I have been very excited to see the Northeast and experience the wilderness of New England. I have been reading a book called The Golden Spruce, which in it has mentions of the logging industry in the Northeast. It made me crave seeing what’s left of these forests even more. As I started driving toward the next campsite in the Green Mountain National Forest, I was imagining the size the trees taken hundreds of years ago would be. I think they were comparable to the trees of Northern California at one point. Today they are little skinny trunks, but I could see them making their comeback. I had originally found a dispersed spot on an app I use, but when I arrived all the areas were occupied, so I had to look a little bit more and find another place to try. An hour later, Dobby and I found a great place tucked in the woods. Even better, no service.
Devices, they have such a grip! Sometimes my body and mind need it to be taken so I am left with no option to choose the ease and mindlessness. Make my mind work and think, see what happens.
Well, what happened was a lot of reading and crafting. I let myself just exist. I didn’t care what I did with my days or what time it was, I just was. I was sitting in pure happiness because I was sitting in a judgement-free state of being. I had instances of debating what I could do to be “productive” and then I would make myself go outside and just listen for a second to the trees and birds, then continue to just be.
Productivity is
breathing
seeing
listening
being.
As I was driving around originally searching for a place to camp, I noticed that I was coincidentally near multiple entrances onto the Appalachian Trail so I wanted to check it out! I started on a trailhead of the AT toward Stratton Mountain. As I have been camping in the Green Mountains, the bugs have come out to play. When I was approaching the trailhead, I noticed a fellow hiker who seemed to be on the trek of completing the AT, given all his gear he had. I saw the mesh covering draping his whole head, and was made a little uneasy by how many bugs I was about to encounter. I tried as hard as I could to complete the trail, but those gnats and mosquitoes won that round. After completing about ⅔ of the hike, I turned around with Dobby and quickly returned to the car while swatting gnats away with my hat like a mad man. I didn’t realize the privilege I had living in the climate of the West Coast.
Once I returned to camp, it was time to plan the next adventure in Vermont. I noticed on my National Parks app that there was a historical site called the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. When I arrived, the park visitor centers were closed, but Billings Farm was open, so I decided to check it out. The worker let me slide in free admission since it was going to be closing within a couple of hours, which was clutch! I was able to see a tour of the dairy farm and met a few calves, which was educational but difficult as someone who isn’t a big fan of the dairy industry. It was interesting to see a small historical farm continuing the business it has been doing for a couple hundred years though.
After seeing the farm and checking out the museum, Dobby and I took one more walk before finding a place to sleep for the night as I moved on towards Maine.
DropBox link for pictures: Green Mountain NF
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