Half-baked Vermont Excursion - 8/27 to 8/30

There's a bunch of stuff up there around Norton/Averill/Canaan off of 114 that connects south to trails through the Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge and you can continue south from there through the Wenlock and West Mountain WMAs. Between the two areas, you can do quite a bit of dirt road cruising.

 

Awesome!
We are staying at a place in the Norton / Canaan area.

 

I haven't explored all of it, but there are a lot of side roads to explore if you're interested, just turn around if things start to get too grown in and you should be fine. I like to head in from Gaudette Road off of 114 and just work my way south from there. That should drop you on 105. Head West on 105 and look for roads into the WMA on the south side of the road not too far up from where you get on, there will be signs.

 

I may check out Mollie Beattie Bog Boardwalk and Lewis Pond Overlook. Just two points of interest I found randomly browsing Google Maps.
How likely we are to attract wildlife, such as bears, if we decide to pull over and do a small picnic? Good idea or a bad idea?

 

Wouldn't worry about stopping for a picnic, you'll be fine. I've run into a few bears and other critters up here, most of 'em are more than happy to avoid people.

 

It's possible you could run into some closed gates getting to those areas in the Silvio Conte Reserve. I see a few gates marked in those areas on the map in Gaia GPS, and I've not been down those roads myself to be able to tell you if I've seen them opened or closed in the past.

 

I'm going to ask about the gates at the visitor center before driving there.

Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge
https://maps.app.goo.gl/gp8CRstydejY8mHU6