Southern Vermont in October

[pyroman53]

Planning a week, doing Manchester south to North Adams. Two of us usually use a tarp (10x12) in the areas GA to NJ but I'm concerned about finding suitable tarp sites for this size A-frame tarp. I'm thinking maybe a couple of one man tents might be better for when we choose not to use shelters or want to camp between shelters. Easier to find sites for two smaller shelters than the one larger. What do you think? I'm not familiar with Vermont. Are tent sites hard to come by?

[bigcranky]

Thinking southward, there are tent platforms at Stratton Pond, though I'd probably choose to stay in that shelter. Nice big tent sites at Story Spring and one good one at Kid Gore. You can easily tent on top of Glastenbury, though Goddard is a nice shelter with a great view. Melville Nauheim was short on good sites, and I didn't see any at Congdon, but Seth Warner had big tent areas.

[Alligator]

I used a 10.5 by 10.5 tarp through that section during October and had no issues with my tarp not fitting. I use the sheltes when nobody is in them for the most part, somewhat similar strategy to yours. I have put mine up on a couple of platforms too but I'm thinking the places I did that are in the next section south of your intended one.

I often check shelter photos to see if there are surrounding tent spots and the guidebooks sometimes give this information too.

[Alligator]

Oh and north of there into NH I used a megamid, no problems again, its footprint is 9X9.

[Slo-go'en]

I hope your planing early October. Get much into October and the weather is getting rotten, quickly.

Anyway, that time of year there will be few other hikers out so you will find most shelters empty or nearly so. Thru hikes are long since past there, the collage groups are gone, vacations are past. The only exception might be on the weekend (Saturday night) if the colors are still out and the weather is good or over Columbus day weekend. Our Columbus day weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, so a lot of Montreal'ers head south to hike in Vermont and NH, but most go to the Whites or stay in Northern Vermont.

Bring the tarp for possible emergencies, but plan on staying in the shelters. I'm sure you'll find that using the shelters will make life SO much easier, especially since it will be getting dark about 6 PM. To say nothing about how wet the ground is likely to be.

[Miner]

In 2012, I entered the Whites of NH in late September hiking south. The shelters I encountered were often empty or only had 1 other person at night. In Vermont, I hiked between Manchester Center and North Adams between October 11-14. In that stretch, I used a solo sized tarp on 2 nights (a flat spot ~75 yards down USFS road 71 and a tent platform at Sherman Brook Campsite) and slept in Melville Nauheim Shelter the other night. I had no real issues with the tarp though I don't recommend using them on a tent platform where one side is a few feet in the air as wind can drive wind up through the cracks between the boards and thus get under the tarp. A platform only a few inches up in the air is fine.

Through NH and Vermont, most days were cloudy with the clouds covering the trees on the mountain tops making things wet and damp. It would lightly rain each day. The highs were usually in the low 50's with the nights being cold due to the wind chill. Especially in the shelters since it comes up through the cracks in the floor. Had gatoraid slushies 2 mornings, the rest of the time, my water didn't freeze overnight. I had snow on the morning of the 12th though it was very light as I packed up my tarp and then it started to come down hard and started to really stick (temperature suddenly dropped into the 30's from the 40's at the same time). I got about 3 inches on me that morning as I hiked (it started to melt off in the afternoon) before going over Glastenbury Mountain. I would not have wanted to camp at Goddard Shelter on top due to the cold. I was told that the weather isn't normally that consistently damp most years. Your mileage may vary.

[illabelle]

We did Wallingford Road VT to N Adams MA in early October last year. We carried a tent, but mostly used the shelters. There weren't a lot of people about, except for a bit of a crowd around Stratton Pond.
Definitely mud everywhere in Vermont. A dry shelter was most welcome.

[Cosmo]

Plenty of tent sites trail-west of Cogdon. Up a slight rise to a flat area, nicely isolated from the shelter. There were traces of a blue blaze trail leading that way a few years back.

Cosmo