Fish On The Hill; Huckle Hill

 Prologue: 

I hope that you are equally enthralled with these sorts of things as I am. Though I offered this map for you to locate Charles Hill in my last post, this time I want you to go back to it for another reason. Enlarge the map and carefully study it. Begin at the town forest road and track down towards Slippery Rock and over towards Charles Hill. Do you see that brook? Follow it as it runs adjacent to Huckle Hill road. Follow the brook towards the base of Charles Hill near where Hickory Hollow Rd ends and then on  towards Old Farm Rd. 

Charles Hill as seen from Hickory Hollow Rd and where the brook flows through farmland.

Do you see on the map, that in this area the brook merges just north of Old Farm Rd with another brook? That brook is the brook that flows through the village at Allison Ln then under lower Huckle Hill Rd to just below where Hickory Hollow Rd begins. Are you still with me? 

 Follow the merged brooks to Central Park where two more brooks merge into the one we have been following. Locate on the map where the brook is now labeled Town Brook. Before Town Brook crosses under the railroad and 142, it picks up another brook which has come down from West Rd.

 All of the brooks that have merged  to form Town Brook, flow into the pond at the post office parking lot. At this spot, its waters are held back by a dam at the old mill site until the water level surpasses the height of the dam. It then flows over the dam, down through a steep ravine and finally into the Connecticut River.

I could barely contain my excitement as I counted the nine brook twigs and branches that combine to create Town Brook. To be perfectly honest, I am certain that they are not called twigs. I'm not even sure if I was counting twigs and branches correctly for that matter. 

What I wish you to consider is that Town Brook is like the trunk of a big tree with its branches and twigs traversing flatlands and extending up into Vernon's hills.

Now consider this, Town Brook in Vernon is but one of the twigs off of the Connecticut River. 

As I studied and talked about the map for the umpteenth time, Wayne for his part contributed "But you knew all of that before you started." Yes, it's true that I knew about Town Brook, it's branches and twigs; but that was before the fish. And because of the fish, my curiosity was rapidly flowing. 

Part 2 Fish On The Hill; Huckle Hill

If you recall from part one Fish On The Hill; But Not Charles Hill, Wayne and I while on a hike to Charles Hill, were turned back by posted land. This left us with two options, hike back up Slippery Rock to the town forest or find a new destination. It's amazing what we are willing to do to avoid hiking up a hill. 

When we arrived back at the place where a rather non descript seepage ran under the small snowmobile bridge, I asked Wayne if we could follow the water down and see where it led to. 

I'm inserting this picture of stacked rocks that I took along the water because it reminds me of the scientist from Antioch College whom I met as she was studying the Black Gum 

swamps in the town forest. She taught me that the rocks that hold the swamps (albeit on a much larger scale) are stacked in this vertical manner. 

Wayne stands at the place where the small brook, joins a larger un named brook.

We know these small brooks to dry up in the summer. With last Summer's drought conditions, it was surprising that early autumn rains had filled its small pools. 

We decided to hike along the bank.

From where had all of this water come?

It came from the J. Maynard Miller Municipal Forest, The Basin and near Hemlock Rd.

 At that place where water flows and old trees are left to meet their natural fate.

We came upon an old road of sorts which followed the brook and so decided to walk along it instead.

At places, the brook seemed to collect water from dry beds  

from which it formed deep pools

Where I first began to see them.

 I dared not say anything to Wayne, I wanted to make sure that I was seeing them.

I tried to photograph the small three to four inch fish; and because I could not, I decided that I had seen something other, perhaps a newt or frog.

How could fish have gotten to the pool in this place anyway? I certainly was mistaken! I was standing on a hill with the Interstate, then the moss filled swampy lands of RBWMA and town forest above me and Huckle Hill road below. How many dry beds? How many road culverts? How many human and naturally diverted water pathways? Yes, I most certainly was mistaken, and so I held my find to myself.

How would they survive dried summer streambeds and frozen waters?

We came upon a  substantial bridge made out of logs.

Perhaps there was something more to this un named brook. Could it be the brook was somehow more interconnected than I could know? 

And then Wayne saw them too.

We stood there watching the small fish dart in and out of the shadows.

unable to determine what kind they were and unsuccessful in taking their picture.

We crossed Huckle Hill Rd towards home; but the brook had other plans and followed instead to the side of the road on it's way to the Connecticut River. -Norma Manning

Air Photo Base Map of Vernon 2019

Topographic Base Map of Vernon with contours 2019

Fishes of Vermont, Vermont Fish & Wildlife

Blacknose Dace Note: I can't be sure that this is the fish that we saw; but my resource tells me it is common in small Vermont streams. They too admitted to me that they are unsure how they got into the stream we hiked along on Huckle Hill. Perhaps they have always been there.

