Happy Friday everyone! We got in one last hike to check out the colors here in Vermont. The temperature is dropping. We've had a couple of frosts. Plus rain and wind. The leaves are falling fast.
We drove to Brandon Gap which is one of the east-west passes through the first range of the Green Mountains.
Brandon Gap is 2180 ft and passes between Mt Horrid 3205 ft and Goshen Mountain 3288 ft.
Our hike was on a section of the Long Trail.
The Long Trail runs the length of Vermont from Massechusetts to Quebec. It is the oldest continous footpath in the US. The Green Mountain Club is the protector and maintainer of the trail.
Long Trail
We were headed to the Great Cliff.
Lots of birch along the trail which turn mostly yellow in the fall.
Lots of signs on the trail too 😁
The trail runs through the Jospeh Battell Wilderness Area.
"The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines ...(a wilderness area)... as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” The Act’s purpose is to preserve and protect the natural ecosystems and wild areas and also provide opportunities for solitude and retrospective or primitive recreation."Jospeh Battell Wilderness Area
Here's where we get off the Long Trail.
As "The Great Cliff" is a cliff 🙂 it is a nesting area for Peregrine Falcons. Fortunately we are well outside the nesting season.
Finally, the view. Looking at Goshen Mountain.
You can see all the way to the Adirondack Mountains in New York across the Champlain Valley. It was a little cloudy but still a lovely view.
That's it for the hike. Thanks for checking out my post 👍
Bonus pics:
Here's a few pics not from the hike.
My favorite old barn.
And last pic, the lake.