Best Glamping near North Conway, NH

Our family of 4 visited Baker Rocks during a very rainy week and still had an amazing time. The campsites are private and spacious, the property is large and beautiful, close to the river. The owners are so kind and accommodating. We stayed 2 nights in the double bell tent with two clean full size beds and a 3rd night in the yurt both were spacious and wonderful, among tall trees and pines. Definitely will be back next summer! They even have animals to visit like bunnies and goats (far away from the campsites).Do bring bug spray, the mosquitoes at certain times of day were aggressive, as to be expected.

We stayed here during the COVID-19 pandemic and campgrounds were just starting to cautiously open up. There were some rules in place in order to ensure social distancing and reduce risk to ourselves and to the staff. Therefore a lot of the facilities and amenities were not available to us during our stay. No pavilion, arcade, playground, etc. 

But the point of our stay was just to get away, get outside and have some fresh air and new scenery. 

The waterfront site we had (site 38) was very nice, it's pretty spacious. The deck had furniture on it and a grill. The campground is well maintained, nice, clean. The furniture was in good shape, the grill was an older weber grill that worked great. Our site had a concrete fire pit, it looks like lots of them had a similar setup.

Waking up to the sound of the loons in the morning was wonderful. 

Our site was labeled as a 50 amp connection, but it wasn't, it was 30 amp. So double check that. Most of the waterfront sites are back in, and the only level part of the site is away from the deck and water. My wife wanted to get the camper up close to the deck so our area under the awning was close to that, which meant I had a lot more leveling to do. And when I say a lot, I mean my 5" drive on leveling blocks weren't enough and I had to put them on top of a 2x8 to level the camper out. 

The wifi actually was decent at this site - I'm surprised because 8 out of 10 campgrounds I go to that claim wifi, its slow and unusable. 

The firewood was kind of pricey. You get it for $6.50 a bundle if you buy at least 2 at a time. 

The first 2 nights there were really weird noises that woke us all up. The first night it sounded like a large Diesel engine or something was running in the distance. Kind of a low frequency sound that carried through the campsite and was hard to pinpoint. The second night, it sounded like an electrical short happening right across the street at a campsite. I was never able to figure out the source of these 2 events.

This is one of the rare New Hampshire campgrounds that is open year round. For years I drove by this campground deterred by the run-down, deserted red building next door that is NOT associated with the campground. On a last-minute whim I called and snagged one of the final two sites for the holiday weekend, spending 3 nights here. I wanted to be someplace where I could track the baseball playoffs, so finding a place with wifi (fair, better closer to the bath house) and 2-3 bar 3G/4G Verizon access was a plus. This campground has a large number of seasonal sites, but also has sites available for the occasional camper, with discounts available if you stay for a week.

Sites are wooded, generally moderately sized, though the seasonal sites are much larger. Tent sites do not have hook-ups, but they have small shelters that provide additional protection fro the weather. Some of the tent sites are sloped. They also tend to be long and narrow, opening up to a wider area with the picnic table, fire pit and tent pad. Tent sites in the K row are near the road, so although you don't get much campground noise, you do hear road traffic.

The bathhouse is clean, well-lit, and heated (a treat on those cold autumn mornings). There's also a laundry room with 4 washers and dryers if you need to clean up or dry out after a rough day on the trails. Sites are close to each other. They've separated sites with fence panels in some places to provide some privacy. There's an inground pool, a large playground, and a horsehoe pit.

Activities in the area include very convenient access to hiking trails ranging from family friendly Surgarloafs to classic 4000-footers along Franconia Ridge, and peaks along the northern ridge of the Pemi Wilderness (Garfield, Galehead, Twins), trails to Mt Washington and the Presidentials, as well as numerous peaks and waterfalls in the Crawford Notch area. Cog railway is just a few miles down the road if you want to catch an early ride. Trails for ATVs and snowmobiles are also nearby.

This state park is located in the small town of Gorham, New Hampshire. One of the best parts about this place is its location...it isn't any where near the hustle and bustle of touristy North Conway (no offense). It sits on the northern side of Mt. Washington but not in the national forest like many of the camping areas in the vicinity. Because of this, it is often less crowded than other camping areas (like Dolly Copp and others along the Kancamangus Highway).

This state park has well maintained campsites and the group sites are in a different location, on the opposite side of the road, from the main campground which is nice. Sites have fire rings, picnic tables and nice areas to pitch tents.

There are facilities, a fishing pond and separate swimming pond where the water is quite chilly and refreshing on a summer's afternoon. There are also many hiking trails in the park and a ton of great mountain biking terrain in the park and accessible from the park. The local Coos Cycling Club maintains the trails and is constantly improving and creating more terrain. Also accessible from the park is the Presidential Rail Trail and several other ATV/Snowmobile trails. FYI, the Rail Trail is NOT open to ATVs. So hop on the moderate grade crushed gravel trail and head all the way to Pondicherry, a wildlife preserve, about 18 miles from the park. The way back is downhill.

While the campground is closed in the winter, the trails are open to fat biking, snowshoeing and cross country skiing!

The scenery at this park is beautiful any time of year!

A great family campground just South of Conway, NH. Close to groceries, the outlets, plenty of restaurants. Across the street to the North is the fabulous Rosie's Diner, a homey place with amazing food and home-baked bread. Seriously their toast and corned beef hash is awesome. Also just across the street from the entrance to the South is a Dollar General with just about anything a camper could want in a pinch, including beer and hot dogs.

The camp itself has a store by the gatehouse well stocked with various items (bug spray, skillet, firewood, sunscreen, sodas) and souvenir Tees and Sweatshirts. There is another store on the beach with the candy, floats and toys. They also have charcoal in just the right size to grill on one of the available charcoal hibachis, scattered among the picnic tables on the beach.

