Stowe and Vicinity

After leaving the White Mountains we drove West over the Connecticut River and towards the Green Mountains and the town of Stowe.  Stowe is one of our favorite towns out east.  We've been to Stowe twice before in the winters for skiing and were excited to visit during the summer.

Stowe is located near Smuggler's Notch.  The notch is rare point along the spine of the Green Mountains that is low enough for people to pass through without climbing up and over the mountains.  Appropriately named, Smuggler's Notch has been used by a variety of smugglers.  The trade embargo on British and Canadian goods in the 1800's was avoided by bringing goods through the narrow passageway through the mountains.  Later the notch was used by abolitionists to help slaves escape on the underground railroad.  In the twentieth century, it was used by bootleggers to get a

ween Vermont's highest peak, Mt. Mansfield and another large mountain, Spruce Peak.  In the winter both are home to ski resorts, and in the summer Mansfield provides some rare above tree line climbing.  Stowe sits nestled at the foot of these large, iconic Green Mountains, with the nearby Worchester Range of mountains visible to the East.  The area is home to many olympic skiers and snowboarders who cut their teeth on the steep, icy slopes of some of the East's hardest skiing.

The village of Stowe itself is an interesting blend of locals that have lived there for generations, wealthy folks from the cities that are visiting their summer or winter homes, and a wide range of small business owners that have managed to carve out a niche in this vacation destination.

We stayed for two nights at the Green Mountain Inn, located at the center of downtown.  The Green Mountain Inn was opened in 1833 and is full of history. Although the building is historic, it has been renovated very nicely and offers high-end accommodations, complete with an outdoor swimming pool and health club with jacuzzi and sauna.  As members of the Green Mountain Club, we were able to take advantage of a 50% discount on weeknights, putting this high priced resort right in our price range!  

While in the Stowe area we visited a number of iconic businesses.  Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory is located in nearby Waterbury.  This is a can't miss destination for any ice cream fans traveling to the area.  The factory offers guided tours of their operation regularly, complete with free tasting.  The scoop shop on site also sells a variety of flavors that aren't available in stores, including Mary's favorite, "coffee coffee, buzz, buzz, buzz."

Right down the road from Ben and Jerry's is Cold Hollow Cider Mill.  Home to some of the best cider and doughnuts I've ever had, Cold Hollow is near the top of the list of reasons I love Vermont.  Practically across the street from Cold Hollow are both the Cabot Annex Store, and a Lake Champlain Chocolates store.  The Cabot store offers free samples of a wide range of cheeses, salsas, mustards, and other products.  Cabot is a cooperative owned by Vermont dairy farmers.  They specialize in white cheddars, some of which have been aged for up to two years.  Lake Champlain is similar to Godiva chocolates.  Although they don't offer any samples, they sells really, really good chocolate!

While in Stowe we drove the Jeep up to the notch to get a preview of the terrain we'll be hiking next summer when we resume our section hike.  Near the top of the notch Vermont 108 becomes a one lane road.  It is a tricky one to navigate, with sharp hairpin turns and the threat of oncoming traffic at each blind corner.  The view, however, was spectacular.  Sharp, rocky cliffs rose at a dizzying angle on both sides of the road.  It was not hard to imagine how difficult the trail down these cliffs must be, something we will have in the back of our minds as we prepare for next year's hike.

Having enjoyed all of the comforts the town of Stowe had to offer, we decided it was probably time to begin the long drive home.  Vermont is a beautiful state full of fantastic scenery and some great independent businesses worth checking out.  We were sad to drive out of the Green Mountains, but excited to get back to our family, friends and cats.  We'll both look forward to next summer when we return to continue our through-hike!

Quechee Gorge

 After leaving Burlington we elected to drive around Vermont and visit some of the interesting places we had driven past while shuttling vehicles between North Troy and Williamstown.  One such place was the Quechee Gorge, in the mid-east part of the state.  The Quechee Gorge is a rock canyon about 100 feet deep.  The Ottauquechee River flows at the bottom of this gorge and has been slowly carving an ever deeper path through the canyon for thousands of years.  US 4 passes over the gorge on an impressive bridge that provides a birds-eye view of the river below.  Traffic tends to slow down drammatically as people drive across and gawk at the sudden, and often unexpected view.  Just east of the bridge is a state park with pleasant camp sites set in a stand of very tall pine trees. 

We decided to camp for two nights at the state park so we could explore the surrounding area and attractions.  Being a weekend, the park was packed with families camping.  Luckily, we were able to get one of the few sights still available.  The heat wave that had been plaguing most of the nation had finally found its way to Vermont and temperatures were in the 90's for several days. 

