Camping in Vermont

Camping rules worth knowing in Vermont

Dispersed camping on the forest: 14 days, 200 feet, and nothing in the alpine

The Green Mountain National Forest sets a maximum stay of 14 days in any 30-day period and asks that campsites be located at least 200 feet from trails, roads, developed recreation sites or waterbodies. Camping is prohibited in alpine or sub-alpine areas where trees are eight feet tall or less. Its standing forest order, signed 26 June 2024 and running five years, puts the same 14 days in 30 in enforceable form and adds that a developed campsite may hold no more than eight persons and no more than two motor vehicles besides motorcycles and bicycles. Source 10

Primitive camping on state land is a backpacking rule, not a vehicle rule

On selected state lands, primitive camping is allowed for up to three consecutive nights in the same area, at least 100 feet from any stream or body of water, at least 200 feet from any trail or property line, and 1,000 feet from any travelled road. Camping above 2,500 feet in elevation is prohibited unless otherwise designated. Groups of eleven or more must obtain a permit from the district office, and only dead and down trees or branches may be used for firewood. The 1,000-foot distance means the site is reached on foot. Source 28

State park camping: designated sites, two vehicles, 21 nights

Camping is allowed only on designated sites, and off-season camping only by permission of a regional manager. Not more than eight people may occupy one campsite, no part of any sleeping unit or vehicle may sit outside the cleared area of the site, and the maximum number of vehicles per site including self-propelled sleeping units is two. Quiet hours run from 10pm to 7am and generators may not run during them. Gray water may not be discharged on the ground. The maximum stay is up to 21 consecutive nights, after which the camper must vacate and may take no site in that campground for at least seven days. Source 35

Remote camping is a separate system with its own fee and its own week

Vermont distinguishes remote camping from primitive camping: remote areas are specific locations in a large forest complex, on an island or along a shoreline, and may have pit toilets, fireplaces, lean-tos or tables. They are named in the rules, among them the Groton, Coolidge, Victory and Darling state forest Civilian Conservation Corps campsites, the Waterbury Reservoir and Molly’s Falls shorelines, Woods and Knight Islands and parts of Kingsland Bay and Jamaica state parks. Remote camping is by reservation or permit and payment of a fee only, and the maximum stay per camper is seven consecutive nights. Source 35

A fire needs the town fire warden, and the danger rating is a daily map

Open burning is regulated in every town in Vermont by a permit to kindle a fire, and the town forest fire warden issues it when fuel and weather conditions are safe for outdoor burning. In developed state park areas, fires are allowed only in fire rings, fireplaces or charcoal grills at designated picnic and camping areas. Vermont publishes no numbered fire restriction stages. It runs the National Fire Danger Rating System instead, in five colours from Green for low through Blue, Yellow and Orange to Red for extreme, forecast daily on a map updated each morning during non-snow periods of the year. Source 33

Camping on a wildlife management area is three nights, for three reasons

Primitive camping on Vermont wildlife management areas is allowed for the purposes of hunting, fishing or trapping only, for no more than three consecutive nights, on designated areas. Twenty-seven areas are named, several with their own limits: Buck Lake is closed to camping from June to August, and Atherton Meadows is restricted to ground south or east of Route 100. Camp sites must be at least 200 feet from any water body, property line or road. Separately, non-primitive camping with a portable shelter and sanitary toilet is allowed on designated sites for a maximum of 16 days, in the windows 1 to 31 May and 1 September to 15 December. Source 39

Fire danger here is a colour checked daily, not a numbered stage

Vermont runs the National Fire Danger Rating System and publishes a daily forecast map, updated each morning, in five classes: Green for low, Blue for moderate, Yellow for high, Orange for very high and Red for extreme. The department monitors it daily during non-snow periods of the year. There is no Stage One or Stage Two here and no statewide restriction order to look up, so check the colour for the day and then check with the town, because the fire warden can ban open burning locally when conditions warrant. Source 34

Not every federal campground in Vermont is drive-in

Silver Lake Campground is Forest Service ground with 15 campsites spaced along a wooded road at 10 dollars a night, and it is reached only by hiking 0.6 miles down the Goshen Trail or along the Service Road. Hosts are typically on site from Memorial Day through Columbus Day. It is worth naming because a federal campground listing will show it beside the drive-in ones, and arriving with a loaded vehicle and nowhere to put it is a wasted evening. Source 18

The full guide to overlanding Vermont