The Fourth of July weekend was another chance to get out and camp. This time Andrea found us a campsite in the Groton State forest at New Discovery State Park . New Discovery is one of 5 campgrounds in the Groton State Forest. Zoom in and out of this map for details of the different campgrounds and parks @ Groton.
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The drive from Montpelier is short and very easy. Up Rt2 past Vermont Country Campers and Mekkelsen RV. through Marshfield. Turn left on Rt 232 (New Discovery Rd) and in no time we were there. While driving by Mekkelsen, we stopped to take a look at the a possible future camper. But we quickly got back on the road.
When we arrived at the Campground, we checked in. The park Ranger, Donald O'Donald (yes that is really his name), assigned us site 31 (
Campground Map). At first glance the site looks like its not near any of the bathroom's, water spigots, and other campers. At 2nd glance you realized it NOWHERE NEAR any of those things. It took me a while to get used to the site. The park claims its good for up to a 28ft trailer but I would not recommend any camper other than a pop-up. Backing in our little pop-up wasn't hard but getting around the stone fire pit could have been easier.
Camp set up was pretty standard. Unhook, level it, and pop it up! I opted not to put up my large tarp, but later changed my mind. During our stay at New Discovery, the kids, especially Luke, spent a lot of time with the park ranger. First, Luke & Rosie ran over to the Ranger station to find out how they could become "Junior Rangers" here. And so the ranger gave them some jobs to do, like picking up trash around the campground, then gave them rides on the golf cart and in his 1968 Ford Falcon. He even gave them Jr. Ranger badges & official certificates!
First we tooled over to Big Deer to find our friends, the Hammonds'. Rosie goes to school with Laura, one of their 4 kids. They were doing a program at the Nature Center, then we decided to go swimming over at Boulder Beach. The water was quite refreshing! Later, after dinner back at our campsite, Luke, Rosie & I came back to the beach to view the fireworks show over Lake Groton. While Dad sat in front of the fire to keep the sleeping Rachel company. Aaron attempted to roast those over sized marshmallows. There not really a good idea for smores. Way to much of a good thing. Stick with the traditional ones.
On Sunday, we had a breakfast of scrambled eggs & sausage. Afterward, the kids made sit-upons from pieces of old carpet & contact paper that we brought. Then we got ready for the bike parade at Stillwater, we brought our picnic lunch, and had fun decorating our bikes with red, white & blue streamers and flags. The Bike Parade just went around the campsite loops and ended at the boat launch as a show of patriotism for July 4th. We attempted biking a little more on the Wells River Rail Trail near Stillwater (while our bikes were still out) but the kids pooped out early. So we defaulted to a "water creatures" program, looking at insects/small animals in/around the water.
For dinner we had Chicken Shish Kebab, I put Rachel to bed, and then started our campfire. While roasting S'mores, we told stories which the kids really enjoy. Sometimes we each tell a part, and then the next person adds more details, a great exercise in creativity!
Monday morning was the pack-up day. I (Aaron) had asked the ranger the night before if we could pack up but not check out at 11am. We always seem to have trouble getting out by checkout. But this time we were more interested in using our time at the park for fun. We had seen a multi-use trail on the map. The telephone line trail is a trail that connects New Discovery with Big Dear campgrounds. According to the map its 2.5 miles. After packing up we hopped on our bikes and went to find the trailhead. Once on the trail we realized it is not intended for pulling trailers. I had a hard time with Rosie on the trail-a-bike as did Andrea with Rachel in the bike trailer. We gave it our best shot but turned ourselves around. Next time we'll remember the backpack and do some hiking instead.
After some more swimming at the Boulder Beach, we were headed back to Montpelier home.
This is the album of our weekend:
Monday morning was the pack-up day. I (Aaron) had asked the ranger the night before if we could pack up but not check out at 11am. We always seem to have trouble getting out by checkout. But this time we were more interested in using our time at the park for fun. We had seen a multi-use trail on the map. The telephone line trail is a trail that connects New Discovery with Big Dear campgrounds. According to the map its 2.5 miles. After packing up we hopped on our bikes and went to find the trailhead. Once on the trail we realized it is not intended for pulling trailers. I had a hard time with Rosie on the trail-a-bike as did Andrea with Rachel in the bike trailer. We gave it our best shot but turned ourselves around. Next time we'll remember the backpack and do some hiking instead.
