Northeast Kingdom VT Part 2

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Just to the north of Prouty Beach Campground is some property owned by the Vermont Land Trust. There are a couple miles of trails and a handful of geocaches for us to find. The advantage of visiting Bluffside Farm is we can simply walk across the boardwalk just a few hundred feet from our rig and be there.

Pretty Barn

It was a nice mix of trails through some woods and meadows. Scott’s Cove comes off Lake Memphremagog. We spotted what we believe to be a beaver (or maybe an otter?) swimming in the cove, but from this distance it was hard to be sure. We enjoyed the walk and scenery and found 4 of the 6 caches we looked for.

Scott's Cove

The next day we head out for another hike east of camp. The Bluff Mountain Community Trail is just outside of the town of Island Pond Vermont. The version of the trail shown in AllTrails has the hike as 4.5 miles with almost 1500 feet of elevation gain. From the description it sounds like the best feature of the hike is the viewpoint from some rock outcropping. If we just shoot for that part of the hike we can cut 1.5 miles and some of the elevation from the hike. There also happens to be a geocache that is just over 20 years old hidden by the rock outcropping. Based on some of the logs from past finders, the loop portion of the hike has one section that is extremely steep and has iron rods bored into the rock to use as hand and footholds. We decided that we might do better only using one half of the trail that has a longer but less steep ascent and then backtrack the way we came up. This hike should come in around 3 miles and 1100 feet of elevation. The trail starts out as a nice walk in the woods.

Heading Up the Trail

Ghost Pipe

That mile and a half was a fairly constant 13% grade with some rocky spots but for the most part a pleasant hike. We got to the split in the trail and stayed to the right to avoid the steeper lookout section of the trail. We made it to the overlook and started our search for the geocache. We were the only ones up here so we wanted to complete our search before any other hikers might arrive. We spent 15 minutes looking without any luck. We looked at old photos from prior finders and had a good idea we were looking for a 4 inch PVC pipe about 15 inches long. This is big enough that we really shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it but after several more minutes, we gave up and sat down to have our lunch and enjoy the views. (I later looked at this cache and several weeks after our attempt, a group of 30 people looked for 45 minutes without any luck which makes us feel slightly better!)

The Other Way Up

Cool Mushroom

View of Island Pond

While eating lunch, we could see the town of Island Pond over 1300 feet below and a mile away from us. For some reason we started to discuss completing the loop rather than our plan of backtracking our route up. Whenever we attempt some sort of loop hike that has one direction much steeper than the other, we will always choose to take the steeper route up and the less steep route down. But we had originally decided we didn’t even want to go up the steep part of this trail. So why did we change our minds? Who knows. Was it a good idea? Definitely not! The sign even warned us about the trail but we went for it.

Closeup of Town

Here We Go!

It didn’t take us long before we hit the first section of iron rods anchored in the nearly vertical rock wall. It wasn’t clear if there were some of them were missing or not, but even I had difficulty with my long legs getting from one foothold to the next. Somehow we both made it down safely but it wasn’t easy. By now we came upon a couple other groups of hikers heading up. At least they were smart enough to complete the hike in the correct direction. Once past the cliffs, the rest of the hike down the trail was pretty easy and we intersected with the trail back to the car without a problem.

Chris Approaches the Rock Face

Prior to visiting Vermont this summer, we had found caches in 10 of Vermont’s 14 counties. We added 3 more counties earlier in our visit and had one county left. The cache on Bluff Trail was supposed to be the one that would complete our mission. But with a DNF, we were forced to go looking for a different one. Fortunately there were several options nearby and this did give us the chance to check out the town of Island Pond which we hadn’t originally planned to do. It is a cute little town that had a rather unusual pedestrian walkway/bridge that got people from one side of town to the other up on a hill and over a set of train tracks. We surmise the town’s name is derived from the fact that the large pond in town has a 15 acre island in the middle of it.

Old Train Station?

Covered Walk Over Tracks

Dock at Pond

One of the things we wanted to do while in the Newport area was to take a bike ride into Canada. We picked a nice day from a weather standpoint, grabbed our passports and headed north. The Newport Bike Path starts near our campground and heads along the shore of the lake for about 5 miles. This is an easy section since it is a rail trail and fairly flat. Plus there are nice views for much of it since it follows the lake.

5.5 Miles to Border

The trail ends just a few hundred feet from the border with Canada. Since the railroad previously continued on from here into Canada, we can see where the trail is but this is not a valid border crossing point. Instead we need to head east along North Derby Road. This is a very lightly traveled road but it does have a few steep hills along the way that make for a more challenging ride. The border crossing station at Beebe was quite small and laid back. The main border crossing is about 3 miles from here where Interstate 91 crosses. We explained to the border agent that our goal was to head over to Stanstead to do some sightseeing and check out the library.

End of Bike Trail, On to the Road

Our destination was pretty much due east of the border crossing. There is a road that heads in that direction but we were looking for a bicycle path - Piste Cyclable de Stanstead. The map set I had on my Garmin was not very good for Canada so we initially rode right by our turn and it took us over half a mile to realize our error. It probably doesn't help that all road signs are in French since this is Quebec. After turning around, we found the not so obvious path to the bike trail and were off. There were a few geocaches along the way and it was a rather pleasant bike ride.

Curling Club

Tomifobia River

The bike trail ended after 2 miles and we were on the edge of the town of Rock Island. We traveled 3/4 mile along surface streets to a small town square with a monument and fountain and decided this was a good place to stop for lunch and look around a bit.

Stone Monument

Power Company

From here, it was just a few blocks to our real goal of the bike ride. The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is only a few blocks away. Why did we come here? Well this building is rather unique. Built between 1901 and 1904, this beautiful Queen Anne Revival style library straddles the Canada-United States boundary.

