Emerald Lake State Park Campground

Beautiful campground in south central Vermont.  On a lovely emerald green small lake with nice beach. Good for fishing and kayaking.  Well kept. Was very quiet when we visited though I suspect it's much busier in mid summer.  Near Manchester, which has numerous great restaurants and a fabulous bookstore.

Beautiful and quiet

We try and get to Emerald Lake State Park at least a few times every summer. It's an awesome park for kids, and the turquoise water is a dream to cool off in. There's a small, sandy beach at one end of the lake, with a bath house and changing rooms nearby. Swimmers can swim out the a small island in the middle of the lake and check out the rope swing (I hope it's still there).

The campground is large, with three camping loops. While there are trails down to the lake from the campground, none of the sites are waterfront, or even water view. In fact, many of them are perched on a steep ledge, making them a bit sketchy for families with kids. If you have little ones, check out the map before you reserve a site and find one on the opposite side of the ledge.

The campground is super busy on summer weekends, but if you want solitude, hike some of the beautiful trails in the park. We especially loved the trail around the lake - quiet with good swimming all around. The vista trail has an awesome view of the lake from across the road, and the meadow trail leads to an old cemetery, which is kind of fun to explore.

There is some road noise from the campground at night, but overall this is a pretty fantastic camping experience.

Best Park for Swimming in Southern Vermont

weather is amazing . the lake is just amazing.  a lot of owls at night!!!!!!!!!

beautiful lake

This campground is a perfect place to spend a weekend in the summer, or set as a base camp for exploring the Green Mountains. The lake cools you down but is warm enough to swim in. they rent kayaks and paddle boats for the day and have flush toilets/showers available. the showers cost 50 cents for 5 minutes but it seems the meter isn’t accurate and you get more time than you pay for.

Some spots are more private than others and some lean to’s have a view of the forest rather than the road. the sites around the edges are the better ones, though some are between two Park roads. 

you can hear the main road from the lake and trail but the campground is very quiet. They do not sell ice but there is a good general store down the road that does. AT&amp;T LTE covered most of the Park.

All that you need

We camped for two nights in Lean-tos with 20 Girls and Leaders. It’s a great place to bring a Troop and use the the lake and trails for badges plus cooking badges as well. So many Girl Scout Troops close down and don’t get their girls out camping during the summer. We take the time to make this happen and the staff at Emerald Lake State Park were very helpful to make it a great time

Girl Scout Troop 30462 Annual Trip

Leantos at this state park give you protection from the elements - mind you not all sites have a leanto. (The kids also enjoyed the view from the top of the leanto but I cannot officially recommend that. : P ) Sites are on top of each other but some are more spacious and away from the others. You need quarters for showers. Dogs are allowed and I find that sites where dogs are present have less of a critters problems like racoons. The camp sites are quite a bit of a walk up the hill from the lake where there is swimming, kayaking, paddle boating and picnicking. As a result, we drove even though there were paths that people could take to go to the beach. The paths were not ideal when you have kids. There is some walking required from the parking lot to the lake and with kids and a lot to bring, it can be exhausting; but if you bring your own kayaks, you can launch at the inlet leading to the beach which cuts the walking. You can rent kayaks and paddle boats as well as life jackets.

Larchmont is our favorite camp site. It is much larger than most sites, a short walk to the showers and a bit tucked away for privacy. We had two tents set up there, which is impossible for most sites. This is a popular camp ground so reserve as early as 11 months before arrival.

There is a rope swing if you paddle away from the beach. It was great fun for the older kids. Also, exploring the island in the middle of the lake is another option.

We also drove 10 minutes to nearby Danby for horse-riding at Mountain View Ranch which is a good break from soaking in water every day.

A family friendly campground with leantos

We camped here with our dog on a tent site in camping area B. I really appreciated the VT state parks interactive campground map, which allowed us to see the sites from home and choose the one that would suit us best.

The site was large and clean, and relatively quiet even though it was a holiday weekend. Hiking trails are steep, so prepare for a good workout. We were a little confused about the No Dogs signs on the hiking trails, because it contradicted the pet policy on the park map that the ranger gave us. But we were glad to have an out of the way spot to launch our kayaks and take our dog for a boat ride.

Campfire wood was a reasonable price, but all of it was very wet! Fires were a challenge. I'm assuming that this was just a wet season here. Restrooms are about average for state parks. They were definitely cleaned daily. Don't forget to bring quarters for the shower.

Overall it was a great weekend, and we can't wait return!

Very Pretty!

Great sites, clean and private as you can be. Beautiful lake below us and only a short walk.

Nice spacious Campground.

https://hotshoe11.tumblr.com/post/176209737535/emerald-lake-state-park-a-real-gem

Peaceful with plenty of outdoor things to do

We used this as a base camp for doing some day hikes nearby. Bathrooms were clean, it was pretty quiet, and most of the sites were separated by 10-20 feet of trees. The sites are not big, but easily fit 2 cars, 2 tents, and still had plenty of room around the fire ring. The lake was also a great place to cool off after a hike.

Great camping spot

We just finished six nights at Emerald Lake State Park.  Camping at Vermont State parks is always top notch.  We had a lean-to site and good privacy from the sites around us.  There was plenty of room for our tent and screen tent.  Everyone was respectful and quiet, even on the weekend when it was busier.  Bathrooms were cleaned daily, showers were fine.  50 cents for 5 minutes and then extra time for each additional quarter.  Two bars of AT&amp;T.  Manchester was an easy 10 minute drive away for provisioning, and we enjoyed a great hike to Lye Brook Falls (the trailhead was around a 20 minute drive).  We would definitely come here again.

Vermont state parks never let us down

Beautiful ridgetop campground with large wooded sites and lots of room between sites. Showers were hot but minimal pressure. No hot water at the sinks. No utility sinks. Very nice small lake with a swimming beach. Everything was well maintained with friendly staff. No bugs in September.

Emerald Lake Campground

Nice large spots available. Friendly employees. Beautiful lake with a nice trail. The road into the campground is super rough though.