We last left you with fears of “Beaver Fever”….After many hours waiting at Hospital, it appears the beavers are off the hook, and it may have been a case of my bad cooking. (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, skip back to my last blog for all the details) With a delay now for our camping trip to Maine I was forced to do the unthinkable…..book a campsite last minute and unplanned. I had cancelled a weeks worth of camping and now had to get us back on track. I was able to get a site at New Discovery State park in the midst of the Green Mountains of Vermont. I was not expecting much, was looking for a short stop en-route to Maine.

Karen and I usually prefer more secluded camping sites, at New Discovery there are many varying types of sites, the central open field seems to be the most suitable for trailers, however there are smaller wooded sites, and many Adirondack shelters scattered throughout the park…and beyond.

Another feature of this park, is that it caters to Horse owners, with an entire section devoted to camping with horses, complete with enclosed paddocks. The area surrounding the park has miles of multi purpose trails for hiking biking and riding.

New Discovery is one of several State parks located in Groton State forest, a 26,000 acre forest with a year round trail system connecting all major points of interest. We were only booked in for two nights (one day) so had to try and squeeze as much of this incredible region in, the result was about 30 Kms hiked and biked before the sunset.

There are miles of multi use trails perfect for biking, unfortunately my bike is not too suited to some of these trails, may have to look around for a better trail bike! The rougher trails are linked to the Montpelier & Wells river rail trail, and the cross Vermont trail system which run across the State and make for much easier cycling.

Our first hike of the day was the Osmore pond loop, a simple 3.5 km trail linking several picnic sites and camping sites scattered around the pond.

At this time of the year, there are no mosquitoes or deer flies to deter from the experience. While the main campground was mostly empty, there were a lot of campers scattered amongst the secluded camping sites. The remainder of the day was spent hiking a few of the nearby trails, we completed another three. The Owl’s head trail, the nature centre trail and finished the afternoon off on the Kettle pond trail.

A link to a decent trail map of the area…..

There were a few sections of the Owl’s head trail that we had to assist Marcus, some very steep step sections, but the incredible views of Kettle pond and Lake Groton were worth the effort.

We attempted to visit Boulder beach on lake Groton, unfortunately dogs were not allowed to enter, so cannot report on the quality of the beaches. While we were in the area we stopped at the nature centre hoping to see something, the place was closed, despite it being a Saturday afternoon. Our last walk of the day was around Kettle pond. Fortunately we ran into someone inflating a SUP board in the parking lot, who mentioned that the first part of the trail was swamped out. She led us on a bypass through her campsite….If you plan on this hike be aware of the muddy first section…

The trail guide rated this 3 mile trail as easy and suitable for young children…hmm perhaps if your children were raised by mountain goats. The trail is mostly flat, however there are areas of huge boulders that requires a certain nimbleness often not found in children.

There are many secluded campsites scattered along the trail, all feature an Adirondack shelter and great fire pits.

The trail had a quality that at the time I could not put my finger on, very magical, it reminded me of what I imagine would be a trail Hansel and Gretel would take on the way to the witches cottage….and then we came across this sign.

It was indeed a very friendly puppy, ended up following us for a fair distance wanting to play with Marcus. Considering the unplanned nature of this stop, both Karen and I were very impressed with everything about New Discovery. We both agreed it was the best maintained and manicured of any park we have visited, the staff were friendly and helpful. The only fault I can mention is that the campground has only one shower. For our stay this was not an issue, considering how empty it was.

Our short stay in Vermont was well worth the visit, Karen and I will visit this area again (myself with a slightly more rugged bike I hope) Next stop is the coast of Maine….until then….