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Uses: hiking, snowshoeing, and
skiing.
Horseback riding and mountain biking can be done on
some trails under dry conditions. Camping is allowed at the summit
shelter.
Please Read this
before visiting this trail...
Map
of this trail
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Snowshoers
enjoying the view from Wright’s Mountain lookout
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With an elevation of 1,822 feet, Wright’s Mountain is Bradford’s
highest peak, with wonderful views from its open summit ledges of the
Waits River Valley and surrounding mountains to the west. A 3.5 mile
network of footpaths and logging roads connect trailhead parking areas
on both the Chase Hollow Road and Wright’s Mountain Road. The Wright’s
Mountain Trail from the north is part of an “Interconnectedness Quest,”
an educational treasure hunt, created with Oxbow High School students
in coordination with the Vital Communities Valley Quest program. The
Chase Hollow Trail from the south leads to a boulder-strewn ravine with
a number of shallow caves, the largest of which is known as Devil’s
Den. Ernie’s Trail connects north and south, meeting up with the
Wright’s Mountain Trail at a large vernal pool on the southeast flank
of Wright’s Mountain.
The 218-acre Wright’s Mountain parcel was purchased from Sylvia
Appleton in 1993 with funds raised by the Bradford Conservation
Commission via grants, private contributions, fund-raising events and
an allocation by the voters of Bradford at Town Meeting. In April 2004
Bradford acquired the 60-acre Devil’s Den tract in a bargain sale, and
incorporated it into one conservation management plan with Wright’s
Mountain. Through a conservation restrictions agreement with UVLT, the
Wright’s Mountain/Devil’s Den area will always be conserved as wildlife
habitat and forest land, and open to the public for recreation,
education, and enjoyment. |
| Directions
Chase Hollow Trailhead: From the Bradford exit of
Interstate 91, go west on Route 25 for 3.3 miles. Turn right onto Chase
Hollow Road and go 1.3 miles. Trailhead parking is on the left, and the
yellow-blazed trail starts at the north side of the parking lot.
Wright’s Mountain Trailhead: The Wright’s Mountain trailhead can be
approached from either the east or west. From the I-91 Bradford exit,
go west on Route 25 for 4.7 miles. Turn right onto Wright’s Mountain
Road and go 2.3 miles, staying to the right at the Fulton Road
intersection, to trailhead parking on the right. Alternatively, if you
are planting a car for an end-to-end hike-through, continue from the
Chase Hollow Trailhead on the Chase Hollow Road for another 1.1 miles,
making sure to turn left at the intersection of Chase Hollow and Tarbox
Roads at the 0.9 mile point. At the end of Chase Hollow Road turn left
again and follow Goshen Road for 0.7 miles. Turn left once more and
follow Wright’s Mountain Road west 1.1 miles to Wright’s Mountain
trailhead parking on the left.
Exploring Wright's Mountain Trails
Bradford residents have long considered Wright’s
Mountain and Devil’s Den to be key properties for maintaining the
town’s beauty, unique rural Vermont character, history, and a strong
sense of place. Bradford families have been picnicking there for
generations. The town’s high school and middle school students use the
area for various activities including hiking trips, ecology study,
photography classes, and undertaking trail maintenance projects as a
community service. Bradford students were essential partners in the
creation of the Vital Communities Valley Quest for the
Wright’s Mountain Trail. The area also plays a key part in the rich
history and mythology of the town.
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Wright’s
Mountain
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Snowshoers hike Wright’s Mountain
Trail
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Benoni
Wright (1675 – 1702), for whom both Wright’s Mountain and Devil’s Den
were named, was among Bradford’s first - and least-respected - white
settlers. Wright was a religious fanatic and self-proclaimed prophet
who tried to undertake a Biblically-inspired 40-day fast at the site
now called Devil’s Den. The fast did not last long, as the haggard and
wild-eyed Wright was soon found trying to steal food from a nearby
farm. Because of his eccentricities, the townspeople of his day
believed that he was possessed by the Devil. Ridiculed though he was,
and never achieving the sought-after status of prophet among his fellow
citizens, he is remembered fondly today for his colorful place in the
town’s history. Though unconfirmed, a town legend has it that sometime
later counterfeiters set up a press in the same Devil’s Den cave once
inhabited by Mr. Wright.
More recently,
the Appleton family owned the Wright’s Mountain land from 1916 to 1993.
They selectively logged, cut firewood for personal use, and used the
land for maple sugaring. They generously kept the land open for hiking,
snowmobiling, picnicking, hunting, cross-country skiing, and similar
outdoor recreational activities. As Sylvia Appleton neared retirement,
she wished to sell the land, and both she and the townspeople were
eager for it to remain both ecologically preserved and open to the
public.
