We are a NYC-based professional couple in our 30’s, we drive a VW Westfalia, and we have camped all over the U.S. -Martha’s Vineyard, Glacier National Park, Bahia Honda, Big Sur. We’re experienced.

In August of 2009 we booked a week of outdoor fun at Lake Champlain Adult Campground. It seemed like the nicest property in the area. Hands down the facilities and location are outstanding: manicured grounds, spacious sites, gorgeous views, clean restrooms, nice fellow campers. But by the end of our (shortened) stay we decided not to return.

The posted speed limit is in this campground is 5 mph. And 10, even for the first 100 yards upon on arrival might as well be a felony. -We learned the hard way. It was 4 pm, we’ve been driving for 6 hours, we’re anxious to get to camp, and we almost miss the turn because the road sign is a bit small. No biggie, we think, and we turn in at about 15 mph. A man (JC) was cutting the lawn, and right away he yelled at us to slow down. We slowed down quickly, but safely, and continue toward the office. When he got to the office he reminded us: “Five MPH is the cardinal rule!” and “seasonal campers are number one around here, and they don’t like dust!” Despite our apologetic response, this is how things began.

After realizing who we were and that we had paid in advance for most of our stay, JC took us to our site. Very nice. Since it was getting dark, our focus was setting up, but JC returned twice in the space of two hours to collect the rest of the fee. And he could not accept a debit or credit card payment. Cash or check only. We apologized again and explained that we would get cash as soon as we had a chance to go to an ATM, and we continued to set up camp. Then we departed to visit some friends nearby. Dinner at our friend’s home turned into an overnight stay, so job one upon our return to camp the next morning was to pay the fee. Cash. In full.

The next few days we had a good time swimming in the beautiful lake and dock area, running, biking, cooking out, and enjoying the spectacular sunsets and other scenery. But JC never seemed far away. I felt like we were under constant surveillance.

Our friends. She is 70 and he is 80. We met them on the beach of the Bay Islands on our honeymoon. They have owned an historic camp in Grand Isle for 40 years. Since they were so gracious on our first night in Grand Isle, we wanted to return the favor: Home-made paella cooked over an open fire in my Dutch oven, and a good Malbec. Things were fine until JC showed up just dinner to let us know that our guests had “parked in the wrong place” and “Who are you? Why haven’t you registered? I pay $35,000 per year here in liability insurance, and guests are required to pay a $6 visitor fee”. We enjoyed the rest of the evening, but in the morning my wife and I decided to cut short our stay.

We departed unannounced two days before we had planned to go and we spent an impromptu additional two days in Montreal before retuning to our home in New York City.

We represent the future of upscale camping. This campground is in a gem of a location but we will not return. Our suggestion: raise your rates a bit, hire professional to manage your resort, and stay out of the way. Until then, we’ll camp elsewhere.

The park is conveniently located a short distance from I-89, exit 4 in Randolph Center. Once you leave the Interstate you climb up a relatively steep grade for about a mile to the tiny town of Randolph Center. A left at the top of the hill, a right past “Floyds” General Store and you’re there.

Check in was quick and easy. The campground owners were very friendly and accommodating and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. The park is situated on the top of a ridge with a view of the campground and hills to the east. The property is large… about 100 acres and a lot of that is open area, mostly grass… lush, deep green and regularly mowed. Most sites have a view and are in open, sunny field areas but there are a few locations with plenty of shade. The tenting sites are really nice… isolated from the rest of the campground and in the woods. Sites are relatively level, on grass or gravel. Pull-thru sites can accommodate even the largest rigs and have full hook-ups including a very generous cable TV lineup.

The facilities were clean and well maintained. We noticed the little extras… like a basket of dried flowers on the counter in the rest room. The main office (photo above) has a very small campstore with just the basics. However, just outside the campground is Floyd’s General Store which is where most campers go to pick up their groceries. They have a large rec room with ping-pong, pool and a few pinball and video games.

As you pass thru the campground and decend down open fields you’ll see “Lake Champagne” (photo right) which is actually a small swimming pond with picnic tables, grills and rest rooms.

On the other side of the pond is a pavilion with one side open to views of the beach. Inside is a large central fire pit and tables (photo left). Although it was late in the season and the campground was only about 20% full, the fire burned and there was plenty of wood available to keep it going.

Our stay was brief but enjoyable with only one disappointment… The Lake Champagne Campground website advertises “WI-Fi available”. However the range was extremely limited and the vast majority of their sites were well out of range. I wandered throughout the park with a laptop trying to get a signal without any success. Our site was relatively close to one of two transmitters on the property but no luck.

