Ten Days, Lots of Rain

June 7-17, 2023                                                          Most Recent Post:
Moose River Campground                                       Last Days & Heading North
St Johnsbury, Vermont                                             Time on My Hands – I Love it

I apologize for the length of this post.  I obviously should not have let 10 days go by. 

There has been a lot of rain here ever since I arrived 2 weeks ago.  The river is up and it’s hard to plan to do anything.  Some days it rains all day long.  Some days no rain is predicted but it does rain.  Some days rain is predicted and it doesn’t.   I’ve stayed in when I should have gone kayaking and gone out and gotten drenched.

I’ve done puzzles, read books and taken short close to home excursions hoping for the best.

One of my close to home attempts to get some exercise was to walk through the neighborhoods of Saint Johnsbury where there are some lovely old homes.

Somehow blue looks just fine on this house.

You can see the dark clouds in the sky behind the birth place of one of the two founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bob Smith.  I just love the sign  ”Dr Bob’s Birthplace and Childhood Home”.   The building is still used for counseling and AA meetings.

I heard some people on the campground office porch grumbling about the fact that the private high school St. Johnsbury Academy had bought yet more land on which, as a non profit, they do not pay taxes and thus the speculation was that everyone else’s real estate taxes would go up AGAIN.   I’ve heard a similar argument about Charlottesville Virginia home of the University of Virginia.

So when I happened upon this sign, I got a good look at the size of the “campus” in this small town of 5,313.

The campus really is huge for a student body of 907 students, mostly at a tuition cost of $61,400 for boarding.  The average class size is 12. When I looked it up, I found that it was described as “a highly rated private boarding and day school”, founded in 1842 and was coed from the founding which is quite unusual.  I laughed when they pointed out that Calvin Coolidge graduated from the school.

Buildings are both old and new.  And as you can see from the skies, then it began to rain.

So, I worked on my puzzles.  I was starting a brand new puzzle and before I do I always redo my favorite puzzle to get back into puzzle shape.  It was a gift from Carrie.  I hope she’ll do an updated one for me for my birthday or Christmas this year.  Isn’t it GREAT!   I’ve got a nice view of the river as I work.  You can see the water level  is up from the earlier picture.

Saturday morning is the Saint Johnsbury Farmer’s Market which I always attend for greens, veggies and treats.   It didn’t rain but the skies show the threat.

These folks clearly have a green house since the weather hasn’t been anywhere near warm enough to ripen these organic tomatoes which by the way are delicious.

This Jamaican food vender is always here and if he has crab bites, I always have two.  That’s my limit.  The other food is too spicy for me.

The first strawberries came in on my second Saturday.

This baker is another of my favorites.   I love her delicious focaccia bread and to die for cinnamon nut rolls with cream cheese icing and raspberries.   OH MY!

You can see the huge focaccia bread on the left end of the front table.  She promised to make me a half for next week.

These guys have great greens including bok choy and home.  They also sell home made maple syrup.

Back home, the river is rising.  Compare with the first picture.

When it is never really clear whether it is going to rain or not, I’m loathe to go too far from home. 

There are a few close by hiking spots though not many.  One of them is the Lamoille Rail Trail from St Johnsbury to West Danbury.  That’s the first section of the 93 mile trail across the northern section of the state. 

I wasn’t expecting to see the number of wild flowers and especially spring ephemerals that I did.  But it reinforced my decision a year ago to stop traveling with my bike because I went too fast to really see anything.  Now I hike the bike trails and today I saw many things that none of the bikers peddling by saw except those who stopped to see what I was taking pictures of.  Did you notice the purple Wild Phlox in the picture above??

The Wild Columbine was outstanding.  I found two small patches which you can tell apart by the adjacent greenery.  I took and am posting too many  pictures of it.  It’s one of my favorite wild flowers.  So delicate.

OK, ENOUGH!

I was too late for the real Solomon’s Seal with the little bells hanging underneath the leaf stalk but there was a fair amount of False Solomon’s Seal with the plum at the end.

I’m guessing this is a form of Ranunculus.  Anyone know for sure?  It was blooming in profusion along the trail.

And the ferns were thick and green and plentiful both Lady Ferns and the New York Fern.

The purple Wild Phlox was also in abundance. 

What fun to find Jack-in-the-Pulpit.   I spotted several after seeing this first one.  It’s interesting to me that once I see something my eyes must get attuned to it for then I see many more.

Isn’t Mother Nature incredible!

Sadly I was too late for the amazing red Giant Trillium flower.

And too early for the Blood Root.

Along the way there were some views as well.

I was able to walk over  10000 steps out and back before the rain and returning to my new puzzle.  I love my puzzle board.

