New England roadtrip advice for visiting Brits

Hello Mountain Project people
We're about to start a two-month road trip through New England (and maybe up into SE Canada) in September / October and we're looking for any advice / beta / suggestions.
We've climbed extensively elsewhere in North America (California, Four Corners, South West, The South and Canadian Rockies and BC) but this is the first time visiting the North East. The obvious "destinations" are already on the itinerary: The Gunks, White Mountains, Adirondacks, Rumney, Arcadia etc. Any advice for first-time visitors to these spots? Any suggestions of hidden gems? Is it worth extending the trip into Canada (New Brunswick, Quebec, Toronto)?
We'll be travelling in a rented RV (which might limit some backcountry options) and climbing a mixture of trad and sport up to mid 10s (maybe low 12s on bolts) but fully expecting to get shut down by 5.7 slabs and off-widths!
All ideas welcome!
We'll be documenting the trip at rockaroundtheworld.co.uk so feel free to keep an eye on progress.
Cheers, Dom and Helen 

I highly recommend venturing into Quebec. There is so much great climbing there and only a fraction is on mountain project. I can send any info that I have to you if you're interested. 

Another spot in NH is North Conway for some good cracks and classic slabs.  There are some easier options on the latter.  

If you get a desire to climb some serious old school routes I'd recommend taking a small day trip to Ragged in CT. The routes there are pretty historical and there are a lot of good routes jam packed into one area. 

Depending on where you're starting, there are  a few ideal ways to go about it. General points?
Avoid the Gunks on a weekend, especially if you plan on climbing classic 5.7-5.10.
I agree that the ADK rock guidebook is excellent, although for many of the crags listed above in Nolan's post, seeking out classic routes should be pretty easy without it. Beer walls/Chapel pond moderates are also often busy on weekends. ADK grades will provide a good baseline for the granite climbing in NH as well. (If you're going North to south, and you climb in the ADKS and then NH, by the time you're at Acadia you'll be climbing 2 grades harder! Going the other direction might bring about some feelings of sandbaggery....)

If it was me, I would try to spend weekdays getting used to grades and sampling classics at popular crags like the Chapel Pond crags, Precipice Cliff at Acadia, Rumney, or at Cathedral Ledge/Whitehorse (conway area in NH) and weekends for more ambitious things (Avalanche pass, Cannon (getting cold this time of year, start early) Poke-O, etc.) Enjoy! The northeast is amazing.

There is quality trad climbing in Ragged Mountain, CT. If you stop by MA, Crow Hill is a little gem with some old school classics.

Jackie Sweet wrote: I highly recommend venturing into Quebec. There is so much great climbing there and only a fraction is on mountain project. I can send any info that I have to you if you're interested. 

Yes all of eastern Canada ! & North ~ 1st !  Then New Hampshire &  the 'Dacks', finally the 'Gunks'.(Where are you flying home from?)   By following a North to South road trip you will be heading to the less crowded areas 1st & following the Autumn season, so hopefully getting better/dry weather. Are you planning on going south?  If so, its is a hard call between the Red River Gorge(S) of Kentucky over the New River G.  Of W.Virginia (~if I had a vote~ Kentucky  Corbin sandstone, is amazing Stone! Red River G. Rocktober Fest Oct, 11-13)

Cannon dude. Moby grape is classic and i believe lightning bolt cracks has a penjulum and a 60 foot spitter ow

Hi, I'll put in a pitch for my western Massachusetts areas--Farley, Rose Ledge, and Mormon Hollow--particularly Farley (mix of sport, trad, bouldering). They are close together and pretty much on the route between more southern areas (Gunks, Connecticut) and northern New England (about 10 minutes east of Interstate 91 and Farley is literally above Route 2 the main east/west road through northern Massachusetts).

For the Adirondacks I'll also recommend doing something on Roger's Rock for the unique locale and water approach.

Have a good visit. You'll love it---as long as the weather cooperates!!!!

I'm going to beat Nick Goldsmith to the punch here and suggest Dears Leap in Killington Vermont.  A nice little crag with a full day's worth of climbing.

When you are looking to push your limits, Rumney is the place.  Most of the harder routes have permadraws, so if you keep getting spit off you only loose a little skin and some pride!  The American Alpine Club purchased the campground across the street from the climbing and the hosts are great people.  There is some trad climbing, but most is sport.

When in Vermont, keep in mind Bolton area as there is a lot of climbing all within a few miles of each other.  In New Hampshire, from Cannon Mtn east on the Kanc to North Conway area there is a lot to climb.

Enjoy and be safe!

Xi Yin wrote: There is quality trad climbing in Ragged Mountain, CT. If you stop by MA, Crow Hill is a little gem with some old school classics.

If I flew to New England from the UK and then visited Crow Hill I would have my head examined.

North Conway, the Adirondacks, and the Gunks. There's your trip.

