NorthWoods is pleased to announce a major milestone in NEK trail work – the completion of the Middle Mountain Trail in Warren’s Gore and Avery’s Gore. The project is part of a long range plan and partnership involving NorthWoods, Green Mountain Club, Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation, and the private timberland owners to develop hiking trails on the former Champion Lands (now known as the Kingdom Heritage Lands).
First conceived by NorthWoods over 15 years ago, the Middle Mountain Trail is part of a long-distance route linking the trails on Bluff and Gore Mountain, north of Island Pond. Over a span of 5 seasons, NorthWoods and its partners have made steady progress to identify and construct a route beginning on the lower Gore Mountain Trail and extending south over the summit of Middle. Just this summer, crews from the NorthWoods Conservation Corps linked together the final segments of trail that anchor the route south of Middle Mountain at a trailhead on Route 114. Using portions of the historic Unknown Pond Trail, the new route climbs out of the Route 114 valley and gains the ‘south arm’ of Middle Mountain before joining the previously constructed segment north of the mountain summit.
The route weaves together numerous logging trails, game paths and new segments to explore the deeper forests of our Northeast Kingdom lands. The new route begins across from the Hurricane Road on Route 114 north of Island Pond. Blazing, sign installation and trailhead improvements are all currently in progress. More work is expected in 2016 as we push the route south along the Bluff Mountain ridgeline towards Island Pond.