Last fall, I started to emerge from the repercussions of a chronic back injury, and enjoyed a few trail outings for the first time in several years with the assistance of my walker, aka “My Ferrari”. Continued work on my long-term recovery, with extensive physical therapy (Thanks to John and Alicia at Middlebury Physical Therapy and Meghan from Appletree Bay Physical Therapy), as well as frequent trips to the gym (Middlebury Fitness) have strengthened me to the point where I can now walk for longer distances on less manicured terrain with the assistance of ski poles. It still hurts, but I can get there – Freedom!

Mobility Assistance

For my first true trail walk in years, I chose a short, interesting path in the woods called the Pitch Pine Trail, found off of Plains Road in Salisbury. To get there, take a left turn on Plains Road, a lightly traveled road immediately after the furniture store heading south on Rt 7, and the trailhead will be on your right in about a half mile, with room for a few cars to park. I have only been on this trail, once before prior to my injury, running with my friend, legendary local ultrarunner John I. , who joined me this second, somewhat slower foray. Thanks John!

Pitch Pine Trail Kiosk

The trail starts off wide, and well-maintained. It is clearly designed with kids in mind, with signs along the way telling the story of children planting a garden.

Moving deeper into the forest, the signs of past and present human activity in the area are obvious. At one time, this was a locations of significant lumbering activity. An old trailer office, long abandoned, was being squeezed into wreckage by the growth of nearby trees – nature reclaims its own. John told me that he had explored this site more thoroughly on an earlier foray, but it was now too overgrown for me to dig in deeper into what had once been a clearing. He mentioned that he had discovered an old truck, with license plates from the early 60s, as well as assorted lumbering equipment, all of it long abandoned.

Abandoned Trailer

A little further along, we came to a partially overgrown side path to the left, which I could handle, and it led to an active gravel pit, used by a local road contractor. Residents of Addison County are undoubtedly familiar with the numerous gravel pits found along the base of the mountains, and are particularly apparent when traveling on Rt 116 from East Middlebury towards Bristol.

Time for a science segue perhaps? As the glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago, Lake Champlain was much bigger from the glacial melt, and at one point was even an arm of the ocean, as evidenced by the discovery of a famous whale fossil in Charlotte, VT! The western face of the Green Mountains, was at one time the shoreline of the ancient Lake Champlain, and the many gravel pits make use of the former beach. I live in this area, and the soil on my property is remarkably sandy, in share contrast with much of Addison County which tends to have more clay soil. Shortly after moving into this area, I and another Middlebury College scientist discovered that our homes had unsafe levels of radon gas, which if left unaccounted for, would increase the chances of lung cancer to inhabitants! Uranium, the source of radon, is more common that most would expect, and as it slowly undergoes radioactive decay to generate a radioactive isotope of radon, which easily percolates upward through the porous sandy soil, and accumulates in the basement of many, but not all, of the homes in the area. The radon can be inhaled, and every once in a while undergoes its own decay to form the element polonium, also radioactive, but a solid that lodges in your lungs, causing long-term irritation to the surrounding tissues, sometimes resulting in mutation of the nearby cells and cancer. When we learned about the local radon risk, we informed our neighbors in the area, and many homes, including ours, underwent radon abatement procedures to render our homes perfectly safe, Whew! All this, from living on the sandy ancient shoreline, and inspired by seeing a common gravel pit!

Gravel Pit in the Woods

Retracing our steps to the main trail, which started to get just a little bit rougher, we found our way to a bench overlooking a swampy meadow, which seemed like a good place to take a break. The trail goes further from this point to make a full loop, but my recovery is not quite up to the slightly longer distance and rougher terrain, so we chose to turn around at this point, and getting back to the car, we measured the walk at about 1.4 miles, a distance reflective of my continued healing. I am looking forward to gradually increasing my distance, and looking forward to the company and conversation with friends along the way!

Bench in the Woods