Weeks Gone By

20 years ago in the Hardwick Gazette, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005

Railtrail hike offers stunning vistas and misuse

by Nathan Mercier

HARDWICK – Exhausted after hiking from St. Johnsbury for two days on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, Kevin Russel stopped in Hardwick Tuesday night, drained but enthusiastic. His mission was to hike from St. Johnsbury to Swanton along the entire length of the 96-mile long corridor in support of plans to turn it into a four season recreational trail.

Russel, 50, of Waitsfield, completed the task Saturday in five days, 3 hours and 9 minutes. During the trip he lost 9 pounds of body weight.

He was accompanied by photo-journalist and friend Francis Moran during portions of the trek. The two left St.Johnsbury at 10:39 a.m. on Oct. 17 with a warm sendoff from town officials and local residents. On the second night out they ended up at the Kimball House Bed and Breakfast on Glenside Avenue.

“It was great fun to have them,” said Kimball House owner Sue Holmes. “They seemed to be really on a quest to learn everything they can about what people want and what their desires are for the trail. It was really nice to meet someone with that kind of dedication.”

Holmes said Moran injured his foot and opted to act as travel support for Russel in lieu of making the entire trip on foot himself. She later took them to the Hardwick Historical Society depot and said they were very interested in Hardwick and the history of communities along the trail route.

Aside from being an avid hiker, Russell is the chair of the Vermont Trails and Greenways Council and was appointed project manager for the St,. Johnsbury Three Rivers Transportation Path, which is being planned. He had to obtain permission from the Vermont Agency of Transportation and Engineers Construction, the contractor working on the line, to conduct his hiking adventure. He also had to sign a release from liability form while construction is ongoing.

In a telephone interview Monday, Russell said he averaged 20 miles a day and the trip went as well as he expected it would. Despite the rough condition of the rail bed, he said, the hike was all worth the effort.

“It was stunningly beautiful in so many places,” he said. “At every turn, we saw a new vista, which took our breath away.

“We were blessed with fantastic weather. It rained Monday and Tuesday but it was delightful hiking in the rain.”

Russell said he approves of having the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers as the primary agency managing the trail system, but he feels the support of the many communities along the trail is required to truly make the project successful. He said VAST’s primary interest in the four-season trail is for motorized winter recreation.

“It will really require community effort at every turn to make it (work),” he said. “It’s going to take more than VAST and more than the state to make this thing a reality.”

Currently, the project to remove the rail ties is still underway and due to liability concerns the general public is asked to stay clear of the path for the time being. Russell said roughly 99 percent of the entire distance is very passable on foot, but there are some washouts and debris, making it unsafe for most people.

Part of the incentive behind the trip was to speak with people along the way and gather opinions about the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail project. Russell first got the idea for the trek after attending a recent public meeting on the matter in Morrisville where over 50 people from the surrounding area attended for a presentation and discussion on the project. He spoke with a sampling of locals along the trail route.

“I got a good earful on ATVs and the concerns people have for their use on the trail,” he said. “I learned many of the landowners are not afraid that the ATVs will ruin the trail. They are concerned it provides access for all kinds of open lands that these people are worried will be used (for ATV use).”

A few other people he spoke to hoped the corridor would have been used once again as a railway system, he said, but they preferred the planned use instead of it being used for nothing.

Russell said his trip was curiously quiet the whole way; he met only five people on the trail itself, there were only three stores within a short walking distance and he came across only two ATVs. One of the ATVs was used by an inspector for the construction project and another was a a man out looking for a good hunting spot who claimed he didn’t know the track was there, he said. ATV use is prohibited on the LVRT as well as state owned land.

Along the way, Russell said he also stopped and hiked several other connecting paths in various areas. On the other end of the state, in the town of Highgate, he said he hiked the River Walk Trail and was appalled to find it had been “absolutely trashed” by ATVs. He said he’s been fairly open-minded about ATV use but after witnessing the damage they caused he lost his patience.

Portions of the trail were all torn up and muddy from the tires and he doesn’t understand how the community and ATV users allowed the damage to occur.

“I photographed evidence of terrible environmental degradation caused by ATVs,” he said, adding he was considering writing to the Agency of Natural Resources to report a water quality violation. “ATVs are terrific tools for when work needs to be done but as a recreational activity I think it’s unsportman-like and unnecessary.

45 years ago in the Hardwick Gazette, Tuesday Oct. 21, 1980

Good crowd turns out for clinical dedication

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and well over 100 people came out on Saturday morning to participate in the formal dedication of the new Hardwick Health Center.

The renovation of the old brick hospital building cost $93,000 and was completed about a month ago. The project was financed with a loan from the Farmers Home Administration after the Hardwick Hospital Association gave a long-term lease on the building to Northern Counties Health Care Inc. which runs four other health centers in the Northeast Kingdom.

The health center had been located in the wooden building next to the brick hospital building for roughly six years. That building has now been moved down to the other end of the hospital property on High Street, and is for sale.

The main floor of the brick building has been renovated for the office and emergency room of the health center. The basement level is being used for offices of the Northeast Kingdom Mental Health Service, the Caledonia Home Health Agency and the Vermont Children’s Aid Society.

John des Groseillers, president of the Northern Counties Health Centers Inc., welcomed the gathering to the ceremonies, which took place on the front steps of the health center shortly before it began to rain.

Larry Urie, president of the Hardwick Hospital Association, spoke briefly and said the association is pleased with the landlord-tenant relationship it has worked out with Northern Counties.

David Reynolds, executive director of Northern Counties Health Centers Inc., introduced Sen. Leahy and praised him for the leadership role he has raken in the area of rural health care. Leahy was the author of federal legislation which provides Medicare and Medicaid funds for the services of nurse practitioners and physicians assistants in rural health clinics, which has helped create more federal support for Northern Counties clinics in Hardwick, Greensboro, Danville, Concord and Island Pond.

100 years ago in the Hardwick Gazette, Oct. 22, 1925

Local Lumps,

The selectmen have a gang of men in charge of R.S. Hooper, engaged in cutting out the brush and trees along the north side of the river bank from Mrs. Blanche Kent’s property, just below the Cottage Street iron bridge, along down the river to a point just below the granite manufacturing plants. This will be a great preventative to causing the ice blockades of the past, by giving the ice and water a more direct and wider channel. It will not only do that, but it makes the property on that side of the river look a great deal better.