Savoy Mountain State Forest

Overall Rating (1 to 10) : 8.5

Location: Florida, Mass.

Savoy Mountain is an idyllic campground, set on a hilltop meadow within the state forest. It used to be an apple orchard -- I picked some apples from the remaining apple trees. It was unfortunately rainy and misty for most of our visit over Columbus Day weekend, but we (John and I, Mike, and his girlfriend Marie) still enjoyed the scenery. There is also a large pond with a swimming area, but it was too chilly for us to enjoy it. I bet it would be nice to paddle around on.

There are lots of hiking trails in the state forest, some of which start at the campground. We hiked out to the Tannery Falls, which were more impressive than I was expecting.

The campsites are all medium or large sized, and well spaced out. The sites on the meadow aren't tremendously private, but are still very pretty and looked fun. We stayed at one of the many wooded sites around the perimeter of the meadow. There are even a few wooded sites that are three-in-one, with views of the woods, the meadow, and the pond.

I really enjoyed the open, pastoral quality of this campground. It was unlike most of the places we camp. There were tons of little birds in the meadow grass -- as you walked by, they would fly up in front of you.

The bathrooms were better than decent, with free hot showers and flush toilets. John in particular liked the dish washing station, complete with hot water and a space to lay everything out.

The campground is fairly off the beaten path, but it's still only 15 minutes to North Adams, where there's a grocery store, restaurants, etc.

Granville State Forest

Overall Rating (1 to 10) : 7

Location: Granville, Mass.

Granville State Forest is easy to get to, but it feels remote. There aren't many points of interest in the area*, but it's pleasantly scenic in a southern New England kind of way. While we were there (Columbus Day weekend) the town of Granville had a Harvest Fair, with entertainment and autumnal type activities.

The campground is small with amazingly nice restrooms (free hot water!). It's immaculately maintained, with friendly and helpful staff. This was our second stay at Granville State Forest -- the first visit we were the only campers, but this time the campground was completely filled. We got the last available site (#15, right next to the bathrooms, but still pretty nice). There are only 20 sites at this campground, but nearly all of them are attractive and private.

There are several trails leading out of the campground, one of which follows a pretty stream (the first time we camped at Granville we had a site right next to this stream). The woods here are a mix of hemlocks and various hardwoods.

*On our way back home we stopped by Old Newgate Prison in Granby, CT (about a 20 minute drive south of the campground). It's worth visiting if you're in the area -- cool underground mineshafts which were used to hold prisoners until the mid 18oos.

Mt. Greylock State Reservation

Overall Rating (1 to 10) : 8.5

Location: Lanesborough, Mass.

We arrived at Mt. Greylock just after sunset on a Friday night. There was still a ranger at the campground entrance, luckily, and we had no problem getting a site (the staff at Greylock were very helpful and knowledgeable). Since it was getting dark we weren't too picky about our site, but it turned out to be pretty nice by the light of day. On Saturday we drove further down the road (toward the overlook) and saw some really nice walk-in sites.

The camping, as well as the park as a whole, is very secluded. It's well worth the extra drive to come to this out-of-the-way spot. It felt like a national park, complete with lodges at both the base and summit of the mountain. The Appalachian trail goes through the park. There's an access road to the top, where there's this strange lighthouse (really) that they decided to put 200 miles from any ocean. You can climb a spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse.

The camping is primitive (meaning there aren't facilities with running water, just composting toilets). You can get water at the summit or at the base lodge. All the sites were wooded and fairly secluded. The first night our neighbors (a large group) were noisy, but the second night all was quiet.

This is a fantastic place for hiking. There are multiple trails leading right out of the campground, with varied terrain and difficulty. We did a circular hike up to the summit and back down to the campground, and later drove down the access road and hiked out to see the site of a plane crash. We also walked a lengthy nature trail that started from the base lodge (What kind of moss is that? Running moss.) and checked out the little museum in the lodge.