When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
Last October, my husband and I took a short Fall Break camping trip to Grout Pond in southern Vermont. In addition to hiking the lake where we were staying, visiting the cute towns in the area, seeing one of Vermont’s famous covered bridges, and driving up Mount Equinox to learn about Carthusian monks, we decided to do one bigger hike while in the area: Lye Brook Falls.
Read MoreEver since Ryan and I took our first camping trip together back in the spring of 2021, I’d been itching for another. So when Fall Break afforded us an extra long weekend, we took the opportunity to seek out some fall foliage in one of the premier scenic spots in the U.S: Vermont. When I was applying to college, I toured one up in Vermont, and I had fond memories of the stunning vibrant leaves and rustic charm of the state. We settled on Grout Pond in southern Vermont, near Stratton, nestled in Green Mountain National Forest, as our destination.
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