Stargazing

O'Reilly Lake Resort

9 RV Sites, 5 Cabins, 17 Tent Sites, 3 Cottages

At 1091 O'Reilly Lake Lane in Mountain Grove, Ontario—in the Township of Central Frontenac where the Canadian Shield's ancient granite and the spring-fed lakes of the Frontenac Axis create the cottage-country landscape that the rural communities between Kingston and Haliburton have built their outdoor recreation identity around—O'Reilly Lake Resort, a Summerhill Resorts property, offers 3,500 feet of beautiful waterfront on O'Reilly Lake, a small spring-fed lake teeming with fish and featuring a small private forested island, alongside paddleboards, kayaks, pedal boats, canoes, life jackets, and hydro-bikes for cycling across the lake, an inflatable water playground, a jumping pillow, a playground, and a camp store stocked with ice, firewood, snacks, and small groceries in a pet-friendly resort whose spring-fed lake character—the clarity, the fish population, and the private island visible from the waterfront—creates the complete Canadian Shield lake experience in the Frontenac Axis's most secluded cottage-country terrain. The lake is spring-fed. There's a private island. The water toys are included. Three thousand five hundred feet of waterfront on O'Reilly Lake—the spring-fed, fish-rich lake whose clarity and forested margins create the aesthetic that the Frontenac Axis's granite-and-lake landscape produces at its best—provide the natural centerpiece for the resort's water recreation. Paddleboards, kayaks, pedal boats, canoes, and life jackets are available for guest use, and the hydro-bikes—the pedal-powered watercraft that cyclists operate across the lake's surface—provide the distinctive water recreation alternative that distinguishes O'Reilly Lake from the standard paddle-only cottage-country resort. The inflatable water playground and jumping pillow create the energetic water recreation for the younger guests whose enthusiasm for the lake needs a structured outlet beyond the canoe. A camp store with ice, firewood, snacks, and small groceries handles the daily provisioning without requiring the drive to Mountain Grove's limited commercial infrastructure. Mountain Grove sits in the Township of Central Frontenac in Frontenac County, in the rural Shield community on County Road 38 between Sharbot Lake and Arden in the granite outcrop and mixed-forest landscape that the Frontenac Arch's geological connection between the Adirondacks and the Laurentian Shield creates across southeastern Ontario. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve—a UNESCO-designated biosphere encompassing the Thousand Islands and the Frontenac region—protects the wildlife corridor that the granite ridges, spring-fed lakes, and forested wetlands of Central Frontenac sustain for wolves, black bears, moose, and the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence forest community's full species composition. Frontenac Provincial Park, 30 miles south near Sydenham, provides 6,000 hectares of the most remote backcountry canoeing and camping in southeastern Ontario—the park's 50-plus interior lakes connected by portage routes create the classic Canadian Shield paddle experience that the provincial park system protects without road access to the backcountry campsite positions. Kingston, 60 miles south on Highway 38 and Highway 401, provides the regional urban infrastructure, the Royal Military College, Queen's University, and the Fort Henry National Historic Site's living history interpretation of the 1812-era limestone fortification that overlooks the St. Lawrence. O'Reilly Lake Resort operates seasonally through the Ontario summer and early fall, with the Victoria Day weekend in late May through the Thanksgiving weekend in October covering the primary open period and the summer months from late June through Labour Day delivering the warmest lake conditions for swimming and the water playground. The late summer bass and walleye fishing on O'Reilly Lake, the spring bass opener in late May, and the loon observation that the spring-fed lake's clear water and forested margins support create the fishing and natural history activity across the season. Reserve your lakefront site at O'Reilly Lake Resort and let the spring-fed lake, the hydro-bikes, the private island view, and the Frontenac Shield's ancient granite landscape deliver the cottage-country Ontario experience that the Summerhill network's most secluded property provides.

HTR Adirondacks Campground

51 RV Sites, 18 Cabins, 20 Tent Sites, 1 Glamping Site

HTR Adirondacks Campground in Old Forge, New York, offers 51 RV sites, 18 cabins, 20 tent sites, and a glamping site at the gateway to the Adirondack Park's southwestern wilderness, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 50 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, behind a gated entrance. Waterfront and waterview back-in categories join 50-amp and water-and-electric tiers, with a pool, beach, and tennis. Fifty-one sites span back-in 30-amp water-and-electric, back-in 50-amp, pull-thru 30-amp water-and-electric, waterfront back-in 30-amp, waterfront back-in 50-amp, and waterview categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted, sized to 50 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The waterfront categories are worth requesting early; confirm your tier, as the water-and-electric options do not carry sewer. Eighteen cabins, 20 tent sites, and a glamping site round out the lodging. A laundry, dump station, restrooms, showers, recycling, and on-site dining handle the practical side. An outdoor pool and beach anchor the summer, with boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing on the water. Sports courts, tennis, pickleball, basketball, walking trails, and a playground fill the grounds, with strong birding and stargazing besides. The Fulton Chain of Lakes' eight interconnected waters make Old Forge one of the Adirondacks' most beloved four-season communities. Summer and fall foliage drive demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $24/night

