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A BROOK RUNS THROUGH IT

MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #27

Today is moving day and our planned route came off without a hitch, that is until we arrived at the next campground. The route started off and ended with about 20 miles of Interstate driving with 80 miles of two lane, cross country highways through Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest in the middle.

I'm finally comfortable driving the winding, curving, twisting, 10% grades up and down, no shoulders kind of roads so often found in the mountains. What I haven't been challenged with very often is this!

Now this is going to be a tight fit.

How do I get my 8-1/2 foot wide trailer over a 10 foot wide bridge when there is little space on either side of the bridge to get straightened out before approaching it? The answer is very carefully! Judging by the scrapes and scratches on both sides of the bridge others before me weren't so successful. We were warned by the check-in host about the upcoming hazard.

You can be sure that I was obeying the speed limit on my attempt at crossing the bridge. The good news is we had two successful crossings, one on the way in and one on the way out. The bad news is we are scheduled to have two more visits to this campground in the next month before leaving Vermont. That's four more chances to get it wrong.

Yeah we made it!

WEDNESDAY - This wonderful view of the confluence of Winhall Brook and the West River is from the North Campground (currently closed for renovations) where there are no water/electric sites. The big advantage of the North Campground is you don't have to cross over that pesky bridge.

This is what I will now imagine when I think of Vermont

A closeup view of the same scene.

One of the other favorite activities here, at least for the kids, is swimming in the cool water (think low 70s) of Winhall Brook, which separates the North and South Campgrounds. Tricia was brave enough to take a "quick dip", but it was too cold for me to make any such attempt. Remember, I grew up in South Florida and she's from Massachusetts!

Too cold for me to get in!

Winhall Brook Campground has 111 campsites and only 23 of them offer water/electric hookups. It is the only Army Corp of Engineers campground in the state of Vermont and it's the only public campground with water/electric sites. None of the U.S. Forest Service or State Park campgrounds have water/electric sites and there are no National Park Service campgrounds in the state.

With the Lifetime Seniors Pass ($80) that we purchased from the National Park Service our stay here is half price at only $13.00 per night, making it a huge bargain compared to other camping prices found in the New England area. No wonder we'll be back here two more times in the coming weeks.


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MORE TIME IN THE FOREST

TUESDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #26


What a difference between this campground and the last! Even though we only moved a short 17 miles south from our last campsite the difference is like night and day. Back at Russell Pond we were only a three mile drive from Interstate 93, but it was all uphill and in the middle of the forest.

Here at Campton Campground we are again just three miles from Interstate 93, but this time we are at the edge of town and just 100 yards from the major two lane Highway 49 that has traffic all day long.

Another major difference between these two campgrounds is their elevation. Russell Pond is at nearly 1000 feet higher elevation than where we are now and that means milder daytime high temperatures and cooler nights.

With the forecast for highs in the low 90s going into this weekend we may be just tempted to pack a picnic lunch and drive ROVER back up to Russell Pond to dip our toes in the cool waters.

Now that sounds like a good idea!

THURSDAY - One desirable advantage of being located on the edge of town is the ease in which we can decide to skip making our own breakfast and instead choose to drive the short distance to Dunkin Donuts and then eat our breakfast in the picnic area of a nearby park. We can't afford to have a $20 breakfast everyday, but it was a nice change from our usual cold cereal or oatmeal.

With not a lot else going on here this week I thought I would just share a few campsite photos.

Tucked way back into our forested campsite.

Picnic table and fire pit, what else could we possibly need?

Sure glad THE POD wasn't here when that tree was cut down.

SUNDAY - All week long this has been a quiet and peaceful place to camp but on Friday afternoon that began to change. It seems this is where the local "young adults" like to hangout and party on the weekends. By Friday night the campground was half full and on Saturday the other half showed up.

During the daylight hours everyone seemed to behave fairly well, but come nightfall the music got louder and then the karaoke style sing-alongs began. This went on an hour or so beyond the posted 10PM quiet time but by noon today all was back to normal.

It never got to the point where I felt the need to complain to the camp host, but I sure was hoping they could hear it from their campsite and take it upon themselves to regain control. That didn't happen!

I understand the local teens needing a place to blow off some steam. With a global pandemic, stay at home orders lifting, relaxed social distancing requirements and most importantly, widespread parental unemployment, they need to get away frm their homes and vent. I just wish it wasn't two campsites down from where I'm trying to sleep!

