Northeast Kingdom VT Part 3

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We only have 4 days left of our 2 week stay in Newport Vermont. When we had first reserved our spot here, we were not positive there were 14 days of “things” to do in the area. Well it turns out that we have had no problems finding fun things to see and do here. We likely would have been able to take a few more day trips into Canada as well. A monthlong stay probably would have been about right, but we have other reservations after Newport, so we will make do with what we have.

After the hike up to Wheeler Mountain the other day, we took a rest day before heading out for another hike. This time we would be right back to the Lake Willoughby area where we had tackled the Mount Pisgah hike on the eastern side of side of the lake. This time the goal was to hike the Herbert Hawkes Trail which is on the opposite side of the lake. The trailhead for this hike is not out of the same parking area as Mt Pisgah, but instead has us drive up a gravel road for almost two miles. The advantage of driving this far not only saves distance for the hike, but also gets us 800 feet further up the mountain before we start hiking. AllTrails lists this hike at 3 miles and 859 feet of elevation gain. The parking area has enough room for maybe 8 vehicles. We weren’t the only people here but at least there was room for us and we start up the trail.

Starting Up Herbert Hawkes Trail

The trail was in excellent shape and turns out to be a very pleasant walk in the woods. We had been noticing some small toads on other hikes in the area but this trail seemed to have a lot more of them. They were about the size of a quarter to half dollar and blended into the leaf debris quite well. In fact, if they wouldn’t have kept jumping every time we walked along the trail, I doubt we would have even realized they were there. With each step we took, we would often see a dozen of these guys jump. They were difficult to get a decent picture of and we were never sure if these were young ones that would get bigger, or if these were adults and just a very small variety. In any event, they kept us amused as we made the hike up the trail. We also had one geocache on the way up to look for.

Nice Trail in the Woods

One of the Many Small Toads

At roughly 2/3 miles up the trail we had made it to the ridge. There was an intersection with a choice to be made. We head left first to check out something called Summit Vista 0.3 miles away. Along the way, we see a side trail that is marked but rather faint. Given the signage, we suspect there are cross country skiing or snowshoeing trails up here as well. The one labeled “The Deep End” didn’t look to be a very good hiking trail so we continued to the overlook. The view from here was to the south and we could not see Lake Willoughby from here but there were a dozen or so wind turbines in the distance.

Rocky Section

Ski or Snowshoe Trail?

View from Summit Vista

We turn around and to retrace our route back to the intersection and head next to the East Lookout. There is a short spur trail down to a vista point with a nice view of Lake Willoughby and the beach area at the southern end of end of the lake. we also had a geocache hidden near this overlook and it worked out well that we found it prior to having a couple other hikers wander by.

Approaching East Lookout

Lake Willoughby Below

Beach on the Lake

Mt Pisgah

Not much further up the trail is the last viewpoint called the North Lookout. By now, it was about 12:30 so we decided this looked like a great spot to have our lunch. As we were sitting there, I could occasionally see people on the mountain across the lake. That one is Mt Pisgah and I was eventually able to determine where we had eaten our lunch exactly one week ago while doing that hike. It isn’t quite a mile across and our current location might be a bit higher in elevation. I am able to just make out some people sitting at the same spot and circle them on the photo below.

North Lookout

View from North Lookout

Red Circle Marks Last Week's Lunch Spot

We have a pleasant hike back to the car and there seemed to be more hikers coming up in the afternoon than we had seen in the morning. We still had the population of toads to get thru. It all in all this was a very nice hike - not too strenuous and with beautiful views. We tried to stop at the beach area again as we drove past but the parking lot was completely full again. The water is a very popular destination that we will have to miss. There was one waterfall on the side of the road coming off of Mt Pisgah that we stopped to check out before heading home.

Falls from Mt Pisgah

We took a couple of easy days with a walk around some of the campground area we hadn’t gotten to yet. For some reason, we often tend to ignore or skip some of the areas that are right near where we are camping. But we saw that there were a several geocaches hidden nearby so we took a leisurely walk around and enjoyed Prouty Beach.

For our last day, we head a little further from camp and towards the southwest near the town of Eden. Our goal was to check out a place called Devil’s Gulch. We had done a few other Devil themed hikes in the past year or two. There was Devils Golf Course out in Death Valley California, Devils Creek near Ridge Manor Florida, and Devils Nose and Devils Pond in Martinsburg West Virginia. So it only seemed fitting we should go for this one. The hike is listed a 4.6 mile loop with almost 1000 feet of elevation gain. There were also four geocaches to add to our incentive. The loop portion of the hike consists of two trails. The Babcock Trail and the Long Trail are both accessed from the same parking area with the former trail being more to the west of the other. And yes, this is the same Long Trail that we hiked several sections of during our stay further south in the Green Mountains.

