Best Tent Camping near Montpelier, VT

I reviewed this campground last fall after visiting on the final day of the season, but I just had a chance to sty here during a peak summer weekend and have a few additional insights. Fees are now up to $20/night, still a bargain, but it comes with only the most basic amenities, i.e. vault toilets, running water at faucets, picnic tables and fire rings. Although the campground description indicates that the sites are first-come, first-served, this has changed and many of them are available online in advance. I didn't realize this and when i arrived late Friday afternoon I had 5 or 6 campsites to choose from that could accommodate my small teardrop camper; if I were tent camping, I'd have had a couple more sites available to me. The tent only sites require a short walk from the parking area.

When you arrive, each site will be labelled either Reserved or _Open. _ If it is Reserved, the dates it is reserved will be listed and they may not be contiguous. All the sites filled up Friday night. 

I had site 24 which I liked. it was very large and level, with ample space for today's large tents. The water spigot was near the site next door. I could see my neighbors, but they didn't bother me. Every host site always seems to look messy with tarp-covered items and wood piles and site 24 will give you a view of the host site, but it's far enough away that you can ignore it. 

If I were in a tent, I'd try for site 22. It's a walk-in site that includes 7-8 steps down, but it opens into a large open area and just a bit beyond there is a small brook, too.

The campground is just a few miles west of I-93 and the town of Woodstock. If you want to hike Mooselauke or the Kinsmans, the Appalachian Trail crosses 112 nearby. Lost River Gorge is nearby as are numerous tourist attractions/activities in Woodstock and Lincoln. Take some time to explore Cascade Park in Woodstock if you want to cool off in the river and lounge on the rocks (park on the street or in the lot that is north of 112 just before the traffic light at Rte 3 in Woodstock). While you're there, pick up ice cream at Coneheads; choose among numerous hard serve ice cream made on site (downstairs) or dozens of soft-serve flavors.

This side of 112 seems quieter than the stretch east of Lincoln. Noise level was quite low. Cell coverage is non-existent for several miles around here; you'll start to get a signal closer to Lost River Gorge in the direction of Woodstock.

Campground Review: Lakeshore camping! Beautiful little peninsula where you can watch the sunrise/set. Lovely in autumn. Good birding, water activities, sunsets, geology/gorge, short easy forest hikes, beach walking, all the good stuff you expect from this part of New York. Most of the site is off limits because of wildlife preserve, still a lot to explore. Good as base camp for a few days in the area. Get the tents sites near the lake! Popular for day use area (picnics, birthday parties, etc). Stay here and you can say you camped in Peru! (Lots of upstate NY towns are named for countries.)

Gear Review: As a The Dyrt Ranger I receive products to test and review. I won the Crazy Creek Air Chair Plus in a campground review contest in June 2016. I had been thinking of purchasing both a camp chair (for camping) and an air mattress (for camping & backpacking), as on my last few trips I got pretty sick of sitting on my closed-cell foam mat and a recent knee injury was making me rethink my open-cell foam ultralight sleeping pad. Well, this Crazy Creek Air Chair Plus does both and does them both well. It starts out as a camp chair (adjustable angle, typical back height) and flips open to a full size air pad made by Klymit. Sounds great right? I flew to NY for a whirlwind family/business/camping trip soon after receiving the chair and had ample opportunities to try it sleeping on friends’ floors and in tents. The chair portion was super comfortable, way better than any simple camp chairs I’d used. I was nervous about sitting on more rugged surfaces (I’m just paranoid about inflatables!) but so far so good. You can also flip open the bed part while you're sitting and have an extended leg rest to protect against hot sand or dirt. The conversion to the sleeping pad was simple. It inflates fairly easily, but at high altitude after a long day of hiking you might be a little annoyed puffing it all up. Sleeping on it was great: my knee and back were happier than with my open-cell foam mats (similar to the typical Thermarest). The one issue I had was that there’s a big dip/joint where the mattress flips out in the conversion from chair to bed---it’s not really that intrusive but I guess my side-sleeping and height (5’4”) conspired to annoy me a bit. Also the R value is very low (it’s not insulting) just like every other air pad but in the summer that’s fine with me. All the other aspects of sleeping on it were similar to other pads I’ve used (it’s kind of narrow, your bag will slide around a bit, etc). Doesn’t pack down too small & isn’t ultralight, but you could remove the chair aspect to help with that. In sleeping mode it’s 20” wide, 70” long, 2.5” thick, 2 lb 13 oz (according to packaging). So while this is my very first camp chair and air mattress, I’m really happy with it after 7 nights sleeping on it and many hours in the chair. It’s not gimmicky at all!

