Best Dispersed Camping near Durham, ME

My first ever dispersed camping experience. So freaking amazing and unbelievable. It was pouring rain when we came to NH so we tried to wait out the rain, but it was getting dark. We followed the directions given by previous reviews. Turn onto town hall rd. and keep going past the residential area until you get to gravel road. keep going straight until you see the national forest sign. about a mile later us when campsites started popping up. the first few were full since it was 7pm but we came across one right around where the pin is dropped for this location. the cliff wasn’t too steep here (i passed up a campsite before this one bc it seemed too steep for my liking) and pretty large. beautiful view of the water and even a path down to swim. 10/10 experience and i cant wait to go back.

Town Hall Rd off 302 just keep going past houses until you see the National forest sign. 6-8 spots some big enough for med. camper.

Some of the camping spots were really tiny but if you get there on a good day u can find a good sized spot. There is a beautiful river right below the camping spots. If you go deep enough down the road you might be lucky enough to see a moose. While I was visiting we were driving down the road and we saw a big moose. The only problem I had was that there is no service at the camp spots. All around the campsite there were so many different kinds of mushrooms. The river also has a bunch of rocks and me and my boyfriend make rock towers.

Awesome boondocking in New Hampshire, what a treat in the east coast! Just beautiful scenery, with trees, rivers, creeks, hiking trails with a pond- we absolutely loved our time here. 

Town Hall Rd is a long road with many designated dispersed sites, all far apart from each other and all varying in levelness and size. We got lucky and snagged a perfect spot 2 miles in from the entrance sign- completely level (didn’t even need our leveling blocks) and big enough for our 26ft class c. Each site is different, but there were plenty that could fit a medium sized RV like ours. I wouldn’t recommend a giant 5th wheel or class A to come here looking for a spot. The road is dirt, but it’s hard packed and smooth, with a few dips and holes here and there. A little narrow but it’s manageable. The downside of a great road is the speeding cars and trucks- very annoying but thankfully there wasn’t much traffic in early October. I’d say more than half the sites were open when we stayed there mid-week. 

 No amenities here, just a rock fire pit to designate that it’s a spot. Please pack out your trash. Zero cell service in this whole area, but some messages popped through while we were hiking. weBoost did not help. Heavily wooded area, so it’s not so great for solar panels and probably not starlink either (we don’t have starlink so I can’t report on that).

Take Town Hall rd off of 302 and go until it is no longer residential. You’ll see the WMNF signs and the sites begin shortly after that. We drove down the road a bit, past a few tent sites just off the road. About the fifth one or so, you pull in and the fire pit is right there. Then walk down a bit and there’s a large group site with another pit. Down toward the river there was plenty of open space so we pitched there and built a fire pit. It was one of our favorite camp spots yet! Very peaceful, beautiful and quiet. There are trout in the river and if you cross and go through the woods to the right there’s some great spots to explore further! Ten minutes from grocery/gas etc in Bartlett.

We found a really great spot in this area. With a nice fire ring next to the river. Reasonably level spot for our van. Also there is a fun hiking trail just up the road. Camp sites are well spread out. Parking spots are small from what I saw. I don't think anything bigger than a van would be able to fit.

We followed directions exactly as listed below. It does take about 10 minutes to reach the campsites but it’s so worth it. We passed up a couple on the left as you first drive in as they were too steep. We found our spot which had some river access and it was gorgeous. It had an above and below spot which hosted our two tents. It was clean, quiet and other campers were friendly as well. I absolutely would stay here again.

The GPS will take you to Dundee Rd. These sites are actually off end of Town Hall Rd. It was very busy and most sites were taken over Memorial Day weekend.

GPS initially took me on the wrong road - make sure you stay on Town Hall Rd no matter what the GPS says.

After getting past the resident area you'll find a bunch of different pull outs to camp at. Really peaceful and the sites are well spread out.

There's a hiking trail up the road if you go to the very top (I think for Mirror Lake?) otherwise you won't have anything else to see that far up.

We loved this spot. There were plenty of sites to choose from and most (not all) had access to the river as well as a fire ring. Sites were on a dirt road, but it was quiet for the most part. Sites were also a good distance from each other so it felt pretty private. We stayed two nights and at two different sites; enjoyed both. Would love to return here in the future.

Great sites. Some right.on water. First come first serve, can get busy.

Had everything we needed

The road was not as bad as I anticipated. There was room for my Jeep Grand Cherokee towing a squaredrop camper to pass the very few oncoming vehicles we encountered. There is a good mix of tent and small/medium camper sites. Many of the sites are right on the side of the road. 

We went to the end of Town Hall Road and camped at the last site before you leave the WMNF. It was a very spacious site, set back from the road, a little bumpy getting into it.

This was such an awesome site. Not a lot of traffic up and down the road, love being right on the creek.

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