I was invited to join some friends on a New Year's Holiday hike on a section of (my old friend) the Midstate Trail. With all our holiday company gone, including my wife, I figured I could take some time for some fresh air and start the new year off right.
The section of trail we were hiking was around the Barre Falls Dam (essentially
Hike #8 from my Midstate trek in 2012). I met my fellow hikers at the picnic area near the dam, from there we shuttled back to Intervale Road in Rutland.
As I said, I was invited along on this hike; this was Brian's hike as he attempts to hike as much of the Midstate as he can this year. I started out just hiking, but soon found much of the scenery to be winter-wonderland beautiful, a pleasant surprise for me as I had never hiked this section of the trail in the snow. To that end, all the pictures I have are just from my phone, since I wasn't originally planning to blog this hike.
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| Lots of snow, and it's not so clear to see the trail. |
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| Lots of snow, but at least I can clearly see the trail. |
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| Not quite enough snow to warrant snowshoes; micro-spikes will do it today. Nonetheless, sometimes I couldn't see my feet. I wish I would have remembered the gaiters. |
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| This stone structure looks like a foundation or more likely a retaining wall for a cistern. |
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| Frozen brook. |
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| Underneath, there's still some water flowing. |
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| Nearing the end of the hike, here's a view of the dam from below. |
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| Looking back down, you can follow the trail back into the woods on the left. |
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| This is the control house for the dam itself. |
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| Back at the picnic area, I join my fellow hearty hikers: Brian, Tom, Dave. |
This hike actually winds through three towns: Rutland, Hubbardston, and finally Barre. Our distance was 3.78 miles in 1:46 (2.12 mph). Not fast, but 1) we weren't going for speed, and 2) there was lots of snow on the trail. Sadly, I forgot to take and "end" picture of where we went to rejuvenate
after the hike. That would be the Gardner Ale House where we enjoyed some appetizers and beer.
