Originally Posted by
Steve B.
Vermont has a wonderful and extensive selection of state parks for camping and I think all have lean-to’s, which if you can into, make for a pleasant stay. Sometimes you need a tent in case of bugs, but if it’s raining, having a shelter for cooking or hanging out is really handy. I wiould look at generating a route that has the parks as daily designations.
That’s exactly what I did in 2021. As I think I mentioned above, I spent every night except one in state parks. I got lean-tos every night, and they came in handy due to rain. Early in the trip I swapped days off because of heavy rain much of the day. It was nice to have a spacious, dry place to hang out.
The lean-tos were not that much more expensive than regular sites. The “premium” (e.g., lake view) ones are slightly more expensive than regular ones, but still worth the extra money.
I definitely set up my tent every night for bug protection.
All the workers I interacted with were terrific. One place gave me an extra bundle of wood because it took them about 30 min. to deliver what I had purchased to my site. I hadn’t even changed out of my riding clothes yet. What was really interesting were the employee residences at at least some of the parks. I guess it’s a way to attract workers who don’t live close by.
The biggest drawback is that you might have to carry food for a ways. But that’s not always the case. Silver Lake and Jamaica had well stocked country stores very close. Mt. Ascutney had a store a few miles away.