Tiny Village Bon Echo

1 RV Site, 6 Tent Sites

Tiny Village Bon Echo offers a one-of-a-kind glamping experience in the Canadian Shield country of Ompah, Ontario — a short drive from Bon Echo Provincial Park, where the Canadian wilderness reaches its most dramatically scenic expression in the granite cliffsides, clear lakes, and ancient forest of the Madawaska Highlands. For guests seeking a uniquely designed nature retreat far from the ordinary campground, Tiny Village Bon Echo delivers an experience that begins with the accommodations themselves. Ravine Domes, Forest Villas, treehouses, and cozy cabins connect guests to the landscape in ways a conventional campsite cannot match — each unit positioned and designed to deepen the sense of immersion in the surrounding Canadian Shield forest. A Ravine Dome's built-in net hammock and panoramic natural views make sleep itself an event. Forest Villas bring three connected cabins among the trees onto a massive shared deck, where the trails to the kayak launch begin practically at the door. On-site amenities include a beach, waterfall, swimming pool, hiking trails, modern showers, a general store, propane, and dump station services, with internet available for guests who need to stay connected. Tiny village bon echo prices reflect the property's unique glamping positioning and the quality of the designed accommodations. The Canadian Shield geology surrounding Tiny Village Bon Echo is one of the most ancient and visually compelling landscapes in North America — Precambrian granite sculpted by glaciers into the lake-studded, forest-covered terrain that stretches across Ontario's vast interior. The clarity of the lakes, the silence of the forest, and the quality of the night sky in this remote part of the province make the Bon Echo experience genuinely restorative in ways that busier outdoor destinations cannot replicate. Bon Echo Provincial Park, a short drive away, is the defining natural landmark of the region — home to Mazinaw Lake and the 100-meter Mazinaw Rock, one of the largest collections of Ojibwe pictographs in Canada, with over 260 Indigenous paintings on the cliff face accessible by canoe or the park's interpretive ferry service. The rock's sheer scale — rising nearly 100 meters directly from the lake's surface — is among the most arresting natural spectacles in Ontario, and the ferry ride along its base provides a perspective impossible to replicate from the shore. Canoeing, kayaking, and swimming on Mazinaw Lake fill a full day at the park. Tiny Village Bon Echo is open through the Ontario camping season, with summer delivering peak conditions for lake swimming, paddling, and the full outdoor recreation lineup. Book domes and treehouses well in advance — demand for the most distinctive units consistently outpaces availability, and tiny village bon echo photos simply don't prepare guests for the experience of waking up inside the Canadian Shield at its most beautiful.

from $40/night

Onion River Campground

26 RV Sites, 24 Tent Sites

Onion River Campground in Plainfield, Vermont, sits along the Winooski River — the river that Vermonters called the Onion River for the wild leeks growing along its banks before European settlement — in a wooded central Vermont setting 10 to 15 minutes from Montpelier, the smallest state capital in the United States and one of the most genuinely charming and accessible small cities in New England. The campground's position along the river, within the forest corridors of Washington County's rolling Green Mountain foothills landscape, gives guests the Vermont river camping experience while keeping the capital city's coffee shops, bookstores, and locally sourced dining establishments within a brief and easy drive. RV sites and tent camping sites are positioned along the Winooski's tree-lined banks, where the river's clear, cold central Vermont water invites fishing, tubing, swimming, and wading directly from camp — the kind of immediate river access that turns a campground into a daily recreation environment rather than merely an overnight address. Clean restrooms, picnic tables, and walking trails round out the on-site infrastructure in a campground that prioritizes natural character and practical quality over amenity volume. The tree-lined layout encourages the easy social interactions between neighboring campers that riverfront Vermont campgrounds naturally cultivate. Pets are welcome. The Winooski River through Plainfield and the surrounding central Vermont corridor provides Class I and II recreational paddling for canoe and kayak travelers following the river toward Montpelier and beyond, and the riverside fishing access from camp serves trout anglers targeting the wild brook trout and stocked brown trout that the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources maintains in the river's central section. Fly fishing along the Winooski's riffled reaches in the evening hours, with the June hatch activity that Vermont limestone-influenced rivers produce, is a specific experience available from camp without a drive to a trailhead. Montpelier's State Street and the surrounding downtown blocks represent Vermont's most densely independent small-city commercial district — no chain retail in the downtown, an extraordinary per-capita concentration of independent restaurants and bakeries, the Vermont State House's gold dome visible from the main street, and the Vermont Historical Society Museum at Pavilion for guests interested in Green Mountain State history. Barre, just south of Montpelier, is the granite quarrying capital of the world, with the Rock of Ages quarry offering visitor tours that convey the scale of underground granite extraction in a Vermont community whose built environment reflects the material its workers produced. Waterbury, to the west, adds the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory tour to the central Vermont day-trip roster. Onion River Campground operates through Vermont's camping season from late spring through fall, with the summer float and swimming season on the Winooski running from June through September providing the peak river recreation activity. Fall foliage in central Vermont's mixed hardwood and conifer forest begins in mid-September and delivers peak color through mid-October — the campground's riverside setting frames the autumn color in the water reflections that make Vermont fall camping especially photogenic. Reserve sites ahead for fall foliage weekends, when central Vermont's small lodging inventory fills from the New England and metropolitan Northeast foliage tourism market that consistently overbooks the region's available accommodation.

