Turn R just past large red barn on R, onto Moose Mountain Lodge Road (not marked)
Drive 0.8 miles to top of road. Park at the marked trailhead parking area just past the beaver dam.
What You Should Know
Foot travel only. Dogs welcome if under close control.
Bring binoculars and bird book for viewing waterfowl on Mill Pond and exploring distant views.
This hike celebrates the nearly half-century history of Moose Mountain Lodge’s stewardship by the Shumway Family and explores the wild ridge of the mountain on trails they maintained. We will view the Lodge from an overlook; please note that the Lodge is privately owned.
The route visits part of a 3,800-acre block of protected higher-elevation wildlife habitat on Moose Mountain.
The hike ends with an optional visit to protected 18th century mill ruins on the steep mountainside.
Hiking Directions
Begin your hike at the sign reading, “Mill Pond Forest & Huggins Trail Access.” To forever ensure public access to the network of trails you’ll be exploring, the Shumway and Huggins families donated conservation easements on this area to the Hanover Conservancy in 2016.
Cross a small drainage and note the series of small beaver ponds at L. By late 2017, the beavers left after many years of entertaining their neighbors with sightings of cruising kits and evening tail slaps on the water, as well as plugged culverts and “free-range forestry.” It will be interesting to see what happens to the ponds as they adjust to the lack of diligent management by these aquatic engineers.
Arrive at the first trail junction and bear L. Within 15 paces look for a cellar hole at L. This was the high-elevation c. 1800 home of miller David Woodward, who built the dam on Mill Pond and an impressive sawmill and gristmill on the steep falls of Mink Brook below where you left your car (optional visit at end of this hike). Woodward’s house was probably larger than the modest cellar hole, which, in the days of hand digging, must have presented a challenge to build.
Mill Pond beavers; photo by Kay ShumwayContinue on the path a few minutes further to a bench at the pond shore. It’s time for a picnic, or at least to pull out the binoculars! Ten-acre Mill Pond is the highest water body in Hanover and the primary source of Mink Brook, the town’s largest stream. Set in a saddle on the mountain ridge, it may have originally been a small pond or perhaps a marsh. Around 1800, Woodward built a drylaid stone dam (just out of view at L, beyond the spruces) to raise the water level some 6-8 feet (it has since partly silted in). Beavers later took over and have been managing the pond off and on, ever since. Today, the entire shoreline remains undisturbed: Hanover Conservancy easements protect the N side with the Dana Pasture Natural Area on the S (co-owned by the Town of Hanover and a Dana heir).
Directly across the water is an impressive beaver lodge. Scan the pond’s surface for waterfowl and other birds. On the day we visited, three male mallards were holding a bachelor party at the pond.
Retrace your steps to the cellar hole and trail junction. At this time of year, violets are in bloom on the forest floor and you may spot the cheerful red of partridgeberries.
A sign for Pasture Road and a green moose mark the trail junction. Turn L; soon you’ll see the old stone wall marking this Class VI road. Where Pasture Road once met Moose Mountain Lodge Road is anybody’s guess – our bet is the area under the beaver dam.
Pass by the first gap in the wall, which leads to a private home, and look for a second gap marked with a sign for “Baboon Bypass” a few yards beyond the wall. This short and somewhat indistinct trail leads W toward your next destination. Blue sky appears ahead and an arrow on a barbed-wire-garbed tree directs you to swing L into an opening.
Arriving in an old pasture (first of three), leave the path and head through low brambles and blueberry bushes toward a big pine and two old fence posts. It seems all of central and southern Vermont is spread before you, with sharp-peaked Killington presiding. Today’s highlight is in the foreground, however. Just below the brow of this field stands Moose Mountain Lodge, an icon in the Upper Valley and legend in the ski world. We’re going to tell you all about it!
Lodge, pastures, and ski slopes, 1949Let’s start with long-time owner Kay Shumway’s recollections: “The Lodge is a big old comfortable log building perched high on the western side of Moose Mountain. It has survived 80 years of snow, sleet, ice, wind, and lightning. The weather comes across the Connecticut River Valley and sweeps up the mountain, wearing away at the log surfaces like sandpaper. Sometimes the wind gets unbearable with its relentless buffeting. We often remark that it’s almost like living on a ship at sea.”
The Leslie brothers built the lodge in 1937-38. They were identical, inseparable twins – when one came to Dartmouth, the other had to come too! Bill Robes was teaching skiing then and the boys were hooked. Robes, who married into the Dana family, he said he knew of a place where they could build a ski lodge, and the rest is history.
