Vermont, Maine, NH, NY Car Camp Tour - IPA, day hikes and must see suggestions?

[uglymoney]

Since there will be a lot of driving, the finest Mountain Rd you will ever drive in the Northeast is the Kangamangas, or, Rt 112, between Lincoln, NH and Conway, NH. Work it in somehow.

Lake Placid is an unfortunate tourist mecca filled with consumption in the summer. There are tons of great hikes well marked off of roads nearby to escape that. I suggest the ones heading south to Mt. Marcy, but, if you want family friendly, there is a ton of info on the internet, with maps.

They should turn the bobsled run into a giant water slide. I'd hit that.

Cool. We'll probably only be in town for long enough to eat and shower and sleep in a real bed. Hopefully spend time in the surrounds doing a couple hikes. I have strong memories of watching the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid which is probably why I put it on the hit list. And it is on the way home.

[Benny Profane]

You're in for a long, long day if you are planning on doing anything other than driving up the auto road on your way from Stowe to Acadia. It's ~3 hours from Stowe to Mt. Washington, expect at least another 4 hours of driving to get to Acadia.

+1 ..........

[uglymoney]

You're in for a long, long day if you are planning on doing anything other than driving up the auto road on your way from Stowe to Acadia. It's ~3 hours from Stowe to Mt. Washington, expect at least another 4 hours of driving to get to Acadia.

I'm working on the wife to get this changed. Seems ridiculous and we miss the good stuff in NH. I'm trying to jettison the whole Niagara falls stop.

[Benny Profane]

What road across NY state? (Yeah, kill Niagara Falls. please.)

[ICEHOCEY77]

Camden, ME. would be a nice stop. Camp at Camden Hills state park, hike up Mount Battie, Check out the Camden Snowbowl (ski area). Make a stop in Waldboro to eat at Moody's Diner. Lots to do in that area.

x2. I really enjoy that area. Also x2 on Portland if you are a beer nut. Great vibe in town. Bar Harbor has a local brewery that's in the middle of town that does a decent blueberry beer. Also a nice lobster shack is on the right side of the road before you cross the bridge onto Mt. Desert Island. You probably already have the beta for Acadia (Caddy Mountain and the precipice hike). If you get tired of all the people the other side of the island is just as nice and probably 1/4 as crowded.

[Danno]

more visually quaint?
Vermont is not Stowe, guy.
it's shithole podunks like Rutland, Barre, Newport, Springfield the list is deep.
NH is more real, sure. it's also way more appealing with a shit-ton of mountains over 4g, lakes, ocean.

Never spent any time in Stowe, guy. I spent a lot of my childhood in Vermont, also lived in Burlington, and drove to my parents' house in southern Vermont all the time. I'm fairly familiar with what Vermont has to offer, warts and all. And while NH has bigger more rugged mountains and may be more "spectacular" in that respect, overall I find Vermont more visually appealing, with the "average" town being more quaint. It's called an opinion, I haz one.

[grubbers]

No billboards in VT, can't say the same for NH.

[schuss]

While I agree that a lot of parts of VT are more "unspoiled" in certain ways, NH has a few more kid-friendly activities (See Kanc swimming, flume and some of the cool natural formations around North Conway) and has more hiking options that are well-marked. It also gets him closer to Acadia, as from Conway you can bump over to Bethel and Sebago lake, then pick up the coastal route north of Portland, where there will be a lot less traffic.

[Skistack]

Second Moat Mtn. in North Conway, great beer and smoked meats. The smoked salmon is awesome. Just don't go on a Friday or Saturday night, crowded as fuck, with 90% of the clientele being Massholes and their ill-behaved spawn headed to Storyland.

The Mt. Washington auto road is a must-do, something the whole family will enjoy and remember.

On the way to Acadia, Marshall Wharf Brewing in Belfast is a cool brewery in a less-touristy coastal Maine town. But they are closed Sundays.

[booner]

Custom Brewcrafters is best in lake Ontario area... in Honeoye falls just south of rochester. Ithaca is awesome brewery too, and great falls hiking. Best hiking near lake Ontario is in finger lakes... Finger lakes trail around bristol and Naples .

