Dolly Copp Campground 2025
- otomola
- Jul 1
- 6 min read
I arrived at Dolly Copp Campground on June 23. It is a short drive from Hastings Campground. It is located about four miles south of Gorham, NH and about six miles north of Pinkham Notch. This is the fourth year I have been staying here. Here is a description from the Recreation.gov website:
Located at the base of New England's tallest peak, the historic Dolly Copp Campground is a large facility (180 campsites) that accommodates a range of campers and provides access to some of the most popular hikes in the White Mountains.
Lush forests, spectacular mountain views and convenience to outdoor recreation and scenic driving draw visitors from all over to Dolly Copp. The surrounding White Mountain National Forest encompasses nearly 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and western Maine, and is one of the most popular forests in the country.
The campground is situated in a mixed hardwood, spruce and pine forest at the base of 6,288-ft. Mount Washington, the highest peak north of the Smoky Mountains and east of the Mississippi River. The Peabody River and Culhane Brook pass through the facility.
The national forest is home to many species of northern wildlife, including moose, white-tailed deer and black bear. Almost 200 species of birds, including the rare Bicknell's Thrush, live in the White Mountains.
Summer temperatures are often very pleasant; however mountain weather can change drastically, putting visitors at risk for exposure to cold, rain and snow even during summer. Campers should come prepared.
The campground is a hub for hikes into the Presidential and Carter-Moriah Ranges. The Daniel Webster Scout Trail leads from the campground into the Great Gulf Wilderness on the northeast side of Mount Washington. Many more miles of trails can be accessed within a short drive.
Mount Washington is beautiful, but it has some of the worst weather possible. Even when things are fine down at the bottom, it can be treacherous on the mountain …
Pinkham Notch is the central location for doing activities in the Mount Washington area. It has the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Visitor Center and Joe Dodge Lodge. It is the starting point for several routes up Mount Washington, including Tuckerman’s Ravine.
As usual, my main activity here centered on bike riding, even more so than normal due to my recent Achilles tendon issues. The tendon had been feeling pretty good, but the hike I did at Franconia Notch (June 18) seemed to have irritated it some, as after that hike it was slightly symptomatic on bike rides (June 19, 20, 23). Those symptoms have disappeared unless I try walking in my bike shoes up an incline! Why is this? For those who might not know, bicycling has a “clip-in” system where clips fit into pedals to facilitate optimum pedaling. The clips attach to the bottom of the shoes, close to the front. When walking in these shoes, oddly enough, it raises the front of the foot and applies a stretch to the Achilles tendon.
All that considered, I did six rides here totaling 180 miles. I avoided steep hills, keeping stress off my Achilles in doing so. One thing to note, on my ride Wednesday I passed the 90,000 mark, based on a starting date of June 2010. In June 2010, I stopped running. I had started running and doing races in 1985. After 25 years of it, I realized that, in the long term, running was not a good thing for my skeletal system, and I decided going forward I would get my main exercise from cycling. I had always been cycling to some degree. By always, I mean I do not recall never having a bike, going way back to tricycle days. Anyways, fifteen years later I have reached 90K miles! I’ll write about that more in another post …
I anticipate that I will be able to do uphill hikes in another week or so … time will tell.
The campground has been remarkably quiet the entire week. I think many people skipped the weekend (June 27-29) due to the weather forecast of rain. Despite its large size, it is a quiet campground. There are eight different “loops” and in most areas the campsites are spread out and private due to the abundance of trees.
I stayed six nights at site 136 at Dolly Copp. This area is called Hayes Field, and it is a large, mowed, green grass area on a slight hill that provides fantastic views of The Imp and mountains north of it leading to Wildcat Ridge. From the lower end of Hayes Field, one has great views of Mount Madison. There is a 4.1 mile trails to the summit leading out of the campground. I might give that a go next week, should my heel feel up to it. I also stayed at site 48 in the Big Meadows inner loop for two nights.
Monday and Tuesday were very hot, humid days, up into low 90s. It is uncomfortable in the van-camping environment as it becomes quite hot inside. It makes the refrigerator work harder, and the reality is it cannot keep up. The fridge temp rose to 46 degrees during the day, though overnight it went back to 39. Wednesday temperatures only reached 83 outside, much better, and it has been comfortably cooler Thursday through today (Monday, June 30).
I played my flute outside one night, after one of those cooler days, while having a campfire. My flute? Yes. I acquired this flute after hearing someone play a flute on the beach at Fort Pickens in March 2024. A couple were walking the beach. She was walking in the water, right at shoreline, playing her flute. The instant I heard it, I said to myself, "I want to do that!"
The next day, I crossed paths with them again in the campground. I asked her about her flute, and she told me about it at length. Simply put, she had bought it and taught herself to play it. She said it was not difficult. She also gave me contact information for a Native American flute maker back where they lived in Ohio. They owned a farm there, she said, and they would have festivals there with music, art, and camping. She recommended a beginner start with a flute in the key of A. The finger holes for various keys differ in distance from each other, and A has the closest distance between them. Simpler way to learn, I was told.
I contacted the flute maker. He suggested an A flute as well. His price was around $350, much more than I expected or wanted to spend. I found another flute maker, Stellar Flutes. They are a small family owned and operated business, and I obtained my flute from them. I have since learned there are many flute makers and prices range from under $100 to over $700.
Whatever the case, I enjoy my flute. I played it outside, sort of "in public" for the first time. Within ten minutes, a woman in her 20s or 30s walking by stopped to say how wonderful it sounded out here in nature. Shortly after, a couple who are camp hosts stopped to say how great it sounded.
I would say I have little to no skill in playing a flute. I have not taken any lessons or "studied" anything about music. But it seems quite simple and easy to play. I am thinking of buying another one, something in a different key.
My brother Richie came up Thursday night with his son Ryan. They stayed at a motel in North Conway. They wanted to hike Mount Washington. I had planned to do so as well, when we made these plans about a month ago, but I opted out, due to my Achilles. All week, prior to their arrival, the weather forecast looked grim for hiking the peak. But Friday turned out to be a picture perfect day of sunshine and relatively mild winds. They had a fantastic hike, completing it in just over six hours, including time spent hanging out at the top. They did the ascent in a little over three hours, including some stops in the snow caves of Tuckerman, and the descent in just under two hours!
That night we met at the Muddy Moose for dinner. We had kind of a tradition going there. In the 1990s and 2000s, Richie and I did the running and/or cycling races up the Mount Washington Auto Road. I did the run 1995 and 1996, the bike in 2005 and 2006. I am not sure what years Richie did it, but I think he did the run twice, and he did the bike three times. We would come up, sometimes with siblings or friends, who would watch the race and meet us at the top. At night we’d meet at the Muddy Moose for a meal and fun. It seems the weather always cooperated for the run, beautiful sunny days with little wind, but it never did for the ride, with weather characterized by cooler temperatures, fog, and wind. One year Richie did the bike and I did not, it was very windy and visibility was about ten yards at the top where I was watching.
I had a couple other visitors. Pictured below is a Luna Moth and a member of the Tortricid family.