The Lodge opened in 1938 for downhill skiing complete with rope tows and skiing on cleared slopes below. There was even night skiing on a lighted slope, which according to Kay was not too successful. The Lodge primarily served Dartmouth, housing college guests and students’ dates. Back then skiers careened down the mountain’s sunny west slopes on wooden skis. The road up to the Lodge was part of the adventure. Most who arrived by car parked at the base of the mountain and used a crank telephone to summon the Lodge’s Ford woody station wagon for a ride up the hill.
From 1943-45, the Lodge closed as gas rationing during WWII curtailed driving for pleasure and cut off fuel for the tows. It reopened from 1946-49 but was soon empty and vandalized. In 1955, Bob Jones bought the abandoned Lodge and nearby cottage as a boys’ summer camp. Camp Moose Hi ran for three years until Agnar and Anah Pytte bought the Lodge and Elisha and Anne Huggins the nearby cottage. John and Mary Clarke acquired the Lodge in 1972, turning it back into an inn for cross-country skiers and cutting some of trails we still enjoy today.
The Lodge in 1975Three years later, Peter and Kay Shumway visited in a snowstorm. At the time, Peter was in the lumber business in New York and Kay taught in a Head Start program. Peter’s father had been a ski jumper at Dartmouth (Class of 1913) and when he and some friends skied the 25 miles to Mt. Moosilauke, people would stop them and ask what they had on their feet. The Shumways happily bought the Lodge and it continued to host in the back country skiing tradition.
The Shumways welcomed guests for the next 35 years, retiring in 2011. Kay recalls, “Inn-keeping on our beautiful mountain allowed us to live in this peaceful place in isolation while still meeting interesting people.”
In 1985, the Shumways purchased a 313-acre mountain tract just N of the Lodge to keep it from being developed. Their forester, John O’Brien, helped them return its forest to health after prior heavy logging, always with an eye to ski trail potential. In 2017, these public-spirited landowners conveyed a permanent conservation easement on the Shumway Forest to the Hanover Conservancy, protecting public trail access and high elevation wildlife habitat forever. We celebrated with the entire Moose Mountain Lodge family and many friends on a sunny Saturday in July.
Peter and Kay Shumway after signing the Shumway Forest conservation easement, June 2017We can’t bring you inside the Lodge on this tour, but take it from us – it’s even more wonderful than you imagine. Log ceiling beams, a sunny comfortable living room filled with rustic handmade log furniture, Kay’s baby grand piano, and drifts of hand-dyed wool for her spinning projects surround a huge cobblestone fireplace that features a granite millstone above the hearth (more on that later). The dining room spans the NW side, with another fireplace and a handmade dining table so long you can just imagine hungry guests gathering around it after a great day on skis. Behind is an efficient yet delightfully old-fashioned kitchen with everything close at hand, including Kay’s own Moose Mountain Lodge recipe book. On the N side is the ski shop with rows of skis hanging from a rack, ready for waxing. A welcoming porch spans the entire W side, with log settees beckoning you to relax and take in the breathtaking view and spectacular sunsets. Head upstairs under the watchful eyes of a mounted moose head to a warren of cozy guest rooms with log beds, some made by Kay and Peter themselves. Down the hill are a large fenced vegetable garden, goat shed (Kay kept Angora goats for their fleece), and small sugarhouse.
Now it’s time to enjoy some of the trails the Shumways and their former neighbor, Elisha Huggins, long maintained. Return to the path and continue uphill to a second, smaller clearing adorned by white birches. Follow the path back into the woods, guided by small wooden arrows. Soon you’ll arrive at a third pasture, the largest of all. Head uphill toward a moose sign with orange highlights posted on a birch.
These pastures, occasional clumps of juniper, and the fragments of barbed wire on fence posts recall the land’s history as the Dana Farm’s summering grazing grounds. The Dana family farmed this area since the late 1800s. Today, the red barn still stands on the E side of Old Dana Road and the early white farmhouse migrated from its original site across the way to the hilltop above. Into the 1960s, the family drove their cattle up the mountainside to graze here during the summer. After grazing stopped, Elisha Huggins kept the pastures open for skiing and views, using a hand scythe!
A low stone wall among the birches marks the boundary with private land. Continue S toward a large ash bearing an arrow pointing R. After a short downhill, another arrow + moose sign directs you to turn L. Take the path through the woods a short distance to a trail junction.
