Best Tent Camping near Derby Line, VT

I tent camped at site 6 for two nights in early September for a trail volunteer event for the Cohos Trail I and had an awesome stay.

For facilities, there is a camp office (though hours were not consistent), basic camp store, coin op showers, coin op laundry, a big dish cleaning station, and clean bathrooms.

For activities, this site is awesome for fly fishing folks since it’s a short walk from one of the best spots in NH.

I saw lots of folks kayaking and canoeing and there’s a public boat ramp a short walk from the campground. There was a sign for rentals but I didn’t see any available. This may be for earlier in the season.

The sites vary in terms of privacy. The lakefront sites were spectacular but you are close to your neighbors. I was in site 6, in one of the small loops off the waterfront drive. These spots were close together but were separated by some brush to make them feel more secluded. The tent sites in the outer loops looked to offer more privacy.

This campsite was full the weekend I was there and very lively during the day but very quiet and peaceful in the evening.

Lake Francis is way up in NH so this does feel remote. The main activities are hiking, fishing (both fly and from the boat), and I saw a host of folks ATVing.

I would definitely come back on account of the great fishing and peacefulness at night.

My wife and I spent 10 days at this remote tent site. Our site was on the far western end of Kettle Pond and the only tent site in the remote camping area. A trail that goes around the pond is easily accessed from site 10. We were able to watch the Loons teaching it's chicks to hunt for food. A bit of work to get to this site but every bit worth the trade off for peace n quiet!

Spent a few nights here as a base camp while hiking some of the mountains in the area. Camp spots were far enough away from one another, trees helped with privacy, and the tent site had a great area to setup the tent.

Facilities were accessible and clean. Quiet hours were definitely observed. Easily one of the best camp sites I’ve stayed at.

Kettle Pond is a classic northern pond set in Vermont's Groton State Forest. Besides the group camping area, which can get busy, the pond has six lean-tos (across the pond from the group sites) and one tent site. They've got fire pits, crappers and a fair amount of privacy. The first two lean-tos are a few hundred feet apart. But the rest are fairly private, spread out along a trail that rings the pond. You must park in the lot and walk to all these sites. The farthest, most remote site, is about a mile from the parking lot. Here's a map: https://vtstateparks.com/assets/pdf/groton-remote.pdf

Rudy's looked mostly to be an RV park, so my stop was maybe not the usual for this campground. I stopped for one night while I was thru-hiking the Cohos Trail in New Hampshire and had a great experience. There seemed to be much more space at this campground for RV and van travelers, though I didn't check out that part of the facility

I booked a tent site beforehand and on arrival had the choice of right next to Clarksville Pond or another area that I didn't check out since pondside sounded amazing, so my review is specific to the tenting experience.

I stopped by Rudy's before my hike, and they held onto a food drop for me (in a sealed big plastic container) for free, and held onto some extra gear for me so that I didn't need to carry it 

There are maybe ~3-4 tent sites right along the edge of the pond, in front of a few permanent cabins. They are basic tent sites right on the grass, with a fire ring and a picnic bench. The sites were flat and the views were amazing along the pond. 

I was able to get in a morning fly fishing session 5 feet from my tent! The wind was a bit high so no luck for me, but I saw the fish jumping when I stopped by after my hike to pick up some gear I left. Kathleen, the owner of the property, offered a free fly fishing lesson during my stay, but I had to decline to keep up the pace of my hike.

There was also access to the bathhouse with free heated showers, full bathrooms, and coin-op laundry. This was a great free amenity after 7 days on my hike for a necessary refresh.

The owner and other residents of the campground were super friendly. This was a great stop along my hike to refresh and connect with a few folks along the way.

The section for campers is huge and the section for tents is significantly smaller, essentially an open field with almost no privacy for the tent sites. In general, the campground is immaculate from the general store to the bathrooms to the pools. It's perfect for families, as they have many kids activities planned throughout the week. That being said, there's constantly children running around yelling and walking right through your campsite with no care in the world.

