If you are looking to hike and summit Mount Killington, Bucklin Trail is a wonderful option. Much…read moremore of a traditional hike (as opposed to climbing the ski trails on the resort), the path is well-marked and well-maintained. It is approximately 7.5 miles round trip to the summit and back. It is marked with blue blazes that are easy to follow. To find the trailhead, you must turn down Wheelerville Road off Route 4... keep in mind that this is an unpaved road. After approximately 4 miles, you will reach a sharp turn in the road. There is a turnoff to the left with a decent sized area for parking. The trail begins here and remains relatively flat for almost 2 miles. It follows Brewers Brook for some time, with a couple of bridge crosses over its rocky waters. After the initial 2 miles, the trail begins to climb more steeply until it joins the Appalachian and Long Trail (follow the white blazes for this section). Along this section is Cooper Lodge, a refuge for backpackers... built in 1939, it is the highest shelter on the Long Trail. Unfortunately it was covered in graffiti (I mean really... who brings spray paint 4,000 feet up a mountain?). To end the hike you scramble up the last and steepest part of the climb, emerging from the treeline to a panoramic view of the surrounding Green Mountains. It took about 3.5-4 hours of actual trekking to complete the hike. I am not a fast hiker by any means and took several breaks along the way (especially as it got steep!). Beware of the black flies that swarm in the spring/early summer. Overall, I was very pleased with this hike. Waterfalls, rivers, bridges, panoramic views. Doesn't get better than that!

Peaceful wooded area surrounding the rushing river. Easy to navigate. Good parking lot. Part of the…read moreAppalachian Trail.

Look at me, parking the van and going for a semi-random walk in the woods. Yes, there is parking…read morehere for the Clarendon Gorge Appalachian Trailhead which meets up with the Long Trail (which runs through Vermont from the Massachusetts border to Canada and the Appalachian Trail. About a tenth of a mile down a well worth path from the trailhead is the Clarendon Gorge Bridge (which is also called the "Bob Brugmann Memorial Bridge" after a hiker who attempted to cross the raging river below but fell and died) that wobbles 30 feet or so over the riverbed. Yes, wobbles. It is a cable-suspension bridge and it was built in 1975 to replace an earlier bridge that was washed away in a flood in 1973. I expected it to be even wobblier but it has netting to keep you safe and the anchors look quite solid. Note that it's quite a drop into the riverbed from either side and there are no railings or protections to stop you from doing something stupid. Also, there is wildlife. Never hike alone and always bring a friend! [Review 18464 overall - 64 in Vermont - 1986 of 2022.]

We spent way more time than expected trying to find this place. Loads of winding dirt roads, and…read morehairpin turns brought us to someone's house via our GPS. After 45 minutes of driving, we decided to call it a lost cause, and set our GPS for home, however, several hundred feet ahead we saw a hand painted sign (!) for a state park. We had found it, albeit nearly impossible to find. The park we visited was the Zen Garden. A really nice little place with pools, bridges, a ladder, chairs and a great view. It was worth the effort to find, because we de-stressed and relaxed in the near perfect silence. We also saw plenty of wildlife ranging from frogs and tadpoles to chipmunks and dragonflies. A nice break and escape from civilization.

Not particularly difficult to find. Pay attention to the location on your maps app and it should be…read moreno problem. Japanese garden was great for little kids. Very beautiful and fun for the to climb around and cross many little bridges. We didn't get to hike too much as it was a touch more difficult than we would like for our very young children. I would highly recommend.

Vermont is gorgeous, and this is one of the best places to camp…read more I recommend one of the sites on the south side of the pond - there are other sites that are right on the shore of the pond but they are more cramped. we stayed at Aspen and it was very spacious, complete with a large lean-to which proved very important during the wild summer thunderstorm. you can buy ice and firewood at the ranger station and rent boats to paddle around the pond. There is a strict Quiet Rule in effect after 10 pm, guaranteeing a good nights sleep. There is a 5 mile, well-marked trail from the campsite leading to nearby Lake Bomoseen. if the park staff had refilled the soap dispenser in the bathroom, it would have really been a 5 star camping experience.

First time to half moon state park, but certainly not my first to Vermont state parks…read more My mom and I went to half moon for our annual girls weekend. We got a nice big campsite that had a basic picnic table and a nice fire pit. A little too close to the neighbors and they had a dog that barked at us constantly and once the dog got loose and made a run for us. It was just a pug and not intimidating at all, plus I love animals so it really didn't bother me much. The park itself is very nice, the bathrooms are top notch for a state park, I was very impressed with them! One of the stalls was out of TP the first day that we were there and on the second day the middle stall was out of order. The park is nice and quiet at night despite there being quite a number of people, I think 10 pm is reasonable time to ask people to be quiet past. If anything that's a generous time, 9:30 would have been alright too! I'm happy to hear they reenforce the quiet time rules because some people like a good night sleep and if your coming here to party, go else where. The pond is small but a interesting ecosystem, we rented two kayaks and floated around the lake for about a half hour before heading back in. The Lilies were beautiful! At the beach some people must have been feeding the fish because they were grouped up close to shore and when i stepped into the water, they seemed very interested in me to the point of following me around like little water bound dogs. It was really remarkable and for some reason or another I really enjoyed them. Glen lake is just up black pond road, huge lake with clear, clean water and it would make a really good place to go boating. There is a trail that is probably around 3-4 miles, pretty easy and has a lot of nice views of the lake especially up on the vista which is a slightly more difficult hike up, hiking shoes would be useful here because its a little steep and rocky in places. Very quiet trails, we only saw 2 different groups of people. If you find you need some supplies, go right on to route 30, will go down to lake bomoseen and castleton area. There is a nice general store that actually accepts credit cards! We picked up some cabot american cheese for our burgers and gram crackers for s'mores. Penny candies (5 -25 cents) too, I couldn't resist! All and all it was a wonderful weekend.