A sign at R, parallel to the trail, indicates the Orange Diamond Ridge Trail. Bear R and up a short steep section to a mossy ledge.
Ten minutes’ walk from the last pasture, you arrive at the first of two open ledges and views open up to the E. Keep an eye on kids and dogs. A small cairn on the far side marks the trail’s return to the woods.
Here, the Ridge Trail follows the boundary of two privately owned parcels – to the E is the Baum Conservation Area, owned by a local Dartmouth alumnus with a keen interest in trails and conservation. Pass a nice colony of the small but stoic rock polypody fern.
Five minutes from the first ledge, arrive at the second, larger ledge, today’s turn-around point. Time to corral kids and dogs and pull up a stony seat among the lowbush blueberries to drink in the view (and some water). At 1 o’clock is the bony knob of Mt. Cardigan. If you stand on the highest part of the ledge, you can see distant Mount Washington at 11 o’clock.
At 10 o’clock, the ridge of Moose Mountain stretches N beyond the communications tower. From here, you get a fine view of the mountain’s E profile and realize that, like Holt’s Ledge and so many others in New England, it is a roche moutonnee or sheepback, shaped by the passing of the glacier. The glacier abraded the NW side and plucked rocks from the opposite slope as it ground its way from NW to SE. In this view, dark patches of evergreens to the R of the tower mark the steep SE side.
To return, pink tape on a tree helps you locate the trail back. It becomes clear you’re hiking the very spine of this mountain, with the Mascoma River valley off at R and Mink Brook valley at L.
Returning to the first ledge, admire the view of Cardigan before continuing on, following a blue arrow.
At the trail junction, yellow signs point R to the Baum Conservation Area (to explore another day). You turn L to retrace your steps toward the pastures.
At a bent yellow birch, a sign at L directs you to turn R; shortly after you’ll turn L at another arrow. Soon you’re back to the birches and the upper Dana pasture. In June, white five-petaled strawberry flowers decorate the ground under your feet.
Continue gently downhill to the last pasture, above the Lodge. See if you can spot the white hamlet of Hanover Center in the distance, over the Lodge roof to the R. You can see why this village never fulfilled its intended destiny as the hub of Hanover – it’s on a hilltop and there’s no running water!
Take the path back into the woods – avoid the trail that comes in at L from a private home – and return to Pasture Road. Turn L past the stone wall and then L again at the junction by the cellar hole. Ten minutes from the Lodge overlook, you’re back at your car.
Optional Mill Site Visit (10 minutes)
Hidden in the woods are remains of a late 1700s saw and grist mill. They are very close by but invisible unless you make the short scramble through the woods to see them.
Walk back down Moose Mountain Lodge Road to a telephone pole opposite the gated entrance to the tower right of way. Turn L and bushwhack back the short way to the stream. You’ll soon pick up an old cart path on the near side. Take this down along the brook, admiring the cascades, to a series of angular piles of rock. Towers rise on either side of the brook. More can be seen farther downstream.
We marvel at how David Woodward managed to build these structures in such a steep ravine around 1800, his only tools likely being a pair of sturdy oxen, ropes, a chisel, and a native understanding of physics. In his 1982 anthropology paper, Dartmouth student Tom Slocum suggests that Woodward used the cubic
blocks of native schist to build an undershot-type mill that most likely functioned to saw wood and grind grain. Water stored in the pond above could be released to provide enough flow to operate the mill. At some point in its history, the mill operated only during the spring freshet and only as a sawmill.
The 1930s builders of Moose Mountain Lodge found their fireplace ornament here amid the ruins of Woodward’s mills. These historic sites are now specifically protected from further disturbance by the Hanover Conservancy’s Mill Pond Forest conservation easement.
Continue down the brook-side cart path to the last set of ruins. The path appears to end here; retrace your steps to return to your car.
From downtown Hanover and the Green, drive south on Main Street (Route 10) 0.5 miles to Brook Road, turning left just before Route 10 crosses Mink Brook.
Follow Brook Road for 0.1 mile to a sharp bend. Park here near the trailhead gate. A bicycle rack is provided (foot travel only in the Preserve).
What You Should Know
Dogs are welcome but must be under close control (better yet, leashed); please pick up after your pet.
The Preserve is the home of at least one bear, who usually emerges from her den with cubs in April (another reason to leash your dog). If you happen to encounter a bear, do not run but speak softly to it and move away slowly. Mother bears are as protective of their young as we are.