There are showers and toilets on property, only two for M/F. You pay $.25 for 5 minutes of hot water, which unfortunately isn’t always hot! I learned that the hard way. However, the sites are $30 per night (tents) and $40-$45 I believe for RV/Campers. There are a lot of people who have RV’s parked there year round and come seasonally. I was actually camping out of my car at this point and the site was perfect for it. Would be perfect for someone pitching a tent as well, as there is a lot of room on each site for multiple things. They also have running water for dishes and drinking. The owners live on a house on property, and cultivated the land from an RV they lived in while they developed the property. They have a big fluffy white dog that’s awesome. Lastly, there is a grill and picnic table at every site and they even have a waterfall on property with an available tent site nearby. However, you’d have to park your car at the top and hike down. it’s not too far!

I’d say this was one of Vermont’s best kept secrets, except I don’t think it’s exactly a secret. Even in October, the Park seemed full with visitors and Stowe was hopping! Leaf peepers were in full force and the grounds were absolutely spectacular- I really picked the perfect time of year to go. Nights got pretty brisk, but the foliage was breathtaking.

The Park, located along scenic Rte108, has about 20 tent sites and 14 lean-to’s well dispersed throughout the grounds. A couple spots were drive-in sites, accessible to those with disabilities; most had small pathways and/or stairwells leading to their platforms. There was not a bad site within the entire vicinity. All were fully shaded and extremely private. Although, I’d be curious about checking out Sites 1 or 16 next time around!

Bathrooms were clean and the main office sold firewood at the entrance. Facilities are also pet friendly. Plus, there are so many hiking trails and recreational opportunities in and around the Park-from Stowe Mountain Resort to the quaint shops in town and local craft breweries. And even with the Park seeming “full”, the grounds were perfectly quiet, without the incessant sound of generators you find at larger state parks.

Without a doubt, Smugglers Notch State Park is a favorite of mine!

Smuggler's Notch State Park has a small campground with 20 tent sites and 14 lean-tos. We almost always splurge on a lean-to so we can camp comfortably rain or shine. This year we stayed in Hemlock, and it was so secluded and quiet. The whole place has a real wilderness feel, but it is very close to lots of hiking and the attractions in Stowe. You can easily walk to Bingham Falls across the street, which I think is one of the most lovely waterfalls in the whole state. There's also easy access to lots of hiking trails, although I would suggest driving to the trailheads as route 108 is not fun to walk along.

A favorite Smuggler's Notch weekend in the summer would include a visit to Bingham Falls, hiking to Sterling Pond, and possibly up to the top of Mt. Mansfield. When we don't have time to hike up Mt. Mansfield, we splurge on a drive up the toll road. Then we can hike around on the summit. Lastly, we always stop at the Alchemist for a case or two of Heady Topper to bring home.

I almost gave this campground three stars. Our lean-to, Hickory is situated in a lovely meadow, but quite close to other campers and a view that overlooks the campground road. There is very little shade and no privacy. Other sites in the campground have a similar feel. Some of the wooded tent sites are quite private, but most are not. 

Despite not feeling all that private, I was impressed with the sandy beach on Lake Elmore and the hiking trail up to the top of Elmore Mountain. Because this is the only trail within the park, it does get really busy on the weekends, and I found it nearly impossible to give 6-feet of space to other hikers because of how narrow the trail is. I would not hike this on a Saturday in summer or fall, at least not until the threat from COVID is behind us!

The restroom in the campground loop we were in was very clean but outdated. The sinks are cold water only, which I normally wouldn't mind, but the temps dropped into the 20s during our trip, which made washing up a little bit painful.

Because our lean-to was in a meadow with no tree coverage, we were treated to the most awesome night sky we've ever seen at a Vermont state park. It was mesmerizing! I only wish that I had the skills with a camera to capture it! It totally erased all my grumblings about not having privacy. Starry sky for the win!

Public campgrounds are pretty limited in this part of VT, so we ended up at Gold Brook CG. This is definitely best for RVs/travel trailers where you can escape inside your unit because this place gets busy on the weekend. We visited in early June before the high season, so the crowds were minimal during the week but busy on the weekend. We personally would prefer more seclusion/privacy between the sites since we tent camp. All that said, the plots are level, grassy, and seemingly well maintained. The bathroom facilities were clean and nice; washer and dryer room available. Too cool for the pool but looked nice. We stayed in site 12, though next time i believe we’d opt for something further down to be closer to the creek. While we were next to the creek at site 12, it was blocked by brush and trees.

Check in was easy, and the staff were present enough in case you had questions or needed to buy firewood. Road noise was moderate; I wouldn’t want to stay in sites 1-11 due to the proximity to the road.

