From Miller Farm to Maynard J Miller Town Forest in Seven Hours

 We began our day by dropping off a car at the Basin Road trail head parking and then made our way to the Vernon Town Hall where we left our second car. It was nine in the morning and a beautiful Red Fox was making its way across the Miller Farm pasture having encountered a pair of ruckus Canada Geese. The fox kept looking over its shoulder at their objection and soon disappeared. 

We knew what we were up against, the Vast 1-A Green Tail up to the intersection which I had dubbed the information highway in my blog Rough and Random. On that day we were turned around several times and the trails threw everything they had at us. Our hope was that the trails would be considerably drier as well as more familiar. At the intersection, our plan was to hike south on Vast Trail 1 to where the orange Roaring Brook Falls Extension trail branches off from 1-A. We wanted to go to the left there, missing the falls and crossing Roaring Brook just the one time. From there it's all uphill to the Municipal Town Forest Road. In all, were were on the trail seven hours, we visited three ponds and I face planted twice. Oh, and there was a cow costume.

It's 1.6 miles as the crow flies from Miller Farm to the intersection. If only the trail was a straight line! On this previously hiked section, I noticed a tree warning us that the trail looks very different depending upon the season. Though we had the basics down, I was surprised at the number of forks that had been covered up on the March trail. The truth is, sometimes it's just a lucky guess that gets you going on the right trail, especially if there has been logging going on.

This path meanders through the area crossing back and forth over the much wider logging trails. We noticed deer tracks on our last visit; but this time there were bike and boot tracks.

 Another thing that has changed on the trail is that the rocks are now exposed. This rock in the middle of the trail has been scraped up by passing motorists. The land to either side of the trail is about a foot higher than the ruts.  The trail has been compacted and eroded away over the years. Fair warning, as mentioned previously I love rocks and find it hard to ignore them. There will be pictures of rocks in this blog!

Am I the only person who believes that often times random events really aren't random? Here I am trying to find out why I was meant to find this pamphlet in the woods. I placed it back where I found it just in case it was meant for another. Near the end of our hike I began to wonder if perhaps I should have taken the time to read it in its entirety.

We took the low road

I posted about this beaver pond on the Cold Brook in March. I hope that you won't mind my dropping in again.

We heard the Great Blue Herons and the Canada Geese before we made it to the pond. Once we stilled ourselves we began to notice swallows and Mallards. Trying to photograph  Herons made me wish that Paul and Mary Miller were with us.

This part of the trail is still a bit wet

Wayne wanted to take the right, I wanted to take the left. He let me win. My trail ended in an old woodlot causing us to backtrack. 

On the way back, I was out in front going on about a great rock that I had taken a picture of. It had circles in it that I imagined to be reminiscent of ancient writings (I'm positive that he was hanging on my every word). When we reached the rock again, I was just about to point it out when my foot caught the end side of a long stick. There was no recovering and before I knew it I was demonstrating for Wayne how to perform the perfect face plant! Every hike, Wayne and I have one point that breaks us. It's our partner's responsibility to put aside our own brokenness and remind the other that there are but two ways out. If Wayne had laughed he may very well had taken the other way. I don't know about you; but one of the first things I do after struggling to get up, is to look for what I nearly missed and count myself lucky.

I don't know how he does it, but Wayne usually puts us on the right trail.

Two hours into our hike and we are at the intersection of the 1-A Orange trail and the 1 Green trail. At this point we are at the arrow near the top of the map heading south to the forest where my finger is pointing. We plan on the light green trail the entire way. We are parked to the right of my finger at the gate on Basin rd. The sound of Interstate 91 will be our constant companion until beyond the intersection of south end of the dark green with the light when we begin to hike south-east before we head north-east and finally south again. It seems odd to say it this way; but I can tell you that when hiking I listen for the water and the roads. 

What is that old saying about the kitchen sink?

Woodlot markers are a good sign that trails ahead can be rough and confusing

Yellow Birch

An Eastern Hemlock sapling growing in front of a log left behind.

Clearing woodlots allows light and new growth in areas where the floor had little. Carefully planned clearing is important to creating food sources and open habitat that supports a diversity of wildlife.

Temperatures in the low seventies feels hot on the trail this time of year. Wayne wore a long sleeve shirt with a T underneath. I was grateful that I was in short sleeves and that the Black Flies weren't out.

These newts took advantage of puddles created by trucks in the middle of the trail.

