Hike New England - Wells River via Cross Vermont Trail

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Wells River via Cross Vermont Trail

Destination:		Wells River
Trails:		Cross Vermont Trail, Boltonville Nature Trail, Blue Mountain Nature Trail, Blue Mountain School Trail
Region:		VT - Central East
Location:		Newbury, VT
Rating:		Easy
Features:		River, pond, wetlands, gorge, cascades
Distance:		Approximately 5.3 miles
Elevation Gain:		Minimal
Hiking Time:		Typical: 2:25
Outing Duration:		Typical: 3:30
Hike Date:		11/04/2007 (Sunday)
Weather:		40 degrees, mostly cloudy
Author:		Webmaster

Route Summary

Hike the Cross Vermont Trail (CVT) from West to East with a detour to the Blue Mountain School spur trail. On the return trip, take a detour to do the Blue Mountain Nature Trail loop, then resume the walk on CVT, take another detour to do the Boltonville Nature Trail loop, and then finish up on CVT back at the starting point.

Place	Split Miles*	Total Miles*
Western CVT parking area	0.0	0.0
West Jct. Boltonville Nature Trail	0.3	0.3
East Jct. Boltonville Nature Trail	0.4	0.7
I-91 underpass	0.1	0.8
Jct. Blue Mtn. School Trail	0.6	1.4
Blue Mtn. School	0.25	1.65
Jct. Blue Mtn. School Trail	0.25	1.9
West Jct. Blue Mtn. Nature Trail	0.0	1.9
East Jct. Blue Mtn. Nature Trail	0.0	1.9
Eastern CVT End	0.3	2.2
Blue Mtn. Nature Trail (eastern loop begin)	0.3	2.5
Blue Mtn. Nature Trail (western loop end)	0.9	3.4
I-91 underpass	0.6	4.0
Boltonville Nature Trail (eastern loop begin)	0.1	4.1
Boltonville Nature Trail (western loop end)	0.9	5.0
Western CVT parking area	0.3	5.3
	* mileage is approximate

Map of Wells River hike route (map by Webmaster)

Trail Guide

This serves as sort of an update to the main description of the Cross Vermont Trail (CVT) along Wells River and its adjacent paths.

This hike was done in the fall rather than the summer and covers an additional spur trail leading from the CVT.

As before, I started out along CVT's wide path. It was covered with dead leaves and the rustling of the leaves as I kicked my feet through them is a traditional autumn sound that never fails to stir up happy memories. It's fun to get such close-up looks at the leaves in order to determine what kinds of trees are in the vicinity. Along this route I saw mostly bigtooth aspen leaves... but since the trees were mostly bare I couldn't figure out which leaf types went with which tree trunks.

The highlight of hiking this route in the fall is that the long, beautiful wetlands area was totally free of bugs so I was able to spend a lot more time in this area. This part of the trail is almost exclusively lined with conifers: white pine, hemlock, spruce, fir, and tamarack. Tarmarack is the only conifer tree in the northern United States that sheds its needles every year but before it does so, the needles turn a bright gold so seeing these golden "Christmas" trees interspersed among the traditional green "Christmas" trees was really magical.

In his book, Trees of New England: A Natural History, Charles Fergus gives a possible explanation for why this conifer, whose needles are already adapted to conserve water, would need to shed them over the winter. He notes that the tamarack, as well as three Asian trees that also shed their needles, used to grow above the Artic Circle millions of years ago. This is where the winter nights are long and dark and Fergus theorizes that it served no useful purpose for the trees to hang onto their needles, keeping them alive, even when it was impossible for the needles to return value to the tree because the darkness prevented them from performing photosynthesis. I thought that was an interesting and logical explanation. And if global warming continues on its current course, these trees will probably once again be growing above the Artic Circle.

Along one side of the wetlands area trail is a large pond with lots of dead snags poking out of it. The other side is densely populated with cattails as well as some trees. The trail surface is short green grass, sprinkled with dead needles. This section of the trail is wide and straight and looks especially enchanting with the sun slanting through the trees illuminating both the tamaracks and the path with a soft golden glow.