Fish On The Hill; But Not Charles Hill

Not much of our hike to Charles Hill on the last weekend of October turned out as planned. Wayne and I did anticipate however, that the steep and rocky trail would be thickly covered with fallen leaves and for that I am grateful that we both brought our trekking poles. 

We began our hike on the Vernon Town Forest road which is to the right of the kiosk located at the end of Basin rd. The gate to this road is traditionally opened this time of year to allow hunters to drive up to the Roaring Brook Wildlife Management Area. Motorized vehicles however are not permitted in the RBWMA, nor on the trails in the municipal forest. 

As we hiked past Haskins Overlook, I was shocked to see that someone had been clearing the sides of the road where Wayne and I had been keeping track of American Chestnut saplings. These saplings were smaller than the four inch diameter trunks valued for reestablishing the species; but important to conserve none the less. This past summer, the American Chestnut Society visited our forest to document their status. They located trees in the more southerly areas of the forest; but due to limited time, they did not scout for them in the more northern areas. 

Wayne and I know of two larger than four inch diameter American Chestnut trees in the northern area. Truthfully, we did not have the heart to investigate if the road work damaged one of those trees which stands at the right side edge of road after going left at the top of the hill. Any damage to an American Chestnut tree potentially allows the blight if present in the area, to infect the tree. Once infected, the tree will die.  In the Southern area of the forest along the red trail, there are chestnut rings where the giants once stood. These rings are saplings growing from their roots. I have run into professors leading classes in the forest who include these rings in their on site lesson. 

 Some of the other trees and shrubs in the cleared area include Eastern Mountain Laurel, Birch, American Beech and Eastern Hemlock. After our hike I reached out to several people and learned that the area was widened in order to allow town trucks in to put stone down on the road. Previously in September, I had inquired about the large boulders being stored across the field and from where the Blue trail exits onto the white. I was told that the town was storing the boulders there for culvert work, though I'm not sure if the culvert work is being done in the forest. 

Time to move on.

Near the top of the hill at the intersection, we were approached by a hunter who was in the area for the first time. He inquired if he was permitted to park where he was and if he could hunt in the town forest. We took some time to describe the area to him, explaining that he was at the edge of a swamp and where the town forest trails intersected with the RBWMA. Hunting is allowed in the town forest, but we gave him directions to the management area where we often see signs of deer. We wished him luck and went on our way which was to the right just after that intersection.

Wayne and I have hiked this area many times. If you stay on this trail, it heads to the steep hill locally known by snowmobilers as Slippery Rock.  This hill isn't much fun to hike up and the local critters seemed to feel the need to emphasis that fact. Thankfully, the plan was to hike down it on this trip and not back up it.

Advice from the locals should be carefully considered.

We came across some interesting things growing in the area.

 Google Lens suggests that these large leaves are tobacco leaves, but also possibly Pokeweed, Jackfruit, Sweetgum or Catalpa. I hope that it's safe to eliminate tobacco and Jackfruit from the list. 

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain

Plantain-leafed Sedge also known as Seersucker Sedge

Further down in a wet area, we found a similar plant community though it was taller and more slender leafed than the Seersucker Sedge.

The moss covering this rock is three and a half inches deep.

At the bottom of the hill we kept to the left and headed towards Charles Hill.

Shelf Fungi

Wolf Pine

We followed the trail left

Where we crossed a small bridge over a small stream

And found a grove of American Beech.

That led to an area that had recently been logged.

Which was posted

Crossing this privately owned and posted land was our only option for reaching Charles Hill; but when I attempted to locate the owner's phone number on the internet, I discovered that I didn't have service. We decided to backtrack on the trail to see if we could connect. 

Looking at the Hunt Map, we were turned back by no trespassing signs at the place where our blue dashed tracking line ends opposite of the Vermont Woods Studios LLC label. Our goal, Charles Hill is shown to the right of that same trail. Some of our previous hikes in the are are also shown in blue. 

With our destination out of reach and a decision to make, I will take pause and continue with our fish find story next time - Norma Manning

Post Note: I first became interested in hiking to Charles Hill when I came across mention of it in the Vermont Gazetteer. I then noticed it labeled on this base map included in the maps section of the Vernon town website. I also noticed that the Vermont Historical Gazetteer mentions a preacher by the name of Charles Woodhouse who began preaching in Vernon in 1836. I couldn't help but wonder if the two are somehow connected. If my readers know anything of the hill, I would appreciate hearing from you.