The lake itself is unreal, with the mountains in the background it just feels incredibly peaceful and serene, keeping in mind I mostly visited around dawn and dusk and the Memorial Day clouds and rain kept it pretty low-key. I've seen photos of the beach on hot sunny days in summer and it looks packed with swimmers.

Sites were fairly standard- dirt floor with gravel packed in around the circle fire rings. We grilled right on the grate provided. Big picnic tables are provided on each site. All sites are wooded with plenty of trees to get a good tarp, and lots of options for hammock placement. Our site 1-32a was huge, and the driveway was a rather steep hill. Our site was not water view but we drove around that area to get a look and they are gorgeous.

While we were there there were tons of families around. Bicycles are a good idea since the gatehouse is a pretty good hike away from the camping areas, and you need to drop your trash off each night in the dumpsters that are located there. Showers were coin op. Hot, good pressure and about as clean as you could expect during mud season.

If you arrive between 1 and 8 pm, you check in at the office, but they have a slot for after-hours arrivals.

No pets are allowed here. Bring your bug spray, citronella candles and smoky firewood- the bugs here are no joke. But if you come prepared you can get by with minimal bites.

Campground Review

Friends and I have started a Memorial Day weekend camping tradition and during a visit here last fall two of us decided this would be our destination. White Lake has large sites, a gorgeous lake with a pair of resident loons, and proximity to the White Mountains National Forest (hiking galore, river, history), the Saco River (tubing, etc.), and Conway/North Conway tourist attractions.

The lake is clear, the swimming area is shallow for quite a distance so you can feel comfortable with kids, and there is a separate boat launch area. If you don’t have your own boats, they offer rentals of kayaks and paddle boats. On the day you leave, you can enjoy the beach, but you will have to park in the registration parking lot. You may want to bring bicycles or plan to walk a lot to get to and from the beach.

There are multiple loops, some offering water views. The water view sites are just that…views. There are some short trails leading to the lake from the sites, but for most of them they are down a little hill. A few of them even offer lean-tos.  Most of them can accommodate smaller RVs as well as tents. There are no hookups, but there is a dump station. Sites are close together. There are also a group camping area and a few family camping sites. Although many of the sites are reservable online, some of them are held back for walk-ins. Our sites are now first-come, first-served, but we reserved them last year. Memorial Day weekend, there were still vacancies, but during my Labor Day visit last year sites were full very early Friday morning. Quirky thing about the sites...the maps and the posts in loop 1 just show the basic number, but in the reservation system, loop one numbers are in the 100s (i.e. site 44 becomes site 144) No pets.

The bathrooms at the beach include flush toilets, but no showers. In the campground there are coin-operated (2 minutes/$0.25), hot and clean showers.  I also noticed that showers are available in the bathroom next to the campground store/office, but they are locked when the office is closed, so I didn’t get a chance to check them out. The bathroom serving our area (we were in A loop, sites 44 & 46) could use some maintenance. The toilets don’t flush well at all; the flushing mechanisms need to be replaced. They need to fix this (it was a problem when the season closed last fall, too) to earn that 5th star)

Our neighbor ran his generator ALL.NIGHT.LONG. the first night, but a ranger spoke with him the next day and he shut it off. He ran it during the 5-8pm time slot after that, but we didn’t have to deal with it overnight again. Glad that they addressed it. Your noise experience will vary depending on your neighbors. There are a lot of families here.

Our sites were large and level, but after we pitched our screen tent we realized there were ground nesting bees all over. They didn’t bother us, but it was disconcerting to see them lining the edge of the screen. A little online research showed us that they nest in the spring. It was late spring, so black flies were our biggest challenge! Plan accordingly.

There are some small stores, a gas station, and a Dunkin Donuts just outside the campground. Full shopping needs can be met in Conway and North Conway. During my two stays here (as an adult; apparently our family camped here when I was a kid, too), we kayaked, swam, hiked to Champney Falls, and another hike in the Ossippee area, and went tubing on the Saco (do this earlier in the year when there’s plenty of water on the river!). Mt Chocura is a great nearby hike.

Product Review: Midland Radio  X-Talker T75VP3 Two-Ray Radio.

As a ranger for the Dyrt, I sometimes  have fun opportunities to try out equipment while camping. For this particular trip, I was camping with several others and we anticipated times when we’d split up for a bit or hike at different paces, so it seemed like a great opportunity to test the Midland Radio X-Talker T75VP3 Two-way radio. I found it more challenging than I anticipated just to decide which radios to test. I had to learn a whole new vocabulary to understand the implications of the different specifications; once I received it, I needed to read the manual to figure out the various menu options and how to make the changes. I have a copy of the manual downloaded to my phone for easy reference!

Here’s why I chose this package:

• 1. I liked that the radios have rechargeable batteries and a charging base, both via USB. If the battery dies and you need a back-up, you can use AAA batteries. They charged quickly and I found the battery life was quite long on stand-by.
• 2. They have long-range capability with high and low power settings, though you need ideal conditions to maximize this.
• 3. I could use it on low power without a license.

4. Weather: you can find the local weather forecast as well as receive weather alerts. I may not have cell service everywhere, but I can generally get the radio feed.

Real life:

It worked well over a mile with a combination of lake and trees. I arrived before others and went off to explore, so I left a radio at camp and asked them to radio me when they arrived. When we went hiking in the White Mountains, part of our group went faster than the others, so to radio allowed us to keep in touch even while traveling separately. These are not the staticky transmissions of my childhood walkie-talkies; messages are transmitted clearly and easily. We didn’t encounter any traffic on the radios, so we didn’t bother with the privacy codes.