Vermont State Parks

At Allis State Park I met an employee Frank, who restores structures at the state parks by replacing damaged places, such as rotting wood, while keeping the original structure as authentic as possible, resembling how it would have looked up to 80 years ago! Many structures in the state parks were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the late 1930s. Allis State Park has a large historic pavilion with a magnificent fireplace Frank was working to restore. He explained various techniques and styles of the CCC construction. I’m not using the right vocabulary, but some are notched together by the logs themselves while others are pushed together to make it look like the logs were notched together when in fact they are actually stabilized using large nails. You can see these different styles in the historic lean-tos and shelters that are in state parks like Gifford Woods and Coolidge . A cool CCC structure can be found on the top of Owl’s Head Mountain near Stillwater and B...

One of the greatest things about camping in Vermont State Parks is meeting other friendly people. I have met people with many adventure stories about their travels and I have learned about some places I would really enjoy visiting in my future travels. I spent quite a bit of time at Woodford State Park (and other parks as part of my invasive species research internship). While there, I saw another loon! At night, I heard a barred owl right above my tent site. The loons and owls together make such awesome vocal melodies. This past weekend my family visited from New York for Fathers Day with their new puppy (seen above by my shoe). We went to the lake in Woodford and had a great time kayaking, hiking, and playing Pictionary in my tent just like we used to do when we were kids. There was plenty of laughter, great weather, and delicious campfire cooked food. A few days later, I arrived in Molly Stark State Park where I took the Mt. Olga trail to see the fire tower where you see mo...