from $32/night

Hickory Hill Camping Resort

130 RV Sites, 9 Cabins, 4 Tent Sites, 6 Cottages, 5 Lodges

Hickory Hill Camping Resort in Bath, New York, offers 130 RV sites, 20 cabin, cottage, and lodge units, and four tent sites in the Finger Lakes Southern Tier, with 30 and 50-amp full hookups, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 60 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. A dedicated Big Rig back-in category joins premium sites, alongside a splash pad, mini-golf, and fitness center. One hundred thirty sites span 30/50-amp back-in, 50-amp back-in, premium back-in, and Big Rig back-in categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with cable TV, sized to 60 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The dedicated Big Rig category removes the guesswork for large coaches. Twenty cabins, cottages, and lodges and four tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills, dump station, restrooms, showers, firewood, and a concierge handle the practical side. Reach the resort at [email protected] or 607-776-4345. A splash pad and outdoor pool anchor the summer, with mini-golf, a disc golf course, fitness center, recreation center, craft room, sports courts, basketball, bocce ball, shuffleboard, horseshoes, and a jumping pillow filling the grounds. A lake, pond, and creek support fishing, with walking trails, hiking, golf cart rentals, a pavilion, and community fire pit besides. Live music and planned activities run through the season, and the resort operates as a wedding venue. Watkins Glen, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Finger Lakes wine trails are all close. Summer and fall foliage drive demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $55 $48/night

Pemi Cabins

Along the Pemigewasset River in Lincoln, New Hampshire—at the foot of the White Mountains in Grafton County where the Franconia Notch corridor concentrates the most dramatic granite mountain scenery in New England and where the Pemi's river sound, the mountain air, and the proximity of 800,000 acres of White Mountain National Forest create the outdoor setting that Lincoln's lodging community has built its identity around—Pemi Cabins offers 18 one and two-bedroom cabins with fireplaces, screened porches overlooking the river, kitchens, high-speed WiFi, and flat-screen TVs, alongside an outdoor pizza oven, fire pits, picnic tables, park grills, a shuffleboard court, complimentary morning coffee, and direct snowmobile trail access with trailer parking—pet-friendly and open year-round in a riverside cabin property where 14 of the 18 units sit directly on the Pemigewasset and the White Mountain National Forest's trail network begins within walking distance. The river is under the porch. The mountain is the view. The 18 cabins—14 of which sit directly on the Pemigewasset River—provide the one and two-bedroom configurations with fireplaces for the cool White Mountain nights, screened porches where the river sound creates the sleep environment that Lincoln's lodging competition charges extra for, full kitchens with the equipment for self-catering the week's meals, and the WiFi and flat-screen TVs that the modern cabin guest requires regardless of how completely the mountain setting absorbs the daytime hours. The outdoor pizza oven, communal fire pits, picnic tables, park grills, and shuffleboard court create the shared outdoor social infrastructure that a cabin community needs when the individual units' porches aren't enough space for the evening gathering. Complimentary morning coffee, the pet-friendly policy, and the snowmobile trail access with trailer parking extend the practical hospitality across seasons and travel styles. Lincoln sits in Grafton County at the foot of Franconia Notch on I-93, at the southern gateway to the White Mountain National Forest's most visited corridor. The Pemigewasset Wilderness—the 45,000-acre roadless area south of Franconia Notch that the Wilderness Act protects in one of the largest wilderness designations in the Northeast—creates the backcountry hiking and fishing environment that the Pemi Cabins' location at the wilderness edge makes immediately accessible from the riverside property. The Pemigewasset River's east and west branch confluence in Lincoln creates the main stem that flows south through the Pemi Valley toward Plymouth and the Lakes Region. Franconia Notch State Park, 5 miles north on I-93, concentrates the White Mountains' most iconic attractions in the 8-mile granite notch—the Flume Gorge's 800-foot natural chasm with boardwalks and covered bridges along the Flume Brook, the aerial tramway to Cannon Mountain's 4,080-foot summit, Echo Lake's swimming beach and mountain reflections, and the Basin's pothole-carved granite bowl at the base of a waterfall. Loon Mountain Resort, 3 miles east of Lincoln on the Kancamagus Highway, operates ski lifts from December through March and mountain biking and the gondola scenic ride from May through October. The 34-mile Kancamagus Highway east through the national forest to Conway delivers the most scenic fall foliage drive in New Hampshire during October's peak color weeks. Pemi Cabins operates year-round in the White Mountains' four-season climate—the winter snowmobile season from January through March on the groomed trail network accessed directly from the property, the spring and summer hiking and river season from May through September, and the October foliage peak that makes the Franconia Notch corridor one of New England's most photographed autumn landscapes. Reserve your riverside cabin at Pemi Cabins and let the Pemigewasset River's sound, the Franconia Notch backdrop, and Lincoln's White Mountain National Forest position deliver the four-season New Hampshire mountain experience that the screened porch and the fireplace were built to frame.