Vermont - Jamaica State Park

http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/jamaica.htm

The true measure of a campground is not so much “Did you have a good time?” It’s also “Would I come here again?” and “Would I recommend this place to others?”

In all 3 areas, Jamaica state park answers with a resounding: YES!

The Place
The town of Jamaica is located in the lower third of the state and is quintessential Vermont. Don’t bother looking for any wi-fi hotspots, (there aren’t any) and I had no Verizon cell service for miles and miles around and even then, it was only at a high elevation point at Ball Mountain State Park. Even my NOAA weather radio could not get a signal. We’re talking isolation and that is the appeal to the place. You WILL get away from it all. Ahhhhhhhhh

At some point, you’ll want to take an easy walk into town and enjoy all the local shops Jamaica has to offer or you can hit one of the surrounding towns. They are all pretty much how Jamaica is with absolutely no franchises in sight. The local shops and artisans are a welcomed change from our exploding mega-mart world. The prices at the general store were very fair and on bread, rivaled Shaw’s supermarket (quite a distance away).

This was my second outing to a campground run by the state of Vermont. Previously I had gone to Stillwater on Groton Lake (waaaaay up north) and while that was good, Jamaica was just plain great.

First, the sites themselves are very roomy. You can see the other campers from your site but there is plenty of woods between everybody so we’re not at all on top of each other. The place is pretty much broken down by designation: Tenters, campers and lean-to’s and I only saw about 3 or 4 other pop-ups during our stay. Most were tenters and they made great use of their tarps. Especially during the periods of rain we had.

Bathrooms were relatively good-sized, with 3 stalls in the unit near our site and it also had a coin-operated shower (4 quarters for 10 minutes). They also offer a common play area for the adults as well as a separate playground for the kids and a nature center. The park has a great place for swimming called Salmon Hole and you can go to website to read up on its rich history. Finally, Vermont state parks have no utilities so it’s boondocking time, my friends.

The Trip
Boondocking leads to the discovery of all sorts of problems since you are relying completely on all your “internal systems” to keep things going. I didn’t charge the battery prior to going thinking that it would get charged on the nearly 2-hour journey. I get to the park, set things up then lit the hot water furnace along with the 3-way refrigerator. Everything goes great, no problems. Go inside, turn on the water pump and put on the overhead light. Hmmmmm. The light is not very bright at all. I go outside with my voltage meter and the battery is at only 50-60% power. Damn.

Oh well, it is what it is. Off goes the water pump except for when it is needed and no turning on the camper lights at all. Since we need to conserve as much power as possible, it’s flashlights and lanterns from here on out. I check on the other systems and had to reignite the furnace again and also the refrigerator. After that, the furnace stayed lit but the refrigerator didn’t want to cooperate at all and since I didn’t want to run it off my battery, the fridge was now out of the equation, too.

Luckily, the last 2 trips of the year will have full utilities available so I’m not in any major rush. The first thing to do is to bleed the gas lines and see if that works to resolve the lighting problems. The most humorous note was we ran out of water immediately after the last dish was cleaned on the last day we were there. haha Too funny.

DW and I went on a trek up to Hamilton Falls about 3 miles from the campground. The first 2 miles are a steady walk on a very well-maintained road for golf carts the park staff use to maintain the grounds. The last mile up was extremely steep, so wear hiking boots. No sneakers or sandals here folks.

It was on the way up, that it first started drizzling. I knew a storm was coming in but here in New England, nature happens at will and the front moved in faster than they had predicted. (surprise, surprise)

We stayed for a good 30 to 45 minutes at Hamilton Falls then the rain started picking up and it was time to go. The walk down was in a consistent rainfall that was not too hard but certainly enough that we were soaked to the bone by the time we got back to the camper.

We were there for 3 nights and it rained for about a third of our stay. I don’t know about you, but I love the sound rain makes as it hits the popup canvas and the assorted tarps in the area. It’s just music to my ears and relaxes me right to the core.

I would like to offer a great piece of advice for my fellow campers in VT and NH: buy your wood from a state park if you can. You pay a fair price and get an assortment of both hardwood and soft. Most people and campgrounds (though there are exceptions) will sell you softwood only and if you need a campfire to keep the monsters away, you will go through that (and your wallet) very quickly.

We paid $20 total for all the wood we used and IMHO, that was more than a bargain. So even if I camp elsewhere, I’ll check and see if a state park is around and get my wood there. It just makes sense.

Final Thoughts
My review is pretty obvious. We had a great time at Jamaica State Park.

So dear reader, if you want a place to completely downshift, relax and just enjoy camping, then schedule some time here. Just do yourself a favor though and stay longer than 3 nights. We wish we could have and when we go back again, plan to make it a week-long trip.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/578309049kBYTor

 

Chris, you are so right. Routes 100, 30 and further west, 7 and 7A are supposed to be very photogenic come fall. I'll be shooting in Lancaster early in the foliage season and am considering a few trips into Vermont as well.

 

Thanks Chris. I'll definitely add it to my photo shoot list. Which continues to grow all the time.