Sent from one of those fancy cellular telephones

[AdironRider]

Whatever you do get lunch at Duckfat in Portland. You will most likely have to wait a 1/2 hour to an hour to get in, but it is worth it. Like really worth it.

Drive the Kancamangus from 93 over to North Conway in NH, its a sweet little drive.

[half-fast]

Niagara Falls on the Canadian side is kind of cool in a touristy way

[AdironRider]

Never spent any time in Stowe, guy. I spent a lot of my childhood in Vermont, also lived in Burlington, and drove to my parents' house in southern Vermont all the time. I'm fairly familiar with what Vermont has to offer, warts and all. And while NH has bigger more rugged mountains and may be more "spectacular" in that respect, overall I find Vermont more visually appealing, with the "average" town being more quaint. It's called an opinion, I haz one.

Your opinion is equivalent of a wanna be Martha Stewart. NH is for men.

[Danno]

I didn't realize the OP wanted THAT kind of vacation. NTTAWWT.

[uglymoney]

Oh, and, the best advice I can give you is respect local speed limits. 30 is 30, in a lot of places. And buy a radar detector, if you care to.

Midwest is the same way but always good to be reminded. The last ticket I have was in Pinedale, WY back in 2003 speeding just a few feet before a sign that would have put me well under the limit. Wyoming County Mounty that smelled like he smoked a thousand cigarettes before pulling me over. I wanted to warn him about cancer but...I kept my mouth shut.

Second Moat Mtn. in North Conway, great beer and smoked meats. The smoked salmon is awesome. Just don't go on a Friday or Saturday night, crowded as fuck, with 90% of the clientele being Massholes and their ill-behaved spawn headed to Storyland.

The Mt. Washington auto road is a must-do, something the whole family will enjoy and remember.

On the way to Acadia, Marshall Wharf Brewing in Belfast is a cool brewery in a less-touristy coastal Maine town. But they are closed Sundays.

I'm not going to miss Mt. Washington. Belfast is right on our way so that is perfect thanks.

Custom Brewcrafters is best in lake Ontario area... in Honeoye falls just south of rochester. Ithaca is awesome brewery too, and great falls hiking. Best hiking near lake Ontario is in finger lakes... Finger lakes trail around bristol and Naples .

Honeoye Falls would make a nice pitstop.

Whatever you do get lunch at Duckfat in Portland. You will most likely have to wait a 1/2 hour to an hour to get in, but it is worth it. Like really worth it.

Drive the Kancamangus from 93 over to North Conway in NH, its a sweet little drive.

Everybody is recommending the Kancamangus and so we have already made a change to our routing to get that in and hopefully have time to enjoy it.

What road across NY state? (Yeah, kill Niagara Falls. please.)

Not sure. 3 or 28? Suggestions. We are covering a lot of ground on this trip and we can't see/do everything. I've spent a lifetime trying to see all of Colorado and still have a lot of gaps to fill and I'm okay with that.

And Storyland ? Never heard of it and I guess it is nice to know about but the wife has the Disney thing covered with her parents annual winter retreat to Florida. For kids entertainment we're looking more to the sunset amphitheater presentations that campgrounds specialize in during busy seasons. I generally smuggle a beer in and enjoy. My girl is three and she enjoys looking around at stuff as much as us, swimming, hikes, just being with us. My stepson generally just wants to read and play his kindle unless things get really interesting but he is a good sport and tags along with us on our misadventures.

Lots of great pointers here already.

[AdironRider]

Yeah Storyland is cool if the kiddos are under the age of 5 or so, but its really pretty tacky tourist fare. If time is limited I'd check off other items on the list.

Kanc isn't an all day affair, but pull off at the turnout just before the top on the Western side for some great views. Just a cool way to get from one side of NH to the other. Another cool road is Hurricane Mtn road from Bartlett over, but this can be slow going if there are rubberneckers or a car club drive going on.

[uglymoney]

For some reference - Waterbury, VT to Acadia is just shy of 7 hours of driving, with only a couple of stops. We do it every year and it doesn't get any shorter.

You do it every year though so it must be worth it...good sign. We're no strangers to long drives but I'll admit I'm used to much higher speed limits.

[AdironRider]

You get higher speed limits heading north to south in New England, anything East to West from VT all the way over to ME is two lane 35-55mph limit roads.

