We've been doing a lot of hiking on Robinson Road in West Fairlee.  To get to Robinson Road, take Route 113 west from Thetford into West Fairlee Village. Mill Street is right across from B and B Market.  Mill Street becomes Robinson Road as soon as the pavement turns to dirt. Although Robinson Road becomes steep and narrow, it's easily accessible by any type of vehicle, at least until Southworth Park, which is on your right at the top of the hill. 

Southworth Park has picnic tables and a parking lot, and it is a trailhead for one of the Rivendell Trails. On the right side of the parking lot, there is an opening in the brush that leads to a meadow. There is a nice view from the hilltop.  One of the West Fairlee portions of the Rivendell Trail begins on the left of the parking lot. This part of the Rivendell Trail is somewhat difficult, although I am fifty and have a bad left foot and I am more than capable of hiking it.  Some of it is steep, and this trail involves climbing over and around some rocks, streams, and one uprooted tree. This trail leads over to Blood Brook Road in West Fairlee Center. There is a stone wall about halfway between Southworth Park and Blood Brook Road. From the park to the stone wall, the trail is very well marked, after the stone wall, the path and markings are less clear. 

Maps of the Rivendell Trail used to be available for free to download online. Unfortunately, I see that is no longer the cast, and hikers have to buy one at stores listed on the Rivendell Trail site. http://www.crossrivendelltrail.org/index.html

 

 

In the above collage, the top picture is the apple tree right next to the park. The blossoms were so pretty earlier in the Spring. The picture on the bottom left shows a series of stone steps leading from the top of a hill down to a stream. The trail continues on the other side of the stream and up over another hill. At the top of that hill, you will find the partially uprooted tree depicted on the bottom right. The trail actually skirts around that tree. The middle picture is a picture of the stone wall. I love stone walls. (These pictures were placed in the collage based on how they fit, rather than in order of appearance on the trail.) 
        Since I have a bad left foot, I really can't hike more than two miles a day, so most of my hikes are in two mile increments. If you had two cars, you could park one at the Blood Brook trailhead and one at Southworth Park and hike all the way through.  It is about two miles between the two trailheads.

Hike - Podunk Wildlife Management Area

                Last year the Old Redneck and I did a lot of hiking and didn’t document any of our hikes.  I did mark waypoints on my GPS for all the cellarholes we found, but didn’t bother to document the places that we hiked that didn’t have cellarholes.  Some of them had great views, or waterfalls, or other cool features, so this year we are finding ourselves repeating those hikes.  I decided to take pictures of every hike, and document them in a scrapbook.  There are often hiking threads on the facebook group Upper Valley NH/VT and I thought it might be helpful to people who live or visit here to have access to some hiking reviews.

            On the first weekend in May, we went hiking in the Podunk Wildlife Management Area in Strafford. The Podunk State Forest was once mostly farmland.  In the mid sixties, the State of Vermont bought the land as a wildlife preserve.  There are two ways to access Podunk.  From the west, take the Justin Morrill Highway in Strafford to Old City Falls Road, and then to Pennock Road.  You can take any car as far as the sign that says “Road Not Maintained Past Here.” There is a small parking spot there. If you have four wheel drive, you can drive much farther down the road, depending on the weather and road conditions.

            About ¾ of a mile down the road, there is an abandoned homestead on the right with some nice cellarholes right next to the road. If you turn right into what was once the barnyard, and keep going until you get to the woods, there are several more really nice cellarholes and a grave back there. I would bring a GPS so you don’t get lost.  The coordinates to the grave are 43◦53’09.9”N 72◦20’08.6”W.

            This is Esther Bacon’s grave (who I have memorialized on this blog). Esther (spelled Ester on the gravestone) is buried next to her baby.  Before the internet, I always assumed that she died giving birth and was buried next to the baby, but that is not the case.   Esther was married to Levi Bacon and they had 8 or 9 kids. This baby is the only baby they lost. She is buried next to the baby, a daughter. Levi is buried somewhere else in Strafford. I assume she lived on this farm when the baby died, and then moved later. When she died, she was buried on this farm next to her daughter’s solitary grave.

            We usually do not see anyone else when we hike out here, although occasionally we have. Although we always bring our dogs and don’t leash them, you want to bring a leash because one of the houses on the way in has an overly friendly beagle who is often running free. The road is nicely maintained for hiking and the terrain is rolling hills – not too flat but having no difficult inclines. This is a perfect place for people who want to walk in the woods, see some historical stuff, and not have to worry about climbing a mountain.

VT Fish and Wildlife has a PDF that features all the information on Podunk State Forest. Access it here: http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_73079/File/Where%20to%20Hunt/Barre%20District/Podunk%20WMA.pdf

 

The pictures were taken that first weekend in May. Now it is the last weekend in May and everything is beautiful and green.  Such is the difference a month makes in the Spring in Vermont.