PS: Can you tell I’m way more picky about gear than campsites? :)

I tent camped here while doing some fishing in the area.

Baker Rocks had a host of different camping options onsite including tent platforms, yurts, and cabins. I booked one of the tent platforms.

The site had a large tent platform they could fit multiple tents, a brand new picnic table, a fire ring (with a free bundle of firewood), two chairs by the fire ring, and even a few strings of solar lights around the camp area.

The tent sites are within the wooded area around the property and felt very secluded. There was a bit of road noise overnight.

The facilities here were great. There is a full bathhouse with individual rooms for showers and sink/toilets, with running water.

Around the campground there was a little beach along the Baker river. I only caught a few minnows when fishing but that may have been more to do with the angler. Along another bend of the river were two chairs for taking in the scenery.

Check-in was super easy with the camp hosts who were very flexible with timing and wanted to make sure I had a great stay. The property and individual sites are deliberately designed with guests in mind.

I would definitely stay here again if I’m in the area and might try some of the glamping options as well.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at North Beach Campground.

We spent 4 days in a full hookup site. The site was spacious, tree covered, and hard packed grass/dirt. Overall the site was very level with good water pressure. The water/electric sites in the middle of the campground were a bit snug. The campground is a city operated campground and we were impressed with the upkeep, maintenance and friendly service during our stay. The camp office is small, but has information on area attractions, Ice, and fire wood. The bathhouse/restrooms were well kept during our stay even with the volume of campers at the site.

Location, Location, Location is the main reason to stay at North Beach. The campground is literally along the Island Line bike/walking trail and had direct access to the beach on Lake Champlain (life guards, snack bar, and patio bar). The city center of Burlington is only 1.5 miles along the bike path from the campground. Most days we either walked or biked into town (which has ample bike racks to park your bike).

While we stayed in our camper, as a former die-hard tent camper, I was impressed with the number of tent friendly sites, because most campgrounds see tenters as “second class”. The tent sites were spacious, level, and not located in some obscure location.  

We loved North Beach and plan to camp here in the future!

Note this is a back country shelter along the Appalachian Trail, so it is 100% long hike in with no guaranteed water and a basic privvy.

I tented along here for a night during a section hike of the AT from Lyme into Vermont.

The shelter was the basic AT 3-sided wood structure and was generally in good shape.

The water source here was dry during my trip which was expected during the drought (August 2022).

The tent camping here was ok, with some slightly slanted spots around the main shelter area.

There was no real view from the shelter.  There was also a basic privvy available.

This was a decent shelter to stop at along the AT, but I would not consider it a weekend destination.

There was no bear box onsite.

Note: This is a hike in back country shelter with unreliable water and a pit bathroom.

I tented here on a section hike of the AT. The shelter was a fairly basic 8ish person shelter, but this stop stood out because of a brand new privvy, large tenting areas, and a swimming hole and consistent water just a bit further down the trail (when heading northbound).

For camping, there were a few large tent areas where multiple tents could fit and which looked quite level.

The privvy looked brand new and was more spacious than most on the trail.

There was no water on the shelter, but there was plenty of water at Stony Brook / Mink Brook a bit further northbound. I only explored a bit offtrail down the brook but found a decent swimming hole (could just barely submerge myself) to clean off a bit.

There was also a bear box here, which I hadn't seen at other shelters along the AT in Vermont (heading southbound).

Although the shelter was fairly basic, I would keep this on my list as a go-to place to stop if I was planning to hike in the area.

This is a short and sweet hike to one of the higher points in Vermont. It is a beautiful scenic (somewhat strenuous) hike to the summit. The views are pretty epic though. The designated primitive camping area is about 1.5 miles into the hike. If I recall it had about 10-12 sites. The area had a host who was there 24/7 and a shared area for eating and food storage (I guess Bear’s are a problem there). We hiked all day, so we didn’t have a fire and to be honest I can’t remember if there was a shared spot for them or not. Either way, this hike was gorgeous and so was the camping. I would love to go back!