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Out-Doors
By Elizabeth Bassett

Cross-Training: Ten June Ideas

For avid athletes this may not be news, but doing lots of activities is better for your body than just one. Try mixing it up a bit. It’s better for your overall strength and fitness, easier on your joints, and you get to explore all sorts of new places.

Late Spring Wildflowers- Leicester Hollow, Green Mountain National Forest, Brandon

Spring comes late to Leicester Hollow, so it may not be too late to catch some wildflowers in this deep, dark and chilly cleft. Cold air sinks and sunlight reaches into this narrow valley for fewer hours than on nearby ridges. Alkaline-loving plants thrive along this beautiful trail as rich, limey soil contributes to lushness. You’ll find herb Robert, maidenhair fern, blue cohosh, red trillium, and jack-in-the-pulpit. If you get chilled, consider hiking up to the parallel trail on sunny and dry Chandler Ridge, where thin soils support a completely different range of plants.

History Hike, Little River State Park, Waterbury

With state parks open now is the time to walk the History Hike, for the first time or the tenth. When you enter the park ask for a map and detailed stories that accompany this easy hike, it’s a couple of miles but the footing is easy. Hill farm communities like this dotted the Vermont map in the 19th century. Roads, often following brooks or rivers, threaded past farmsteads that were nearly self-sufficient with fruit trees, vegetable gardens, chickens, a milk cow and pigs. All that remain are foundations, dooryard planting, cemeteries well, but with today’s renewed interest in local food production it’s an interesting exercise to imagine the lives once lived here.

Two Charlotte Walks

Thompson’s Point: Go quickly before the crowds arrive. This community of seasonal homes on land leased from the town of Charlotte limits occupancy from mid-May to mid-October. From late June through the end of August the camps fill with families on vacation or those commuting to work in Burlington. If it’s conversation you want, by all means take a mid-summer walk. But if you yearn for quiet vistas of lake and mountain, hustle on down while it’s still quiet.
Demeter or Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge

There is no time of year when panoramic views from these hillsides are not stunning. Long hours of daylight beckon for early morning or evening walks. Note the progress being made by volunteers working with the Nature Conservancy’s Wise on Weeds Program to remove invasive plants, in this case honeysuckle and buckthorn.

Family Hike: Snake Mountain, Addison

This hike gets an award for biggest bang for the buck, about an hour’s walk up or down, to a plateau perched at the edge of the magnificent Champlain Valley. If you stay on task (i.e., no long lunches in Vergennes) and walk at a steady pace, it’s possible to make the round trip from Charlotte in about three hours, one of the best investments of time around, a great hike for families with young children.

Quiet Water Paddling – Nearby Rivers

While the water is still high, explore the rivers and creeks that empty into Lake Champlain: the LaPlatte River, accessible from Bay Road in Shelburne; Lewis Creek, putting in at the fishing access on Long Point; or Otter Creek from any of several locations in Ferrisburgh and Panton (get out that Vermont Gazetteer I’ve urged you to keep in your car). These flows are slow moving and broad at this time of year. If you are lucky you may see mink, beaver, eagles, osprey, heron and families of ducks and geese.

Road Biking the Flatlands--South Hero

An easy, entertaining and beautiful bike route in the Champlain Islands is Stone Castles, a 13.4-mile loop that begins and ends at the Grand Isle ferry dock. It passes via miniature stone castles built in the mid-20th century by a Swiss-American gardener named Harry Barber. The castles recall European architecture with turrets, moats, parapets and towers. Inside some include fireplaces and dungeons. Go to champlainbikeways.org to peruse this and dozens of other bicycle routes in Vermont, New York and Quebec.

Real Vermonters hike the Green Mountains.

Now that the snow may finally be gone, on Memorial Day weekend 18 inches of the white stuff remained at the stake atop Mt. Mansfield, it should be safe to hike again. Keep in mind that muddy trails are vulnerable to erosion. The responsible thing is to slop right through the muck, staying on the trail, rather than degrading the adjacent land. Sometimes this is hard to do but if you want these trails to be here for your grandkids, tramp through the mud. Also remember there are lots of ticks waiting to latch onto you and your dog. Dress accordingly and do a tick check on your return.

More Paddling--Lakes

Water temperature is rising in our lakes, with Champlain into the low 50s. Always wear (don’t just carry) a life preserver. When the water is cold, just a few minutes in the drink is all it takes to disorient the savviest boater. If you really want to get a jump on the season, consider buying a wetsuit. You can also use it for early and late-season or long-distance swims. Wetsuits also add some buoyancy but do not take the place of a life jacket.

Gardens, Glorious Gardens

Depending on your ambitions and style, you can get plenty of outdoor time and exercise right in your own back yard. Save gasoline and push a mower. Pitchfork your soil instead of using a tiller. Don’t pollute with a noisy leaf blower- rake instead. Bend to plant and harvest. At the end of the season it’s easy to remember the juicy strawberries, succulent asparagus, tender spinach and rich buttercup squash. The failed crop of arugula or eggplant fruit that never set fruit? There’s always next year.

A couple of reminders:
Poison ivy is big and lush this year. I’ve read that it thrives in warmer temperatures with increased CO2 in the atmosphere, producing more urushiol, the oil that causes a rash. If you are exposed, flush with abundant cold water (hot water opens pores). Alcohol may remove oil for up to six hours. Check out poison-ivy.org to see photos of many forms of the stuff.
When you venture out, don’t forget the basics. Hiking, biking, and paddling books all feature packing lists. Read them! And don’t forget maps.
If you don’t like any of these ideas, scroll back through previous columns of Out-Doors at
thecharlottenews.org.

Happy Summer!