New Year’s Day hike to Beaver Meadow Lodge by Steve and Heather Bailey

Trip Reports

New Year’s Day hike to Beaver Meadow Lodge by Steve and Heather Bailey

This hike was organized by Vermont State Parks. There were several New Year’s Day options all over the state. Some were led by GMC members, some by VSP staff, and some by third parties.

Our hike to Beaver Meadow Lodge started out around 15 degrees with a few inches of snow, and it just got deeper and colder and windier the farther we went. Luckily there was a pair of skiers going before us. I really don’t think we could have reached the lodge otherwise, as they not only broke trail, but their tracks made sure we didn’t take a wrong turn. Many of the blazes on the trees were covered with snow. There were a significant number of gullies with running water, which had to be skirted, especially in the loop by the lodge. We often had to climb up the steep sides of gullies in the deep snow. Sometimes, where the snow was undercut, we would break through the snow to our hips even with snowshoes on! It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the lodge. The temperature inside was three degrees, so we exited much colder than we entered! We continued counter clockwise around the loop and reached the main trail quite quickly, still following the ski tracks. We had to hop from rock to rock to cross the stream, but no wet feet. The last part back to the car was sunny, sheltered from the wind, well-packed, downhill and really delightful, which was a huge relief given our earlier struggles. It only took us an hour and a half to get back. It was a challenging hike, but we all had fun and are glad we did it.

(Photo by Kevin Macy)

(Photo by Steve Bailey)