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3. CLIMB A SPIRE Just below the Long Trail and Mt. Horrid, Brandon Gap is home to the East’s few free-standing spires. You’ll need to know how to climb, but if you do, it’s a challenging route with stunning views to reward you. See Travis Peckham’s description of the routes on page 18.
4. CAMP LAKESIDE OR ON A FLOW TRAIL
Things to do In the moosalamoo Designated for outdoor recreation and home to lakes, waterfalls, mountains and trails, the 16,000-acre Moosalamoo National Recreation Area is a gem that many Vermonters have yet to discover. Here are 10 ways to enjoy it.
Looking out over Lake Dunmore toward the Adirondacks from Lenny's Overlook.
Photo by Caleb Kenna
1. HIKE TO A VIEW With its western-facing slopes and cliff bands, the Moosalamoo has some of the most spectacular hike-to views in the state. An easy, three-mile round trip hike from the Silver Lake/Falls of Lana parking area on Route 53 takes you past the 40-foot cascades and puts you at Lenny’s Overlook. From the cleared cliff, look west across Lake Dunmore to the Adirondacks. An even better version of this view is from Rattlesnake Cliffs, off the Aunt Jenny Trail, though it’s a mile or so longer. For southwestern views of Brandon Gap (and the backcountry ski
glades just across Route 73), hike the Long Trail up to Mt. Horrid. And head up Hogback, a three-mile round trip from Blueberry Hill, for an overlook of the whole National Recreation Area.
2. TAKE A MEANINGFUL WALK This past spring, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy helped dedicate the new boardwalk and renovated section of the Robert Frost Trail, the second-longest universally accessible trail in the state. The trail sits just off Route 125, near the cabin where Frost lived and wrote while he
was teaching at Middlebury College. The nearly one-mile trail traverses marshlands, rivers and bits of forest. Along the way, some of Frost’s best-known poems are posted at key lookouts. Farther up 125, make a right on the Goshen-Ripton Road and you will come to the Spirit of Nature Trails, inspired by the Dalai Lama’s 1997 visit to Middlebury. The paths are short (0.7 to 1.5 miles long) and include posted sayings “to remind you how deeply connected faith tradition is to nature.” At the center is a large 60-foot diameter circle surrounded by towering white pines.
Within the Moosalamoo are two campsites, plus one just across Route 53 at Branbury State Park. That state park sits on the shores of Lake Dunmore, has a long stretch of beach, campsites and cabins. The Green Mountain National Forest manages two campgrounds within the MNRA (pay $10 and reserve at recreation.gov). Silver Lake, just a 1.5- mile hike from the Falls of Lana parking area, or 0.6 miles down from the Goshen trailhead, boasts some of the prettiest and least-crowded waterfront campsites in the state—but be forewarned there is no drinking water or showers. Set on the shores of the lake in pine groves, the 15 campsites have picnic tables, grills or fire rings, and privies nearby. Families with young mountain bikers should head to the drive-in Moosalamoo Campground, which has a pump track and a mile-long flow trail that circles the campsite. It connects to the Oak Ridge Trail up Mount Moosalamoo, a challenging ride for those with experience. In the midst of the woods is a clearing at Voter Brook Overlook for a view southwest. You can also camp anywhere in the Green Mountain National Forest, but stay at least 200 feet from roads, trails, and bodies of water.
5. MOUNTAIN BIKE POINT TO POINT Unlike most of Vermont’s loop-ridden trail networks, the Moosalamoo is geared for point-to-point travel featuring old-school style trails with a few newer flow trails mixed in. The technical Chandler Ridge Trail runs the ridgeline just west of Silver Lake and overlooks Lake Dunmore. You can ride Chandler Ridge from Silver Lake 4.8 miles and then return by the Leicester Hollow Trail for about a 10-mile loop. The other distance trail that has recently been
Senator Leahy (in blue) at the reopening of the Robert Frost Trail; one of 15 waterfront campsites at Silver Lake; and mountain biking the Chandler Ridge Trail. Photos by L. Lynn, U.S. Forest Service, Brian Mohr/EmberPhoto
22 VTSPORTS.COM | SEPT./OCT. 2021
