White Mountain/Russell Pond Campground

Tom Maurer

First off. The actual tent spots are awesome. Very spacious and plenty of room between sites. It feels very private. Now to the bad. As of this writing, the majority of bathrooms are in complete disarray. A lot a bathrooms are completely shutdown or at 50%. Signs posted stating things are closed for renovations, but there are no signs of renovations… just things closed down. There is literally ONE shower available to the entire campground. I mean one! And it’s coin operated as well. I mean at a steep 30$ a night for a tent site, bathrooms is complete disarray, and forcing you to pay for a shower, I don’t see the value. At this point, I’d probably just go camp out in the national forest somewhere. Plenty of port-a-pots out there for taking poos. Just not a lot of value for a steep 30$ a night tent spot.

M

Recent reviews are accurate. The campsites are nice and I would stay at them again. Note: Most, if not all tent sites are either up or down a set of stairs and may not be accessible to those with mobility limitations. Your loops bathhouse may also be up/down a decent incline. Additionally you will need to routinely carry food/items back to your car or bear box. There was no "check in" and I only saw the host once at their site. Quiet hours were NOT enforced. The site next to ours had a roaring fire and music going still by 4:30am. The bathhouses are in need of repair. The loops ranged from no working toilets to one working toilet and there was only one working shower in the campground. The pond is exactly that, an 'unimproved area' pond with a mucky bottom and a sand/dirt beach. Good for paddling and swimming depending on the person. There is no dish washing station (wasn't expecting there to be) and you will need to take a few extra steps to clean dishes in bear country.

Joshua Kolodnicki

The sites and location are great, but the facilities are falling apart. During our stay all but one shower was broken, which is the worst of it, but in general this place isn't in great shape. Some of the signage here is in direct conflict with how they want things used. The camphost was polite about it, but it can be confusing. Nobody did anything about someone running a generator until 11pm nightly. It didn't impact us, but I'm sure it bothered the people near it. Which is just sort of the general vibe here, the place feels understaffed and underfunded. Things aren’t getting addressed because there isn’t someone to address them. It’s still probably the best campground in the area, and I would recommend staying there, but it could be stellar with a little TLC.

Patty Kolodnicki

Read some reviews about the facilities issues prior to arriving. Fortunately the bathrooms near our site (B loop) were working but no showers. The D loop bathrooms and showers were out (portable potties available) and the only functional shower (one) was the one closest to the lake and often had a line. Camp host was mostly at their site. I've been to other grounds where the camp host will walk or drive the site daily checking in on new arrivals and review the rules and answer questions. But this one did not. At one point we had our garbage and some items taken from the bear box near our site (which specifically noted it was for food and food garbage). I guess the host's understanding of the use of the box was different from ours. Sites are nice and mostly separated from others, but a few nights we heard what seemed like a generator go late I to the night, past quiet hours and wasn't enforced. Seemed the local sheriff would do a lap once a day as well. If you're staying a short time the bathroom and shower situation wasn't too terrible, but for longer trips it may be tough, especially with children.

Nicolas Stowell

Great hidden gem of the white mountains! Came here during a few week nights and had the campground to ourselves. The pond is beautiful and perfect for swimming. Only complaint is that there is only one working shower, and two working bathrooms in the entire facility…. Not sure how that works during the busy weekends!