Colorful Flower

Stanstead Post Office

Haskell Free Library - Rocks Mark the Border

The entrance to the building is on the US side of the line, but Canadians (and us since we had already cleared customs into Canada) are permitted to walk a very limited route along a sidewalk from Canada, into the US and into the building. We lock our bikes on the Canadian side and head in. The whole time there is a US Border vehicle sitting 30 feet away watching us and likely taking note of our clothing and entry time. Once inside the library we are free to wander around various rooms regardless of which side of the border we are on. And yes, there is a line on the floor to show where the two countries meet. The librarian was obviously used to people like us coming in to check it out and even pointed out the prop they have with the flags of each country to be used for your photo op.

Chris Straddles the Border

It is quite a beautiful building with lots of stained glass windows and gorgeous woodwork. We remember seeing a news story about this place back in the days of COVID, when the border was closed. Family and friends were able to use the unusual aspects of the building to meet when normal customs stations were closed.

Stained Glass

Moose

Honoring Carlos and Martha Haskell

Beautiful Fireplace

Creative Sculpture

As we came back out the front of the library, we made sure we stayed on the sidewalk and didn’t linger for fear the border agent might have issue with our behavior. Obviously we could have simply driven to the town of Derby Line Vermont and checked out the library from the American side, but doing it by bike from Canada made it a more special experience for us.

We had one last place we wanted to visit while in this part of Quebec. About a half mile from the library is the Stanstead Stone Circle. We thought it sounded interesting and there were a couple of geocaches to be found as well.

Stanstead College on Hill

We parked the bikes and started to walk over to the 10 huge blocks of granite that form a circle roughly 85 feet in diameter. A woman with a clipboard, called over to us and asked if we could answer some questions. We agreed and she asked the basics - where you from, how did you hear about this. We started talking with her and it turns out she is the artist that developed this stone circle and had it installed back on the Autumn Equinox in 2009. She lives in the area and every now and then, she comes over to collect visitation data. She was definitely into the healing powers of the earth and all that cosmic stuff. I felt she would do very well in a place like Ithaca New York or Sedona Arizona. We walked around the circle and I’ll admit, I didn’t really feel the power of the circle.

Stone Circle

Center of Circle Provides a Key

I’m sure there was more to see, but it was around 2:30 and we still had around 12 miles to bike back to camp. So we head out and work our way back to the border crossing. We didn’t run into any issues getting thru customs and then had to deal with the hills before we make it to the bike path. From there it was a very easy and pleasant ride. The full trip was 25 miles and a lot of fun. Visiting the Haskell Free Library is definitely worth it if you happen to be in this part of Vermont. Even if you just drive there to check it out, you’ll find it is an interesting experience.

Creative Lake Playhouse

The following day, we switched back to hiking to give our butts a rest. Wheeler Mountain Trail is rated as a moderate 4.3 mile out and back hike with just over 1200 feet of elevation gain. It’s in the same general direction as some of the other hikes we have done but off of US Route 5 near the town of Willoughby. The trailhead parking is 1.5 miles up a dirt road but it was in good shape so about any car can get there without issue. The trail starts out in the woods. A few wet spots have some planks down to help stay dry and out of the mud.

Starting Out on Wheeler Mountain Trail

Mushrooms

Toad

The trail starts out uphill. About 1.25 miles into the hike, we get to our first real viewpoint. Then there is a brief downhill of a quarter mile before climbing again to the summit.

Root Covered Trail

Ghost Pipe

First Viewpoint

As we continue up, we start to get into the area with large exposed rock slabs. The footing is excellent and the trail markers switch to paint on the rock instead of trees.

Bright Red and Blue Berries

Mushroom

Painted Trail Marker on Rock

The views start to get really good too. However there is a problem as we continue along the ledge. The exposed rock surface gets narrower and the drop off more severe.

What a View!

Follow the Ridge

Chris’ fear of heights starts to show and we proceed more slowly until we reach the point where trail is a narrow ridge up. I’ll admit, I looked at what was required and questioned whether this was far enough too.

Chris Looks Skeptical

Mountain Holly

Chris' Stopping Point

I decided I was more curious about what was beyond this point than I feared going up it. Chris found a spot away from the drop off and took a seat while I pushed on. It turned out that once I got past the 100 feet or so of this narrow ridge, the trail went back to being much wider and safer. Since the ridge was switching from south facing to east facing, the views were changing.

Remote Homes

At the end of the exposed rock, I was surprised to see trail markers continuing into the woods. My Garmin map didn’t show the trail going further, but when I checked maps on my phone, it did look like there was more trail to be taken. This part of trail was relatively easy except for one short but very steep rocky section. I was just glad it has been fairly dry or the climb down here could have been really bad.

Heading in to the Woods

Looking Back at Steep and Rocky Trail

The trail did end at a place called Eagle Rock. There was even a small birdhouse looking thing with log books for hikers to sign in. The view from here was quite striking. I was able to see Lake Willoughby in the distance.

Approaching Eagle Rock

Sign In Here

View at Eagle Rock

I had left Chris quite some time ago but having some cell coverage, I was able to text her to say I made it to the end and had not fallen off the mountain. I made my way back but did find the steep rocky climb in the woods was very challenging to go up too. As I approached the narrow rock ledge near where Chris was waiting, part of me said “just walk down it” while the other part told me to spider crawl down.

Need to Go Down This

We had a snack and enjoyed the view. We had the place to ourselves this whole time so it was quite nice. Just before we started the long hike back down, a few other hikers were making their way up. Pretty good timing on our part. This was quite a beautiful hike and definitely worth the effort.

Fungi

Trail Along Rock

Tall Mushroom