there. This is a justly rather popular area, with many good viewpoints and an observation tower that has a 360 degree panoramic view. There is camping at the state park at the base.

Burlington city North Beach park has a campground (with hookups), a very nice beach on Lake Champlain, and the Burlington/Lake Champlain bike trail goes through the park. The bike trail is pretty long, a couple dozen miles I think, and getting to the Lake Champlain islands via it and roads is quite practical if you're up for a decently long ride.

There's a lot to see in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Driving the Kancamagus Highway is a fine way to spend an afternoon or a day, and there are a bunch of hikes of varying lengths one can take from the highway (some very brief strolls, some longer). Ascending Mount Washington by the auto road or the cog railway (or, I suppose, on foot) is also a great way to spend a day.

The Maine coast has a lot to see. Bar Harbor and Acadia are an obvious stop, but there are a number of other interesting towns along the coast. Get too far from the coast and there are a lot of logging roads and not much else, though there are some places to camp in the north woods if you'd like to be quite alone and your RV isn't too large.

On the way out or back, you may wish to spend a day or two or three at Letchworth State Park in New York. It's exceptional; it very well could be a national park, in my opinion.

[jerryjay11]

Stop in R.I. and take a tour of the Newport Mansions. You can do one or multiple mansions. These mansions were summer residents for the man of the house while the lady and kiddos stayed longer. Wawaloam is a good campground to stay. A short drive from there and you can be in Newport.

[Crowe]

I would think about reservations (at least for weekends) in popular/tourist areas such as the Cape, Bar Harbor, ME, and the White Mountains. School will be getting out later than normal this year due to so much bad weather over the winter but everyone will be out in force on weekends. It's hard to say how much time to spend in each area-it all depends on what you want to do there. I would definitely include Boston, Concord and Lexington for historical things. Minuteman Campground in Littleton will give you good access to Concord and Lexington. I strongly suggest public transportation to go into Boston. New England is pretty small in comparison to many areas in the rest of the country but I would pick one of the more southern states to start in (MA, CT, RI) and then go either clockwise or counter-clockwise to hit each one. You don't way what part of OK you are in, but using Tulsa and Boston as points it's over 1500 miles. Figuring an average of 50 mph (this includes stops but not heavy traffic) that's 4 eight-hour days of driving so you'll need to take 8 or so days off of your touring time. Personally I would pick two or three of the states to explore more thoroughly although you can drive through RI fairly quickly just to say you've been there! If you narrow down what you want to do a little more it will be easier to give you guidance.

[Lwiddis]

Gee how many times are you going to post this?