A great, "quick" hike that is pretty aggressive for flatlander tourists visiting the Killington…read morearea. What it is short in distance is made up with altitude, attitude and a reward at the end. We were taking the scenic route from Western NY to Manchester NH and were looking for a nice 1-hour roadside hike and this certainly fit the bill. AllTrails has this trail marked as a "Moderate". Please understand that this is a very subjective scale and that for avid mountain hikers, this might be an easy climb, but if you're a tourist visiting from NYC or Boston, be ready for a workout. The trail is very intimidating at the beginning. It's heavily traveled and eroded with lots of roots and boulders exposed. You can tell that it could scare a lot of people int stopping and turning around. Don't fall for it. Not saying it's a piece of cake later but it's a clearer central trail. The trail intersects with the Appalachian Trail, which gives it some credibility and a little bragging right. The view at the end of this out-and-back is a tremendous reward and of course, the downhill return is much easier with gravity on your side. Just watch your step, it's very easy to mess up an ankle.

This is a really hard trail. I'm an experienced hiker and I used a walking stick. If you're not…read morefrom Vermont, this will be a challenging one!

Always a pleasure to go here to swim cook an just enjoy freedom outside with family fun an food…read more Love going here it always brings back childhood memories. Used to come here as a kid now get the chance to bring the new families here to enjoy the same kind of entertainment. What a pleasure.

We had a great time at the beach! There is also a playground, but my guys didn't get out of the…read morewater. There was also a large area so that my fiancé & his friends could play horseshoes. My only problem was that they didn't have a lot of sizes left for their t shirts at the gift shop, but it was mid August when we were there. It didn't stop me from buying a bunch of stuff from them. We'll definitely be back next year!

So amazing! Clean bathrooms, caring and kind staff and overall amazing stay. Owners went out of…read moretheir way to make sure I had a good stay! Would not only come back myself but would recommend to anyone going through!

A very well-maintained cozy campground in beautiful Vermont. On the plus side, the sites are wooded…read morewith a good amount of shade, quiet and private. The rest rooms and showers are clean and easily accessible, however, the motion lights are only on for a couple of minutes, so you have to move around if you want the lights to stay on. Also, kinda weird, but one of the showers in the men's room is coin-operated, but not the other shower. Come to find out the coin thing doesn't work, but you wouldn't know that because there's no sign to say so. It was fine, though, because the other shower was working with no problems. The pool is EXCELLENT and well-maintained. You can see that the owner takes great care of the pool, and given that the weather was quite hot and humid, the pool was a godsend! On the minus side, the office was always locked when I went there. You can call the owner's number, but that gets to be a pain. They mention a camp store, but I suppose that's in the office, which, of course, was locked. I just went into Brandon to buy what I needed which is only three miles from the campground. The owner charges for each bag of trash which he says is one of his biggest expenses, but I don't know why he just doesn't simply bake in the cost of trash in his rate to camp there. The biggest pain was the dumping station. For whatever reason, the dumping station is roped off with posts in the way so I couldn't drive my camper close to dump my black and grey water. I didn't have a long enough hose to reach, so what I had to do is use my black/grey water portable tank to dump from the camper and then dump in the dumping station. This delayed our departure by a good 45 minutes to an hour. All in all, though, I would recommend Country View Campground.

We had a party of 7 (including 3 kids) snowshoe for about 2 hours. It was great. Abigail was our…read moretour guide and she was amazing! So sweet! One of the best things we did on our vacation to Vermont.

My friends and I take a trip to Killington every year and I'm not much of a skier so was looking…read morefor something else to do during the day. I tried a snowshoe tour with Bear Trax 4 years ago and absolutely loved it! I've been going back every year since and have a tried 3 different tours. Each year I've convinced a few friends to come with me and now they're all hooked too! The company is very well-organized and the tours are very enjoyable. They always bring 2 guides along so you can go at your own pace and stop as often as you need to. The guides each bring water, snacks and a backpack to collect your excess clothes as you start to get warm on the hike and take layers off. You can also bring your own water and backpack if you prefer. You wear your own boots and just clip into the snowshoes, so you know for sure your boots will fit and you'll be comfortable. They also provide poles. For true beginners, I recommend the Classic Killington Tour. It's a really good way to get used to snow shoeing, as you walk across a golf course. There are some challenging uphill sections but mostly you get some good exercise outdoors with beautiful scenery. My favorite tour is the Top of Snowshed + Lunch at the Ledgewood Yurt. You hike up through the woods and it feels like you're off-roading. About an hour later, you arrive at the Ledgewood Yurt where you can stop and enjoy lunch and drinks (their bloody mary's are awesome). When the group is done, you trek back down together. I highly recommend you try a snowshoe tour and see for yourself!