I'll be spending a week in Vermont this September or October.Give me the best spots and trails to hit up, I will not be paying for a hotel. Thinking about hitting Green Mountain National Forest and Lake Willoughby at least, thinking about Smuggler's Notch and Mount Mansfield as well.t. am a leafcuck
Why plan so far in advance?
>>2800226It's a work trip.
>>2800239Everything in VT is easy to get to. Smugglers Notch is awesome. There's infinity trails but IMO there one trail and that's the Long Trail in VT. Just hike that. Rutland I used to love cause it was gritty I heard it's sad and fenty now. Since you don't want to spend $ or a hotel don't bother with Woodstock.Stowe is the nicest, podshest resort town by far.
>>2800246Thanks, I was considering the Long Trail, good to know about Rutland and Stowe.I'm mostly against spending money on tourist trap resorts when I could just camp in the beauty of a state I've never visited before. Aiming to hit up a few local breweries and whatnot though (will also be happy to take any recommendations on places to grab a bite or drink worth stopping for).
The whole state is basically just a series of remote unmaintained trailheads and free camp sites with bullet holes in any nearby signs that haven't fallen down yet. It's basically paradise. You definitely don't need to plan anything in advance, you will find what you're looking for.
>>2800567I'm skeptical of anything on the East Coast given the population density and proximity to urban areas. If you think the national parks on the West Coast are busy, you'll be horrified by an average outing in the bughive.
>>2800571Northern New England and upstate NY are virtually uninhabited. Every time you people say "population density" you're just demonstrating that you don't have the ability to use Google Earth. Not to mention that dense forest cover multiplies the privacy factor of every square mile of land by a factor of 10 or more.
Is there any spot that makes it worth hitting up the southern side at all? So far from what I've seen, Lake Willoughby, Smuggler's Notch/Mansfield, and the Green Mountain forest have sounded the most enticing and are in the northern half and I haven't really seen anything worth it to head south of that.
>>2800604Lol. The Bennington triangle has been the site of my favorite outdoor adventures over 20 years. We're all better off with flatlanders like you staying out though.
>>2800604I literally have no idea if this is south or north - but when I was 6 years old I hiked up Welch with my dad and we go to welch and it was the first time either of us had been to alpine terrain, and it basically looked like you had to steeply descent a mountain to go any further and get to Dickey, so we just turned around at that point. Apparently parking costs 5$ but I think it's worth it.