Other than the Wi-Fi issue, this was a great little campground and one that we would confidently recommend to our friends. We’ll be back next summer!

Upon entering the campground one of the first things you see is the “mini-golf”. Pathetic! It looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Very depressing. We looked for a decent pull-thru site for our larger class A, and there was nothing. Interior roads were in tough shape too.

The facilities (there were three bathhouses) were old and poorly maintained. The only plus about this campground from our perspective was the staff… they were friendly and helpful. But that’s about it.

We would not recommend this campground.

This is an extremely small campground. A lower section, along the edge of a field can accommodate larger RVs, but there are only a few sites with full hookups. An upper section accommodates smaller RVs and tents. I wouldn’t even attempt to get a large class A up there.

The campground staff was friendly and the facilities were clean. There’s a small pool and hot tub but not much else. Getaway Mountain is probably one of the better campgrounds in the area, but there really isn’t too much to choose from in the area.

The campground is family-owned and they were friendly and accommodating. Facilities are clean, however they’ve seen better days. Hopefully, they will make some improvements. There also seem to be lots of seasonal campers, which may be a turn-off for some looking to get away. It’s a little difficult to get into vacation mode when you’ve got seasonal scenery all around you.

The location is near several ski areas and plenty of typical scenic Vermont country roads to explore.There are amenities and activities in season for the kids too.

The campground has a mix of shaded and open, sunny sites. Nearby Ascutney State Park, offers hiking on wooded trails to the summit of the mountain. Two miles south of the campground is Wilgus State Park which offers a canoe launch to the Connecticut River. There are also several free and easy points of entry on both sides of the River.

The facilities are relatively clean and adequately maintained and the interior roads are in fair to good shape. Most sites are level, with fire rings and picnic tables. Some are full hook-ups. There are a few larger sites but with minimal landscaping in between. Some sites are wooded, with a few very close to your neighbor.

Amenities include a campstore with a limited selection of groceries and camping supplies, a heated pool, function hall, and playground.

If you just want to relax, the campground offers special Holiday weekend activities for children & adults, quiet time at your site or a dip in their heated swimming pool. Overall, Running Bear is an acceptable campground but I think we would try a few others in the area before we returned.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon in July for a weekend stay. The drive up I-89 from New Hampshire is absolutely beautiful and this part of Vermont’s Champlain Valley is especially picturesque. Our check-in was quick and the front desk attendants were friendly and efficient.

The campground is fairly large (242 sites on 188 acres). The property is a mix of open, sunny areas and tree shaded. The grassed areas and landscaping was neat and well maintained. The bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities were all newer construction, very clean and well stocked.

The major interior roads were paved and well maintained. The side roads were packed gravel, some a tad narrow but still in good condition and navigable to even the largest RVs. Our pull-thru site was level and a confortable size with plenty of room for our awning and slide outs. All sites have a picnic table and a fire ring.

Campground amenities include a large new “community” center with a fitness room, library (with an Internet-enabled PC), and a large function room. Next to the community center is an Olympic-size heated swimming pool and hottub, restrooms, showers and a laundry room.  There are two other restroom buildings located elsewhere in the campground.

The resort also has a small, 9-hole par 3 “executive” golf course and a full service marina… definitely amenities that set this campground apart from most.

Rounding out the feature list is a small playground, walking and biking trails and a respectable schedule of activities for both kids and adults. There is a general store located at the entrance to the campground. The store stocks groceries and camping supplies. They also serve breakfast and lunch items. The campground is also “pet-friendly”.

The resort has a great wi-fi system. I noticed several hotspots as we walked through the property and we were able to “see” several of them from our site. The signal was strong and consistant.

Apple Island Resort is a great campground to spend a few days and a perfect base for exploring this part of Vermont and Upstate New York. That said, it’s not without a flaw or two…

At least half of the sites at this campground are either permanent vacation “homes” or for seasonal campers. While that may not be a factor for some, we do find that it takes a bit away from the camping experience. I will say that these permanent sites are clean and very well maintained, which is more than I can say for most campgrounds.

With the high number of permanent sites (as well as the golf course) comes a lot of golf cart traffic. It wasn’t unusual to see several carts buzzing past our site at a time throughout the day (and evening). If you’ve got little ones, keep an eye out for them… carts don’t make much noise.