After setting up our camp sight we drove to nearby Bridgewater Corners and the home of Long Trail Brewing for a tour and some tasting.  Long Trail Brewing is a neat company.  All of their products are themed around the Long Trail, and the brewery is located just a few miles from where the trail crosses US 4.  We sampled some of their products, and then purchased some to take home with us.  Long Trail is only distributed in the East, meaning this would be our only chance to buy it for a while.  Their feature brew is Long Trail Ale, a very drinkable beer.  They also had a number of pale ales and IPA's on draft for the summer.  This was one of the more interesting breweries I have been to thus far. 

Next we drove back to the campsite, changed into our swim wear and took the self-guided interpretive trail to the base of the gorge, looking to cool off.  Just below the last set of rapids the river mellowed out, forming several large pools suitable for swimming.  Reaching the river required carefully climbing over some unusual rock formations formed by the river at higher levels.  The hillside above the rock walls was littered with evidence of Hurricane Irene.  I could imagine this gorge would have been an amazing, and terrifying place to be during last year's storm.  We swam in the cool waters and enjoyed being out of the heat for a while.  The canyon's steep walls blocked the sun most of the day, so the water was surprisingly cold and refreshing. 

That night we fried up some veggie burgers that we had purchased at the whole foods store in Burlington on our backcountry stove while listening to the Tigers game on my IPhone.  Not a bad way to spend a beautiful summer night.  The skies were clear, meaning we were able to leave the rain fly off our tent so we could enjoy the night skies.   In the middle of the night we were awoken by the sound of something large romping through the forest behind our campsite.  Later we heard crashing sounds coming from the dumpster at the entrance of the park.  The nighttime visitor stayed away from our tent, so we were content to go back to sleep for the night. 

In the morning a park employee came around to inform everyone that a black bear had visited the campground the previous night, and that it was imperative we take care of all of our food and food scraps each night.  It was somewhat surprising that this campsite would have bear problems, as it was not exactly wilderness!  We were careful with out food, but secretly we were both hoping to catch a glimpse of the bear if it came back.

After breakfast we filled our day packs with snacks and water and took a scenic drive to the Ludlow area in order to climb Mt. Okemo.  A ski hill that sits across the valley from Killington, Okemo is a moderate climb with a fire tower at the summit.  By the time we were on the trail, temperatures had climbed into the 80's.  The climb was only 3 miles, but it did go up 1900 feet, and the heat was stifling.  We huffed and puffed our way along the trail as it used a series of switch backs to climb up the steep hillside.  For climbing almost 2000 feet the trail was surprisingly easy.  I would recommend this hike for most people on a cooler day, especially in the fall when the trees change.  Almost all of the hike was through a deciduous forest that would make for spectacular fall colors. 

Upon reaching the summit we climbed the fire tower and enjoyed our lunch along with a hiker from Massachusetts who was already at the top.  The views were pretty good, although most of the mountains in the distance were cloaked in a thick haze.  It was almost as if the heat was visible in the skies.  After a lengthy lunch break we headed back down the trail.  The downhill went quickly and easily, and we enjoyed the forest scenery much more on the way down.

When we arrived at the Jeep we found that it was even warmer out of the forest.  The thermometer on the dash read 95 as we drove through Ludlow.  Not ready to head back to our campsite yet on such as hot day we found a coffee shop with air-conditioning in town.  We escaped the heat for a couple of hours while catching up on some reading. 

Once it had cooled down a bit we drove back to the campsite, taking a different scenic route this time.  Driving around Vermont is an activity in of itself, as all of the roads are required to climb up, over, around and down mountains to get anywhere.  The countryside here is very much like it is portrayed in popular culture.  I couldn't help but think of Bob Newheart's place, or perhaps the town of Redbud in the Chevy Chase film "Funnyfarm," rickety, covered bridge and all!

That night we listening to the bear digging through the dumpster for a while before falling to sleep.  We still did not get a look at our nighttime visitor, but judging by the sounds of his or her search for food, I'm guessing this bear isn't going anywhere until they put in some bear-proof garbage containers, or relocate it. 

The next morning we paid a visit to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS), located less than a mile from the campsite and the gorge.  VINS is a natural science center that specializes in housing and rehabilitating birds of prey that become injured.  We arrived just in time to catch the last half of a live show.  The employees brought out a number of birds to show the audience.  Some of them were even trained, and could fly from one employee's glove to another on command.  After the live show we walked the grounds and saw the large collection of birds housed there.  Included were Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, a variety of hawks and falcons, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, Barn Owls, Screech Owls, Great Gray Owls, and my favorite, Snowy Owls.  VINS does some pretty fascinating work to help injured birds, and this was definitely worth the visit. 

After leavin the Quechee Gorge area we are planning to pay a visit to the nearby White Mountains in New Hampshire.  The opressive heat is making camping difficult, but it is nice to visit some of these places while we are so close!  We'll contine to hope for a cool down in the weather.

Day 6

So far we are really lucking out with the weather. Another rainstorm blew through the mountains during the night, the drops plunking loudly on the shelter while we slept. By sunrise, however, we were greeted by blue skies again.