[iceman]

NH is for men.

You should probably not get me started on NH politics.

uglymoney btw VT 108 between Stowe and Smuggs is a cool little road and summer-only, make sure to go through there while up that way. VT 100 goes down the spine of the state (i.e. not in the direction you want to go) but it is one of the prettiest roads in the country. the section through Warren and Waitsfield (i.e. the Mad River Valley, it runs right by Mad River Glen and Sugarbush) is not too far from Stowe and while crowded in summer, is totally worth it.

If you headed south from Stowe, got on 100 through Waitsfield, cut over east to 89 and headed back north a little bit towards Montpelier and then continued east on 2 or 302 depending which way you want to go, that would head you towards Mt. washington pretty well. 302 is a slow(er) road by a little bit but it lines you right up perfectly with NH 112 (the Kancamagus Hwy.), which as people have noted is pretty much a must-do.

[AdironRider]

You should probably not get me started on NH politics.

Recent or back in the day.

[iceman]

Recent or back in the day.

More back in the day but they still sponge and send all the poor, sick and crazy people south because they don't want to pay taxes to help them.

edit: "send" isn't the right word, that implies they pay bus fare or something, they're too cheap for that. They just make it virtually impossible for sick, poor and crazy people to survive there so the people move on their own. But hey it's manly.

editedit: I don't hate NH, in fact I love it. But you got to call a spade a spade.

[Benny Profane]

Not sure. 3 or 28? Suggestions.

Whoa. Sorry, but, you gotta get to Vermont. Don't dick around on little NY state roads getting there. (You'll be going through a hundred 30mph towns) Take the Thruway (90) to Albany and then hit the Northway. You gotta make time. Back roads in those places can just crawl. Scenic as hell at times. I-88 from Binghamton to Albany is very pretty farm country. Rand MacNally gives it that little scenic dashed line designation. They're right, but, alas, that's for some other time. Get the hammer down and make that white line a friend of yours.

You can ferry over to Burlington and Stowe from the NY side. http://www.ferries.com There's three, all not very far from the Northway. It's a very nice ride, and, personally, a nice alternative to Rt 7 over in Vermont all the way up. Champlain is gorgeous.

[iceman]

The Northway is a pretty cool highway itself once you get, well, North (like 50 miles north of Albany). You should take it all the way up to Plattsburgh and then take the ferry across lake Champlain to Burlington, stowe is an easy ride from there.

Benny, wth is the name of that smoked meat place you turned me on to years ago? Near saratoga? Place was awesome. Worth the two-minute detour off the highway.

edit: Oscar's. Plus if you go there there's a good (good by NY standards, i.e. awesome) pizza place in the same little tiny 4-store strip mall. Worthwhile all around.

[Hugh Conway]

meh, I was never impressed with the northway. 28 takes you the chain lakes, longs lake, etc then 73 through keene valley. or something luike thar < ball busting >

[uglymoney]

Whoa. Sorry, but, you gotta get to Vermont. Don't dick around on little NY state roads getting there. (You'll be going through a hundred 30mph towns) Take the Thruway (90) to Albany and then hit the Northway. You gotta make time. Back roads in those places can just crawl. Scenic as hell at times. I-88 from Binghamton to Albany is very pretty farm country. Rand MacNally gives it that little scenic dashed line designation. They're right, but, alas, that's for some other time. Get the hammer down and make that white line a friend of yours.

You can ferry over to Burlington and Stowe from the NY side. http://www.ferries.com There's three, all not very far from the Northway. It's a very nice ride, and, personally, a nice alternative to Rt 7 over in Vermont all the way up. Champlain is gorgeous.

Yeah, I was talking about on the way back through after we hit Acadia. We are basically going to have two chances to go through the area so we can hit different routes. The way in will be at maximum warp drive on the toll road to Albany like you say and then north. Working our way home we'll take the backroads through NY to Lake Placid and then onward to the south shore of Lake Ontario if we stick to that plan - we can cancel the night in Lake Placid if we choose. Would love to go through Burlington and take the ferries. In fact I think that is the plan as of this moment. The idea was to see some of upstate NY on the way out if it seems feasible.