Bill Ballard Trail
Ah, another lazy sunday. When I woke up, I looked outside to find that it was yet another beautiful spring day here in New England. Although, truth be told, this one was actually a little bit too beautiful – the temps were in the mid 80′s, and the humidity was riding really high (before going to bed the previous night, I saw that the humidity was 93% – totally unreasonable). The combination of such warm temps, high humidity, and my lack of exposure to anything of the sort so far this year made it pretty rough. And anyone that knows me knows that humidity is the one thing that I just can’t deal with. Nonetheless, with the pleasant weather, I had to get outside and do something. After much deliberation (it’s surprisingly hard to choose a trail just based on text descriptions… more on that in a month or so), I finally decided to go for a hike on the Bill Ballard trail (PDF), a nice trail right in Norwich, VT, that follows a very classic New England brook – the Charles Brown Brook.
The trail itself is a lovely trail, winding along the brook through a pine forest with all sorts of miniature ravines coming in the from the sides. Interestingly, a lot of the scenery around there reminded me of various parts of the trails along the Gunpowder River back home in MD. You’ll have to take my word on it, as I don’t seem to have any shots on my site from those trails right now. It starts by the Norwich swimming pool, a bit of a misnomer if you haven’t been there before, as it’s just an area of the river that can be damed up to create a big swimming hole.
Grand Canyon (of Norwich), here I come! Also, interestingly enough the distances are written in hours, not miles (or kilometers). This is the only place outside of New Zealand that I can recall seeing something like this.
I walked up the trail along Charles Brown Brook.
This just looks like such a typical New England scene. I love it.
One of the more elegant bridges I’ve seen out in the woods (as long as you don’t count the absurd hanging bridges in New Zealand).
The trail even has a nice set of stairs to help you up the hill.
After around ~2 miles, I made it to an intersection that was the turn around point for the route listed on the UV Trails website. However, I wanted to see the Grand Canyon, so I kept on walking. Unfortunately, the trail was in noticeably worse shape (much more muddy and generally in greater disrepair) in this upper section, although not bad enough to warrant turning around. Also, note the nice benches just sitting there in the woods… I guess it’s a nice spot to just hang out.
After trudging onward for a bit, bypassing the various mud pits and the like, I made it to the Norwich Grand Canyon! Thankfully there’s an easement that won’t allow development in this special area (click the link for a close-up of the sign, if you’re curious).
What an amazing spot.
Beautiful.
And finally, looking down the canyon from close to the top.
I stopped at the top of the canyon, ate my lunch, and then turned around to head back to the car. I rushed myself on the way back, as I was certain that I was going to get caught in a vicious thunderstorm with all the energy in the air. Thankfully though, I didn’t get rained on.
It’s always great to explore new places and see new things. I ended up choosing this trail somewhat randomly, and I’m really glad that I went on this hike. Who would have ever thought that something so cool as this Norwich Canyon could exist so near to civilization? And even cooler, there wasn’t a soul there! It just goes to show you – there’s a lot out of cool stuff there, you’ve just got to open your eyes, awaken your adventuresome spirit, and get out there!