Vermont State Parks

A leisurely walk in the park is not what participants of the annual Woodford State Park Snowshoe Race anticipate. This fast-paced 3.3-mile race has drawn over seventy-five athletes in years past who compete for respect as well as good Vermont eats, such as a loaf of bread from Vermont Bread, Green Mountain Coffee, bagels from Works Cafe & Bakery, donuts from Mrs. Murphy's Donuts, and locally made bean soup, which they get to dig into after crossing the finish line. Last year, competitors ages ranged from twelve to seventy-plus and all of the athletes finished the race under an hour (the winning time was an amazing twenty-four-minutes!) Jack Quinn and John Pelton started the snowshoe race in Woodford State Park on December 30, 2001, and they have been having one there each year ever since! Jack continues to be the race director and prepares for the day's event by making sure the course is free from fallen trees or overgrown bushes. This year, Jack's job was surprisingly...

UVM Student and VT State Park Photography Intern Olympia Bowker: "Sense of Place - Winter in Vermont". Now on Display at La Brioche Bakery & Cafe in Montepelier For the next several weeks, Olympia Bowker's photographs will be on display in the popular NECI cafe, La Brioche, at the corner of Main Street and East State Street in Montpelier. Olympia completed an internship with Vermont State Parks as part of her Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Science at the University of Vermont. Her work on "sense of place" and how photography can capture the beauty we all see and interpret, can be found in her photographic documentation project entitled, Vermont in Winter: The Season of Subtle Splendor . It is Olympia’s hope that her images and captions illustrate “sense of place” as well as help to promote recreational enjoyment of the outdoors for Vermont State Parks. Abstract from Olympia’s work: For humans to have an ethical relation to land, there must be lo...