Looking for a hike in the Upper Valley?  I've been searching the internet for ideas for hiking and haven't found many, so I thought I would try describing some hikes that my husband and I take.  I have lost quite a bit of weight over the last year and a half. I never weigh myself, but went from stuffing myself into a size 16 dress to fitting quite well into a size 12.  I accomplished this by eating healthy and hiking in the summer and snowshoeing in the winter.  I am going to try to map and describe our hikes, which is difficult because there is no cell service in the wilds of West Fairlee, thus no "Map My Hike".  My husband (the Old Redneck) has a heart condition so rest assured that these hikes are short and easy, although we are trying to increase the length of our hikes with some success, but not as much as I would like.  Because of our jobs and family commitments, time is at a premium.

I mapped these hikes using Google maps, which I haven't been able to save, so I traced the image using a piece of paper and a pencil on top of my laptop screen, which probably isn't great for the screen, but hasn't hurt it so far. 

Yesterday's hike was really fun.  The starting point is on Russ Road off of Middlebrook Road in West Fairlee.  We parked at point A, with coordinates of N43 55.679' W072 14.371' .  When you are on Russ Road, headed away from Middlebrook Road, park on the righthand side of the road near the gate to the VAST trail.  You will be following VAST trails on this hike. Look for the place the VAST trail begins again on the other side of the road. There are two crossed poles across the entrance to the trail.  The coordinates for point B - the end of your hike, are N43 55.655' W072 14.846'.  According to the GPS, the distance is .41 miles but that is as the crow flies  - the actual trail is much longer as it curves up and around and sometimes seems to double back. The  

We each have Garmin Etrex 10 GPS's, which I highly recommend.  The Etrex 10 is one of the cheapest models.  It's easy to use the compass feature once you get the hang of it, and I love the Trip Computer.  The Trip Computer tells you how much ground you've covered, in real distances, not as the crow flies, and tells you how much time you've spent moving and how much time you stand still (sometimes an eye opener). In terms of actual length, the trail is about .75 nukes,

If anyone buys one of these or has one and wants some pointers in their use, email me and we can have a conversation about them.  I love mine but it was tricky to learn how to use it.

Somewhere very close to the beginning, the trail is very boggy and soggy.  Don't worry, it is perfectly dry for the whole way after this very short (but very wet) segment. Also at the beginning, you will come to a rope across the trail. There is a road (really a driveway) that dissects the trail at this point. Cross the road and go under or over the rope on the other side. The ropes, gates and poles are there to discourage ATV'ers, not hikers. Shortly after you cross the driveway,  you will come to a gate  with signs saying, in effect, "This is a VASA trail, please respect the property of the landowners".  Go around that gate and follow the path. You will come to a clearing that is actually an old log landing, with some leftover logs pushed off to the right. The trail seems to veer off in several directions. Follow the path that bears to the right and up the hill. There are several places where the trail seems to branch off. These are mostly dead ends, and are mini log landings and log roads. If you bear to the right every time, you will be fine.

 Eventually you will see a nice stone wall on your left. You will follow that stone wall for a while, and eventually it will veer off to the left and soon after that the trail ends at a T.  Take a right.  There will be a swampy area to your right.  Follow the path.   To your left, look for a round stone structure off the path a little bit into the woods. .  We can't figure out what this was - maybe a barn foundation, maybe some kind of loading dock for logs.  Keep going and you will see where a stream forms a little pool and then goes under the path - there is another one of those stone structures past the pool, and you have reached your destination. There is a nice clearing there with lots of apple trees.  Never found a cellarhole but it's a nice place to explore, with a continuation of the trail at the other end of the clearing for those with more time and stamina.

When I get to the clearing, my trip calculator reads .75 of a mile.  The last time I did this hike I continued through the clearing/meadow and found where the trail picks up again, and continued up the hill until I had reached a mile.  The trail gets rocky and has been washed away by the hard rains we've had recently, but I did make it the whole mile.  On your way back, be sure not to miss the left hand turn.

If you have a GPS and you follow the distance closely (I always do), there are points where the distance to your destination will increase.  This is because the trail curves and at that particular point, you are actually moving away from your destination. It doesn't do this often or for very long.  It should straighten out in a minute or so, and your distance will continue to decrease.

At first, I thought that I would not recommend going on this hike without a GPS because some of the turns are tricky. I went back and repeated the hike before I posted this, and I think you would probably be okay following my directions and bearing to the right at any intersections. I bring my GPS every time I go into the woods when I'm not very, very familiar with the trail.

If anyone tries this hike, please comment here and tell me how you liked it and please give suggestions and hints for better directions.

Right before you get to the clearing, a brook makes a small pool before it goes under the trail.

 





This is a picture of the second circular stone structure. We can't figure out what these are.

 





This is the clearing, or meadow.  This land was once a farm.  Some people call it "The Ordway", and it may have been part of the Ordway farm in the late 1800's.