Northern Highland - American Legion State Forest - Recreation

• Winter Recreation Activities
• Camping
• Canoeing

Outdoor recreational opportunities are diverse and abundant on the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest. In particular, visitors are drawn to the forest's water resources. The forest is blessed with one of the highest concentrations of lakes in the world, making sport fishing a major recreational activity. Other popular water-oriented recreation includes swimming, water-skiing, boating, canoeing and sightseeing. The forest has nine designated swimming beaches and more than 100 designated boat launch sites.

Camping

Camping is another popular activity on the NH-AL. The forest offers 18 family campgrounds, plus two outdoor group camping areas. Most campgrounds are small: Two-thirds have fewer than 50 campsites and the two largest have roughly 100 sites. Two handicap accessible sites (one at Crystal Lake Campground and one at Firefly) have electrical hook-ups, and four campgrounds in all offer special facilities for disabled campers. Just over one-third of the forest's campsites (353 sites in four campgrounds) are served by showers and flush toilets. The remaining campgrounds are rustic in style with only basic amenities, such as hand-pumped water and pit toilets. In addition, 131 canoe and remote-reservable campsites are scattered throughout the forest for people wanting more private and primitive camping conditions. Backpack camping is also allowed by permit and deer hunter camping is seasonally available.

Day Use Areas and Trails

The forest has many day use areas and trails (PDF, 3.1MB), including eight developed picnic areas; five interpretive nature trails totaling nearly eight miles in length; and three designated hiking trails totaling 18.5 miles. Other designated trails include 32 miles of mountain bike trails, 70 miles of cross-country ski trails and about 400 miles of snowmobile trails.

Recreational opportunities may be found on the forest at-large, in addition to those available at developed facilities. There are abundant small- and big-game hunting and trapping opportunities. Hundreds of miles of logging roads and non-designated trails are open to all types of non-motorized uses, like hiking, skiing, horseback riding and mountain biking. Some unimproved roads are open and accessible to licensed motor vehicles, as well.

Hunting

Each fall, the NH-AL State Forest draws hunters from around the state and region for gun and archery deer hunting. Hunting of ruffed grouse, woodcock and other small game is also popular. Due to the diverse forest types on the property, including aspen, birch, oak and pine forests, the NH-AL provides a variety of game habitat. Just over 50 percent of the NH-AL is high- to moderate-quality deer habitat, and 45 percent is high- to moderate-quality ruffed grouse habitat.

Wild Lands

Finally, the NH-AL provides "wild land" recreation for those seeking a pristine and quiet backcountry experience in areas with few support facilities, motorized vehicles or signs of management activities.

Welcome and enjoy!