Finding Hill West Covered Bridge
The Hill West bridge and a VAST trail tale.
This is a story about the art of getting lost. I wrote that article about my favorite season (Autumn) but it applies to any time you can get off the main road or highways and onto the back roads of New England. This story is to warn you that map books don’t always tell the whole truth, so be careful out there. We could have just as easily had to walk out of there if I wasn’t lucky. Read the article on the art of getting lost to see what you should be getting out of back road travel.
The Hill West Covered Bridge is one of the six covered bridges of Montgomery, Vermont. This covered bridge is a bit off the beaten path, but if you keep your eyes open, you can find it. (Maybe.)
Avast there ye matey… Beware the VAST!
No, this is not, talk like a pirate day which happens a few days before the first day of autumn… and that is NOT what this Vast is all about.
Some of you may know what’s coming because you know what a VAST is (I’ll tell you at the end). So Lisa and I were driving up Hill West Road from Deep Gibou Road. We were looking for the Creamery Bridge Road but missed it, and were a mile or so past it when Lisa said there was a small connecting road over to the West Hill Road… (Watch those little squiggly red lines in the Gazetteers).
Background Info:
As you read you may get confused. First, they named two parallel roads, both of which the Creamery Bridge road connects to. The eastern road is Hill West and the western road is West Hill Road. Lucky for me, this was back when I was driving my big red 4X4 pickup, and I was invulnerable (or so I hoped). 🙂
Continuing on…
Ok, so we’re on the connecting road (NOT the Creamery Road but the squiggly red line) which quickly narrowed down to one dirt lane, and I thought to myself that I could back out if it grew much closer. (Hindsight is 20/20.) Then the road became rutted and it looked more like a stream bed with round rocks in it… Ok, at this point, I stopped and put it in 4X4 low and continued on, I mean… how bad could it be? (Stop laughing!)
Ok, how many of you have Googled what a VAST is? It stands for “Vermont Association of Snow Travelers” or in other words, a snowmobile trail!
Soon the track became even larger stones… OK, I believe the off-road enthusiasts would call this bouldering, and Lisa and I are lurching side to side like drunken sailors (hence talk like a pirate day). And I looked behind me but quickly realized that going in reverse is not going to happen.
So the journey continued to the end of the VAST! But just when we thought we were safe — there at the end of the track is a boulder five or so feet high! sitting in the middle of the trail exit. Well long story short… My truck just barely made it through…
The Creamery Covered Bridge
I suppose this is to encourage vehicles like mine to not come up this way… TOO LATE! We could have used this on the other end of the trail, but they assumed no one was that stupid… They don’t know Jeff Foliage, do they!!!
I noticed that the track goes around the boulder and I might add, at a steep incline. But I didn’t see any other option, so I start to make my way around it. Imagine your vehicle at this steep incline on a dirt track and you are so close to the rock that you have to pull the mirror in, and Lisa is holding on to the “OH Crap” handle above her door!
Well, we survived it, and came down the West Hill Road. We now find an unmarked road which turned out to be the Creamery Bridge Road. We took it and in about 90 feet at the bottom of the hill we found the West Hill Covered Bridge. According to Wikipedia, it’s also known as Crystal Springs Covered Bridge… which is over the West Hill Brook in Montgomery, VT.
Are you confused? Me too!
SO, we have the West Hill Covered Bridge which lies between the Hill West Road and the West Hill Road. (That’s not too bad.) We have a covered bridge that is named the West Hill Covered Bridge, but is sitting on the Creamery Bridge Road (The actual… “Creamery Covered Bridge” is in Brattleboro, VT, just so you know).
This covered bridge is also known as the Crystal Springs Covered Bridge, but doesn’t cross Crystal Springs but West Hill Brook??? Here is a Link to another article on Montgomery Vermont’s other covered bridges.
I’m still looking for Abbott and Costello to come out and do “Who’s on first and What’s on second” and so forth. (Yes, you should watch this because they are masters of this routine, I’m including a link to YouTube and their routine).
