Visitor shares thoughts

The author’s granddaughter – visiting here from her home in Japan – enjoys the view from the newly expanded trail around Larkin Pond in the Middlebury Land Trust (MLT) Larkin Preserve. She shared several interesting observations on the MLT trails. (Janine Sullivan-Wiley photo)

By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY

This summer my husband and I had the wonderful opportunity to have our eldest grandchild, Nico, stay with us for 5 ½ weeks. Her father (our son) and his family live in Japan. This year, everyone agreed that a solo flight (once she turned 12 on July 15) and nice long visit with us would be great.

One of the things we have done together is take hikes in several Middlebury Land Trust properties: Larkin Preserve (with its newly established, if still rough, trail all the way around the pond), Tuttle Woods Preserve, and Clark Preserve, plus return visits to Lake Elise and Sperry Preserve. I was curious about how our undeveloped spaces and trails might be different than the ones she and her family regularly hike in Japan.

I found her comments both interesting and inspiring. “If it’s Japan, the trail is different. There is no poison ivy and you can go off the trail and still see it (the trail). Here, it’s nature – the not touched by human hands part. There’s a trail, but next to you is just the forest, where the deer and bears live. It’s not mowed or anything so you can imagine the animals living there. And you can see a lot of wildlife.” she said.

She went on, “I saw a little baby deer staring at us, looking like ‘What should I do?’ It’s seeing deer, and coyote poop, and mushrooms and mosquitoes. In Japan, if you see a deer or squirrel once a year it’s lucky. Squirrels are so cute and adorable! Here, they are villains. ‘They got my apples again!’ That was kind of interesting.”

Her favorite property was the Larkin Preserve – “the dam one.” (Members of the MLT were working on clearing the dam the day we hiked there.) She said it was, “Because we could see the beaver lodge – that’s cool. And we saw the deer that was staring at us. And next to the pond the roots were coming out and you could feel like you are in nature. And I liked the little bridge. The trees were coming over it like a tunnel. And you can see poop, too, and if grandma comes with you, she’ll tell you all about it and you can imagine the animals running right there. (Perhaps that suggests a future guided hike.) Here it’s not so much up and down, so you can see the scenery – not looking at the staircase so much.”

She also had a question that made me think. “In Japan, in the mountains (where the trails are), there are benches for snacks or lunch in the middle of the forest. But not here. Where there is a pond, or pretty views if there was a bench or rock to just sit on to have a snack or drink from your water bottle … that’s fun – doing that in the wilderness. If you have little kids or someone who comes out of the hospital, one hour non-stop walking is maybe difficult for them. Then they could take a break and enjoy the pretty view. Maybe a log, cut off the top; it’s like nature’s bench.”

She also suggested having signs with photos of poison ivy: “This is poison ivy. You should be careful.” I thought her suggestions were pretty good and will be taking them to the MLT leadership.

I asked her what she would say to someone who had never tried hiking on these trails. Her response: “Definitely you should try it. You might see wildlife and a beautiful trail.” She also noted there are short and long trails. “When we went with [her young cousins] we went on a short trail, with [her older cousins] we went on a long trail – more up and down, she said. “You can pick your favorite spot with your mood.”

She described going on these hikes as “This is Middlebury kind of feeling.” I agree. Enjoying Middlebury’s preserved spaces and trails really IS a Middlebury kind of thing!

If you have feedback or an idea for a future article, contact this writer at jswspotlight@gmail.com. You can visit the Middlebury Land Trust on Facebook or the website at middleburylandtrust.org. Meanwhile, happy hiking!