Another close to home hike was to Observatory Knob across from the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. Johnsbury.  My information said park at the cemetery and walk across the road to the farm gate and obvious trail

But I love small town cemeteries so I parked and walk around there a bit.

They often have wonderful gates.  You can see red Ruby parked there at the end of the three vehicles.

This is the side of the lovely chapel you can see just beyond Ruby.

Since I wasn’t here to find anyone in particular, I did not go inside but the pictures do not do justice to the stained glass even from the outside.

Members of the French Family were all commemorated on the four sides of this one marker.

Edward was apparently killed in the Civil war in 1864 at Petersburg Virginia at age 31.

Aside: Me wonders if we are foolish enough to head into another civil war.  I think the country is as divided as it has been since the mid 1800’s.  Some folks seem to want that.

Some wonderful shelf mushrooms were adding beauty to the cemetery.

Wish I could see the designs on the tops of them.  I’m not tall enough to see the top one.

And then on to Observation Knob, the highest place in St. Johnsbury with views on clear days across three sets of mountains.  Unfortunately, as usual lately, this is not a clear day.

The hike starts in a field as a narrow path.  It’s a pretty steep limb once you get out of the woods.

It was nice to have this excuse to stop for a rest as I went.

At the top Dave Brown has placed a bench and a mailbox with a log book for hikers to record their thoughts and impressions.

The trail behind the bench leads into the woods but before taking it, I enjoyed the hazy view.

The trail leads down which means it will have to come back up at some point if I am to return to the bench and my car.

Soon I come to a sign saying “Welcome, You are entering private property, foot traffic only”.  Dave Brown has created this circular path through the woods and his 5 acres of land adjacent to the Knob.

The path goes down down, down, crosses Dave’s driveway and goes out behind his garage and back up.  I was sorry I did not see him.  I’d like to have thanked him for his generosity in this trail and the bench and mailbox.

I’d stayed close to home instead of going kayaking or on a longer hike  and of course, it didn’t rain

On another day I ventured further out looking for water falls.  I had three on my list but only saw one.   I stopped mid search at the Hastings store near Joe’s pond for an ice cream cone and forgot to get our picture.   Best and least expensive cone around.  Giant scoop for $2.00.   No doubt I’ll be back again and get our picture then.

It’s a great old country store with a post office inside with the wonderful metal postal boxes.  There used to be one in the little town down the country road rom the farm but the post office is now a separate section of the building and only accessible from its own door sadly.

I followed the directions in my Vermont Waterfall book exactly but was unable to see from the points they told me either Joe’s Falls or Cheever’s Falls.

I did find and get some good looks at Goslants Falls.   I do love waterfalls but the state of Vermont can’t begin to compete with Transylvania County in North Carolina.

In my last post a blog reader I didn’t remember ever hearing  from commented to say she was nearby and so Wendy and I met for a wonderful lunch.  She is leaving for a trip west through Minnesota but promised to get in touch when she gets back and give me some ideas about things to see around the area and her home in Peacham.   She also promised to keep commenting.  Thanks a lovely conversation Wendy.  If I’d known where you are, I’d have reached out and am so glad you did.

Later that day I went on a kayaking scouting expedition to check out Job’s Pond which a fellow camper at Moose River told me about.  it looks wonderful.  I hope to go there for the Summer Solstice.

Nice put in.  Not a soul in sight.

SIGH, look at those clouds.

There was a trail and so I followed it.

These are the same floers I saw on Dave’s Trail at the Knob.  They aren’t Trout Lilies but what are they?

And these.

The trail went through the woods and eventually dead ended into a tributary into the lake.  This house was near the end of the trail.  Pretty sweet!

Finally!   A day when it isn’t going to rain.   I head out to Victory Bog to see if I can find some Lady Slippers or Pitcher Plants or Venus Fly Trap.

The Bog is about 30 minutes away and apparently the weather in Vermont is extremely localized for as I got out of the car, it started sprinkling.  I grabbed my raincoat and headed on down the boardwalk.  Look at the blue skies.  Well, mostly blue.

I’d love to see a Spruce Grouse though I know the chances are about 0%.

The boardwalk ends at a viewing platform over this small bog pond.

To continue on the trail I went down three steps into the bog.  I can see the trail runs along a waterway coming into or out of the pond.  I’m not sure which.

I guess that misty rain created these great looking water droplets.  Should this have been foreshadowing?

The further I go, the muddier it gets.  But this is a bog right?

The board planks mostly keep me out of the mud.

I pass a number of budding Blue Flag and finally see an open flower.  No pitcher plants or Lady Slippers.   But so far there are no “elevated” areas in this bog where they might be.

There are a few water lilies in a wide spot in the water way beside me

At one point I get to a dry wooded area.  Still no lady slippers but a nice shelf mushroom.

