We took Rt 91 north into Vermont and stopped in Guilford at the Guilford Welcome Center which has to be one of the nicest we've seen.
The 4Runner at Guilford.
Guilford Welcome Center, Guilford, VT.After the pit stop, we headed north. We made our way to the campground in a round-about sort of way literally over the river (many times) and through the woods along some narrow, dirt roads.
We arrived at Jamaica State Park via this one-lane bridge over the West River at about 7 pm.
We like Vermont State Parks for their hospitality, cleanliness, and leanto structures. We are able to set up the tent inside the leanto which keeps us up off of the ground and provides excellent cover during the inevitable rain that goes hand in hand with Vermont camping. Our site for this trip was called Ironwood (their leanto sites are usually named for different trees).
It took about an hour and a half to set up camp, and we purchased firewood before the 8 pm closing of the ranger station. Ironwood is a rather large site and we were able to spread out nicely which was an added bonus. We had the fire going in no time and supper as well.
We had a good snooze over night, but we were awakened at about 3 am to a young child yelling for his dog, Max, that had apparently become separated from the family. This went on for some time, but eventually I got back to sleep.
After breakfast, we hopped on the bikes to get an idea of the layout of the campground. We ended up riding the fairly short distance on the West River Rail Trail. This area is a popular fishing spot with various species of trout and even Atlantic Salmon. Vermont State Parks were having a promotional offer for the weekend and waived park fees for day use. It was good to see parents bringing their kids out to the woods.
Fisherman on the river.
We took a drive to check out Jamaica and nearby Stratton. We also stopped for a quick Geocache at Ball Mountain Lake Dam.Later we walked the Overlook Loop Trail from the campground (the trail started at our campsite). This was a nice hike to an overlook of Jamaica Village. The other end brought us to the West River Rail Trail and we completed another geocache there.
Mrs at the overlook.
One of my favorite wildflowers, Indian cucumber root, was in bloom while we were there. The flowers are very small and delicate, but beautiful when viewed up close.We experienced the first rain shower that evening before supper.
It rained all night, but we stayed nice and dry in our leanto. On Sunday, June 14th we took another quick ride on the rail trail to grab another geocache that we could not get the day before due to several people in the area. There were red efts on the trail that we had to dodge. I stopped to move a couple off the trail to avoid any smashed efts.
Later on we took a drive out to Hamilton Falls via West Windham Road. What a nice drive this was. The falls were also an "Earth Cache" so we obtained the required photo and data as well as enjoyed the falls.
After checking out the falls from the top, we stopped along the road for a snack near this little bridge and took a couple photos.
Lupines in bloom along West Windham road.
The quintessential Vermont road. Not far from here we saw an adult porcupine jamming vegetation into it's mouth. This was Mrs first time seeing a porcupine. We watched it for a while after it clumsily climbed a big hemlock and sat watching us.On Monday, June 15th we went to near by Townshend State Park to hike the Bald Mountain trail. This is a great little park with only four lean to sites and the rest are small tent sites.
The trail begins in the tent camping area and crosses a small stream.
The stream as taken from the bridge. We could not stand around too long on this hike as there were a good number of mosquitoes. I opted to not wear bug spray, which worked out fairly well, despite the bugs.
About 30 minutes into the hike, we started to hear thunder, but continued on. We reached the top in about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but stopped numerous times along the way to look at plants and listen to birds. Winter wrens were singing their rather lengthy, exuberant song which was so great to hear again. We missed many of the wildflowers in bloom by a couple weeks, but it was still good to see the plants I have known for a long time.As we reached the top, the rain started and the thunder increased. We spent all of 11 minutes up there before turning back. The rain increased in intensity, but not enough to cause me to don a rain jacket. We made the trip down in less than 40 minutes and stopped in to the ranger station to let them know we had cleared the mountain. We encountered no other people on the walk which was a treat.
The rain continued through the afternoon and into the evening, but stopped in time for us to have a great fire and supper.
Now, some random images from the trip.
The Jamaica Volunteer Fire & Rescue station.
Our camp kitchen. Our gas grill is on the other side of the stove, but we only used it once opting instead to cook over the fire, as seen below.
Our site from the small hill behind it.
Morning coffee is my PRECIOUS.... The Lord of the Rings geeks will get that....
One of the best birthday weekends I've had.
Trip Bird List
Least flycatcher (a constant presence at camp)
Evening grosbeak
Chipping Sparrow
Red-eyed Vireo
Brown creeper
Cedar waxwing
Blackburnian warbler (constant presence at camp)
Pine warbler
Black-capped chickadee
Yellow-rumped warbler
American robin
Common raven
Black-throated green warbler
Hermit thrush
Wood thrush
Ovenbird
Blue jay
Ruffed grouse (heard drumming at camp and saw female with young in Townshend)
Wild turkey
Great blue heron
American goldfinch
Black-throated blue warbler
Scarlet tanager
Black and white warbler
Dark-eyed junco
Veery
Northern parula
Baltimore oriole
Purple finch
House finch
Red-winged blackbird
Common grackle
Mourning dove
Winter wren
Red-breasted nuthatch
Pileated woodpecker
4 comments:
That looks like an awesome trip!
Great trip B!
Go to the auto parts store and get a windshield filler kit to prevent that chip from takin' a run on ya.
Looks like that was an awesome campground - plus I always get a kick on how you point out al the plant species by name.
Remember that day at PSC when we were taking the plant ID quiz in the woods? Hoo boy. You didn't make too many friends that day! LOL! =)
FFN - I admit, I have forgotten a lot of the scientific names. I was going to include my plant list in the post, but....
Sadly, that prof was such an idiot (no respect intended) and I believe we were cheated. I remember having to fight for points for things HE missed on my plant collection. I digress. I forget which plant that was, but it was easy. ;)
Anyway, yes. Nice campground. Even had a nice playground for those with kids. Mrs tried the slide and I tried the monkey bars, though my feet kept hitting the ground despite folding my legs at the knees. I can't fit my ass in the swings anymore. :)
Happy Birthday Barry! It looks like a great trip. I am glad you had fun, great to get away from it all. barb
Post a Comment