Forest walk season begins

Today was our first Tuesday morning walk in the town forest, and it was a lovely, cool morning.  What's fun about the walks is that there are 25 miles of trails to explore, and the views change every week with the seasons.  There weren't too many spring wildflowers left, but we did see a few red trillium and Canada mayflowers. 

There was a group waiting when we arrived; they had driven about 45 min. to join us.  Our friend Fred had arranged it and requested that we go to the Grand Lookout.  I revised the route I'd planned, which is usually fine with me, and nine of us and one big black dog headed out.  Our first stop was the Capitol Quarry, which is rumored to have supplied some of the stone for the Vermont State House, but may actually be named for the granite company that worked it.  I'm not sure.

We passed the "pot truck," which continues to receive attention from graffiti artists.  I sometimes stop there for photos, but no one seemed so inclined.   The walk continued to the Grand Lookout with its amazing views of the quarries, the Southgate Steeplejacks building, and state forest land in the distance.  At the end of the trail is a view of downtown Barre and all of the major mountains in northern Vermont, and we can almost pick out our house on a good day.  Along the way there are some lovely quarry views and a couple of walls that have small carvings done by some of the area's best sculptors.  "Vulcan's Pavilion" (above) is an amazing surprise along this trail.

We walked about 2.5 miles today - not bad after a sedentary winter.  Glad we went this morning - it looks like rain again this afternoon!