On Memorial Weekend, we camped at Beaver Brook CG, in North Monmouth, Maine. This place is beyond the end of the pavement, and our Garmin GPS had the directions wrong. Fortunately, I knew the area somewhat, had been there years before, and had studied my DeLorme Atlas before going. Yup, I'm an Engineer and a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy. Actually, the unpaved portion of Wilson Pond Road wasn't too bad. I've seen paved roads much rougher.

Our site was on the far side of the campground, at the top of the hill. The road going up was rocky, uneven and narrow in places, with a few tight turns. I was able to navigate it OK with our 33 ft long Class A Southwind, but I'm not sure I would recommend it for a larger rig. (If you've read my previous posts, you already know that I have sometimes driven this thing where people with more sense would fear to go.)

When I made the reservations, I was offered the choice of a few sites that supposedly would accomodate our rig. When I got to Site 353, I had to reset a couple times to avoid the trees, but got in OK. I had less than a foot left over on the driver's side with the slide out, and about a foot left on the other side with the awning out. We couldn't use the fire pit (no big deal to us), because it was within 2 ft of my rear bumper. During our stay, we marked several sites on the map that would have been better for our coach.

During Friday night, the CG water system lost all pressure. Fortunately, our onboard tank was more than half full, so I just switched on the pump. When I spoke to the office staff the next morning, they said they had found and fixed some leaks and were refilling their reservoir tank. In the afternoon, they had water again. However, we lost water pressure again on Saturday night, and once more on Sunday night. In our case, this was no real inconvenience, because we just turned on the pump and used our own water. I normally carry water in the fresh water tank anyway. This trip just reinforced my "be prepared" attitude about it.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Beaver Brook. I think the Good Sam/Woodalls ratings of it are on the generous side. The pool is nice, the store is fairly well stocked. The restrooms are "fair" at best. The roads are a little tough in places, but Ok in most areas. Some of the sites (including ours) are tough to get into because of trees in the way. On the plus side, the forest setting is nice, there are some amazing large boulders and some very interesting stone walls that the early settlers put a lot of work into, There are several lakefront sites, there is a group of very long pull-through sites with sewer connections. The property has a very picturesque brook running through it (which I forgot to take a photo of). There are several activities for kids, as well as horseshoe pits, a wooded disc golf course and a run-down mini golf course. There is a hall, which featured a rock band on Saturday night and karaoke on Sunday night.

There were very few motorhomes here. There were trailers of all ages, sizes and descriptions, as well as a few tenters. Perhaps it was the time of year, but the crowd was almost all Mainers. There were several seasonal setups, some of which were "park models."

We walked a lot, and enjoyed the exercise. If you camp here, especially up on the hill, you better be prepared to walk uphill and down. If you are restricted to level ground, this place is not for you.

They had free, unsecured, wi-fi near the store, but none elsewhere around the CG.

Would I camp here again? Yes, but I would not be expecting first-class accomodations. At $36 for a water and electric site, it was an OK deal for a 3 day weekend (I dumped once, on the way out). I don't think I like the place well enough to pay the $50 that they charge for a sewered site.