The document describes a day hike on the Appalachian Trail in Pomfret, Vermont. The author and her husband and dog Cody parked at the trailhead and followed the white-blazed trail through a cow pasture, hayfield, and forest areas. Along the way they encountered remnants of old settlements, views of the surrounding landscape, and met another hiker through-hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. The hike provided scenic beauty, exercise and a glimpse into the history of human settlement in the region.

1. View from Lakota Lake Lookout.
Opposite: A hiker heads
up a side trail toward the
Appalachian Trail.
30 i m a g e • F a l l 2 0 1 5

2. Find image at www.uppervalleyimage.com • 31
Story and Photos by Susan Shea
day hiking the
Appalachian Trail
P l a n a n o u t d o o r a d v e n t u r e
The Appalachian Trail—the name
conjures images of lean, fit hikers
carrying heavy packs and a grueling,
six-month, 2,180-mile trek from
Georgia to Maine. But for many of
us who lack the fitness, endurance,
or time to hike the whole AT, as it is
known, the Appalachian Trail can
easily be enjoyed in day hikes.
A portion of the trail traverses
the Upper Valley after it splits off
Vermont’s Long Trail in the town
of Killington and heads east toward
the White Mountains and its final
destination—Mount Katahdin in
Maine—crossing the Connecticut
River on the bridge between Norwich
and Hanover. The point where the
two trails split is aptly called Maine
Junction. }}}

3. 32 i m a g e • F a l l 2 0 1 5
Right: Milkweed
in bloom.
Below: A stone chimney
beside a cellar hole.
Opposite, top: View of
the Green Mountains
from the Lookout.
Below: Cody enjoys a
day of hiking.
day hiking

4. Find image at www.uppervalleyimage.com • 33
Hiking into the Past
The AT offers a convenient way to exercise, get close to nature, and
experience history. In our region, much of the land the trail crosses
was cleared and farmed in the 19th century. You can see evidence
of past settlements such as cellar holes, stone chimneys and walls,
old roads, and even cemeteries. The trail itself is historic. Conceived
by forester and planner Benton MacKaye in 1921, it was completed
in 1937 and is now part of the National Park System. A corridor
surrounding the trail has been protected by the Park Service through
land acquisition and conservation easement.
My husband and I have been chipping away at the Appalachian
Trail in New England over the years, mostly through day hikes. Last
summer we hiked a section of the AT in Pomfret, Vermont.
We began our hike at the small parking area for the AT on Route 12
north of Woodstock. Poems and artwork by Pomfret School students
decorated the wooden signboard at the trailhead, in addition to the
usual trail map and info. We crossed the new bridge over Gulf Stream,
which replaced a bridge washed out by Tropical Storm Irene.
The dirt footpath marked with white blazes on trees and posts led
us through a cow pasture. Fortunately, there were no cows in sight;
our dog Cody was with us, and cows do not always like dogs. We
climbed over a couple of barbed wire fences on wooden steps called
stiles; Cody crawled beneath.
After stepping gingerly over a rushing rivulet and through a muddy
area on the trail, we entered a newly cut hayfield. A stack of round
Autumn is an especially nice time to hike the trail—it is cool, there are few biting insects,
and the foliage is spectacular. Wear bright colors as there are several fall hunting seasons.

5. 34 i m a g e • F a l l 2 0 1 5
day hiking Below: A white blaze
on a black cherry tree
marks the AT.
Right: Hilltop vista of the
White River Valley.

6. Find image at www.uppervalleyimage.com • 35
hay bales wrapped in white plastic
looked like giant marshmallows. We
turned and followed the trail uphill
along the edge of a brushy field sporting
clumps of milkweed with fragrant,
purple-pink flowers. A pair of gnarled
apple trees were silhouetted against the
sky. A white farmhouse and red barn
were visible below in the Route 12 valley,
framed by steep, wooded hills. As we
approached the tree line, a bearded older
man carrying a backpack emerged from
the woods. “It’s a warm day,” he greeted
us as he passed.
We entered the cool shade of the
woods. A deep ravine dropped off to
the left of the trail. The white blazes led
us past big sugar maples, then through
a dark hemlock forest followed by
hardwoods and white pine where the
trail was carpeted with pine needles.
Meeting a Thru-Hiker
We stepped over a stone wall and soon
came to an open hilltop, or “bald,” a
remnant of pasture from Vermont’s
sheep-farming days. (These balds are
now kept open by volunteers from the
Green Mountain Club, which maintains

7. 36 i m a g e • F a l l 2 0 1 5
the Vermont portion of the AT.) Here there
was a hazy view of Mount Ascutney to the
southeast, with its distinctive fire tower and
ski trails.
We sat down under a tree on a carpet of
moss to eat our lunch. Cody lay in the cool
dirt of the trail. I watched an orange skipper
feeding on a nearby milkweed flower. Soon
it was joined by a tiger swallowtail, and I
grabbed my camera.
Resuming our hike, later that afternoon we
met a tanned young woman with dark hair
and eyes, wearing a tank top. She was hiking
the AT in long sections. On this trip, she’d
started in Great Barrington, Massachusetts,
and was hiking north to Hanover, where
she’d take a plane home to Georgia out of
Lebanon. She liked our dog, as her dog at
home was named Cody too.
We continued to a high point, then
descended to what hiking guidebooks
call a sag—a depression between hills or
mountains—and followed a woods road
and unofficial side trail to the parking area
on Green Gate Road where we’d left my
husband’s bike. Cody and I waited beside a
A hiker follows the AT along a road through the woods.

8. Find image at www.uppervalleyimage.com • 37
stream while Ted biked down dirt roads
to retrieve the car. I plunged my feet into
the ice-cold water.
That night, sitting in bed at home
writing in my journal, I looked out at the
full moon and thought of the woman we
had met enjoying the view of the moon
from her tent on the Appalachian Trail.
Autumn is an especially nice time
to hike the trail—it is cool, there are
few biting insects, and the foliage is
spectacular. Wear bright colors as there
are several fall hunting seasons. Dress
in layers and remember that it gets dark
earlier. Plan your trip accordingly and
bring a headlamp just in case. If you
haven’t done much hiking, be aware that
trail walking will take much longer than
the same mileage on a sidewalk. Happy
hiking! a
o n l i n e e x t r a
Visit www.uppervalleyimage.com for
a list of day hikes on the AT.