Lowell Lake in Southern Vermont

We made a short trip to Vermont to visit my wife's sister, who came over from Boston, and to see the Vermont Country Store in Weston.  I gave the ladies some time to themselves by getting in a nice, gentle hike in nearby Lowell Lake State Park, which was a real treat.  Plus it gave me time to work off my disappointment about the town of Weston being out of ice cream!  How does a town in Vermont run out of ice cream?  For months, I have been lusting after the maple ice cream that my spouse told me that the Vermont Country Store is famous for.

The park is in the southern (skinny) part of the Green Mountain State.  The map below marks the location with a red star.

And this image shows my track and direction of travel (counter clockwise).  For some reason, my inReach didn't capture the first quarter mile of so of my route, so I drew it in.  The total distance of the hike was about 3.8 miles.  Note the large wetlands at the northern and southern end of the lakes.  The starting and ending point of the hike is marked by the star at the top of the image.

Much of the forest along the hike was conifers, but there were also many areas of deciduous trees.  Vermont's legendary foliage must have peaked about a week before.  It was quite lovely in New York on the drive up towards Albany.  There were patches of color along the hike, but the sugar maples were all bare.  The trail along the west side of the lake was more of a woods road, and was very easy to walk.

Before long, I had my first views of Lowell Lake.  Can you imagine what this hill would have looked like at peak color?  I guess I need to come back to see for sure.

The trail along the southern and eastern sides of the lake was a traditional narrow foot path, going through a mixture of deciduous

and coniferous forests.

My favorite tree is the white (paper) birch.  Despite the temptation, never peel the bark of a life birch, as it will girdle and kill the tree.  You wouldn't like having your skin peeled off, would you?  Didn't think so!

Along the southern end of the lake is a large wetland area.

Much of the path along the east side of the lake had water views.  The lake also has three islands, as you can see on the photo of the track.

Those colorful leaves end up as Mother Nature's new fall carpet.

As I walked along to the north, I saw this group of five women out kayaking.  I could hear them chatting about their lives, and those of their friends, as I hiked along through the woods.

Near the end of the hike, I turned to the west to head back to my car through the forest.

I liked visiting the Vermont Country Store - although I still can't believe that I missed out on maple ice cream - but I really enjoyed getting away from stores for a couple of hours to enjoy a lovely hike.