With little more than a month until blaze orange season and not many seventy degree days ahead of us, Wayne and I decided to hit the town trail with the plan to take a right onto a state land trail which is also a VAST trail. We have taken the gravel road that starts at the town forest trailhead on Basin road many times. This road goes past Haskin's Overlook and continues on as the White Trail Loop. We have continued straight several times where the White Loop bears left. Straight ahead leads to state lands and recent logging activity. It's easy to get lost after the "Trail Ends" sign, so if you choose to go in this way, go in prepared for this eventuality.
I think that Wayne and I have had enough of getting lost for the season and so we decided that we would take the right just before arriving at the "trail ends" sign and head right into the Sweet Fern and the Goldenrod that has gone to seed.
I was hoping to find a clue as to whether or not the Roaring Brook Wildlife Refuge continues to the right of the Vernon town forest without cheating and referencing a map. As a matter of fact, yes I do drive Wayne crazy.
At the spot if we were to go straight through the sign there is posted a vast arrow pointing to the right with a gas symbol below it. Neither Wayne nor I have the faintest clue as to where there is gas available in Vernon.
Sweet Fern
The road began wide and easy enough to travel on. In spots it drops several feet below the shoulders giving hints of being older and well traveled. Areas can still be seen where it has been wet as the ruts are deep and the trail has been widened by those trying to get around them. Today however there wasn't a drop of water to be found.
The VAST trail blazes are blue heading away from the town forest and green returning to it. We also noted state land markers on the trees.
The land has been managed and is a mix of impressive old growth and new growth trees. I hoped to see some wildlife attracted to the mixed growth; but a few birds and Coyote scat are all that we noted.
I often fall in love with trees on the trail and this big red oak was no exception!
I found it odd that these trees fell in all directions. I suppose we can call it a split decision?
The trail begins to get rocky on the decline
Take this sign seriously!
A check of Google Maps shows us to be paralleling Huckle Hill road around VT Woods Studio. We decided to go down the steep decline as the map shows a stream near the bottom.
Mountains in the distance.
As I age I find myself increasingly admiring people who can go downhill without feeling the need to gauge the effort required to go back up. Wayne has introduced me to a great strategy for return trips however; pick a point up the hill and announce, "We will take a break there." Setting goals and rewards is ever more helpful than waiting until you become blinded by salty sweat before resting.
Photographing changes or confusing spots in the trail is helpful for the return trip. We came down on the trail to the left. I turned around to take the picture from the return perspective. I also periodically text pictures and comments to my children alerting them to our location. As experienced hikers learn to understand, anyone can get easily confused on even the best marked trails.
An hour since we left the white trail and with no water in the streambed, we decided to backtrack towards home. Wayne and I will definitely take this trail again on a day when we can start earlier. I would be interested in hearing from readers who have traveled this trail in the winter months. I would like to know where it intersects with a Vernon town road.
This short hike to the right has me questioning where exactly wildlife gets their drinking water during drought conditions. As we drove back down Huckle Hill, we kept an eye out hoping to catch a glimpse of the stream we noted on Google Maps at the bottom of the hill we hiked. We drove past Vermont Woods Studio and down to Pond Rd only seeing dry streambeds. Perhaps in times like these, it would be kind if residents to set water out on their property for wildlife.
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