2016 – New England

1st Oct 2016

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Day 11 – Sterling Valley and Stowe Recreation Path

As expected today was rather overcast.  In the morning we drove from Stowe to the Sterling Valley to visit the Sterling Gorge Falls.  The Sterling Valley road is mostly unpaved and feels quite remote, though it is only 8 miles north of Stowe.  The road passes through some quite dense woodland, which at the time of our visit was showing some attractive autumn colour.

On the way to the falls, we passed the Red Covered Bridge (also known as the Sterling Bridge). Built in 1896, it seemed a bit more run down that some of the bridges, but with the autumn colour in the surrounding trees, it was well worth a stop for a picture.

The falls are reached by a short woodland walk with some interpretive boards giving information about the history and geology of the area.  The full loop walk through the woodland is less than a mile long, following the Sterling River upstream.

The falls are actually a series of cascades, with no individual waterfall being particularly large. Perhaps because we visited in September after the summer, there was not much flow in the river, so overall we felt a little underwhelmed. The picture below shows the largest cascade drop that we came across.

On the way back the care, we were however rewarded by a rather unusual tree with its roots growing round a large rock – it looked like a giant hand picking up the rock, which made for an interesting photo..

Stowe Recreation Path

After returning to Stowe in the afternoon, we walked along the Stowe Recreational Path. This is a flat, well engineered path that is used for walking and cycling which follows the West Branch Little River for 5 miles across fields planted with corn. There is no particular scenic highlight along the path, so we mostly just practiced some close-up photography.

As we returned to Stowe, we did however get the classic view of Stowe Church, backed by the New England hills, enhanced by odd splashes of orange and red.

Once back in Stowe, we took some pictures around the town. There are some attractive, typically New England style wooden houses in the town, and I particularly liked the look of a small Art Galley.

We also found it interesting that people decorated their houses with pumpkins for Halloween.