George Washington Campground/North South Trail

TLDR

George Washington State Campground and Management Area, Town of Glocester/Burrillville. It is managed by the State of Rhode Island Division of Parks and Recreation. There are more than 30 miles of trails on 4000 acres. Adjacent to this across Route 44 is Durfee Hill Management Area which is an additional 1176 acres. Dogs are allowed on a leash; mountain bikes are allowed; hunting is allowed so orange is a must during hunting seasons. Alcohol is not allowed, but that is largely ignored in the campground. Good trail conditions on the part of the North South trail that I hiked from George Washington to Durfee Hill and back. Campground was very nice. Would stay again.

Background

I returned to this area to test out a new camping setup and some gear. While I was at it, I tried to get a few hikes in. I had hiked at this area back in March of this year and overall, I was pretty disappointed. The main problem was the amount of ATV traffic on the trails. This seems to only be an off-season problem because there is no staff to keep offroad vehicles out of the park when it is closed. There were no offroad vehicles on the trails during this visit.

This area is perfect for a gear test, because it is only an hour from my house, so if there was a disaster, or if I was needed at home I could get home quickly. It was only 45 bucks for the 2 nights, so it wouldn’t be a big loss if I had to bail out. From here I was able to hike a part of the North-South trail, which goes 78 miles from Charlestown, RI to the northern border with Massachusetts. This area has segments to do in both directions.

The ranger station was open and staffed, the bathroom was open, and there were porta potties every other campsite or so, so you didn’t have to walk too far for relief. There are showers, dump facilities and water fill for RVs but there are no individual hookups at sites. I made my reservation in early June, and there were plenty of sites to choose from at the time. The campground wasn’t full, so you could have booked the day before and had no problem getting in.

I arrived on a Friday night, and it was raining with more rain forecast for the next morning. As I sat there, I thought to myself that this might be the quietest campground that I had ever stayed in. The weather improved on Saturday as the day went on, and by the evening the yahoos had arrived, so I quickly realized that I just got lucky with the one quiet night. You just have to expect people to get a little rowdy out in the woods in a public park and plan for earplugs or white noise.

Camping setup

I really wanted to try out a new setup for camping and start to figure out what gear I’d need to add to my existing equipment to make things as comfortable as possible. To do hikes in areas further from home without going broke, I’ve decided that a car camping set-up in my minivan would be the best option. I already have a bunch of camping equipment, but I haven’t gone out using my own gear in years. All my camping in the last 10 years has been with my son’s scout troop, so this is a big change. The main addition to my setup was a DIY awning to attach to the side of the car because setting up an awning solo can be a real challenge, and the nice car awnings range from $200 to $800.00! I was extremely happy with how my homemade one turned out. I copied a youtuber’s design exactly (softroadingthewest), and mine cost about 50 bucks because I used some supplies I already had. The only drawback to this setup is you can’t drive away from your campsite easily because the awning is attached to the car.

Where to access the park

The entrance to the park is located at 2185 Putnam Pike, Chepachet, RI.

What to see

The main feature of the park is the lake and boat ramp, and because the forecast was so poor, I didn’t even bother to bring my kayak. I have already hiked the walkabout trail; you can see my trail review on the previous post. If you like mountain biking, this would be a fantastic place to camp, there are many miles of trails that you could enjoy riding on. My planned hike was on the North South trail which goes right through the park.

Trail Review

You can pick up the North South trail at any point within the park, and it is very well marked with square cards and/or light blue blazes. I’d rate the markings excellent-you can almost always see the next blaze from the one you are standing at. My original plan was to do a portion of an 8-mile out and 8-mile back hike from the AllTrails app south from George Washington Park into Durfee Hill Management area. I planned to eat lunch on the trail, then come back. It rained hard all morning, so to avoid that I started late, well after lunch. The full 8 miles each way was completely off the table at that point. I ended up doing 4 miles out and back, and that was plenty, especially with the temperature close to 80 and the humidity hovering near 100%.

The trail conditions were surprisingly good given that the rain had been heavy and continued to shower at times throughout the day. There were large puddles in places but there was room to skirt around them. You have to cross Route 44 close to the beginning of the hike and there are sections that go on paved roads. This is a serious turnoff for some hikers. The way I look at it, many of these long “thru-hikes” are going to have to incorporate some paved sections to get across the distances they cover.

Most of the hike is what my midwestern friends would call a “2-track.” Basically, it’s a dirt road made up of 2 parallel trails next to each other caused by 4-wheel drive traffic. I only passed one other person on this trail, a trail runner heading south, pretty much at the end of my hike. I’m going to say this was probably due to the weather. The deer flies were bad in some spots, so I’d recommend repellent. If you have any experience with deer flies, you know that sometimes repellent doesn’t deter them. If they really bother you, I’d recommend a hat with a bug net. You feel foolish, but your sanity is worth that cost.

Accessibility

There are some trails within George Washington Camping area that are accessible for people with limited mobility. The parts of the North South trail that I did were moderately difficult for a blogger with a mediocre fitness level, so I wouldn’t recommend it.

Takeaways

I’d really recommend the campground. It’s a great jumping-off point for exploring this part of the world. You can easily visit attractions in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts all from here, and there are plenty of hikes and other things to do right within the park itself. Bring some earplugs because the natives can get a bit restless.