New England Road Trip

My wife and I are planning on taking a roadtrip from Philadelphia to Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine from the 20th-27th. Planning on climbing in the North Conway area some and checking out Acadia. We were also thinking about trying to find a place with kayaking/backcountry camping. Preferably lake loops. Anyone have any recommendations for that? Anyone have any additional suggestions for things to see or places to go?(restaurants/pubs/parks).

Do not go to Acadia on a weekend. Weekends are zoos. You can backcountry camp anywhere in the White Mountains as long as you are a good distance from the trail and any streams.

Powerlinez in southern New York. Gunks. Backpacking in Catskills is awesome. Burroughs range is great for a two nighter depending on how much you are driving the day in and day out. NH is full of climbing! Acadia is great but steer clear of the cliffs unless you hit it early on a weekday. Those are my playgrounds.

Skip Vermont and go straight to NH/ME. Between what is offered at Cathedral/Whitehorse, Rumney, and the back country climbing at Tumbledown, you'll be quite busy.

Have some beers at Flatbread and The Moat in North Conway, too!

Yeah, skip Vermont! (We don't want anyone here anyway! :) )

Nah, Duca is right, lots of great stuff in NH, any type of climbing you want. Whitehorse if you like slab, Cannon Cliff if you like adventure, Rumney if you like sport, and on and on and on.

If you like good beer, you should definitely NOT skip Vermont. Can you say Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawsons, and more....

Lake Willoughby will meet almost all of the requirements for your trip. Climbing at Mt. Wheeler is great and the lake is beautiful. I'm pretty sure you can back country camp if you walk through the south end towards the Mt. Hor trail. Green River Reservoir is probably the best canoe camping destination in the area, it is a state park and you do have to pay to camp. If you go to Waterbury Reservoir via the Cotton Brook entrance and paddle towards the main part of the lake you will find plenty of campsites that are free. My favorite sites there are just before that arm dumps into the main part of the lake. Smuggler's Notch climbing is close to Waterbury, and is excellent. Feel free to ask if you want anymore beta.

Rogers Rock (canoe/Kayak Approach) and Shelving Rock-
Both in Lake George NY. Both very satisfying climbing adventures, if you are looking for more than just bolt clipping at the 5.8 crag of Rumney...

Thanks for the advice! The climbing is pretty much planned out, it's the other stuff, I'm still working on figuring out. Anyone ever go kayak camping in Maine?

Saco River! Camp sites along the river- typically done in rafts with a cooler or two.

Green river reservoir sounds pretty cool. Do you know if it fills up fast?

I have kayak camped in Maine off the coast, there are a good many easily reached islands with nothing on them. Another awesome spot is on Lake Umbagog which is a federal wildlife preserve. Great campsite at Cedar Stump on the Rapid River and weekends this time of year usually include water releases for top notch yakking on the rapid or Nearby Magalloway

Ryan M Moore wrote:Thanks for the advice! The climbing is pretty much planned out, it's the other stuff, I'm still working on figuring out. Anyone ever go kayak camping in Maine?

Thanks for all the input guys. Your suggestions were quite helpful and most of the ones that we aren't taking on this trip will be filed away on the to-do list. The plan as it stands now is to drive up to North Conway, spend a day at white horse then climb north Percy peak, then head to umbagog for 2 nights. Then Portland to Acadia and back through Boston. Anyone ever climb north Percy peak? Any thing along the way we should see?

Percy is good stuff,there is some slide type scramble/climbing around there as well..Nearby is South Pond Recreation area.??(it's been a while) and a nice hike out to the top of Rogers Ledge.

Good climbing in Grafton Notch,western maine thats kinda on the way too

North Percy peak is pretty fun, very easy climbing, kind of a rough approach but not too bad if you're into that kind of thing. Carter ledge in albany,nh (whites ledge campground) is very similar to north percy peak but a little more accessible I think, they both have naturally clean high quality granite.

mountainproject.com/v/carte…

Every time I see someone say, "skip Vermont" I smile at the thought of another day alone at a Green Mountain crag.

:)

North Percy Peak is an absolute blast. Nice hike up and yes, a bit of a thrash but not too bad to get to the rock. Four or so pitches of very easy slab climbing with the end being the hiking trail three minutes to the summit. Very nice views and different than most as you're pretty far north. I'd do it again no questions asked for a fun day out combining climbing and hiking!

KrisFiore wrote:Every time I see someone say, "skip Vermont" I smile at the thought of another day alone at a Green Mountain crag. :)

Pretty excited about your guys enthusiam for North Percy, sounds like just what we want. Are the directions for the approach on MP pretty accurate or is it easy to miss going the right way?

Sorry for the Vermont snub but there are only so many days off work...haha

The mountain project directions are spot on, but just make sure you stay high when bushwhacking so you can avoid the we cliff band. The terrain really does tend to push you down. Watch out for loose rock as well, have fun!