“Not all those who wander are lost.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
I decided to spend Memorial Day hiking this year. My husband and son were going to come with me, but bailed at the last minute because it looked like rain. Being alone in the woods is very relaxing for me so off I went on a couple of solo hikes. I traveled to the northernmost part of Vermont. Norton, Vermont is located just south of the Canadian border and north of Island Pond. Brousseau Mountain and Averill Mountain are two very short hikes in Norton. Neither of these trails are blazed in the traditional fashion. Small red arrows and blue and orange ribbons mark these trails. Both hikes are rather short, but well worth the time to check out.
Brousseau Mt. was first on the agenda. The trailhead is at the end of Brousseau Mt. Road. There is a gate and a couple of camps at the end of the road, so I parked on the shoulder out of the way of private driveways. I walked around the gate and into a field. After a short distance I saw a colorful wooden sign and arrow pointing to the Brousseau Mt. Trail. There is a small stream to cross early in the hike. Maybe this drys up in the later days summer. The terrain to the summit is filled with large tree roots in the lower region and mostly bedrock in the upper region. There is a muddy section with bog bridges around the halfway point. At the time I was there the trail was very wet and slippery. The summit is marked with a blue and orange ribbon. The trail continues down to a rock ledge lookout. From here Little Averill Lake can be seen in the distance. I was there alone so I spent some time just taking in the beauty as I sat on the ledge and relaxed for a while. The sky was gray with clouds, but the rain was holding off. I would have loved to stay longer but I had another mountain to climb and I wanted to get it in before the rain. On the way down I tracked a small deer for a ways. The tracks were inside some of my tracks from the way up so the deer could not have been very far ahead of me, but I never saw or even heard it. The ¾ mile ascent took me about 25 minutes. The descent took about 30 minutes. The wet slippery bedrock made the trip down a bit longer.The total distance round trip was about 1.5 miles.
The Averill Mt. trailhead is right off route 114. There is no turnout to park, so I continued past the trailhead a short distance and turned onto Lake View Road. I pulled over to the shoulder and walked back to 114. The trail starts by crossing a boggy area right off the road. This is the only wet spot on the trail. The terrain here is very easy to pass over. There are a couple of blow downs a short distance from the trailhead, but other than that this is an easy trail to follow. The rocky ledge just past the summit overlooks Big Averill Lake. Another beautiful view. When I walked out onto the rocks at the end of the trail I was greeted by the American Flag. This flag was not a faded flag from withstanding the elements; it was bright and new looking. Perfect sight to see on my Memorial Day hiking excursion. I was obviously not the only Memorial Day Weekend hiker to summit Averill Mt. I dropped my pack and sat beside the flag for a while. After a snack and a little water I started my descent. The total hike round trip is about 1.25 miles and my hiking time was approximately 40 minutes.
My solo hiking adventure was a success. I bagged two peaks on the Northeast Kingdom Mountain Challenge. For more information about he Northeast Kingdom Mountain Challenge please follow this link. The day was overcast and windy. The wind helped to keep the black flies away; they can be thick this time of year in Vermont. The rain did make an appearance but luckily not until I was in the car on my way home.
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