DAY 44 - BREAD LOAF & STARS

AUGUST 11 & 12 -  

BUSY WEEKEND AT THE MOUNTAIN

This was a very busy weekend, especially Sunday after all the rain on Saturday.  The Mt Washington race is coming up so we had cyclists climbing the mountain at least two times and other cyclists who are just out cycling.  The Harpoon Brewery was hosting a Point-to-Point bicycle race so at least a hundred cyclists passed Mt Ascutney entrance with a photographer set up across the road.

Five guys from Montreal, who were staying at Okemo in Ludlow,  cycled over to climb Mt Ascutney and then cycle back.  The first guy who came down stopped at the Ranger’s Hut to cool off his tires and wait for his friends.  As we were talking I heard a pop, like a firecracker.  We both looked at the bike…..his tire blew.  I asked what would happen if his tire blew on the way down, he said, “Nothing good!”. 

GUESS HE WAS LUCKY!

Although we haven’t hiked all the trials to the summit, I talk to anybody who has to get their feel for the trail, things they liked and places they went so that I can help others who are deciding which trails to go up. 

Sunday afternoon a guy came by, in his 30’s, up from the southwest and working in Vermont.  He asked about hiking the trails bottom to top and I pointed out the different trails and options.  We discussed the terrain and level of difficulty and which trails offered what views. 

 Then he asked if he could do it with sneakers.  I suggested he may want to have good hiking

shoes  because of the slabs and scrambles and some technical aspects

….then he asked if he could do it with one bottle of water……..

At this point I suggested that he drive to the summit parking lot and hike the trails up there…..to get a feel.  … I always recommend going up the Slot and down the Slab to get two different experiences.    I said I thought he would be able to do that in sneakers and on a bottle of water and since it was mid-afternoon that would give him a good idea of the trails here for his next long hike.

Off he went, probably thinking this old lady doesn’t know what she’s talking about with rock scrambles and slabs.    Several hours later he reappeared at the hut. 

“Made it back” he says puffing, “what was that elevation gain from the parking lot!  My heart was pounding!  You were right about those trails!”  I said I thought the steep ascent had more to do with his windedness than the actual elevation gain.  He agreed!   Think he’s going to buy hiking gear to do bottom to top!

I LOVE IT!

A young woman, early thirties, came in to bike to the top.  She had a hydrating pack on her back which is really cool and worth getting if you’re going to do any hiking or long biking.  You just wear your water on your back!  Anyway, she had just climbed the Windsor Trail (up and back).  She wanted to reach the top in an hour and was 45 seconds over her goal.  Now she was going to bike to the top of the mountain and had a goal for that one, also.   She went off laughing, heading up the mountain.  When she came back down, she said she beat her goal to the top by fifteen minutes.  I said, “Add that to the goal of climbing and you’ve beaten your goals set for the day!”  She laughed, “I was thinking the same thing!”  and off she went.

I LOVE IT!

One of the campers came down to hang out on the porch for a while.  He said they moved campsites because the howling bears were keeping them awake all night.  I didn’t know bears howled!  Perhaps it was a Fisher cat, part of the weasel family.  They feed on small animals (procupines) fruits and mushrooms  and they squeal like a baby or I guess a dog being torn apart (as one camper described a sound thinking it was a bear tearing a dog limb from limb).  Anyway, it could have been a combination of both – the bear rooting around and the Fisher cat squealing after its prey.   Some night I’m going to go sit down in the lean to by the athletic field to listen to the night noises. 

I LOVE IT!

The sunset on the mountain was spectacular highlighting the fronts that were passing through.  A small (little bigger than a baby) porcupine was busy eating the leaves alongside the road.  We stopped right beside it and watched it eat.  Didn't even look up at us.  Slowly the little "porc" waddled into the bushes, never stopping the chewing.

OF COURSE I DIDN'T BRING THE CAMERA!

AUGUST 13^TH  

BREAD LOAF & STARS

Feeling a little better so decided to take a ride.  Headed over to the Green Mountain National Forest  by way of Brownsville, took a shortcut from Reading to Eco Lake and headed up VT100 to Killington stopping at Gifford Woods State Park.  

RANGER'S HOUSE BUILT BY THE CCC

Gifford Woods is a small park boasting tent sites, leantos and cabins.  These cabins have bunk beds, fouton and a table and chairs.  

CABINS WITH BUNKS, FUTON AND TABLE.  

REAL LOG CABIN LEAN TO

What more would you need to spend time in the woods.  The Long Trail is 2.4 miles from the campground so could use the campground as a base while hiking the Long Trail.  Spotted some mushrooms growing up the trees.  Must ask Lucy and Mark what they are.

From here we drove through Pittsfield and Rochester passing farms and driving through the quaint Vermont towns then turned onto VT125 Scenic at Hancock.  

 At this point we were driving through the Green Mountain National Forest although it was all around us.  Drove through Bread Loaf and Ripton on the other side.  Descended into East Middlebury and realized we were 20 miles from the NY border and 40 miles south of Burlington so turned around a retraced our route back.  The drive was beautiful.  The Long Trail goes through this area and there were lots of opportunities to hike but Dave wasn’t feeling up to anything except riding and coughing!      This is Robert Frost territory.

