“Look deep into nature, and then
you will understand everything better.”
Albert Einstein
Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, the perfect day to complete the Northeast Kingdom Mountain Challenge. My friend and I headed north to Norton Pond (Avery’s Gore) to the Gore Mountain trail head. We started our 8.2 mile round trip hike a little later than planned, but we were unconcerned about time considering it was the first day of summer.
The trail is well marked and starts out as a typical wooded trail. The grade is fairly easy. White blazes mark the way in the beginning. After the first mile the trail becomes thick with raspberry and blackberry brush. At this point blue ribbons mark the trail. I forgot my trekking poles in the car, so I picked up a stick and used it to part the brush so I could see where I was stepping. The trail is full of brushy sections like described above. In some places the brush is nearly shoulder high.
Most of the water crossings are manageable. One however was a bit of a problem. We called it the boot washer. As we stood on one side and looked at the stone steps heading up the bank on the other side we were a bit stumped as to why the trail lead into shin deep water. We looked down stream and found a place to cross. The rocks were a bit slippery and not very close together. We had clean boots as we re-entered the trail.
At approximately the two mile mark the trail becomes quite steep. Steep sections followed by brushy sections, followed by more steep sections. There were also some muddy section that were full of deer, moose and bear prints. One bear print looked particularly fresh.
At last we reached the summit. There we found a cabin that has seen better days marked with the summit sign and a moose skull. There was no view. We did, however, notice where the fire tower had once stood. We sat on some rocks beside the cabin and had a snack. We were not overly anxious to begin our trek down, as we surveyed our legs that were covered with scratches from the berry bushes. Unfortunately, considering our late start we could not linger long.
On the return trip we noticed an old truck just off the trail. We took a little side trip to check it out. We called this trail, “the never ending trail” because it seemed to take us so long. Including our stop at the summit the 8.2 mile round trip took us 6.5 hours. The trail itself is not bad it is just the bushy sections that take so long to navigate. Also I would advise wearing pants when doing this hike. The berry bushes are hard on the legs.
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