Gorgeous fall day for a walk

Welcome to Fall! we hiked up to Silver Lake yesterday. It was sunny and 63F. Perfect fall day.

Silver Lake is nice payoff for this hike. Great reflections today 🙂

Silver Lake is 1.6 miles up to the lake with about 650 ft elevation gain. This is one of my favorite hikes. It took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes roundtrip.

The hike is in the Green Mountain National Forest or maybe Moosalamoo National Recreational Area according to the sign right next to it 🤷

Another view of the lake. This is the eastern shore which is still in the sun. Shadows come early already this time of year.

Trails in Vermont often have stairs built out of the rocks.

I don't know the origin of this rock staircase along the Silver Lake trail but a lot of the stone work on the Long Trail dates back to the WPA and CCC work during the Great Depression. Thats the 1930s 😳 Just to avoid offending any Vermonters, the Green Mountain Club cut the Long Trail between 1910 and 1930. The Green Mountain Club still maintains the Long Trail today. The WPA and especially the CCC upgraded the trail and access to the trail during the 1930s.

Back to today's hike, Silver Lake has a long colorful history from revivals (1879 to 1908) and a large resort hotel (built in 1879 and burned down in 1942) to a major hydroelectric project in 1917. Its a beautiful undeveloped wilderness lake today strictly hike in and out. No buildings on the shore. Only rustic campsites in the woods where the hotel used to stand.