Nancy Jones,
chair of the Bradford Conservation Commission, provided instrumental
leadership in the town’s effort to purchase and conserve the site. As a
biology teacher at Oxbow High School, she has also led her students in
studying the history and ecology of the land, as well as GPS mapping
techniques. “The land is so pretty,” says Jones. “There are interesting
outcroppings and a diversity of tree types, fungus, all kinds of
things. And then all of a sudden, you’re in a ravine area with its
steep cliffs, lichens, and ferns hanging, and if you’re quiet you can
hear the drip, drip, drip of water. It’s hard to imagine that anything
like this exists in Bradford.”
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The geological and ecological
diversity of the area is indeed remarkable. Wright’s Mountain is
completely forested. Northern hardwoods dominate, although softwoods
grow on the ridge and steep west slope. Several small dense stands of
softwoods are used as winter “deer yards” – critically important
habitat where the trees protect against wind and their evergreen
branches intercept snow, limiting its depth, thus allowing deer to
conserve energy and survive the long, cold winter. Moose traverse the
mountain slopes. Keep an eye out for their large cloven tracks; at five
to seven inches long and almost as wide, they are roughly twice the
size of a deer track. As you hike along also listen for the loud
hammering of the pileated woodpecker and the ruffed grouse’s explosive
wingbeats upon takeoff. In spring, the male courting grouse can be
heard “drumming”– an accelerated thumping sound made with beating wings
and sounding not unlike a distant lawnmower starting.
To explore Wright’s Mountain Trail follow an old logging road leading
upslope for 0.8 mile to the summit of Wright’s Mountain. At about the
half-way point, Sylvia’s Trail branches off of Wright’s Mountain Trail
for a slightly longer and gentler approach to the summit. Viewing
ledges and an open-sided shelter are just beyond and to the southwest
of the actual summit. The Wright’s Mountain Trail continues from the
lookout down the south side of the mountain towards Devil’s Den and
Chase Hollow, with the option of a loop back along Ernie’s Trail.
Devil’s Den lies in an impressive, sheer-walled ravine between a
southeastern ridge off of Wright’s Mountain and the main summit ridge.
The shallow caves there were formed by large blocks of ledge that have
tumbled down over time. A network of well-traveled porcupine trails
wind through the ledges and the immediate vicinity of Devil’s Den. The
porcupine’s worst enemy, the fisher, is also known to inhabit the area.
Look up towards the cliffs and listen for the calls of nesting ravens.
“Whitewashed” rocks identify their nesting locations. On a day when
warm winds create updrafts from the Devil’s Den ravine, you may see the
ravens or other raptors circling above, riding the air currents.To get
to Devil’s Den via the Chase Hollow Trail follow a combination of
footpaths and old logging roads for 0.7 mile through hardwood and mixed
woodlands, passing many rock outcroppings. The trail crosses a number
of other trails and logging roads, so look for yellow blazes whenever
you are in doubt. Bring a flashlight, if you like, to explore the
caves. Please watch your step, especially in wet conditions. About a
tenth of a mile east of Devil’s Den on Chase Hollow Trail, blue-flagged
Ernie’s Trail heads north to a large vernal pool where it meets up with the
Wright’s Mountain Trail to the summit. [Note: As of this writing (April
2005) the last tenth of a mile on the Chase Hollow Trail and a section
of the “Best Route Back” are not blazed, though orange and yellow
flagging mark the trail.]
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View
from Wright’s Mountain
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Oxbow High
School students at Devil’s Den
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Download a high
resolution map in PDF format, suitable for printing
View
a bigger version of the map on screen
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Trail Use Guidelines
• Carry out what you carry in.
• Stay on the trail and use only designated trailhead parking areas.
• Stay off trails during spring melt, when soils are soft and easily
eroded.
• Be respectful of other trail users and be courteous to trail
neighbors.
• Control your dog(s). Do not allow dogs to disturb livestock,
wildlife, or sensitive natural areas. Pets are not allowed on some
trails.
• Close farm gates behind you.
• For your safety during hunting seasons, wear blaze orange.
• Follow
Leave No Trace guidelines.
Trail
Maintenance: The Bradford Conservation Commission (Wright’s
Mtn. Stewardship Committee) is responsible for all trail maintenance
and
construction.The BCC is assisted by
students from the Oxbow High School
and the River Bend Career & Technical Center.The
UVLT monitors trails along with the annual
monitoring visit of
the protected property.
While
these trails are available for community use free of charge, their
maintenance depends on the good stewardship and financial support of
users. Donations for the trail program may
be sent to: Trails, Upper Valley Land Trust, 19 Buck Road, Hanover, NH
03755.
Please contact UVLT Vice President Stewardship Pete Helm (603-643-6626)
to report trail
maintenance needs or recommendations.
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