The above newt was brown while the below was more red. Life cycle of a Newt: Aquatic adults lay eggs in the water which hatch into olive colored active larvae. In the late Summer, when the larvae loses their tail fins and absorb their gills they becomes a Red Eft that will live only on the land for the next two to three years  at which time they are a terrestrial adult. The cycle is complete when they once again enter the water as aquatic adults to mate and lay eggs*

We followed a beaver's path to the second pond on our journey. 

Historically known as Great Pond and a former mill site, this pond with the big rocks rising from it is the Beinhauer-Horstman Lot within the Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area

Great Pond is a forty eight acre pond and so I found it difficult to capture it in its entirety. 

The Pond is described as being important to wildlife** though we only saw a pair of Canada Geese there today.

The trail runs along the pond for a surprising distance making me think that Long Pond would be a more fitting name for it. The hill on the other side of the trail has mixed woods and ledge.

Near the southern end of the pond is more evidence of truck activity

Wayne spotted this curious tree with burls and a ring of rocks at its base. The opposite side revealed that it used to have a double trunk.

It seems early in the season to find algae even if the water is shallow

Trying to decide if we should take the old (light green) trail or the new Alt Vast 142 (dark green) trail. We decided on the old trail.

Wayne didn't steer me wrong as we found the most beautiful moss covered white stone with a nearby Vernal pool full of eggs! I was beyond thrilled as our last attempt to locate eggs came up empty as I wrote about in Vernon's Vernal Pools.

I'm not really clear if and when we left state lands; but this sign and gate post let us know that we were continuing our hike on state land. We also spied a green diamond and a large yellow sign with an arrow.

Some trees find the most difficult places to grow.

We're not exactly sure what went on here and we may never know; but one thing is certain, this abandoned cow costume seemed out of place on the trail.

There was what looked like an old well or small cellar made from rocks along with a rock wall that ranged in height from several rocks tall to this section.

At the bottom of this hill was a muddy trail and as we progressed it became rockier with a stream running directly down the trail.

I've decided that Wayne and I love winter hiking over traversing rocks, branches and mud.

As our rests became longer I had time to refocus 

before heading up again.

When we got through this section of trail, I noticed that there was a white sign on the backside of a tree. It would seem that traveling north on the trail is prohibited. It's a good thing we were headed south!

Awesome rock!

Who keeps locating lakes in the middle of the trail?

It looks like some form of mining has been taking place and of course I couldn't resist checking out the view from the top.

Now at this point, Wayne and I were both pretty tired and unsure if we had made the right choice to take the light green trail. That closed trail sign added to my anxiety but was nothing compared to discovering a house where I had thought was the middle of the wilderness! Exactly how lost were we? A check of Google Maps did nothing to alleviate our concerns.

We walked around trying to decide where to go from here and discovered a gate that resembled those on state lands. Later Wayne and I agreed that it was a good thing that we decided to hike the trail south instead of north because we probably would have otherwise become terribly lost at this juncture.

 Four and a half hours on the trail

Fifteen minutes later and we were on familiar ground. We headed away from the orange Extension trail and continued on the green trail.

We found our third pond on the hike. This pond was frozen over in my blog Rough and Random Spring Trails in March. As we rested we were kept company by a pair of Black Capped Chickadees who were nesting in a cavity in a pondside tree.

This is what Wayne looks like checking to see if I survived my second faceplant of the hike. This one truly hurt and was caused by the same type of  butt end stick kick that had caused my first. Though Wayne encouraged me to get up quickly, I laid there for some time waiting for the pain in my wrists and knees to subside. We have a picture of me crumpled on the forest floor; but Wayne thought it better not to publish it. Suffice to say, I hurt for several days after this hike.

Finally the Roaring Brook! Is seemed to flow right out of the ground forming this pool before continuing on as a brook.

It was time to cross the brook but a frog had claimed the crossing as its own. Being incredibly exhausted and empathizing with his needing to rest in on the moss in the sun, I stood here for an extended amount of time waiting for my turn. Finally Wayne said it was time to cross.

From here the uphill trail was all too familiar. We started the final length to the Town Forest

One last look back from where we had come, we exited the trail and began walking on the Town Forest Road / White trail. We reached the parking lot at 4:15. Seven hours on the trail from beginning to end, our goal of hiking from Miller Farm to the Town Forest was completed. 

- Norma Manning