BREAD LOAF SCHOOL OF ENGLISH

DORMITORIES

Came upon a beautiful campus in the middle of the forest called:   Middlebury College Bread Loaf!   The buildings and campus were beautiful set in the mountains with Bread Loaf mountain casting its shadow on the campus.  

This is the Bread Loaf School of English, a summer graduate school of Middlebury College and has four campuses:  Ripton Vt, Santa Fe NM, Asheville NC and Oxford England.  It is a summer program and would take four or five summers to complete the degree. 

CAMPUS NESTLED AMONG THE GREEN MOUNTAINS

The Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont’s major emphasis is upon the theater arts.  Instruction in creative writing, acting, playwriting, staging and design are included.  It’s not a structured training school but designed to bringing students into contact with theater professionals in the field.  Each summer professional actors come to the campus to assist the summer’s major production produced in the Bread Loaf’s Burgess Meredith Little Theater.  This year they performed “Hamlet”.  The Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble are involved in the classrooms.   New plays written by the students are occasionally produced in the theater.  There are directing and playwriting workshops. 

BURGESS MEREDITH'S LITTLE THEATER

The school was established in 1920.  Robert Frost was involved in the school purchasing 150 acre farm in the immediate vicinity now owned by the college.  He spent more than 40 summers lecturing here. 

ONE OF THE MANY COTTAGES FOR STUDENTS AND FACULTY

 Between 1860 and 1910 Joseph Battell purchased large tracts of land and left 31,000 acres to Middlebury College in 1915.    The College sold nearly all of it to form the core of the Green Mountain National Forest in the 1930s and 1950s.  The mountain campus and rustic resort Batell developed remained to host the School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. 

DORMITORY BUILT DURING LATE 1800'S

 The dormitory and dining hall were built in 1861 and are the distinctive mustard-colored buildings from Battell’s era.  The buildings built since 1915 are white.  Around 250 students come every summer. 

ONE OF THE "NEWER" BUILDINGS CIRCA 1915

 What a great way to spend your summers.  You could pick up a Masters in English Literature, Creative Writing,Theater among the four beautiful campuses.  Start out in Ripton for a beautiful Vermont summer, head down to Asheville NC for another beautiful WNC summer, out to Santa Fe for the magnificent western summer and finish up at Oxford UK.    I think this could beat campground hosting for a summer plan!!!!!

BOWEN BRIDGE GET'S RELOCATED

When we first got here, I was scouring the area for the covered bridges.  I came upon this covered bridge that had been damaged during Irene.  It was sitting off to the side being rebuilt.

Last week it was rededicated and placed in its rightful spot.

 A NIGHT WITH THE STARS

Stellafane, a gathering of amateur telescope makers and astronomers, is meeting this weekend in Springfield, Vermont.  It is the Stellafane Convention dating back to the 1920s.    It is held at the summit of Breezy Hill and is the longest running astronomical convention in the world.  Thousands of amateur telescope makers from all over the world will be gathering to share innovations, competitions and enjoy the Vermont sky.  It is held over the weekend of the new moon closest to the height of the Perseid meteor shower.

Dr John K LaShell sets up his telescope for a night viewing.

ALMOST THERE, THE SUN IS DROPPING BEHIND THE CLOUDS.

THE SKY IS HONORING US WITH A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE STARS TO POP OUT!

Tonight we were treated to a night with the stars when one of the amateur astronomers and telescope makers. Dr John K.LaShell from Allentown, PA with his son-in-law Bill from Charlotte came over from Wilgus SP to Mt Ascutney and set up his telescope in the summit parking lot for the four of us. 

THE GANG IS WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE NIGHTFALL

With his help using the laser pointer and telescope that he made, we saw nebulas, Saturn, Vega, Arcturus and Antares , a red supergiant named after Mars and in the constellation of Scorpius.  The Andromeda Galaxy, Persied shower of upteen meteorites, double stars orbiting around each other and about five satellites.     Signet (the Swan), Sagitarius the teapot, the Milky Way  interspersed with stories of the mythology of Greek gods and goddesses.    It all came alive on top of the mountain.

I learned that nebulas are made up of thousands of stars circling around each other; I learned that the Persied shower is made up of thousands and thousands of pieces of debris, some no larger than sand, burning up as they streak through the sky.  I learned that the closer to the horizon the more the stars twinkle as the light comes through the atmosphere and that planets don’t twinkle.    I learned that Vega, Deneb, and Altair make up the summer triangle being the brightest stars of Aquila, Cygnus and Lyra constellations. I learned that to change the power on a telescope, it's done through the eyepiece and don't be fooled by advertising that the telescope has the power .... it is in the eyepieces.

I learned that Dr LaShell's son-in-law is also a Star Trek fan and has seen all of the Stargate series...a fellow kinsman! (It is a well known fact in my family that I want to live on a starship! -- and my son Perry is probably the only member who "gets it".)  Bill and I were able to equate these nebula and meteorite showers to what happens on the observation decks on the Destiny or Enterprise as it races through space!

It was a wonderful, wonderful evening on top of the mountain.  The clouds blew away and the stars popped out in all their glory.  

THANK YOU MARK AND LUCY FOR GIVING US THIS OPPORTUNITY!!!!!!

 THE GIFT OF WONDERMENT IS A TREASURED ONE INDEED!