Hiking Directions – route outlined in green
Take a moment to check the kiosk display and pick up a trail guide. Note the map outlining Mink Brook’s 18.5 square mile watershed.
Hanover’s largest stream, Mink Brook begins high on Moose Mountain in Mill Pond, gathering waters from other headwater streams and flowing through Etna Village, where it once powered a number of mills.
With the kiosk at your back, look for a tall many-branched tree with rough bark – a bear babysitting tree! The photo at right was taken here in April, 2011 by a Mink Brook neighbor.
Begin your walk down the Quinn Trail, named for a Hanover family that helped protect this land in 1999. This part of the trail follows a buried sewer line, making it one of the few trails that is stable and dry enough to hike at this time of year.
After a minute’s walk, you’ll come to an open area close to the brook. Look for the dramatic red stems of red osier dogwood near the waterline. This handsome native shrub is a great choice for wet areas, as it tolerates flooding and its white berries offer high quality food for wildlife later in the year.
You’ll notice occasional sewer covers, reading “Hanover Sewer 1976.” While they seem out of place on a woodland walk, we can forgive the intrusion when we consider that the building of this sewer line to collect waste from hundreds of Hanover homes meant the transformation of Mink Brook and the Connecticut River from pretty but noxious open sewers back to the safe, clean waters they are today.
Just past wooden steps from a nearby house, turn right onto a small path. The slender, low green plant here is scouring rush or horsetail. A handful of this primitive native plant was useful for cleaning pots when our forebears had dinner dishes to do. Silica stiffens the stem joints, helping to get the job done.
Bits of flagging mark areas where invasive plants are being monitored and treated.
Return to the Quinn Trail. As you proceed, you’ll get a good view of Mink Brook as it winds through its low, flat floodplain, the space it can fill when it is carrying a lot of water.
Here and there you’ll notice mesh “sleeves” standing about 2-3’ high. These protect some of the 2000 native tree and shrub whips the Conservancy planted a few years ago to replace the infestation of buckthorn, honeysuckle, and Japanese knotweed that grew up when farmland here was abandoned.
At an old apple tree, the Quinn Trail bears left and a path continues straight through young pines. In the 1990s, a 30+ lot subdivision was laid out for the 112 acres of today’s Preserve. A road to serve the subdivision was to cross the brook on the route of this path. Give a cheer for the 450 donors, the Quinn Family, and Dartmouth College for recognizing the natural value of this place and stepping up to help the Conservancy and Upper Valley Land Trust protect it. The Hanover Conservancy now owns and manages the land, with conservation restrictions in the deed from UVLT.
Stay on the Quinn Trail, taking that left by the apple tree. Note a large pine with exposed, gnarled roots on the left, clinging to a steep bank. The College once removed clay from this bank, laid down thousands of years ago under the still, frozen waters of glacial Lake Hitchcock, to provide a surface for tennis courts.
About 10 minutes from your car, you’ll approach another clearing and notice you can hear the brook for the first time. The brook sings as it tumbles over rocks and riffles on its natural path, and has not yet reached the point where it is captured by Wilder Dam on the Connecticut River, a few miles downstream. This elevation varies from 380’-385’ above mean sea level, depending on operations at the dam. Wilder Dam may be far out of sight, but it controls the character and movement of Mink Brook here in the Preserve and of other tributaries as far north as Haverhill NH and Newbury VT, 45 miles upstream. The Hanover Conservancy is closely following re-licensing of this dam and current studies of how it affects erosion and sedimentation, fish, wildlife, invasive species, and even archeological sites.
At the clearing, you’ll see remnants of dead honeysuckle and buckthorn across the brook. In fact, you’ve passed more than a few places where these look pretty ratty! The Conservancy has been working with Full Circle Forestry to knock back invasive plants on the Preserve, with major funding from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and help from the Hanover Lions Club. We’re working to cut the dead wood down and restore the beautiful natural floodplain forest here (help and contributions welcome).
It’s time to cross the brook. Bear right off the Quinn Trail at a big three-trunked pine tree onto a blue-blazed trail to the bridge.
Our beautiful log bridge was crafted in 2009 from a nearby tree. Cross it with care (please don’t bounce). This year we must repair its south end at an estimated cost of $1100. Note the lovely large flat-topped rock in the brook below.
After crossing, turn left onto the Wheelock Trail toward Buck Road. Plan to return another day to explore trails to the right, which can take you to Lebanon’s Sachem Field, Indian Ridge, and Boston Lot Lake.