Finally the bridge! A couple are before the renovation and a few are after. Enjoy…
The lattice truss bridge was renovated in between 2011 and Sept. 2013, and has been opened up to cars once again. The bridge is starting to age and get the gray patina that we as artists love to see. The only problem are the kids using this bridge to tag the inside with graffiti.
I hope you find the covered bridge a much easier trip and to help a bit further, here is a map.
Jeff Foliage Folger
Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage
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What a price to pay, but you did get some good shots. This story is for the books. Maybe you can repeat and do a video?
Well I dont own the big red truck anymore and while my Rav4 is good, its not that good… 😉
What a price to pay, but you did get some good shots. This story is for the books. Maybe you can repeat and do a video?
Well I dont own the big red truck anymore and while my Rav4 is good, its not that good… 😉
Oh, my aching sides! I had tears laughing and hands clapping, applauding the adventure. I love that kind of “what the heck am I doing” road trip. Lisa, bless you! When I travel, the back roads call to me to stay away from the highway. I’ve been lost, pulled over by the police because I was doing 30mph on a 25mph Vermont road! In Vermont, we’ve been stuck in mud during the spring, spinning out on ice during the winter, and drove on roads that seemed to have no end and loving every minute of it. Hope you videoed it!
Thank you Mary, I guess a few people enjoyed the article. Which is always my intent.
Oh, my aching sides! I had tears laughing and hands clapping, applauding the adventure. I love that kind of “what the heck am I doing” road trip. Lisa, bless you! When I travel, the back roads call to me to stay away from the highway. I’ve been lost, pulled over by the police because I was doing 30mph on a 25mph Vermont road! In Vermont, we’ve been stuck in mud during the spring, spinning out on ice during the winter, and drove on roads that seemed to have no end and loving every minute of it. Hope you videoed it!
Thank you Mary, I guess a few people enjoyed the article. Which is always my intent.
Thoroughly enjoyed this article, having a husband who sounds very much like you and having experienced a similar situation in Mississippi only a few days ago.
Well as long as you can walk away, it makes for a story worth telling…
Thoroughly enjoyed this article, having a husband who sounds very much like you and having experienced a similar situation in Mississippi only a few days ago.
Well as long as you can walk away, it makes for a story worth telling…
Jeff, to help cover your expenses as a photographer you should try your hand at journalism. Your wry commentary was a delight to read, and most people have had an experience that resembles your adventure. Your common sense says “Turn around while you still can!”, but your thrill of discovery propels you forward. You captured it all with your commentary. Thank you!
Well, I consider my blogging to be my version of “journalism”. I actually used to get paid for blogging. I started out as Yankee Magazines’ first blogger (Jim Salge is the current) and I learned the ropes that way and I have continued on from there. I may try to inject more humor and see where it leads… but I’ve found trying to force humor can tank the story just as quickly… So I’m very picky as to lending humor in the stories. Basically, if it wasn’t funny to start… 🙂
Most of my stories are simple we found this covered bridge or stream reflecting the fall colors and they don’t lend themselves to humor…
Jeff, to help cover your expenses as a photographer you should try your hand at journalism. Your wry commentary was a delight to read, and most people have had an experience that resembles your adventure. Your common sense says “Turn around while you still can!”, but your thrill of discovery propels you forward. You captured it all with your commentary. Thank you!
Well, I consider my blogging to be my version of “journalism”. I actually used to get paid for blogging. I started out as Yankee Magazines’ first blogger (Jim Salge is the current) and I learned the ropes that way and I have continued on from there. I may try to inject more humor and see where it leads… but I’ve found trying to force humor can tank the story just as quickly… So I’m very picky as to lending humor in the stories. Basically, if it wasn’t funny to start… 🙂
Most of my stories are simple we found this covered bridge or stream reflecting the fall colors and they don’t lend themselves to humor…