Vermont State Parks

Please don't travel until it's safe to do so! Our travel posts are great for making future plans or dreaming about your next escape. Learn more about  Vermont State Parks and COVID-19 . Is your favorite outdoor space too busy with people for your comfort right now? Then take a hike back in time by visiting Amity Pond State Park in Pomfret, Vermont. Amity Pond is a park you may not know, and neither have all those other people crowding your favorite trailhead.  Rolling hills in Pomfret, Vermont Part of the enjoyment of visiting this park is your journey of arrival. This out of the way place is nestled in the rolling pastural hills of picturesque Pomfret. Vermont’s most photographed homestead, Sleepy Hollow Farm , brings hundreds of photographers to Pomfret in every beautiful Vermont season.  Pomfret is the quintessential rolling agricultural hills and historic homes that make up what we call the very best in Vermont. I was lucky enough to live in Pomfret on Galaxy Hill Ro...

Looking through binoculars at a bird in the distance. Staying close to home during the COVID-19 pandemic makes any neighborhood feel small. My young daughter and I like to get out for daily adventures looking for new things to discover close to home, and it helps to have something new to focus on with each adventure, to refresh the experience even when we are visiting the same places each time.  These spring days are perfect for bird watching walks. Bird watching is exciting this time of year because all the migratory birds are returning to Vermont. Every day we see and hear a new arrival in our neighborhood. It is fun to keep track and watch for the arriving birds who spent their winter in the south.  I like making a big deal about this adventure by packing small backpacks with items we might need while birdwatching. I have a couple small bird field guides we like to carry, and we usually bring water bottles, snacks, and a notebook and pencil so we can docum...

This red oak wolf tree is a great place to hang out! My daughter and I enjoy our outside exploration time even more these days as our apartment has seemingly grown smaller, and we have new requirements to log into online classes several times a day. The breaks in nature are essential to deal with some of the stress of adjusting to new routines and our new reality of staying close to home. Luckily, we have plenty of nearby nature in our yard and beyond into our neighboring yards.  One of our favorite places to explore is a small strip of woods in between an apartment complex, and an abandoned pasture. Earlier I wrote about some cool mushrooms we found in there. Some of the mushrooms were growing on dropped branches from a huge red oak tree I referred to as a 'wolf tree'.  Look at out the trees you have growing in your yard, on your street, or in a nearby park. Trees that grow out in the open, on their own, not close to other trees grow in their perfect form. These lol...

Participant at first Earth Day in 1970 I work for Vermont State Parks and just as you probably imagine, I feel very lucky and I love my job. I owe Earth Day gratitude for my ability to transform my love of camping into a career. An Earth Day celebration when I was five started me on this path. It was 1981, and my dad brought my older sister, Rachel, and I to an Earth Day celebration at Unity College in Maine. Unity is a small environmental college in Central Maine. We were there for a 5K race, and Rachel brought me into the student center to use the restroom. I was blown away by the beautiful students adorned in bell bottoms, long hair, drapey dresses, and sandals. I knew at that moment Unity College was the place for me. Many years later I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in environmental education and interpretation, and after a Master of Science degree and fifteen years working seasonally in the interpretation field, I grew into the fantastic job I love today. What has...