There were a few ducks on the pond and other birds all around.

At the far end of the pond, on the right, is a sign indicating "BMU". This trail leads, in a quarter mile, to the Blue Mountain Union School. Even if you don't wish to go all the way to the school, it's worthwhile to follow this route for about a tenth of a mile because it contours the far end of the pond as well as part of the opposite side, giving a different and more open prospect than what the CVT offers.

The trail goes up a gentle incline and at the top of the rise you can look over the pond and see a hilltop farm just on the far side of I-91. This farm is uphill from the one that's visible across the river at the point where the trail passes under I-91.

Continue past the rise to reach a section of shore opposite the CVT. After that the trail curves to the left away from the pond but there are still more wetlands sections to its right. Then the path goes up a short, steep pitch to come out at the parking lot of the Blue Mountain School.

Returning to the CVT, I walked to its end, then turned around and took the next right onto the eastern end of the Blue Mountain Nature Trail (unsigned but the path is obvious). The path crossed a wide crooked-looking bridge and then wound its way to the shore of the placid Wells River. The water was totally clear and I could see the goldish colored sandy bottom. The river appeared to be only a couple of feet deep.

Circling away from the river, the nature trail then climbed a short steep pitch, was flat for a while, then climbed for a bit more (although gently this time) to reach the plateau peninsula. There are one or two trails that go left and cut the loop short but just keep going straight and the trail will end up curving around to return to the CVT without making any abrupt turns. This loop is marked thoroughly by survey ribbon.

I saw three deer in this section. They were in a hemlock grove in the narrow area between the outside of the trail and the river. Although the understory was mostly open, the deer ran off and quickly disappeared from sight. At this point I could see across the river where there was lush green grass on the far side contrasting sharply with the golden beige of the river itself and the needle carpeted path that I was walking on.

I returned to the CVT and had lunch at the bench in the wetlands section. Then I continued on, passing under I-93, and then turning right at the eastern end of the Boltonville Nature Trail. I descended on the narrow path, going slowly since the thick layer of dead leaves made the path a little slippery.

Then I reached the floodplain area where a wide green swathe meandered through the tall grass, dead goldenrods, and milkweeds. The milkweeds were shedding their seeds supported by silky white threads so the spots of white provided a nice accent to the landscape. The river was very close by and was gurgling along in this section.

Just after leaving the meadow area to return to the woods, there was a short wet and muddy section. Since I was wearing sneakers, my feet were instantly soaked. Not the best feeling on a 40 degree day, but by this time I was near the end of my journey anyway.

The gentle gurgling of the river soon transformed into loud pounding as the river rushed down some small cascades and squeezed through a narrow, rocky gorge. This is a fascinating spot. The water seemed to be running full-tilt here in spite of it being autumn and there was lots of white water.

Taking a little detour away from the trail, and continuing upstream, the water was much more calm and was again perfectly transparent. In this section there were more rocks than sand on the river bed.

I returned to the trail and went up the easy hill to rejoin the CVT. Then I turned right and quickly reached the parking area.

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VT - Central East

Driving Directions

There are two trailheads, both located on Rt. 302; one west of the I-91 interchange, and one east of it.

The recommended trailhead is located one mile west of I-91, on the north side of Rt. 302. Its entrance is in between a big red barn signed "Curious Cow Too" and Boltonville Road. Headed west on Rt. 302, the entrance is particularly tricky to spot, but just trust that it's after the big red building and slow down. You have to make almost a U-turn to enter into the parking lot and the sign isn't readily visible from this direction. Once turning in, there is a nice roomy dirt parking lot.

The other trailhead is unsigned. When heading west on Rt. 302 from Wells River, it is the second driveway after the Fish and Game picnic area. The drive descends steeply to an area where 2 or 3 cars could squeeze in. This driveway is about 0.7 mile east of I-91.

Other Notes

No motorized vehicles allowed.

More Wells River Trail Reports

Wells River via Cross Vermont Trail on 9/01/2006

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