Jamaica, VT 6/15 - 6/21 - Part 2

I forgot to add at the end of the last post that we took the dogs for a small soft serve cone at D&K's Jamaica Grocery.  We love this little store as they pretty much have everything we need so close by the campground.

Mrs holds the cone for Harry to chomp while Luna licks her chops after a few licks of ice cream.

June 18, 2014


Mrs woke me at about 1:00 AM for our one and only storm of the trip.  Hearing this from inside our tent under the cover of the leanto was wonderful.  Harry is dreadfully afraid of storms, but he did better than I expected.  So well, that we fell back to sleep.

We hiked a short portion of the West River Trail from Ball Mountain Dam access road.  We like to take Harry to Angel falls as there is a nice pool there he enjoys swimming in.  We also searched for a few Geocaches which was more of a bust than anything.  Mrs found the first one, but there was not much to it.

Here is the cache not far off the trail.  I forget the name of this one.

 Mrs and Luna on the West River Trail.

 Jack-in-the-pulpit

West River

 Harry in for a dip at Angel Falls.

Angel Falls.

 Luna at the falls.

Another view of the West River from the trail.

Our plan was to have lunch in a gazebo that they have along the access road to Ball Mountain Dam.  I noticed that there was a pair of eastern phoebes hanging around and then discovered they had a nest full of young inside the gazebo.  No big deal.  They could deal with us there for a little while.  We were not in there long as I quickly discovered there were bird mites all over the picnic table which were quickly crawling onto our arms.  Thankfully they are host specific and aside from the annoyance of them and wiping them off of our arms they were not a problem.  We decided best to just drive back to camp and eat there.

Thursday June 19, 2014


Mrs had found what seemed would be a nice hike in the new Day hikers Guide to Vermont on the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail to Little Rock Pond which we would access off of US Forest Service Road #10.  From the parking area to Little Rock Pond, including a beautiful loop trail around the pond and then back to the car it took us about three and a half hours.  This was a wonderful hike and is now one of my favorites.  We lucked out and only encountered a few people including a group of three young men who appeared to be Long Trail thru hikers.  The trail was also diverted a bit due to beaver work causing flooding on the trail, pushing hikers further off the trail to create a new trail.  A bit wet and muddy, but beautiful.  Luna very much enjoyed romping through the pools and mud holes.

 Sign at the trailhead off of USFS Road #10.

 Little Rock Pond Shelter.
Beautiful little shelter.  There are also tent platforms and a caretakers tent nearby.  We saw no caretaker and none of the sites were occupied yet.

Your's truly and Harry on a small bridge on the pond loop trail.

 Gorgeous Little Rock Pond from the loop trail opposite the area where the shelter is.

 One of my all-time favorite plants, bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) in flower all along the trail.

 Small bridge made simply by turning a steel I-beam on it's side.

 Bridge over river near the trailhead at USFS Road #10.

Back in the parking lot I boiled up some water and we had soups for lunch.  My cheap $8 little pocket stove performed well, but I think I do not trust it enough long term, so I plan to get a Pocket Rocket stove for trips, especially backpacking trips.

An example of a USFS road in Vermont.  Love this place.


On June 20th, we decided to take it easy and do a long loop drive through the area.  We had a weekend already booked at Allis State Park in Brookfield, Vermont in July (see a future post for that trip), but wanted to see the park ahead of time.  We were not disappointed.
The park is small and lovely and features a fire tower on Bear Hill which provided stunning views for 360 degrees.

 Not sure of the direction or mountains, but I am thinking it's looking towards The Presidential Range in New Hampshire.

 Killington and Pico ski areas near the center of the image.

 The peak almost in the middle of this image if Mt Abraham which I hiked a couple times in 2013 from Lincoln Gap to Appalachian Gap on an overnighter on the Long Trail, and once with Mrs later on in the year.

 Camel's Hump on the left side of the image.

 The fire tower on Bear Hill.  Awesome.

 We also stopped at The Vermont Country Store where we had been last year and had lunch in their gazebo.  No bird or mites here!

 Another stop at D&K's.

Our final fire for the June 2014 Jamaica State Park trip.  I do love this place.