A wide spot in the road, close to Vermont.
It was about 1 ½ hours from Concord to the Quechee Gorge. That’s the nice thing about the New England states, they are small. You can drive for 90 minutes from Denver in any direction and not even be out the state yet. (Well maybe if you head north, you would just clear the Wyoming border). We stopped two or three times for either a rest break or to admire the scenery. Every twist of the highway or crest of a hill would bring a new sight. The farther north we got the better the foliage got. It made for a longer drive, but that is why we chose New England this year.
Anyway, we pulled into a place called Quechee Village, which was just before you got to the Gorge.
Us with Bullwinkle
The Village had several shops and at least one restaurant. We had eaten a buffet breakfast at the hotel before we left, and grabbed a few snacks at a convenience store on the way up. So, we were too hungry yet. But, the shops appealed to us. Well, they appealed to Margo, but I can usually find something to distract me. But, what caught our attention most were all the tents they had set up at the far end of the village. As it turned out they were have a large antique sale. Old junk always seems to worth a look or two. But we started with the shops. We spent about half an hour or so walking from one to another and looking at all of the touristy stuff.
Then it was on to the antique show. We found a lot of stuff that either we, our parents, or grandparents owned in days gone by. It was a nice trip down memory lane.
Looking down the Quechee Gorge from the bridge
Margo also found a guy selling old miniature stuff for doll houses. Margo is working on one, and this stuff was high quality. But, she could find anything she wanted, even though she must have spent 20 minutes there alone. We probably should have taken more pictures there, but all we took were a few shots in front of a wooden moose. We had been seeing Moose Crossing signs and were hoping to see an actual one. Just one month ago we had spent a short weekend in the northern mountains of Colorado at a friend’s cabin. There a bull moose had wandered up, just yards from the cabin to drink out of the pond and strip a few leaves from the trees. Margo must have taken 80 pictures and several videos. But, so far this wooden Bullwinkle was it. We saw a lot of interesting stuff, but the only thing we bought was a pair of salt n pepper shakers. They were to be a gift for our cabin friends.
Once we finished up in the village we drove the very short distance to the Gorge itself.
This might be our best shot of the river, Gorge and the Ottauquechee River
There is a bridge spanning it (duh) and it accommodated pedestrians. So we walked towards to middle of it and admired the view in both directs. Colorado, my home state, has the Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge is much deeper and wider, but the Quechee Gorge has it beat in color, especially this time of the year. As we exited off the bridge we noticed the sign that pointed us towards the path that would take you to the bottom. It said it 4/10th of mile, and it didn’t look too bad. We were a little tight on time, but as I said before, this kind of thing is why we chose New England. So down we went.
The first 1/10th of a mile was steep, and then it leveled out, relatively speaking. It took us about 15 minutes to get down.
I'm tough, I climbed up on a two foot rock!
Margo stopped to gather a few acorns and rest. And we both stopped to get a picture of the bridge from the trail perspective. At the bottom we were treated to a small mountain stream, with many boulders. Had we been alone it would have been a very serene and relaxing place. But, there were a few other nature lovers, so we had to settle for merely tranquil and beautiful. We climbed around the various rocks trying to get good angles for the pictures of the stream, foliage, and bridge. When we headed back up after twenty enjoyable minutes we were both glad we had made the effort.
The trip back up was not as bad as I thought it would be. The last 1/10th was tougher than the first three, but it turned out not to be any real trouble at all. We would have lingered longer, but we really did have a full day. Margo and I have seen mountain streams before, and even though they are all unique and different, we had experienced them before. But, our next stop would be new for both of us. We were heading to Northfield Falls and four different covered bridges.
Great Scenery
The focal point of Quechee State Park is the very picturesque Quechee Gorge. The Queeche Gorge is a narrow canyon that was cut out of the Green Mountains by glaciers and the Ottauquechee River. The gorge is spanned by a bridge that connects Route 4 to either side. From the bridge it is 165 feet to the river below. One either side of the gorge are trees and scrubs, which makes for quite a sight in the fall.
You can walk down a 4/10ths mile trail to the bottom of the gorge and see the Ottauquechee and the many boulders that occupy the canyon. The paved trail is fairly steep for the first 10th of a mile, but then levels out. My wife, who has a bad knee, had no trouble walking either direction.
The park has a small campground with a dump station, but no hook ups.
Quechee Gorge
