Rochester, Vermont

, in Travel and Places

Summer is fading but still has a few weeks of life left in it. Last weekend we took another trip up to Vermont to stay in a house just outside of Rochester, near Vermont's Green Mountains. It is a charming and quiet place.

Texas Falls, from the bridge
Texas Falls, from the bridge

Nearby are the Texas Falls - a deservedly well travelled spot. The falls themselves make a lot of noise but aren't anything too specialMuch like Texas itself. However they are easily accessible and the path that loops up the hill behind them is a nice diversion that leads to some excellent picnic tables near the river.

Mushroom
I don't know much about mushrooms - my guess is this one either shrinks you to smurf-size, or grants +2 to CON. Or perhaps you would just go blind.
It had rained recently and the slightly moist ground was bursting with interesting fungi.

The next day we tried something more challenging. On the western side of the Green Mountains lies Lake Dunmore, and above that looms the fearsome Rattlesnake Cliffs. Actually, they aren't really fearsome and we didn't see any rattlesnakes (which are almost unknown in New England). We did make the mistake of taking a shortcut up the deceptively named Aunt Jenny trail - I don't know who named the track but they came from a hiking family.

After a couple of hours of climbing we reached the lookout, I'll say the view was worth it.

The view from Rattlesnake Cliffs, overlooking Lake Dunmore
The view from Rattlesnake Cliffs, overlooking Lake Dunmore