A much beloved town in northern Vermont, Stowe is as awesome in the summer as it is in the winter. Follow along as we hike and eat our way through the area!
I haven't been to Stowe in over a decade, so when one of my students scheduled a fight in nearby Barre Vermont I knew I had to spend the weekend here. Known for it's awesome ski resorts in the winter, this is still an awesome area to hike and explore in the summer. [We did arrive a week too early to take the gondola]
Continuing our apparent trend of finding awesome remodeled motels, we camped out at the Town and Country Stowe, just outside downtown. While we didn't have time to enjoy the pool I would still highly recommend this spot! It's conveniently located near everything and the price was an absolute bargain. Not sure I enjoyed the pink bathroom but I can't win on everything can I?
Right when we arrived on our first day we found ourselves with a bit of time to kill between weigh ins and the promotional photo sessions. We took the opportunity to hike the Sterling Gorge before the sunset. Be prepared for some dirt roads and at least one hill with a crazy incline. That said, the ride out here is idyllic rolling farms and views of mountains that looks like it would be straight out of Europe. Likely why so many people settled here and opened up swiss style ski resorts.
The gorge itself is a steep and fairly short hike with a fairly rugged root and dirt trail. It is not super well marked as you descend past the informational signs but you should still be able to find your way since it's a fairly small and narrow gorge. The main viewing point over looks the convergence of several streams with multiple cascades and small falls. Continue past this and down the stairs to find a slick mud lined trail back up the gorge to the main falls.
This waterfall is short, maybe 7 or 8 feet tall, but is quite wide and took an 18mm lens to capture fully. From here you could attempt to climb up a small dirt path to the top like Nina did, but we highly advise against this. It is not safe at all. Turn around and proceed back up the way you came for a much safer experience.
For dinner we tried out a top recommendation in the area, Piecasso. A super hip artsy Italian joint with a fancy bar. The pizza was excellent, and what I would define as Boston style. Nina had the eggplant parm and enjoyed that as well. But what we really have to give credit to here was the fried calamari. It was out of this world delicious and fresh. This place isn't anywhere near the ocean so it has no right to have such good calamari!
Our second day began with a breakfast pitstop at the Skinny Pancake. We had heard a strange conversation that this was the only breakfast joint in town open this time of year but that is far from the truth. I found it to be a bit expensive and over all was only okay. The entire group was in agreement that it was fine but nothing really stood out as a must have experience here.
Our biggest adventure of the day was a trip up to smugglers notch state park. We drove all the way to the top of the notch where the visitor center and parking is. While we visited the actual smugglers cave located here, we also were able to watch a rock climber ascending the side of the mountain. Unfortunately I only brought my GoPro out here so I didn't have a zoom to show this off in the video above!
Further down the road is another parking pull off that leads to a boardwalk. This is located across the street from parking for the "Long Trail". The boardwalk may be short but it provides a scenic and breathtaking view of smugglers notch from a distance. For something so simple like this I would say it really is a must not miss!
Our last stop on this road was Bingham falls. This is probably the top tourist attraction on this road and with good reason. A very steep descent on some very wet and slick stairs leads you right to the base of this impressive waterfall. A photo does it no justice as it is much larger than it appears here. The amount of water gushing down is also very powerful compared to the other falls in the area. The gorge itself is a truly beautiful location I would have loved to linger longer in... if not for the abundance of mosquitos that day!
You can approach this fall from the other side on a trail past the old mill site. We opted not to take this trail but did explore the cabin and had an... encounter, which you can view in my video above.
If you have limited time in Stowe or prefer more of the town versus nature, this should still be the one place you visit while you're in the area.
Our final outing of the day was a fairly quick hike to Moss Glen Falls, located all the way on the other side of Stowe. This is the tallest fall in the area, though not as much waterflow as Bingham falls. By the time we got here it was also swarming with other hikers and families so plan accordingly.
The hike is entire flat along a creek until the very end where you will ascend straight up to look down on the water fall. The better view is from the base of the falls which you can reach but hiking up the actual creek itself. Unfortunately on the day we arrived the water was flowing quite heavily and this was not possible.
When we were done here we had only a few hours before the fights so we parted ways with my student. The drive from here to Barre is about 45 minutes so the plan was to grab lunch and quickly visit Ben and Jerry's factory for ice cream before heading over.
We settled on trying another pizza spot called "The Bench". This location served wood fired thin crust pizza. This is no New Haven style thin crust, and we would be the experts on that, but it was still super good stuff that we would highly recommend!
Ben and Jerry's on the other hand still has their factory tour shut down. We grabbed some ice-cream but will save the visit for another time.
Unfortunately the fight didn't go our way. While it was extremely close heading into the third round with each girl taking a round, the opponent scored an impressive combo with only 20 seconds left in the third and effectively sealed the deal at the last second. Sometimes things happen, but it was fun as always and a good match.
We finished our trip with a breakfast at the Butlers Pantry downtown. Parking was rough on a Sunday morning but we got seated quickly enough. This was an incredible breakfast I can't recommend enough. Home made maple sausage, awesome buttermilk biscuits, and fantastic pancakes. Nina had eggs as well and thought they we perfection. This would be the go to spot for breakfast if I lived here!
Over all we had a blast despite the hectic fight schedule that brought us here. It was certainly more fun to visit now as an adult without my family making all the decisions! If you have more time to spare you could also visit Burlington which is located just to the west. Their walking street is full of fun restaurants and the lake side is wonderful. Hopefully I'll get to revisit there soon as well!
Comments