Winter on the Way

On my drive to town two weekends ago I took these photos of the marsh that I drive past. Every morning, as the fog lifts, I peer along the waters edges in search of moose grazing. So far my sightings are null but my hope remains the same. One day I will spot a moose just as I did in Alberta, when I was growing up.







The tree photos were taken at a local town park 10 miles from our house. On my way to visit Dave at work, I had a bit of extra time to stop at the park and take a look around. I found a loop path and decided to take a stroll.

As I looped around the park trail, coming out of the woods, Mt. Mansfield came into view, drawing my gaze to its rocky ridge. I knew that tons of people were hiking on the trail known as Sunset Ridge. Not long ago, I drove to that particular trailhead hoping to run a loop up the ridge, across the mountain, and back down. That had to wait though: cars were backed up down the gravel road and people were thick, mingling at their cars, lacing up their hiking boots, packing their backpacks with water and snacks. Some simply had cameras slung around their necks and thin coats tied to their waists. I was not about to join this crowd--too many people for me!--so I drove south to the Nebraska Notch trail and ran south on the Long Trail, away from the hordes.

Nebraska Notch Trail: A trail on the southern end of Mansfield that leads toward the mountain but offers a southern route to Taylor Lodge and Mansfield Lake or futher south to Mt. Mayo and Bolton mountain. Yesterday, Dave and I decided to check out Taylor Lodge. It was a gusty, rainy day: roughly translated as No People on the Trail Today.

We arrived at the trailhead to a nearly empty parking lot. I was overjoyed, considering that the last time I came here the parking lot was full. We parked and I hopped out and walked to the kiosk to check out the map, comparing it with my map. As I came back to the car I heard a whack, like someone had thrown a tennis ball at the car. Dave and I looked up and saw that we had parked under an apple tree. "I'll move the car," he said.

As walked into the woods we heard the wind: huge gusts barreled through the trees, daring them to stand their ground. I pleaded with the trees to hold strong, to crack and topple deep in the woods, far away from our path. Gusts worked the leaves into whirlwinds around us.

Nebraska Notch trail is a gradual climb, requiring little effort from the hiker. I walked ahead of Dave taking photos of flying debris, trees, ground cover. I documented Dave eating his GU shots and lifting his head to look at me as he hiked.

On sections of the hike, we walked through stands of beech trees wearing their silver bark like suits.

We passed marshes and trail signs and a group of backpackers headed to Twin Brook, a shelter to the north, before Butler Lodge and the summit of Mansfield.

At Taylor Lodge, our destination, we met a husband and wife and their daughter. They were on vacation from Manchester, England, and decided to check out Vermont's "walking paths." They were ecstatic to see their first beaver dam and hoped to catch a glimpse of the beavers at work on their way down. Dave told the little girl that she would probably hear the beavers before she saw them because they slap their tails against the water as an alert signal to all the other beavers when they perceive danger. Her eyes lit up and her parents laughed. We wished them well as they headed back down the trail.

Photos from Taylor Lodge viewpoint.

Once we got home, we realized that the power was out so we called up the power company. Supposedly, our entire road, about 10 miles long, was out and it was unclear when we would be up and running. So we bundled up, lit some candles, put on our headlamps and read our books. I whipped together some soup and salad (we have a propane stove which is a bonus in power outages, unlike Missouri where we would get out our Whisperlite stoves and cook outside) and tea. Cozy as kittens, we enjoyed 3 hours without power. However, we both felt very fortunate the loss didn't occur mid-winter or we would have froze our butts off! We hope to install a woodstove in our house next weekend.

Today our friends are coming over for the first time, to see our new home and share in a tasty meal. And tomorrow it is back to the grind, to the long days when all I can think about is the weekend and getting outside; when all I can think about is slow mornings, coffee, and a good book; when all I can think about is the Long Trail and the smell of black dirt and wet moss and hiking in the green mountains.