Everyone in the shelter was up early so we were on the trail by 7:30 am. The morning was cool, the trail mostly level, and the lure of a town day strong causing us to make great time. We played leap-frog with a group of section hikers for most of the morning. This group was comprised of three gentleman in their 60's who are working to hike the entire Appalachian Trail over many years. They were an entertaining group to chat with. One man was a retired teacher who served in the army in Vietnam. He had spent time in the Midwest, including Detroit, so we were able to swap stories. It was comforting to talk to someone who knew something of our home state.

The trail eventually joined Rootville Road, a dirt road that runs into Manchester Center. We made really great time on this stretch of flat, level terrain. After about 3 hours of hiking we reached a side trail to Prospect Rock. We took our lunch from this scenic spot, perched on a slap of rock that jutted out several hundred feet above the valley below. Manchester Center was visible below, tantalizingly close. AT through hiker Hawkeye was enjoying his lunch here as well. His teenage son had joined him for a couple of days on the trail. They had spent the previous day fishing and relaxing at Stratton Pond. Hawkeye had spent much of his life in this part of Vermont and was able to provide us with some advanced scouting on Manchester Center.

After finishing the last of our food we retraced our steps to the trail and began the last 5 mile push to the road. In classic trail fashion, the hiking turned harder, switchbacking up and down several ridges. The sounds of town were clearly audible through the forest as we hiked. The horn on a train blew, a siren sounded at noon, and the rush of traffic zoomed by on the road below.

One of the most maddening experiences in all travel is the "almost there" phenomenon. That lasts .5 can go by painfully slowly, so much so that Mary has forbidden me to say. "almost there" while hiking. Eventually, the trail did finish snaking through the woods and emptied onto a busy highway.

Manchester Center was 5 miles to the West, meaning this would be our first experience hitching a ride into town. We decided our best strategy was to have Mary stand near the road with her thumb in the air while I hung back with the packs. It seemed like people would be more likely to give a ride to a women than a man, especially one in filthy clothes and 6 days of stubble! Our plan worked, as the fourth vehicle that went by pulled over. It was the perfect choice for our first hitch: a teenage girl on her way home from working as a lifeguard at the Bromley Ski Resort swimming pool. She seemed like a pretty safe bet. We climbed into her Suburban, with plenty of room for us and our packs. It was fun to marvel at how fast the miles zoomed by after traveling the last 60 under our own power. She gave us a brief tour of town before dropping us at Sutton's Place.

Sutton's Place is a B and B that caters to hikers. He offers a hiker discount, and the location is ideal. Set about one block up a lazy side street from downtown, it is within walking distance to all of the services we will need. The proprietor, Frank, gave us a run down of the best places to visit while in town. He also gave us a beautiful room with a window air conditioning unit and a private bathroom. Although, to be fair, just about any room would have looked good after 6 days in the woods.

We changed into our cleanest clothes, sorted through our packs and made a plan for while we were in town. We had decided during one of the long climbs that we needed to part with some weight if we were going to be able to keep hiking. We decided to mail home some items we didn't need: the hammock, an extra Nalgene water bottle and the Jet Boil, along with a few small items. We could do all of our cooking with the MSR stove we had brought and the lightweight pot. We walked part of the way to the post office before passing a great smelling small town doughnut joint. Mary graciously offered to walk the rest of the way to the post office while I satisfied my doughnut craving. Mrs. Murphy's Doughnuts had the kind of small town, greasy doughnuts you just can't find anymore. After indulging in a couple of fantastic doughnuts and a large iced tea, I walked down the street and met Mary at Ben and Jerry's for our second treat of the day. It's amazing how good ice cream can taste on a hot day after 6 days of trail food!

Our immediate needs satisfied, we visited the Price Chopper, the whole foods store and the Eastern Mountain Sports for groceries and supplies. After being hungry on the trail for five most of the week we loaded up on high energy foods: nuts, dried fruit, and energy bars. We also bought a clove of garlic to add to our dinners. We learned from through-hiker Spock that this is an easy way to make a dehydrated meal more appetizing, and it helps keep away the bugs. While we were outside the Price Chopper we ran into some section hikers we had met previously on the trail. They are planning to get to Katahdin this year. They are also hiking with a beautiful and adventurous dog named Captain. We watched Captain for them while they did their shopping.

After stashing our purchases in the room we went in search of dinner. We ended up eating at the Firefly. We had outside seating with a great view of the mountains we had been in earlier today. Chips with fresh salsa, guacamole, a veggie burger with Vermont Cheddar and a Switchback Ale really hit the spot. Watching the sun set behind the mountains we both had a great sense of accomplishment. We had walked here from Massachusetts! We've hiked 60 miles already, with 56 of it on the Long Trail. We have 217 miles to go. Tomorrow we are going to take a "zero" in town and see if we can find some fireworks for the holiday. We'll be back on the trail Thursday as we head for Killington and Sherburne Pass.