From 5 stars to no stars: October 2010

Jay and I went camping this past weekend in Jaffrey, NH with NO KIDS! I know you’re jealous! We went for one night with the intentions of checking out the difficulty of climbing Mount Monadnock before we brought Declan out there next summer.

We stayed at Gilson Pond/Monadnock State Park ; its 2 miles down the road from Monadnock park entrance and has a path that connects to the Cascade Link on the mountain trail. It has about 35 campsites with some remote sites. So remote we couldn’t even find them without trekking over mud and water.

They don’t book online, I don’t know if it was due to the season or if they ever do. But we were allowed to drive up and in pick our site before purchasing. We picked A5, as it was the closest to the bathroom. We could cut through the back of the site to get there but you had to hop over a little ditch. A young kid could hop it too! The bathrooms were the best I’ve ever seen. It was cleaner then some hotel or mall bathrooms! They also had showers for a few with individual stalls and doors. Which I liked if you had kids, gives you privacy. There were also two double wash basins on the outside of the bathrooms for washing dishes etc. I noticed a little shop too but it was closed the entire time we were there. It sold like t-shirts and camping supplies, no food or anything like that. More like a gift shop.

The campsite came was big enough for our 3 room tent, our van and extra room. It had a fire ring, picnic table and electrical hookup! It wasn’t super private but it was very quiet. But it was also out of season. They had plenty of Pit Toilets which I didn’t dare look in, plenty of water supplies and playground.

As for Mount Monadnock definitely wasn’t something for our timid little 5 year old. In fact we only made it to the Cascade link as there was a steep rock path that made me nervous I’d get up and not down. It had snowed the night before and all the water was rushing down making it slippery. They have two paths white dot and white cross trails. The white cross trail was supposedly easier but a gentleman coming down said it was very wet and we didn’t want to go that path. We took the steeper path which was quiet the workout for this fat girl! Someday I’ll make it to the Summit!

We decided not to pack food since it was just the two of us and we knew it was going to rain, and it did! (Which btw the tent stayed dry and sturdy even with the wind advisory) There really wasn’t any place to eat other then McDonalds, which had the friendliest staff EVER! =) There was a Market Basket in town. Keene isn’t too far off but I recommend BYOF.

The Fall Colors were beautiful. The views were fantastic.

What I liked about Gilson Pond Campgrounds? Pretty much everything but mostly the bathroom!

What I didn’t like about Gilson Pong Campground? We couldn’t book online.

What I liked about Jaffrey, NH? Mount Monadnock & the McDonalds

What I didn’t like about Jaffrey, NH? There wasn’t anything there other then Mount Monadnock.