The Green Mountains looking quite White

 

Its such a nice day for a hike! After several snowboarding runs on the mountain (they finally opened up the high speed gondola today!), I headed out into the woods, along Vermont's famous Long Trail, to try and get some good winter landscapes.

Today was a beautiful day here in Stowe, Vermont. The temperatures hovered just above freezing, and the recent rains didn't wash away the snow in the forest. After a few runs on the high speed gondola at Stowe Mountain Resort, I headed off deeper into Smuggler's Notch to do a bit of hiking off the beaten path.

Right at the entrance to the Notch, which is closed to all vehicle traffic for the winter, is a boardwalk trail that is part of the bigger Long Trail. I still had my snowboard boots on so I was prepared for some deep snow hiking. It was a good thing because I did find some pretty deep snow. It seems that not a lot of people have ventured here since winter has set in. But this is one place that I know is beautiful in just about every season. I was last up here when the entire mountain was ablaze with color during the fall foliage.

The view from the end of the boardwalk was worth the trek. Beavers have created a bit of a wetland environment here. Their den was completely covered in snow, and looked like a very cozy house for the winter. The pond itself was iced over and made for a great foreground subject for my landscape photos. I especially liked how the dead trees coming up through the ice look in the photos.

Not to shabby for a short jaunt

Slow going in this kind of deep snow!

Frozen view of a beaver-created environment up in Smugglers Notch, Vermont.

Beautiful winter views looking deep into the Green Mountains of Vermont from the Long Trail.

I'm not sure I'm ready to hike with ice skates, but this would be a fun place to try them out. The view changes up here so much from season to season.

All the conifers showing up green against the black and white backdrop of Vermont's mountains in the winter.

There are some cool informational signs along this portion of the Long Trail.

The Long Trail stretches from the southern border of Vermont all the way across the state to the northern border. I tackled a short little part of it today to get some nice winter views.

The raised boardwalk had a good amount of snow on it. There were some old footprints, but nothing too new.

Beautiful boardwalk through the winter landscape.