The woods along the Norch Branch Trails
Sometimes I m in the mood for the exact midpoint between hiking and walking, which is rambling. A ramble is a hike without a destination, or a more arduous form of walking. An ideal ramble involves no route planning whatsoever and a moderate probability of getting a little lost.
By this definition, Montpelier s
North Branch Trails are prime rambling territory. The 8.4-mile network, completed in the fall after three years of construction, traverses 195 acres of fields and forests.
I am a worst-case-scenario mongerer at heart; whenever I engage in an outdoor excursion, I like to calculate how far I d have to run screaming in any direction before I encountered another human being. Given its proximity to downtown Montpelier, the North Branch Trail system scores favorably on the screaming index. So, on a Sunday in early December, a friend and I set out from Burlington to Montpelier in separate vehic