GORP has been working with Fred and Suzanne Dow, our champion campers, for half a decade. Every summer they've been sending in their detailed reports of national forest campground conditions from Vermont's Green Mountains to California's Coastal Range.

The Green River in Wyoming—
a fine place to stop a spell

Last year, Fred and Suzanne dropped by GORP's New York offices. We asked them for a rundown of their favorite campgrounds."You provide amazing detailed information on hundreds of campgrounds, but what are the extraordinary few that are really worth a special trip?"

Fred and Suzanne were reluctant to publicly say. "We would never want to slight any campground, or the hardworking people who maintain them." But, they let on, there were some campgrounds that made their project especially worthwhile—the undiscovered gems.

What makes a campground special? Well, a good campground should have sound facilities. But if all you want out of life is a clean toilet and a sturdy picnic table, you might as well stay home. To make a campground really worthwhile, the surrounding scenery should be superb. And most of us don't want to spend all our time just looking. A good campground should have a wide range of available activities, whether it's hiking, fishing, rafting, or exploring an area's history and culture.

Happily, Suzanne relented and agreed to write a series of articles on her favorite campgrounds. What follows are ten favorites from a woman who has reported on over a thousand campgrounds.

— Mark Leger, GORP Editor

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