Quechee Gorge

Monday, we had a light breakfast at the hotel before checking out.  Quechee Gorge doesn't open until 10, so we headed to Hurricane Forest Wildlife Refuge, just a couple miles from the hotel for a short hike.  We started off on the Pond Loop though there wasn't any water in the pond.  Then we got on Creek Trail and saw a bunch of red efts along the trail.

At the split, we went left on Beacon Hill Trail to make a big loop.

On the hike back down, we saw a bunch of scaly pholiota mushrooms on a log.

At the end, we finished up the loop around the pond and got back to the car.

By this time, it was almost 10 so we drove west to Quechee State Park.  Parking at the visitor center, a connector trail led to Quechee Gorge Trail, where we turned left to head down to the base of the gorge.

The view looking north towards the bridge was really pretty.  I climbed around the rocks in Ottauquechee River.

After enjoying the view, we went back up the gorge trail, passing under the highway.

When we reached the dam, we could see Mill Pond Falls below.

With all the dam infrastructure, we couldn't get a very good view of the falls.

On the hike back, when we got to the bridge on US-4, we walked on the pedestrian lanes for a view from each side.

Fencing was erected to prevent jumping, but there were holes in the fence to get photos.

After some pictures, we returned to the car.

There was one more stop before we left Vermont at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.  After parking, we got on the Mountain Road behind the visitor center.

The carriage path ended at the Pogue and I hiked the short trail around the scenic little lake.

The trail passed through some open area.

Here, I spotted a beautiful monarch butterfly that landed on some flowers long enough for me to get a picture.

On the hike back, we took a detour on the Summer Pasture Road.

Then we took Upper Meadow Road to the mansion.

As we were hiking back to the car, we spotted a groundhog.

It looked like he making his burrow on the hillside.

From here, we drove south into Massachusetts and then west towards North Adams.  Along the way, we stopped near Hoosac Tunnel.

A trail near the tunnel followed Cascade Brook upstream.  Right at the start, we had to climb over a stone wall and Alex needed a little help.  Past here, it was easy to follow though very narrow in places.  We saw some yellow jewelweed flowering along the trail.

There were some nice cascades along the creek as well.

In just under a half-mile, we came to the base of the spectacular Twin Cascades.

From the base, we could only see one of the "twins", the main waterfall on Cascade Brook.

We had to climb up an old stone dam at the base to get to the confluence.

To the right was the waterfall on Cascade Brook and to the left was the waterfall on the tributary.

It was really cool with the two waterfalls flowing together like that.  After some pictures, we hiked back.

From here, we headed into North Adams and had dinner at Freight Yard Pub.  Then we checked into the Mount Royal Inn for the evening.