From the parking lot, technically, we take the Babcock Extension Trail for the first half mile before crossing a road and finding the real Babcock trail. We can tell this portion gets pretty wet but it wasn’t too wet or muddy, we did have a decent size snapping turtle on the trail.

Large Snapping Turtle

Planks Through Wet Section

Official Start of Babcock Trail

About a mile into the hike, we can start to see a pond to our left. The woods are fairly thick most of the time so we don’t get a decent view until near the southern end of Big Muddy Pond - as it’s called. There appeared to be a beaver dam at the outlet end but is seemed to be too big of a body of water to be completely created by beaver.

Big Muddy Pond

Beaver Dam?

Bright Mushrooms

Almost 2 miles into the hike, we intersect with the Long Trail again. While we could have simply headed back north up the Long Trail, we would have missed the real reason for the hike - to see Devils Gulch. In another 1/3 mile, the trail gets quite interesting with large rock outcroppings and even a ladder. We weren’t positive where the named Gulch was or if we were already in it.

On the Long Trail Heading to Devils Gulch

Indian Pipe in Bloom

A Ladder on the Way to Devils Gulch

But we decide to continue south since some of the descriptions we had read about Devils Gulch made it sound to be rather unique and while what we were seeing was interesting, we were anticipating more. We didn’t have to go much further before we were greeted with an official sign designating Devils Gulch. It starts out from this direction with a pair of large boulders leaning together much like an upside down letter V. The only way to continue is to go through the tunnel. It was tall enough that we could walk through only needing to crouch down for the 15 foot length of the thing. We stopped to get the pictures that felt obligatory.

Made it to Devils Gulch

Tunnel

Chris Poses

Jack at Tunnel

Beyond this point, we could tell we were in a fairly narrow gorge with high walls. It definitely isn’t narrow like a slot canyon but it still feels confining. It was almost rainforest-like in here with wet and muddy trails and lots of ferns and other very lush green plants. There were a fair number of rocks to crawl over and around and the wet moss didn’t help with our footing. It was probably only a tenth of a mile long but it took us some time to navigate it safely.

Starting Through Gulch

Lots of Rocks Along Trail

Ladder Near Far End of Gulch

One rather steep and slippery rock had wooden ladder anchored in which was greatly appreciated to get up the thick moss. Once up there, we noticed a corresponding sign telling the northbound hikers they were entering Devils Gulch. We were hoping to find a place to sit and have lunch, but wet conditions didn’t provide for any dry surface to sit on so we were forced to eat while standing there looking back over the gulch.

Chris Climbs Final Section of Gulch

Opposite Side of Devils Gulch

It was just as challenging to turn around and climb over all the slippery rocks in the other direction. It’s not like we had gained some newfound wisdom that made the return trip any easier. But with our slow and methodical hiking, we safely made it back to the tunnel and passed through it one last time.

Rocks to Crawl Down

Chris Back at Tunnel

This was a really special section of the Long Trail and definitely worth the visit. We still had the two and a half miles back to the car and by taking the Long Trail back, we knew there was one very steep section that required climbing up nearly 500 vertical feet in about a half mile.

Rocks and Roots

Small Falls

Mushrooms

There appeared to be a different pond down below us. We could hear lots of voices and it sounded like kids playing in the water. We realized that there had to be another way to Ritterbush Pond and sure enough, seeing a car below us proved these people had not hiked here. We contemplated trying to get down to the pond, but there was no obvious trail and if we went down, we would just need to turn around and come back up. The trail continued up for another quarter mile or so but at a much less steep grade. The advantage of coming this way around the loop was that the last mile of the hike back to the car was a gradual downhill. This was definitely a fun hike.

Stairs on the Long Trail

Fresh Mushrooms

So far this summer, there have been quite a few nights where there was a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Being this far north in the country should be a real advantage, but it seemed like on the nights the chances were to be good, we would be experiencing heavy cloud cover. On our last night in Newport, there was a slight chance of seeing them and we actually had minimal cloud cover. I headed out and tried to get some shots but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I did get a few interesting shots of Newport lit up from across the lake and my one Northern Light shot that didn't look very impressive.

St Mary Church Lit Up

You'll Need to Click on Image to See the Stars Above Newport

No Real Northern Lights to See

Well, the two weeks in Newport Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom went by fast. It’s an area of Vermont that was never really on our radar, but by taking a chance, we discovered a wonderful part of the state. Our next stop will be back to the south. We plan to spend a month exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When we were looking for campgrounds with monthly rates, we were having trouble finding one that sounded good in that area of New Hampshire so we actually picked one that is about 7 miles outside of state in St Johnsbury Vermont. I had mentioned a few blog posts ago about that area getting hit with some bad flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryll on July 10. They received almost 5 inches of rain in 24 hours. The campground we plan on staying at didn’t have much damage. But just a couple days ago on July 30, they had another strong storm that dumped 8 inches of rain in 24 hours and this time the campground we were planning on staying at had some significant damage. More on that in the next post.