The campground served as a good ‘basecamp’ for accessing Stowe and other surrounding attractions.

Can’t speak to the negative review re cancellations, but my experience with the staff was all positive and received relatively prompt responses to questions.

Private Field and Woods Camping in New Hampshire is a true paradise for lovers of nature and secluded recreation. After spending several days here, I was delighted with the beauty of nature and the comfort that this unique camp offers. The first thing that catches your eye is the amazing landscape.

Situated deep in the forests, the camp is surrounded by spacious fields and wild nature. Sunrises and sunsets at this place are a real miracle that makes you forget about the hustle and bustle of everyday life and enjoy the moment. The camp itself provides unique opportunities for close contact with nature.

The opportunity to locate your tent camp in a private field surrounded by forest creates a unique atmosphere of comfort and privacy. The absence of city noise and light pollution allows you to enjoy the silence and sounds of nature. The camp infrastructure also deserves the highest praise. Ecologically built showers and toilets provide everything you need for a comfortable stay away from civilization. Fire pits and cooking areas allow you to enjoy delicious meals cooked outdoors.

Private Field and Woods Camping in New Hampshire is the perfect place for those who want a real getaway in nature, far from the hustle and bustle of the city. I left this place with a feeling of complete relaxation and deep gratitude to the team who created this unique corner of nature.

 There are hiking trails right from the campground, which we always appreciate. You can also go down to the water and rent a kayak or canoe from the rangers. Camp fees are $28/night, plus $5/day per adult for state park fees. 

There is a dump station and drinking water on site, but the spigots for the water are not threaded. We tried our water bandit, with messy wet results. (Apparently you can’t use those if the other end of the hose is pressurized.) Luckily, we found we could unscrew the head of the hose at the dump station and had no problem filling our tank with potable water. 

Each site is so different and may or may not fit an RV. Some sites are so sloped I don’t even know how a car would camp there. Some sites are out in the open grass where you just find a spot within the site that works for you. We saw fresh moose poop on a hike but sadly no moose or other wildlife. There are bears around the area though so please be bear smart when camping here. 

Showers are something like $1 for 8 minutes, quarters only. The lean-to sites are really cool, and if I was tent camping I think they’d be so fun to sleep in. They have food compost bins here, but the rangers keep forgetting to unlock the bin, so you just have to ask them. There’s also a book exchange library and adorable little gnome habitats set up in the campground. We had a pleasant stay here.

We made a single nights reservation, for a tent, based on recommendation from Kingdom Trails website. The campground is located in a beautiful area of Vermont, but....the tenting campground, a bit dismal. We arrived to find a teeny tiny space, right next to other spaces...in fact, had we set up our small tent, we would be less than ten feet from adjacent tents. Within less than 20 feet across the dirt path were side by side tent trailers and rvs. We would not have been able to use the metal fire ring because the fire would have been within 6 feet of our small tent. When we backed our car onto the narrow space, it was within a foot of the picnic table. Basically, it would have been like camping in a WalMart parking lot on a Saturday morning...if the parking lot was a treeless dirt lot. Within 3 minutes, we decided there was no way we could stay here, we were just not that desperate! We stopped at the rest room on the way out...gross! Smelly, wet, dirty, dingy. As we left, we decided that this was the best 25.00 we ever wasted...in fact, you could not have paid us to stay there . We cannot believe Kingdom Trails continues to suggest this disaster. I will add, the girl at the store/office was quite friendly...but she did not seem surprised when we returned for our bathroom key deposit so quickly! We were fortunate in that we could just head home...but if you are planning on a peaceful nights rest after mountain biking or hiking, this is not the place. There are beautiful state parks that we could recommend, and we just don't want folks that end up here to think that this is typical for Vermont camping!

It made me sad to think what this campground used to be (either that or the website was terribly misleading, however, since the property is for sale, I am thinking that it may have fallen on hard times). 

I called a week ahead to make sure there would be space. Heath, the owner, called back later the same day, very apologetic that it took him so long to return my call (less than a day did not seem to be too long to me). He assured me there was space, so we made our plans. We did not plan on arriving after dark, but we did, having had too much fun admiring the fall color. I called ahead to let Heath know we would be arriving late and left a message (it took three different phone numbers to reach an answering machine). No one was there when we arrived. It was challenging in the dark, but we found two open spaces and backed into one of them. We were not able to use the electrical connection as it required both input and output 30 amp connections and we need a 110 for one of the connections.

