Each year, my family and friends go on at least 3 camping trips in the NH and Maine area. Branch Brook is the one campground that we ALWAYS have in our itinerary. Pedro, the camp owner, is such a nice person and we have never had any issue with the staff. He works hard to keep the campground running as smoothly as possible, and does a lot of extras that he does not have to do, at no cost, and with a friendly and pleasant attitude.
Our group uses tents and popups. There are usually at lest 4 families that go with us, sometimes up to 6. We always get the sites next to the river. The sites are large, with electricity and water. (We don't use the water hookups ourselves, but they are there.) The campground is very large in terms of land. The area where we camp with the electricity and water is only part of the property, but this is where most campers stay. The sites that are not near the water can be small and a little closer to each other, but we always book early and get the sites next to the water.
One of the best activities we like to do when we are there is to tube from one end of the campground to the other on the Pemigewasset river. We pile all the kids and tubes into a truck or two, and drive to the other side of the campground where you take a walk over a very stony path (bring shoes or flip flops!). Then you go down a very steep embankment to the river, and then you can float all the way back to the campsites. Since we are right on the water, we get out right at our campsites. If you are not right on the water, it's ok because there is a spot that anyone can get out. (Campers are usually very gracious as well, and won't mind if you get out where they are camping. ) It takes about 30-40 minutes to do this run. When you are done, you just drive up with another car, pick up the cars you drove up, go back and load it up and do it again. It is this tubing run that makes us go back year after year.
Pedro also rents kayaks, and for a fee, they have a van that will take you a few miles (7?) up the river and drop you off so you can kayak back down. My wife and daughters have done this a few times. It takes a few hours depending on the river height.
The campground is on the pemigewasset river, and sometimes this river floods, and it will flood the campground in the spring. A few years back, the river overtook the entire campground and damaged a lot of the campground. Pedro has since rebuilt most of the damaged facilities, including an upgraded bath house with FREE hotwater showers.
One more thing about this campground, it is great for families and Pedro goes out of his way to make it awesome for the kids.
- Every day there are "hay rides". These are very fun and the kids love it. Most of the time, the kids follow the tractor and hayride on their bikes as well.
- During the day, there will be some small activity for the kids like face painting or ice cream or something similiar if you happen to be around the general store (which you may if your kids have some candy money to spend).
- on saturday evenings, pedro usually has something special planned. A few times we have been there he loaded up a field with candy and the kids had a flashlight candy hunt. There was no fee, the kids get to keep the candy. Another time, there was a candy bar bingo. ONce again, no fee. Pedro pays for it all.
- There is a GREAT pool, with water slides for the kids.
- There is a very large field right near the campsites that my kids love to go and look at the stars at night. Once, the ids stayed in the field for a long time just looking at the leonid meteor showers.
Additionally, there are other places in the campground for people with RV's, although we have never stayed there. And there are two additional large fields that sometimes are filled with people having large get togethers.
I cannot recommend this campground enough, and I do so by going back every year with our group. read more