Vermont State Parks

You may have heard of the Venture Vermont Outdoor Challenge - a statewide, outside scavenger hunt. Similar to this program, but designed for licensed child care providers with younger children, Outdoor S'more! is a new program encouraging kids to explore the outdoors (and get rewarded for it). Outdoor S'more! activities range from collecting seeds and sorting them by how they feel (10 points) to finding shapes in nature (5 points per shape). Once the group reaches 100 points, the group sends in photos of them completing activities, their scorecard (shown right), and any other supporting documents, such as artwork or writing, to Vermont State Parks. The reward is a FREE day use visit for the whole group to any of the 52 Vermont State Parks! Score sheets are being mailed to all licensed day care providers in Vermont. You can celebrate completing the challenge by having a picnic, playing games, or going for a hike in your favorite park. For more information on how your day care g...

One of the challenges of the Venture Vermont Challenge under the INVENT category is to "Create your own outside food recipe (one you enjoy cooking and eating outside)". Many campers have made chicken & vegetable packets over a fire, but Jessica Rouse, Meg Baker, and Asa Rouse-Baker have perfected a few that are sure to please - (and you can earn 10 points towards the Venture Vermont Challenge by making this!) Visit our family camping menu ideas webpage for more. Below are their family's favorite combinations: • Cubed chicken, onions diced, apple chunks, sweet potato chunks, salt, and thyme • 1 T soy sauce, powdered or fresh ginger, cubed chicken, red pepper chunks, diced onions • Cubed chicken, diced onion, 2-3 T yogurt, apple chunks, chickpeas, and 1 t cumin Add about a cup total of chicken & veggies, wrap in aluminum foil and put on coals of the fire for about 15 minutes. Helpful Tip: You can use ketchup to mark the exterior of the foil packets with initials s...

One of the challenges of the Venture Vermont Challenge under the INVENT category is to "Create your own outside food recipe (one you enjoy cooking and eating outside)". Many campers have made chicken & vegetable packets over a fire, but Jessica Rouse, Meg Baker, and Asa Rouse-Baker have perfected a few that are sure to please - (and you can earn 10 points towards the Venture Vermont Challenge by making this!) Visit our family camping menu ideas webpage for more. Below are their family's favorite combinations: • Cubed chicken, onions diced, apple chunks, sweet potato chunks, salt, and thyme • 1 T soy sauce, powdered or fresh ginger, cubed chicken, red pepper chunks, diced onions • Cubed chicken, diced onion, 2-3 T yogurt, apple chunks, chickpeas, and 1 t cumin Add about a cup total of chicken & veggies, wrap in aluminum foil and put on coals of the fire for about 15 minutes. Helpful Tip: You can use ketchup to mark the exterior of the foil packets with initials s...

by Eric Bouchard, Assistant Ranger Smugglers' Notch Ever so gracefully do these winged creatures of the night, Flutter and soar in the pale moonlight, With brilliant shade of green this creature doth glow, And dance fancy free for the evening show. ~EWB Smugglers' Notch has attracted some bizarre, yet stunning visitors to the park as of late. These visitors of whom I speak, are not our campers, but a species of moth that is unlike anything I, personally, have ever seen before. The species to which I am referring is the Luna Moth. Seen left, the Luna Moth (a.k.a. the Giant Silkworm Moth) with its brilliant pale green wings, a white body, and pinkish legs, sports an impressive wingspan that can reach 4 ½ inches. Once common throughout the US, sightings of this beautiful creature have diminished due to spikes in pollution and habitat loss. Females, who lay their eggs, roughly 200, on the underside of black walnut tree leaves, live long enough for that purpose only. In fact, the a...

Tyler Machado, a senior at St. Michael's College in Colchester, spent his last semester interning with Vermont State Parks redesigning the website into a more user friendly and attractive version (as seen below). As a student majoring in journalism and mass communications with an art minor, Tyler enjoys being able to combine his skills in arranging information with his creative side to create visually attractive, educational web pages. Despite his passion for web design, Tyler values time away from the computer, hiking, skiing, and generally enjoying the great outdoors Vermont has to offer. When the opportunity for joining his web development skills with his love of the outdoors came along, Tyler jumped at the chance saying, "I'm really glad I could help out an organization which I know and strongly support". In a humble fasion, Tyler mentions how much he still has to learn in the field. He hopes to continuing learning by gaining employment in web design/development o...

Help get our beautiful state parks ready to open! We've added more Volunteer Park Cleanup Days in addition to Saturday, April 24th at Emerald Lake State Park (which could still use volunteers too!). Now, five other dates and parks are looking for help, and for your help you'll also get rewarded! Saturday, May 1st at Lake St. Catherine State Park (10am - 4pm) *Green-Up Day! Sunday, May 2nd at Bomoseen State Park (12pm - 4pm) Saturday, May 8th at Half Moon State Park (10am - 4pm) Sunday, May 9th - Mother's Day - Bring Mom! at Branbury State Park (12pm - 4pm) Saturday, May 15th at Woodford State Park (10am - 4pm) **We REALLY need some folks for this day! For giving your time and energy to the parks, all volunteers will receive a punch card or a FREE night of camping! Bring friends and family to help rake leaves, pick up brush and trash, and other outdoor tasks that help get the parks ready for the busy season. Bring water, lunch, and sturdy shoes. All other supplies needed, s...

Please help protect state lands and trails by avoiding muddy trails! You may not know it, but trails and vegetation are super vulnerable during mud season and hiking on them during this time can cause irreversible damage by compacting soils and surrounding vegetation which accelerates erosion and the need for maintenance. High elevation trails are especially vulnerable during this time and take considerably longer to dry than lower elevation trails, so the state closes high elevation trails from April 15 – Memorial Day Weekend. So, if you’re looking to get out and go hiking in the early spring, these trails make for some great options: Southeast Vermont Mt. Ascutney State Park Parkway after mid April (after the ice melts off) Southwest Vermont D & H Rail Trail Emerald Lake State Parks roads Button Bay State Parks roads Northwest Vermont Niquette Bay State Park (check at trail head for closures) North Hero State Park roads Grand Isle State Park roads and trails Alburg Dunes Beach r...