I was so tired that, despite the heavy road noise from Route 2, I fell asleep shortly after 9 pm. However, we were woken out of a sound sleep at around 2 am to the sounds of a woman shouting loudly and angrily (at her kids, husband, someone). This went on for a few minutes and no one sounded in distress and then all was quiet again. Even the road noise had subsided. 

The bathrooms were small but reasonable. There was a laundry area and a game room/lounge, stocked with a pool table, couch and chairs, books, (recent) newspapers, and games. There was also an above-ground pool and a separate tent area. Cell service was strong and WiFi is available, but we did not use as we did not have the password. 

RV sites were$35 and tent sites were$25, cash or check only. The next morning, we checked the office again and it was still locked up with no trace of anyone having been or being around. There was no place to leave the money and we never heard back from Heath, so we left. There could be so much potential to this conveniently located campground and I hope that someone is able to revive it.

This is an RV campground w a handful of tent spots. We stayed at T4, a site w electric right on the lake. I was initially very excited to be so close to the lake but my enthusiasm waned a little after a swim- the lake bottom was murky sticky mud which is fine it’s just not my favorite. My fiancé went swimming and got a leech or leech-like thing on his foot so swimming for him was pretty much over. Being at the lake meant a lot of noise from others including the campers that use the facility, I mean like actual camp, like groups of kids and counselors. I don’t mind kids but others might. It was the usual kid squealing and stuff. When we arrived a counselor was using our site and picnic table, spilling cheese-it’s all over the place which made us popular with the many many seagulls. She left when she saw us pulling in but left the mess behind so the birds were an issue. They continued to be an issue the whole 3 days we were there- every day we’d come back to our tent to find our stuff scattered a bit- not a huge problem but a present nuisance nonetheless. We tried to keep our things contained but still they tried to carry some stuff away. On the lake shore was a lot of seagull feathers and goose presence, poop, it’s not my favorite way to swim. The bathrooms were ok, pretty basic, very much reminiscent of when you get sent to camp as a child, bare bones. The stalls in the bathroom are uncomfortably short so when you stand up your head is poking out over the door, you can make eye contact w everyone else in the room which is just weird! We went two days without paper towels being restocked to dry your hands, I finally had to call the office. (Everyone in the office was super awesomely nice, always!) Sunday morning there is a group that makes breakfast in the pavilion I guess for donations which they use to beautify the campground. This is a lovely gesture. However the pavilion is right next to the tent sites and the group started setting up about 6:30 AM, which included honking their car horn, and talking very loudly with complete disregard for quiet hours or the full row of tent sleepers. My fiancé finally approached them and told them they must be unaware of how much their voices are carrying but that everyone was still sleeping. They didn’t apologize or say anything and honestly I don’t think they cared or lowered their voices at all. Our site was comfortable, water and electric worked fine, clean fire ring, we didn’t use it. The group next to us talked late past quiet hours (I didn’t not approach the campground about it we just dealt w it), and used a drone which was extremely uncomfortable, loud, and disruptive. I did call the office about that the next day and asked if there was a drone policy, she said there was not but that she would address it if they used it again, they ended up leaving so it wasn’t a problem but there should definitely be a policy about it. All in all, people were nice but the lake location meant a LOT of additional noise from other users and there did not seem to be any reminders about quiet time. Don’t come here if you’re looking for solitude but do come here if you’re looking for a great location in northern Vermont close to a cute town and amenities. Just set your mindset that it’s not a secluded or quiet spot but a spot w stuff to do and lots of people to interact w. We did not use the boat rentals or tennis courts or other stuff.

Great campground located ontop of Burke Mtn in East Burke, Vermont as part of the overall ski area complex. Nice semi secluded sites, some big enough for small trailers or RV, some with leantos. Each site comes with picnic table, level tent areas, and a fire pit with grill for cooking. All sites come with access to Burke Mtn's pool, sauna and hot tub. There is no shuttle to the campground though, so be prepared to get yourself down the hill to the Kingdom Trails parking lot. It is a hella climb to get back up to the campground after riding all day.