Kingsland Trail

We have discovered that the road less traveled is not always the best one. When the south wind was howling, we took the opportunity to hike the trail from the town beach to the point at the mouth of Kingsland Bay, Vermont. At least that is what we thought we were doing. The trail started out really easy through tall grasses and trees.

Then we came to a fork in the 'road' that didn't tell us which way to go. We chose the trail to the right that would take us along the water and came across a camping spot with a picnic table (this is part of the state park) that overlooked the bay and the state park facilities. 

The trail got narrower, higher, and closer to the water as we passed by, but we continued on our way. My height anxiety started setting in since we were so close the edge, but I figured this was a loop trail and I would only have to pass this spot once, keeping my eyes ahead and into the woods. A few minutes later the trail stopped when it went up a really steep hill, and there was no way I was going any higher. This meant that I would have to go back over the part on the edge. Dave grabbed my hand walking ahead of me, but that didn't help and I really freaked out (if you have a fear of heights and feel like you are going to fall, you will understand what I mean. It seems silly but you have no control over it). Dave ended up holding my hand and walking sideways almost next to me with an embankment on one side and the cliff on the other, sliding at times and not being able to see the path ahead of him. By this time tears were in my eyes and I couldn't see either ("the blind leading the blind" or "are we having fun yet?" 😉). If he had tripped or slid, we both would have gone down. We finally made it safely and went back to the fork and took the other trail through the middle of the woods, which was quite stark, but pretty (I call it 'dizzifying').

We came out at a point towards the mouth of the bay, where we hung out on the rocks that had lots of fossils in them. It ended up being a spot that we like to picnic and swim at when we go kayaking. 

Dave found this piece of driftwood that had been floating around for so long that it looked like plastic. He ended up taking it back home with him for our little flower garden. 

We encountered a lady, who was walking with her dog, and asked if this trail was a loop. She said yes, but you have to go up a steep incline first to reach the rest of it. Dave looked at me and asked, "did you catch what she said about the incline?" I certainly did, and we quickly opted to head back the way we came and instead, go to our favorite restaurant in Vergennes, the Three Squares, for a lunch 'survival' celebration....and to laugh at ourselves. Before driving back to Ticonderoga though, we took a detour to the Charlotte/Essex ferry landing at McNeil Cove. At the dead end, we drove up to the ticket booth to tell the lady we were just turning around, and she started chatting with us until a customer approached. She really liked our PT Cruiser convertible, and even though we didn't even ask, she told us to pull up into the lane next to the water and take photos, since we had been discussing the old ferry Champlain. It looks more like a ghost ship than it did when we saw it from the water.

I wouldn't say this was a 10 day, but it rates right up there and certainly was memorable...some parts more memorable than others! 😂