New England Trip Next Fall

http://koa.com/campgrounds/Brattleboro/ Great spot to visit southern, Vermont. Mostly pull through sites, great hookups and fabulous owners.

http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-north/salisbury-beach-state-reservation.html
On the ocean, beautiful area to visit, with E/W hookups.

When we were in Maine in late Sept., one of the business owners said that normally right after Columbus Day, (which was the 2nd Monday this year)pretty much the whole town of Bar Harbor closes.

Kristen,
I'll take a look at your blog. We would consider dry camping for one of our stops(2 nights max). We mostly hike, thus making us nature buffs. My wife is interested in Mark Twain's home( name escapes me). I always enjoy Mt. Washington; although hiking Tuckermans inOct can be dicey...maybe take the cog rail. In general the White mtns always please.

No kids, no dog. It's our anniversary. We have a year to plan, so we're starting our research now. Seems like we will need to reserve a few nights in advance during fall foliage.

Good call on switching to October :)

Do you guys dry camp? If so, there are some beautiful state parks up here in New England. If you travel with dogs, be advised that CT State Parks don't allow dogs (with two exceptions) so we usually go north to our firnds in MA, VT, and NH :)

What kinds of things to you like to do? History buffs? Nature buffs? Traveling with kids? Anything in particular that you really want to hit while you're here?

Feel free to take a look at my blogs linked in my signature, I catalog the places we stay and many of them are in our New England region. We favor state parks when we can (though our 10 year old prefers fancy RV campgrounds with arcades and all the bells and whistles...so we hit both types)

My wife and I spent ten days in all of New England this past Fall. We left Ohio on Sept. 30. Let me tell you it was tough to find any campgrounds open. If you want a campground with any kind of facilities, you better start looking by 2 pm, or be prepared to stay at Walmart or a casino if you can find one. We don't like to plan our day too far ahead, so we didn't make any reservations. Beautiful weather, 60's daytime, 40's@ night

If you are coming up to northern Vermont, you might consider Moose River CG in Saint Johnsbury. They close about mid October.

Early October is towards the end of the foliage season in the north but should be good in southern VT and NH.

You could run into snow in the north but it will melt pretty quickly. Just wait it out wherever you are camped.

So we're going to plan on early , mid October.

Any good resources for campgrounds etc?

We are in MD so we figure a 8 hr day of driving to get to the region, 7 days to camp & sightsee, and a day to drive home. Thinking in terms of three 2 night stops with an open day contingency. We will rent a car if we need one.


Ten bear, thanks for the correction on the river. I made the trip on a motorcycle about 25 years ago, crossing back and forth between states....you'd think I could remember the name of the river. I do R ember the trip was quite beautiful. It was in July

Like others have said, most campgrounds are closed or in winter mode. It's fairly likely to have (or to have had) some snow on the ground and possibly the roads at that time of year; and snow on the roads means salt on the roads, too. That said, it is possible to camp, it's just limited to dry camping or boondocking for the most part, and you need to keep in mind the real possibility of freezing temperatures.

Even if there is no snow, it's not exactly the prettiest time of year. The leaves are all off the trees, and things generally look a bit on the dismal side, but there's not always enough snow (except on the mountain peaks, which do look glorious and handsome) to brighten things up. I would suggest, if possible, moving the trip back a month or so; with a little care and luck in timing, you could get some beautiful foliage.

Thanksgiving is when most of the major ski areas in New England plan on being open. That means the weather is cold enough to make snow for several weeks before that and there is often snow on the ground, especially in the mountains.

As others have said, most CGs are closed. Maybe the NH and Maine coasts will be a little warmer, but maybe not.

BTW, the Connecticut River runs between Vermont and New Hampshire.

Pretty much everything in Maine is closed by mid October. We actually had 2-3 inches of snow in Oct. this year. I do not know of any campgrounds that are open any later than then either. You would be wise to come to NE in late Sept to early Oct, for the fall colors.