Hiking Quechee & Mount Tom

On Tuesday morning, we drove to the Quechee Gorge; and getting some information at the visitor's center, we decided to hike to the bottom of the gorge.  The trail was a dirt path covered with leaves and pine needles.

It was a fairly steep descent to the bottom of the gorge so we knew we would be huffing and puffing our way back up.  When we reached the bottom of the gorge, the water was low enough that we could walk out on the rocks.

The metamorphic bedrock that lines the bottom of the gorge is layered and slanted making it a little challenging to walk across.

The gorge is 165 feet deep at its deepest point.

We huffed and puffed our way back up the trail past the Quechee Gorge Bridge...

...and on up to the edge of Dewey's Mill pond where the cleft of the gorge begins.

Across the top of the gorge, a dam has been constructed.

What is so unusual is that there is a 3 foot wall made of wood that slows the speed of the water over   the top.

There were some men working at the dam while we were there.

One of the men told us that the wood wall is designed so they can release the wall to control flooding. After the wall has been released, they have to rebuild the wooden wall, which they have had to do 3 times this year already.  

After we left the dam, we walked back up to the Quechee Gorge bridge and crossed over it to get a view of the Quechee Gorge (or Vermont's Little Grand Canyon as some call it) from the top.

After leaving the Quechee Gorge, we drove to the Simon Pearce Glassblowing Factory.  The factory is located below the Simon Pearce Store and restaurant.  They had probably about 8 or 10 people working in the factory and it was amazing to watch how synchronized and precise they were in their work.  

Ken took these pictures of the glassmaker putting the glass in the oven.

We had our picnic lunch on a wall outside the factory.

After lunch, we drove by some beautiful homes like these...

...on our way to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park.

The farm on which this park is now located was originally owned by George Perkins Marsh.  Marsh served several terms in Congress and was an observer of how nature can be so quickly destroyed as nearly 60% of Vermont's natural forests had been cut down by the mid-1800's as settlers poured into Vermont.  Frederick Billings who purchased the farm from the Marsh family in 1869 developed one of the nation's first programs of scientific forest management so that, in Billings' words, "many a barren hillside will once more glow with the glorious autumn foilage."  Billings' plan was sustained by three generations of remarkable women.  First by his wife Julia and their three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Laura, and then by Billings' granddaughter, Mary French.  Mary French later married Laurence Rockefeller whose family also had a strong commitment to conservation by creating or enhancing over 20 national parks.  The commitment to conservation of these three families and many other men and women like them are why we can enjoy the "glorious autumn foilage" today.

Twenty miles of carriage trails traverse the park.  Based on the recommendation of the visitor's center, we decided to hike up to The Pogue and to the scenic overlook.

We passed by the carriage barn where several old carriages were stored above and a ton of firewood below.

We noticed some men cutting wood in the forest and they were using horses to haul the logs out the old-fashioned way.

The carriage trail was fairly steep so we were huffing and puffing our way to the top again.

We reached The Pogue which was beautiful with all the fall foilage reflecting off the pond.

The Pogue is beautiful even in black and white.

After leaving The Pogue, we continued hiking up to the scenic overlook passing a couple of open pastures along the way.

As we neared the top, we could see how the carriage trail had been built up over a bed of rocks.

When we finally reached the top, the views were worth all the huffing and puffing.

We could see the town of Woodstock below...

...and more of the Green Mountains in the distance.

While we were at the overlook, we met a nice young lady and her two daughters who lived in the area.  She and her husband are downhill skiers and her husband was in the Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City.  We meet the most interesting people!  :)

We walked back down the carriage trail and then got in the car and headed back to the campground.  We stopped at this covered bridge to get one last picture.

Technically, we were walking today because we did not have our boots and poles.  However, if you walk more than 5 miles in the woods on unpaved trails with significant elevation changes, I think that constitutes a hike even without boots and poles!  

Another best day for the Hoslers and the Gregorys!