Last Sunday we were both feeling like we needed to get away and we had a gift certificate for the Cafe at Newport Natural Market and Cafe in Newport, Vermont.   So we headed to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.  We ate a yummy lunch and stocked up on some natural food products in the store and then headed east to East Charleston, VT to the Northwoods Stewardship Center.

Wheel barrels lined up at the Northwoods Stewardship Center.

It was quiet at the Center on this cold Sunday afternoon, apparently we were the only ones that thought it was a perfect day for short hike.  Lindsay had printed a map from the website before we went and Andrew voted to take the Tamarack Island Trail.  We headed out on the trail, where the light fluffy snow from the early morning snow fall still hung in the tree branches.  We found some tamaracks amongst the balsam and spruce.

From the parking lot we headed out on the Northwoods Leadership Trail to find the Tamarack Island Trail.

Tamarack Island Trail

We then followed the Lang Brook Trail, reading the clever interpretive signs along the way up to the Beaver Pond.  In addition to an education center, the Northwoods Stewardship Center practices different types of silvaculture on their properties, which was apparent from the recent skid trails.

Snow clings to the evergreen branches.

The enchanted Lang Brook Trail.

We walked back on the Lang Brook Trail to see if we could find the lean-to that they rent and headed back through the Center’s housing area and back to the Center building.  The building wasn’t open for us to explore or learn more about the place, but we checked out their website (hey look – it’s a wordpress site!  www.northwoodscenter.org/wordpress) when we got home.

Lindsay poses next to one of the interpretive signs on the Lang Brook Trail.

The lean-to that you can rent overlooks a red pine forest.