While I’m in the woods it starts to rain again. 

There are carpets of Bunchberry also called Ground Dogwood.

After the woods, which have blocked some of the rain,  the trail gets sketchy.  I continue on to see if there are more woods or what on the other end.  Perhaps this shower will end like the earlier one did.  I’m right about here when the rain picks up big time and of course all the plants brushing me as I walk along are even more wet. 

I continue on a bit to see if it will lighten up but I’m getting way too wet from the branches now over my head.    I take one quick picture of the beautiful spring growth on this Spruce Tree by the trail side and give up and turn back.

Finally the rain stops and I take this shot through an opening in the side growth nearer to the wooden boardwalk.   Skies still looking a bit ominous.

Back at the viewing platform which means I’m close to the car and soaked.

So much for a day when no rain is predicted.

This past Friday, June 16, it’s supposed to rain again of course so this time I don’t go 30 miles away, I go right down the road to check out Dog Mountain even though I don’t own a dog at this point in my life.

But I did have dogs all my life before I went on the road .  For those of you who do have a dog, this is an amazing place.   Love the sign:  Welcome, All creeds, all breeds, no dogmas allowed.   Shouldn’t that be everyone’s motto?

The artist Stephen Huneck and his wife Gwen bought this 150 acre mountain property in 1995, turned the barn into his studio and built the Dog Chapel.  There are hiking trails and dog ponds where dogs are free to run, play and meet each other.  Leashes are not required.   If you don’t like free joyful playing dogs, this is not the place to you. 

I took this copy of one of his posters from Art.com.   You can see more of his work by clicking the link.  He’s done some wonderful things.  This is one of my favorites.  Much of his works feature Labs.  He had a black Lab named Sally.

As well as his art work, Huneck wrote books about his dog Sally.  His first book shows her helping him recover from a fall in 1994 in which he broke several ribs and suffered a head injury which put him into a coma for two months.

There are over a dozen other books about Sally.

I’ll check out the Gallery and Chapel next time, today I was here to hike their trails of which there are 4.   Note the announcement for the up coming Dog Party.  These are held frequently on Fridays during the summer.  Dogs and people gather to hear music and picnic on the grounds.   This one was being held the next day and sadly got rained out.

Today I did the main Yellow Trail and also the second longest trail, the Blue.  I’ll come back for Pink and Green.

The trails go through the woods though a great deal of Dog Mountain is mowed grassy areas great for running and playing.  

Before setting out on the trails I followed a grassy path to a viewing spot for the Angel Dog.

In this photo you can see the Angel Dog but not her one wing.  I’m not sure what happened to the other one but I will ask the next time I’m there.    In the background are a long row of solar panels on the mountain.   Notice the fire hydrant.

This may be the only known statue of a fire hydrant.

Because of the - being coming very irritating - constant cloud cover, you can hardly tell that she is gold.

Sure wish she still had two wings.

On the way to the woods, there were wildflowers in bloom.   Especially Lupines and Daisies.

The paths are marked with colored dog paw trail markers.

Once in the woods there are other beauties to enjoy.

Love this dog head bench complete with watering bowl.

But the surprise of the day was this one lone Pink Lady Slipper.  Not in a bog, but in the woods.   I’m lucky to have seen it since the top is clearly browning and it will not be around much longer.

Once around both trails I came back to the mowed paths overlooking the main pond and the buildings.  

I’m sure good times were had by all.

I’m already over half a month into my stay here and have thought I “might” try to eat at each of the restaurants in town.  Not sure I can do that and not weigh an egregious amount by the time I leave.  But as a start, I picked the Kitchen Counter Cafe for a breakfast Brunch.  They are open from 8 to 3 seven days a week and serve breakfast the whole time.

It’s a cute little long and slender diner and my breakfast was so good I neglected to take a picture of it before I scarfed it down.

In addition to doing puzzles, I also spent my rainy hours reading these two books both for book discussions.  

Those of you old enough might remember the Zorro of TV fame and his signature sword mark of a giant Z.  Isabel Allende has created an entire life for him and the St. Johnsbury Library Book Club is reading it for this month.  

The book on the right is Adam Bede by George Eliot which I am reading with my friend Laurie and discussing now on Messenger since for whatever reason my Ipad, about which I know absolutely nothing since it is an EYE product, has decided that it will not connect to the Facetime server despite my creating a new password which I have never needed until last week.  We’ve been using Facetime for over 2 years I think it is and when I click the icon it just comes right up - until last time.   Any Ipad knowledgeable people who have a clue what I can do, please let me know.

Congratulations, you made it to the bottom.  Hope you’ll leave me a comment even if just to chew me out for the length.