Today is our last day at Campton Campground so we decided to go out for lunch and ended up here at the Full Circle Food Truck. Tricia sampled the Fried Fish Sandwich on a Subroll ($7) and I elected to go for the Baked Lobster and Macaroni with Cheese ($10). Both were surprisingly better that we expected!

I knew we had picked a good place to eat because when we arrived there were four other cars and a motorcycle waiting for their cooked when ordered meals to be prepared.

The perfect lunch spot!


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ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...

TUESDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #25

For the first time in two months we are heading down the road to a real campground, where we can spend some time getting back in touch with nature. While it was great spending time visiting with family and friends, it will also feel good to once again start traveling and experiencing new destinations.

Campsite G01 at Russell Pond Campground

You may be wondering about those two poles on the back of THE POD? The one on the left is our cell booster antenna and the one on the right is our new weather station that measures wind speed, temperature and humidity.

Last summer we were also in this same area of New Hampshire, but only spent one week in the National Forest, instead we headed further north up to Maine and Acadia National Park. This year we are spending two weeks in the forests of New Hampshire before heading next door to Vermont for a six week visit.

WEDNESDAY - With nice sunny weather we decided to go for a long scenic drive through the forest and scout out what the free dispersed camping areas look like on the north end of the White Mountains National Forest.

The first location is on Gale River Loop Road which was probably used as a logging road back when that sort of activity was going on around here. Now the USFS has created 11 free campsites and several hiking trailheads along the roadway. Only a couple were large enough to accommodate THE POD while most were better suited for Class B Motorhomes (i.e. conversion vans), truck campers or tent camping.

In one site was a restored 1970's era Volkswagon Campervan. A middle aged couple were outside enjoying the sun and we just had to stop on the roadway and chat (at a safe distance of course) about their beautiful camper. Turns out they are a semi-retired couple who work seven months a year at Disneyworld in Orlando and travel the rest of the year around the United States in their camper. This was their first time trying the free camping in the White Mountains National Forest and it was only their second day here.

The second location is just a couple miles away on Haystack Road. Once again there were 11 campsites but these were larger and at least half of them would accommodate THE POD.

The third location is Old Cherry Mountain Road. The entrance road to the 9 campsites here is a little rough and steep which would make it difficult and unwise for us to try and bring THE POD for a visit. However ROVER was up to the task so we went and had a look. Not surprisingly all these sites were small and unusable by us, but would make for a wonderful tent camping experience.

The fourth location is Jefferson Notch Road. Upon our arrival here we found a locked gate blocking the roadway and prevented us from getting a look.

With all of our intended locations scouted it was time to head home. One thing all these sites had in common was they were all well spaced apart, sometimes by a half mile or so, and they were all right on the edge of the road, where dust and traffic noise could be a problem. With all that said you can't beat the price, it's FREE!

Tricia's camera is still not working and we haven't been able to find a place open to get it repaired without mailing it away, which would create the bigger problem of where to get it mailed back to us. Instead I created links to all of today's sites where you can see other people's photos and comments from our favorite campground review site, Campendium.

THURSDAY - With heavy fog, rain and cloudy weather forecast for today we still wanted to get out and explore. First we went to scout out our next reserved campsite at Campton Campground, just 15 miles south of our current location. It's not quite as nice as what we have here at Russell Pond Campground.

Just to show how foggy it was this morning, first is a photo of nearby Beaver Pond, followed by a photo of Russell Pond later the same afternoon.

Beaver Pond around 10:00AM

Russell Pond around 4:00PM

FRIDAY - WOW! What a difference a day makes! Here is another photo of Russell Pond taken this morning from nearly the same position as yesterday's photo. With weather like this we just had to climb back into ROVER and go explore some more.

Russell Pond around 10:00AM Friday morning

Today we plan on scouting six more National Forest Service campgrounds along one of America's Scenic Byways known as the Kancamagus Highway. While the highway is only 34.5 miles long it offers many spectacular hiking opportunities, scenic overlooks and of course the campgrounds. From the highest point of the highway at Kancamagus Pass (2855 feet) the eastern half of the highway roughly follows the course of the Swift River down into the town of Conway where it meets up with the Sacco River.

ALONG THE KANCAMAGUS HIGHWAY

This rather unique entrance to the Covered Bridge Campground was originally built in 1858.
A lot of detail and craftmanship when into the original construction and 1970 renovation of this covered bridge.
A pedestrian suspension bridge over the Swift River.
The grandeur of the White Mountains National Forest.
Today's tranqil picnic location on the south bank of the Swift River

NOTE: With Tricia's camera still broken
all photos in this post were taken by using just our two cell phones.


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