Mountain Exploration in Vermont and New York - New England Final Chapter

Arriving in Vermont

We finished our New England trip with a visit to Vermont and the Green Mountains. We stayed in the southeast corner of the state near Brattleboro, VT which sits on a river just across from New Hampshire. Our drive there from Maine was very scenic as we crossed through New Hampshire. Even though we were on a state road, it was a fairly easy drive with the RV. I am always a little nervous when we aren’t on an interstate or US highway with this fifth wheel. It is fairly high at 13 ft 5 in so we worry about overhead clearances. Both the RV GPS and the RV Trip Wizard app mapped us that way so we thought it should be fine and it was.

Our stay in Vermont was only for 3 nights and unfortunately, storms and rain were predicted every afternoon. Since that was the case, we planned morning drives to tour the area. For the most part, that worked out well but it was very cloudy so not the best for pictures. Even so, the drives on back roads around the campground and through the Green Mountain National Forest were very pretty. We saw a few deer in route but no other wildlife. We did find a few covered bridges that were still in use. The first one had fairly constant traffic which made it difficult to get a picture!

I was able to get a better shot after we crossed the bridge.

The view of the river and mountains from under the bridge was pretty. What a peaceful place if it weren’t for the traffic on the bridge!

Another covered bridge along our route.

As you can see, it was a very dark and cloudy day

The town of Brattleboro was cute with a main street with quite a few little shops and being located on a river, there were some restaurants with nice decks and waterfront views. i always like having a view while eating so we tried out a couple places. The first day, we went to a barbecue joint that just had a pavilion with picnic tables outside. Since it was so hot and humid, we just ordered the food to go but I got a few pictures of the view while we waited for the food. The next day, after our drive through the mountain, we checked out the local brewery for a late lunch. Again, it was very hot and humid, so we ate inside but had a window seat with a terrific view of the river.

View from the barbecue joint

River view at the brewery

I liked seeing the church steeple rising above the trees.

Other than driving through the mountains, we did some shopping in the area. Tim needed a tool for a project so we looked for a hardware store and found a True Value that was going out of business. Everything was 35% off so we spent a bit of time there. I browsed through the store and found a toy for Trent and a small George Forman grill for me. Tim picked up some tools and parts for his projects. We both got some good bargains. I am hoping that Tim will write a blog post soon about the couple projects he has going for some improvements to our RV. He is busy working now so it will be awhile before he has time to sit down and write about it.

The campground, Kampfires Campground, was a good place for our stay. They had a nice pool area as well as a snack bar/ice cream shop as well as local musicians for entertainment on the weekend. Luckily, the rain cleared in time for the show on Friday evening. We enjoyed the guitarist while eating our ice cream. A great way to end the day. We spent some time at the campground and met some of the neighbors. Trent enjoyed the large dog park at this campground as well. So we all had a good time and made the best of our time there even with the humidity and storms.

When we left Vermont, we headed south to New York for a 5 day stop in the Catskills Mountains on our way to Pennsylvania. I had never been to that part of New York before and it was definitely worth the stop. We stayed at Roundout Valley Campground, part of the Thousand Trails system. It was a nice campground nestled in the trees in between 2 creeks. It was also a popular campground for families and was packed while we were there. Like most Thousand Trails campgrounds, it is an older campground and there were very few 50 amp sites so we had to take a 30 amp site. It was a big site but only having 30 amp was difficult, especially the first couple days of 90 degree weather. I doubt we would stay there again unless it was in cooler temperatures.

Pretty drive ride outside of the campground

Again with the heat, we did some scenic drives through the mountains in the mornings and spent the afternoons at the campground. We did have some thunderstorms the first couple days but then the weather cleared up with some better temperatures and less humidity. That definitely made the stay more enjoyable.

Our drives took us winding through the valleys and up through the Catskills and quaint little towns along the way. We found a huge reservoir that was nestled between the mountains. It was beautiful and it was amazing to discover that is was filled with billions of gallons of water that supplied New York City. We made a stop near the top of a mountain at a ski resort to get some great mountain views.

We had a nice day in New York for a scenic ride but it was too hot to walk across the reservoir.

A ski resort is a great place for mountain views.

On our last day there, we went to the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, NY as well as a park with a bike path along the river and a view of the lighthouse in the river. I enjoyed learning about the building of the Erie Canal and how the rivers were vital to transportation and commerce. They had an interesting exhibit on bringing back sail boats for commercial transportation to reduce the need for fossil fuels. There was quite a collection of boat models and parts in the museum as well as an ice yachts. The museum was worth the trip.

This boat came by while we were at the museum.

This park at Kingston Point was really nice.

The Hudson River.

The Roundout Lighthouse marking the entrance to the Roundout River.

We are now back in Pennsylvania and spent a few days at the Bellefonte/State College KOA. My brother Randy has been over the last couple of days helping Tim with his projects. In between working, we took a ride out to the camp we spent quite a bit of time at as children. My brothers both still belong to the camp and use it for hunting. It hasn’t changed much since I was a child; still only has an outhouse and no electricity. I don’t miss staying there but it was good for a nostalgic visit!

Camp

My dad and his buddies built this camp when they were young bucks!

We did some target shooting while at camp. i did ok but not great. Guess I need practice.

Relaxing by the fire after the guys finished working.