October 15th - time to shut down New England?

[offroad]

So am noticing that many campgrounds are shutting down on October 1 to October 15th in New England states.  What is with that?  no market to stay open?  With global warming its going to be nice weather until December in many areas.  Maybe we can start a list of campgrounds that stay open in New England later in the year?     

[Pat & Pete]

A lot of 'policies' are set by insurance .

 No matter what the weather is like .

[trailertraveler]

For state park, national park and national forest campgrounds, the availability of volunteers and seasonal employees and possibly restrictions on the term of seasonal employees may be factors. I've noticed that even in the Western States, Forest Service campgrounds that were open all year (if you could manage to get to them) now close. Some close as early as the day after Labor Day.

[Kirk W]

21 minutes ago, offroad said:

Maybe we can start a list of campgrounds that stay open in New England later in the year?  

I suspect that they close for lack of business as much as other reasons. 

[Rickl]

Global warming? Really? How about business drops off to the point it doesn’t make economic sense to operate at a 30% or so occupancy rate. Couple that with needing time to winterize their parks as the weather drops. 

At least that’s my take Mr Gore!

[Captain Happy]

I don't think your going to get any campgrounds in New England to stay open past October 1st, especially when all the RV's have been winterized, or head south for the winter months. Besides I don't think there going to keep the park open for a very few people who want to camp in Freezing temps.

I was born up there. NO thanks.

[Optimistic Paranoid]

It ain't just New England.  Lake George, in the Adirondacks, shuts down and rolls up their sidewalks Oct. 31.  The restaurants mostly close til the following spring.  Even the Fort William Henry Museum & Replica closes at that time.  Got to be a lack of people.

[offroad]

Guess we plan boondocking in appropriate places, or driveway surfing as long as we can tolerate it.    Will need to consider that path.

[sandsys]

Most Minnesota parks close October 15th. They want to be sure to drain their water systems before the first freeze so some shut off their water before then. Why would they risk their plumbing to accommodate the few who want to stay?

Linda Sand

[Bill w/bus]

There are a couple that stay open. One near Portland,  in Windham. As others have noted not much business. By the end of October most nights are below freezing and many days are barely above freezing in Central Maine. Leaves are  gone and the white stuff will be here. 

 

Bill

[Dutch_12078]

There used to be a few parks in the NY and VT ski areas that stayed open with limited services during the winter, but I don't know if they still do that. There's a park in Oneonta, NY where we overnight in January on the way south that keeps a few electric only sites available.

[sandsys]

I stayed in one somewhere where they had built insulated boxes to put over the water faucets not in actual use.

Linda

[Lance A Lott]

There's a campground in Stowe Vermont that stays open all winter the campers are all covered in snow. Ops I forgot they went under this spring the bank owns it now. Drove by the other day still a couple of units there but they may have belonged to the campground. We stay ate a state park that will let us stay until November but they shut off the water in mid October.

[richfaa]

It is normal in cold weather States always has been. The average RV'er puts  the RV up for the winter Campgrounds need  campers to stay in business not to mention the cost of keeping the CG open.

[offroad]

found the ALLSTAYS.COM web site has a preference switch to search for campgrounds that are open all year.  Clicking through a few to the actual campground web site shows that ALLSTAYS is highly inaccurate with that factor.  Seems like we are at some random guess game to find them, if they are wanted. 

The state campgrounds just say to call.  Likely many will have water turned off (as long as there is a spigot to fill tanks, no worries).  If there is 30 amp electric, then we are good. 

Here is someones labor of love web site for the northeast.  great information for this time of year.

http://www.snowbirdrvtrails.com/offseason.htm

 

[mptjelgin]

You'll find a similar situation coming up into the Northeast in early Spring. Many campgrounds do not open until May 1st or 15th. Why? Low demand. Volunteers and/or workcampers not in place yet. Still dealing with weather that can freeze pipes.  I suppose that history has shown them when it makes sense to open and close. 

We've spent our summer in the Bar Harbor area of Maine and note that many of the "touristy" businesses and restaurants have gone to reduced "winter hours" or will  be closing altogether later this month or in early October. Why? The tourists are thinning out quickly.

[scouserl41]

It's not just the North East, many campgrounds in the upper parts of the country close around Columbus Day. The owners of one CG asked us where we spend the winter and then said "I bet we'll be there before you guys"!!

Bnb

[offroad]

On 9/8/2018 at 11:59 AM, mptjelgin said:

You'll find a similar situation coming up into the Northeast in early Spring. Many campgrounds do not open until May 1st or 15th. Why? Low demand. Volunteers and/or workcampers not in place yet. Still dealing with weather that can freeze pipes.  I suppose that history has shown them when it makes sense to open and close. 

We've spent our summer in the Bar Harbor area of Maine and note that many of the "touristy" businesses and restaurants have gone to reduced "winter hours" or will  be closing altogether later this month or in early October. Why? The tourists are thinning out quickly.

we have friends who live in sticks bricks in Bar Harbor.  At first we thought about driving the camper there, but then got wise about lack of open campgrounds in October.  We will be visiting them and staying at a house, so no worries. Am hoping they do have a frost or two to kill the deer flies and other insects.  

[mptjelgin]

On 9/10/2018 at 9:25 AM, offroad said:

we have friends who live in sticks bricks in Bar Harbor.  At first we thought about driving the camper there, but then got wise about lack of open campgrounds in October.  We will be visiting them and staying at a house, so no worries. Am hoping they do have a frost or two to kill the deer flies and other insects.  

The bugs are gone, so you'll be fine. The deer flies (on edit: meant to say Blackflies) really weren't much of a problem in this area, even in the late Spring and early Summer which is their peak season. At least not compared to the summer we spent up near Presque Isle in the North Maine Woods. That was nuts!  Headnets were absolutely necessary for a couple of weeks in late May and Early June. 

The weather here is very pleasant right now and the bugs are not an issue. 

[offroad]

20 hours ago, mptjelgin said:

The bugs are gone, so you'll be fine. The deer flies really weren't much of a problem in this area, even in the late Spring and early Summer which is their peak season. At least not compared to the summer we spent up near Presque Isle in the North Maine Woods. That was nuts!  Headnets were absolutely necessary for a couple of weeks in late May and Early June. 

The weather here is very pleasant right now and the bugs are not an issue. 

Was watching a video of Eric & Jax on Youtube (aka Nomadic Fanatic).  He was getting bit like crazy from deer flies when he was out walking a dirt road, at some boondock maine site.  He had to use his bicycle to move fast enough so that deer flies could not land and bite.  From growing up in Connecticut and hiking in Maine, I do remember the late year deer flies and Horse flies.  They got very aggressive and bit first as fast as possible when you wander into their territory.

 

[mptjelgin]

I meant to say Blackflies when I was talking about late Spring and Early Summer. That being said, we spend 2 -3 days a week out in the woods hiking, birding, etc. and just have not been bothered much at all by flies. Perhaps we've just gotten lucky!

[offroad]

17 minutes ago, mptjelgin said:

I meant to say Blackflies when I was talking about late Spring and Early Summer. That being said, we spend 2 -3 days a week out in the woods hiking, birding, etc. and just have not been bothered much at all by flies. Perhaps we've just gotten lucky!

thanks for that note correction.  Am reactive- (mild allergy) to black flies.  Yes I know they are gone be middle summer (thank god).