The Northeast is great, stoked for you to visit! If you guys catch a warm spell while in maine and are interested in a bit of an Alpine objective the Armadillo on Mt.  Katahdin is a great day. A burly approach to a hugely asthetic line tops you out at the highest point in Maine. Also the foliage should be perfect! Shoot me a PM for more info if you guys are interested! 

check out Acadia and Katahdin for sure. If you're going to do the Armadillo, it's worth doing the Flatiron first, rapping, then topping out on the 'dillo.

have fun!

Cannon,  Acadia, daks , n Conway,  rumny. Getting to know few locals you then might branch out to  more  off the radar  locations  

Adirondacks are absolutely the best . You could spend weeks at Poko-Moonshine alone.  Next to that, the best (in my opinion) places are (from west to east) bolton and smuggs for sport climbing....  2 days in Marshfield, 1 or 2 days at black mtn, a week or more in N. Conway., ( be sure to spend a few days climbing at  Greens cliff) couple days in Evan's Notch, Shagg crag for sport fix ( rumney is undeniably great sport climbing but the crowds are insufferable) then onto Arcadia which is ok but prob not that exciting after all that you have climbed up to that point.  .. by that time it may be too late for katahdin but that is an amazing place if you make it there.

 It would be a lot of dollars to buy all the guidebooks for that path , and mountain project is far from conclusive. But the Rakkup app has VT and Acadia for pretty cheap... I'd go ahead and buy the north conway guide by Handren and the Adirondack guide. Black Mtn and Greens are both well represented on the data base here on MP . 

People are taking this time to promote their favorite local crags. As a result, there are some pretty bad suggestions here. I'm sure any of these are great if you're a local, but if you're traveling in, even great climbing areas can become not fun fast if you don't get the logistics right. If you follow most of the advice in this thread, you'll end up spending a lot of time driving, trying to find places to camp, and looking for things to climb, and not a lot of time climbing.

I ran into this when I went to Chattanooga. Sunset Wall has some amazing climbs, particularly offwidths, but the parking situation is a mess, and on a short trip, the time we spent figuring out how to get there and parking would have been better spent doing more climbing at T-wall. I'm sure Sunset is great if you're a local and know where to park, but it's a terrible place to send visitors.

As Michael Dupont said, North Conway, Adirondacks, Gunks would be a great trip. Rumney and Cannon are both also quality and close to North Conway so you can add them without adding too much driving. Other than that, don't overcomplicate things.

For each area:

• Adirondacks: Get Adirondack Rock. Stick to popular areas, they're popular for a reason. I'm sure there is good stuff that isn't popular but you're not likely to stumble across it. The Dacks are probably the least likely to be crowded on a weekend of these destinations.
• Gunks: Get the Gunks Apps for the Trapps and the Nears. Try to be here mid-week, it gets crowded on weekends--if you must be here on a weekend go to the Nears. Send me a PM, I might be around.
• Rumney: Get the Ward Smith guide. Come with an armory of bug spray and get to higher elevations to avoid bugs. There's great trad, but that's not why you go to Rumney; just bring your sport gear. Also try to be here midweek to avoid crowds.
• Cannon: Just do Moby Grape. You don't need a guidebook to do Moby Grape. There's other good stuff, but if I were you I'd plan my entire trip to Cannon around doing Moby Grape, anything else is just a nice-to-have.
• North Conway: The reputation of this place speaks for itself, but I haven't been so I'll let others give you advice.

Michael Dupont wrote:

If I flew to New England from the UK and visited then visited Crow Hill I would have my head examined.

North Conway, the Adirondacks, and the Gunks. There's your trip.

Fair enough, but he asked for hidden gems. Quality over quantity - Henry Barber routes do not disappoint. 

Alan Emery wrote: When you are looking to push your limits, Rumney is the place.  Most of the harder routes have permadraws, so if you keep getting spit off you only loose a little skin and some pride!  The American Alpine Club purchased the campground across the street from the climbing and the hosts are great people.

+1 that the AAC campground at Rumney is a great place.  And ++1 on losing a little skin-- Rumney rock is quite sandpapery.  The rest of your list sounds great.

Wow! I'm completely blown away by the number and quality of helpful responses - thank you all so much! Sounds like a lifetime's worth of climbing, and I guess we'll only scratch the surface.
I should have said we're flying in and out of JFK and planning to head northwards pretty speedily then take our time coming back south (so hopefully staying in the sweet spot weather-wise).
Sounds like our core plan covers most of the honeypots (and Moby Grape is now firmly on the to do list) but we'll be checking out a few of the escoterica above for sure! Also really helpful to get suggestions for climber-friendly campgrounds.
Thanks again - Keep them coming!
Cheers, Dom
Www.rockaroundtheworld.co.uk

In terms of hidden gems, in the Fall a trip to Millbrook at the Gunks for Westward Ha and Cruise Control is a great adventure & not too strenuous of a day.