5 Comments
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Jessica Straus's avatar

Beautifully written , Miles! Very thoughtful and deep.

Miles Howard's avatar

Thank you! I've been caught off-guard by the Vermont approach to Mud Season a few times and on this recent occasion, it took a bit of work to look past the initial annoyance of the trail closures.

Laura Zurowski's avatar

This was very informative! My guess is that repairing trails post-mud season takes time and $$ - both of which are in short supply.

Miles Howard's avatar

I wish I had devoted a bit more space to that element. And the question of how each state goes about replenishing its trail maintenance funds. For instance, on the revenue front, I had wondered if Vermont gets fewer summer visitors than New Hampshire, but in fact, it usually gets more!

Fred Athey's avatar

Another mud consideration, on trail hikes (ie. Sierras), mud and puddles are to be walked through, so as to avoid creating unwanted parallel paths.