2019 venture vermont: Hike in a VT state park. also, firetower.

i love me some vermont state parks, so "Hike in a VT state park" isn't super hard for me to complete.

the tricky bit these days is finding an easy enough hike and hitting it on a relatively pain-free day.

so i was on my way to ricker pond state park...

this isn't a joke.

ricker pond state park is about an hour from my house, and allis state park is about an hour from my house and allis state park is about an hour from ricker pond state park, so of course i decided to go to allis state park ON THE WAY to ricker pond state park.

news flash: you can't get there from here.

why, you may ask, did i do this thing?

because i had the time. and the weather was nice. and i was feeling good.

AND ALLIS STATE PARK HAS A FIRETOWER.

"but flask", you are probably not saying, "but flask- isn't there a firetower on spruce mountain in the LR Jones state forest, which is contiguous with the groton state forest and reasonably close by?"

why, yes. yes there is. the thing about that, though, is that i typically only hike to that firetower in the winter months because some hikes are just easier for me with snow on the ground. and gile mountain is far away and hard. ditto belvidere. mt. olga isn't that bad, but it's a LONG drive. ever been to the fire tower on glastenbury mountain? yeah, that's a two day project.

what i'm saying here is even if it's off-season and you have to go up from below the gate like i did, the tower on bear hill in allis state park offers a gentle hike i can do on nearly any day. plus it has fantastic views.

so i went.

then later in the day after i pitched camp i went for a drive and i didn't mean to but i went up owls head and i wouldn't have called that a firetower, but apparently the stone lookout functioned as a firetower when it was built in 1935, so it could also count, i guess.

and then for good measure i hiked up owls head again on saturday afternoon because my friend barb likes a view.

self portrait with tower