Ammonoosuc Campground — Hotel in Carroll

I always try to use mom and pop businesses in America when I have the chance, but this is one of the bad apples that makes me think twice about whether I should just give my money to a bigger company.

Horribly rude, arrogant, unpleasant management, which picks silly fights with guests, to the point where I will actively never go back and I certainly will encourage others to seek one of the many competing campsites in the area if they want to stay nearby. To add to this, the staff doubles down on their angry rhetoric as soon as you confront them or call them out on their bad behavior, as they believe their anger at their guests is somehow righteous and justified. Given all their religious gift shop merchandise, they ought to learn better hospitality from the bible, as I'm sure their religious leaders would seriously frown upon how they think it is appropriate to treat some visitors.

It's amazing how little power and wealth can corrupt certain people of particularly weak character, but the owners are clearly these types of extremely petty human beings. I spoke with Ellen ahead of time to confirm the campsite, which we chose due to its proximity to Mount Washington. She was already very persnickety with me on the phone about small details, and gave me a hard time about wanting to put my very small (13 foot) camper on a site and also have my 2 friends share that site, with them sleeping near our camper in their tents. The alternative was them getting a 40$ per night tent site instead of an additional 10 per person, which was just an attempt on their part at a greedy cash grab, because anyone with any common sense would have realized there was more than enough room for everyone on a single site, and that our group wanted to stay together.

Ellen came by the second evening, after we were exhausted from doing the hike up and down Mount Washington, to berate us about how we still owed the site 10$. I told her our friend had visited the front desk and told another member of the staff about how he was happy to pay, but she said that because we didn't call and instead had someone visit the office in person, we were in the wrong, and we were breaking the rules. This is ridiculous nonsense! Just learn better communication with your staff and you will avoid yelling at your guests who already tried to pay you what they owe. When I called her out, she sped off in her little golf cart, screeching about "you owe me 10$!" instead of coming to a consensus and cooling things down, the way mature adults would have solved this or any other misunderstanding. It's almost like she enjoyed bullying us, treating us like children who had disobeyed her.

Finally, once we checked out, I attempted to pay the 10$ we owed. They said they waived the charge, which I thanked them for, but argued they could have been much more polite and friendly with us. That's when another woman part of the management immediately took Ellen's side and said we must've deserved the grilling, as she would only have been so angry with us if we had broken the rules. I told her to either apologize, or I would tell other people online about my account, and since she was too proud to be the bigger person, now you get to read about it and potentially avoid a similar screaming match with unpleasant people at this campsite!

Learn how to talk to people, how to resolve conflicts, and how to...

We camped here for the Fourth of July , last minute. We were grateful to score a site. I’m going to say, this is not what I expected. It’s not on the river and the word “ walking distance” isn’t really accurate. It’s in long walking distance to a part of the river that isn’t really swim able. I asked her upon arrival if you can walk or drive and she said drive. The website seemed to make you believe otherwise. They also mention a store is across the street. It’s not across the street it’s down the road and across , but it’s actually vacant now.

The campsites for tents are so clustered you have zero privacy. They packed as many sites as they could. The roads are narrow and unlike the kancamagus, they don’t have “ one way signs” which makes for disaster. We barely fit a 4 person tent and a truck on the site. This is a place to rest your head after hiking. The bathhouse was nice; having service was nice, being able to make a reservation was nice, but I’ll never camp here again. If you have camped the Kanc, you will be in shock if you camp here. This isn’t the nature retreat we hoped for.

Lastly; after a nice day at the river a few miles down, I was heading to the office to check my mom in as a visitor. When I arrived the owner rudely approached me saying “ you better take that tarp down; my husband went by your site and he’s LIVID”… I was shocked and confused. My husband had hung our tarp for the rain to two trees to give a little privacy so we didn’t have to awkwardly look at our neighbors while having a fire. . Neatly. Not only did she do this in front of her friends, but it was rude and intense. We wanted to leave then and there. I felt like a kid getting in trouble. We hesitated to stay but we were tired so we did. She then apologized in a condescending way, which is better than nothing but it’s not acceptable and she should control her behavior as a business owner. Stumps that cause for destruction all around the camp that they haven’t taken care of and just say “ watch out for that stump” . Maybe put your husband to work on the landscaping instead of being “ livid” about a tarp hung up for privacy on a campsite....

Enjoyed a 5 night stay at this campground. The staff and owners were really great. The plots are a good size and easily fit our 18 foot trailer. We stayed on site 8. It seems that all of the non seasonal sites are packed down dirt. This site was level in the area where we parked our trailer. There were a bunch of roots in the ground near the fire ring. Not really a trip hazard, but making that side a little uneven. It’s the outdoors though… To be expected! My only complaint is that the site became swamped during the heavy downpours we had during our stay. Like a river of water flowing through our site. However, the rain was heavy, and once it stopped, the water cleared quickly. Not worth taking a star away, but something to keep in mind if you stay on this site and it looks like it is going to rain.

The campground itself has a nice pool… Too bad it was a bit chilly to enjoy it though. However, it was beautiful and clean. The kids enjoyed the playground, and I enjoyed the retro feel of the equipment. It looks like they are building a new office building. Looking forward to seeing the end result on our next trip.

The area is also nice. Close to a lot of the area attractions in the Greater Conway area, but far enough away where you can get away from the crowds. Sugarloaf Mountain is nice a close with a beautiful hike to the summit. There are gas stations that are nice and close, along with a great place called Ya-Yas, which is a convenience store that also has a deli that offers pizza, breakfast sandwiches, and other to go items. We got French toast, and breakfast sandwiches there on our last morning and they were delicious.

I am looking forward to returning to this campsite next time we are in the area!...