Just upstream of the log bridge, you’ll see evidence of erosion on the streambank. Stay on the trail and avoid the edge. Tropical Storm Irene sent such a heavy flow through this area that it shifted the stream channel, and the old channel (south side) is now just a flood chute. Heavy rains on frozen ground in February of 2016 caused the brook to deposit a new load of sand and gravel here, showing just how powerful water can be. The Conservancy planted willow stakes on the far side to try to slow new erosion there; you may see willows leafing out in the streambank.
Walk through the cool hemlock forest. Ice floes deposited by the brook in February and early March lingered here near the shore long after sunnier places had warmed up.
15-20 minutes from the gate, you’ll come upon dramatic boulders scattered up the hillside and, in some places, arranged in low walls. We are not certain of the history here, but we do know that Eleazar Wheelock built a gristmill on Mink Brook upstream of this spot. In fact, Mink Brook’s waterpower is the reason Dartmouth College is here in Hanover! The canny proprietors of the newly organized town offered Wheelock 2,000 acres surrounding lower Mink Brook, along with a likely mill privilege, if he would site his proposed college here. He took the bait and the rest, as they say, is history!
However – long before Eleazar appeared on the scene, this has been an important place in the cultural history of our region, and these stones have something to do with the story. The Abenaki believe that the first Abenaki came from stones. The large ones here are significant because they are imposing and become very warm in the sun.
Through the millennia Mink Brook, or Mosbasak Zibosiz in the Abenaki language, has been a key part of local Abenaki village and subsistence grounds. From the time of Dartmouth’s founding, Abenaki and other Native families lived in this area to support their children who were enrolled in Moor’s Charity School and the College. Abenaki families have lived nearby to this day. This spot has long been known as a “woman’s place,” and when Wheelock arrived to raise his college, Abenaki grandmothers met with his people to lay out their rules for how the land would be used.
The Wheelock Trail leads you to your destination on this hike, a massive boulder at the stream’s edge that may have been dropped by the glacier on its travels. Stop and take a look around…this is indeed a powerful place. You’ll see hemlock roots cascading over rock faces and patches of the small but hardy rock polypody fern clinging to these inhospitable surfaces.
Turn around for the four-minute walk back to the log bridge. On your way, note the steep ridges on the left that mark ancient channels for Mink Brook. This region was once inundated by the frigid waters of glacial Lake Hitchcock, and the clay/silt lake-bottom sediments were easily sliced by the rushing waters of the brook after the lake receded.
Cross the log bridge again, keeping an eye out for the elusive namesake of the brook, the mink. A member of the lithe weasel family, mink live near water and prey upon small fish, crayfish, and other aquatic delicacies. If you get a good look, you’ll see its distinctive white chin. (At right: carrying its young)
Turn left on the far side of the bridge at the sign for the Quinn Trail.
Follow the brook downstream, listening as its natural noisy chatter calms to a quiet murmur as it enters the pool behind Wilder Dam.
Return to the gate after checking the woods for bloodroot and other emerging wildflowers.
Note: The Hanover Conservancy is seeking volunteers for our Mink Brook Stewardship Committee, to advise us on managing the preserve, monitor trails, and help out with occasional work parties. We also warmly welcome donations to our Mink Brook Stewardship Fund to help maintain the Preserve. Get in touch at info@hanoverconservancy.org. Learn more about the Mink Brook Nature Preserve.
Five minutes from the first ledge, arrive at the second, larger ledge, today’s turn-around point. Time to corral kids and dogs and pull up a stony seat among the lowbush blueberries to drink in the view (and some water). At 1 o’clock is the bony knob of Mt. Cardigan. If you stand on the highest part of the ledge, you can see distant Mount Washington at 11 o’clock.
Hidden in the woods are remains of a late 1700s saw and grist mill. They are very close by but invisible unless you make the short scramble through the woods to see them.
Driving Directions
15-20 minutes from the gate, you’ll come upon dramatic boulders scattered up the hillside and, in some places, arranged in low walls. We are not certain of the history here, but we do know that Eleazar Wheelock built a gristmill on Mink Brook upstream of this spot. In fact, Mink Brook’s waterpower is the reason Dartmouth College is here in Hanover! The canny proprietors of the newly organized town offered Wheelock 2,000 acres surrounding lower Mink Brook, along with a likely mill privilege, if he would site his proposed college here. He took the bait and the rest, as they say, is history!
