Peace and quiet at its best
If you like the great outdoors, nature, camping, quiet places or looking at the stars, you should check out Bowman Lake State Park. Located west of Norwich, Bowman Lake is 653 acres in the middle of nowhere. It is not near an interstate highway. It is a relatively unknown park.
There is a swimming area, fishing, kayak and rowboat rentals. There is a nice shower house. Many of the camp sites have good privacy with lots of trees and underbrush. The camp fire grills are adjustable which is awesome compared to a standard fire pit ring. There is ice and firewood available at the park office.
There are water access points located conveniently around the park, a recent upgrade by the looks of things. The buildings look good and the staff seems to have it together.
It is really dark and quiet at night except for the owl at dusk and at 5:00 AM! Between the owl and the woodpecker, it was obvious they didn’t get the memo about quiet hours between 10pm and 8am!
There is a trail around the lake and a trail to an observation tower. I made it around the lake but the trail to the tower is 2.8 miles, longer than I had time for. Be sure to wear hiking shoes or some other appropriate footwear. The trails are rough and not of the flip-flop variety.
My one night stay at Bowman was too short. I look forward to going back for a longer stay and to complete the tower trail hike. For me, this is what camping should be; quiet, isolated, hiking, and sitting by the fire at night playing guitar. If you can put up with my singing, you might even get invited along someday.