Apple Island Resort also boasts of a snack bar, which we were looking forward to trying… but it was closed. One of the resort employees told us that they did not open it this year because they were trying to get their general store off the ground and the snack bar would be competition.

And while we’re on the subject of the general store, most of the items on the shelves don’t have prices. What’s up with that? You find out what something costs when you check out (an it’s usually too expensive). That’s very inconsiderate to customers and it stopped us and a few others from spending money there.

There is no cable TV at this campground. However Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburg, NY are within signal distance so you can receive the major networks, including the digital subchannels with an antenna.

While the campground does have rules, there always seems to be campers who feel they are the exception. Every night there were quite a few kids riding their bikes through the campground in total darkness. There were also a group of campers who felt the need to test the limits of their stereo and play their music as loud as possible all day long. We really felt sorry for the campers near this group. I know if we had a site near this group, we would have left for another campground. They did at least have enough courtesy to tone it down during quiet hours.

That being said, Apple Island Resort is still a wonderful campground. It’s well maintained, has lots of amenities and it’s located in a beautiful part of Vermont. It’s just not for us.

With the last weekend in July free, we decided to spend a few days at Pine Valley RV Resort in Quechee, Vermont. Being peak camping season we weren’t sure we could even get a site, but called anyway… We were in luck! Just one site left, water and electric only, so we booked it.

Pine Valley is a relatively small campground with about 90 sites, roughly half are full hookups. Because of their proximity to Interstate 89 (just a minute or two from exit 1) they cater to the overnight traveler. But this park is more than just an overnight stop. It’s really a very nice campground to spend a few days at.

While the property is close to I-89, it’s just far enough away not to hear Interstate traffic… although sites in the lower section of the property will hear traffic from nearby US Route 4.

The campground staff was friendly and accommodating, both when we called to make reservations and when we checked in. In fact, when we arrived there were several customers ahead of us. Noticing the line, another employee asked us if we would like to go directly to our site and just stop back later on to register when it wasn’t so busy.

The property is extremely well maintained and neatly landscaped among tall, mature white pines. Interior roads and individual campsites are gravel. Most sites are a little on the small side, especially the pull-thru sites in the upper section of the property. This upper section was built on the side of a hill and most of the sites there are terraced. In fact, there was barely enough room for our slide outs and awning. You may also need to work with your jacks, as some sites could use a little leveling. The campground’s only rest rooms and showers are in the lower section too. While the sites were small and facilities remote, the upper section of the park is a lot more private and quiet.

Pine Valley RV Resort has a very nice, well stocked campstore with a limited selection of groceries and camping supplies. There is a laundromat and heated bath house with free showers, a swimming pool and a small pond where you can canoe or pedal boat (rentals). They also have a playground and recreation hall. Pets are also welcome here. As an added convenience, an RV Service and repair shop is located on the property! Just across the street is a general store with 24 flavors of ice cream and a daily BBQ during the summer. A gas station with a Dunkin Donuts shop is also within walking distance.

You’ll need a car if you want to visit nearby attractions. Besides the General store, there is little within walking distance. Quechee and the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire have plenty of attractions, so you can easily spend a week or more here. Check out the Quechee Gorge area just a mile or two west on US Route 4. In addition to the gorge there are several restaurants, gift shops and a large antiques mall to explore.

With only a few shortcomings, Pine Valley RV Resort is a great little campground. This was our third visit here and we plan to visit them again next summer!

This campground is very nice. We booked 2 sites overlooking the playground as we and our friends that joined us have 4 kids ages 4 and under. We had a great weekend digging in the sand at the playground.

The horse/wagon ride was a huge hit with the kids and it was a great way to see most of the campground as it is quite hilly and my 20 month old got tired quickly walking up & down the hills.

The campground is nicely landscaped and have a great/friendly staff. We are planning on making this an annual fall trip with friends to visit the Vermont Corn Maze.

Upon arrival, a quick check in and we in our spacious spot. The sites offer either an open grassy area or a wooded choice with lots of smaller trees between each site. The water and power hook-ups were new and conveinent. The site was level and clean.

The restrooms were nearly new and very clean. In fact my kids tracked in some dirt after playing in the frog pond so I went to clean up the bathroom. Not because I had to, I wanted to keep them clean.
There is a lot to do nearby with great hiking and antiques.

The large sites are very large and private, something you don’t see at many campgrounds today. This is one you can’t miss if you want to get back to real camping yet you don’t need to give up any of the comforts of home.