TRAIL-WISE AT MIDD
Hiking Trails Middlebury Students Should Know About
Welcome to this site on area hiking trails, which was developed in January, 2000 by students in a Winter Term course on Nature Writing. To the left are links that will take you to information dealing with 14 local trails; some require a car to get to, but several can be reached on foot directly from the Middlebury campus. For each of the trails covered here, you'll find directions to the trailhead, maps and other images, as well as a descriptive/interpretive essay written by a student from this writing workshop. Feel free to make a printout of any of these selections and use it to enhance your enjoyment of the natural world surrounding Middlebury.
Because the research for this project took place in January, we deliberately avoided trails high up in the Green Mountains, as well as trails that require technical climbing abilities and gear. With the possible exception of Bristol Cliffs Wilderness, the trails examined here are ones that any reasonably fit person should easily be able to hike; the type terrain they cover is extremely varied, but each one affords its own special rewards. Of course, you are solely responsible for your use of these directions and for taking appropriate precautions to protect your personal safety in hiking these trails.
Several of the individual footpaths discussed here are part of the Trail Around Middlebury, a 14-mile footpath which has been ambitiously developed by the Middlebury Land Trust. The designation "T.A.M." by a trail's name indicates that it is part of this circumferential system. A substantial portion of the T.A.M. traverses land owned by Middlebury College, making it extremely accessible for students here to get out and enjoy.
We hope you'll enjoy getting to know the nearby countryside as much as we did! Happy trails.
Here's a quick guide to these trails, based on their difficulty and accessibility via cross-country skis and snowshoes:
| SNOWSHOE? | |||
| Abbey Pond | |||
| Spirit In Nature | |||
| Robert Frost Trail | |||
| Rattlesnake Cliffs | |||
| Snake Mountain | |||
| Button Bay | |||
| Kingsland Bay | not all the way | ||
| Watershed Center | |||
| Mount Philo | |||
| Charlotte Park & Wildlife Refuge | |||
| Bristol Cliffs Wilderness | |||
| Wright Park (TAM) | |||
| Chipman Hill (TAM) | |||
| Otter Creek Gorge (TAM) |
EL365 Nature Writing Workshop for Winter Term, 2000: Caroline Bodkin, Jen Crystal, Catherine DiBenedetto, Ben Jervey, Patrick Kelly, Peter Morgan, Benji Perin, Kirsten Rohstedt, Rob Verger, Molly Witters, Andrew Dutterer, Dani Golden, Jessica Gigot; Don Mitchell (English Department).