1.2 miles. Easy.

Located 1 mile west of the Bread Loaf Campus Conference Site on National Forest Road 398, off Vermont State Route 125, in Ripton, VT. Parking and toilets are available at the trailhead. This is a two-minute drive from the campus.  

This National Recreation Trail is a 1.2-mile, well-marked loop trail with a 49-foot elevation gain. The first 0.3 miles of the trail on a boardwalk to a beaver pond are wheelchair accessible. The trail features several interpretive panels celebrating some of Robert Frost’s poems. The difficulty rating is Easy. 

The Robert Frost Interpretive Trail connects with the Water Tower Trails and other trails if you want a longer 3.2-mile loop. These other trails are used primarily for cross-country skiing but provide a nice opportunity to walk in a northern hardwood forest. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/vermont/water-tower-north-star-trail 

This trail provides an opportunity to experience the Vermont landscape that inspired Robert Frost’s poetry. 

Complete details: https://www.trailfinder.info/trails/trail/robert-frost-interpretive-trail 

0.2 miles. Easy.

Located 1.4 miles west of the Bread Loaf Campus Conference Site on National Forest Road 396 and Frost Road, off Vermont State Route 125.

Taking a short walk around the summer home at the Homer Noble Farm is an opportunity to see where Robert Frost summered from 1939 to 1963 and to walk in his footsteps. Frost was the Poet Laureate of Vermont and spent the last 24 summers of his life living at this farm in Ripton, VT. The writing cabin is located upslope of the farmhouse at the edge of what is now a red pine plantation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost_Farm_(Ripton,_Vermont) 

National Register of Historic Places link for the Homer Noble Farm:

https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/68000046_text 

https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/6f132878-55e6-4e6b-aecd-4c719e3b8837 

Varying lengths up to 1.5 miles. Easy.

Located 2.6 miles west of the Bread Loaf Campus with a trailhead on Goshen Road, off Vermont State Route 125, in Ripton, VT. 

Spirit in Nature maintains a 70-acre interfaith path sanctuary nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains. This trail network features 14 short paths, each representing a different spiritual tradition and featuring signs with quotations from that tradition. The trails range up to 1.5 miles in length; the longest loop is the Interfaith Path, which travels along a high bluff of the Middlebury River South Branch and provides access to cobble bars by the river. Hemlock up to 300 years old occur at the eastern end of the Interfaith Path; the southern portion of the trail lies alongside a series of beaver meadows. Visitors are invited to walk, reflect, and meditate along wooded trails marked with inspirational quotes and quiet gathering spaces, including a 60-foot Sacred Circle surrounded by white pine. For more information and a map, go to this link:   

https://birdinghotspots.org/hotspot/L4606903 

2 miles. Easy.

Located 6.3 miles east of the Bread Loaf Campus, the Texas Falls Nature Trail can be accessed from the Texas Falls Picnic Area on the Texas Falls Road, off Vermont State Route 125, in Hancock, VT.

The Texas Falls Trail is a 2-mile out-and-back hike (due to current construction work) with a 200-foot elevation change that explores an Eastern Hemlock-Northern Hardwood Forest with many large and old trees. 

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/vermont/texas-falls-recreation-area 

Please note that the Texas Falls Observation Site, parking area, bridge, and restroom will be closed for renovations from June 2025 through the end of September 2025. Access to the Texas Falls Nature Trail continues to be available from the Picnic Area just north of the bridge area, where there is ample parking and restrooms. Visitors are reminded not to block the road or site access during construction and should expect to run into heavy machinery along the road. 

From the Bread Loaf campus, hike up Myrhe Driveway to Holland trail to visit an old-growth hemlock forest on a steep slope to the right (east) of the trail. The hike is 0.75 miles and climbs 260’.

Hemlock Forest is one of the most recognizable natural community types to all who frequent the northern woods. The dense conifer overstory lets in little sunlight, and, in combination with the deep, acidic layer of needle litter, makes for a species-depauperate groundcover. When canopy disturbances are infrequent, hemlock can gain dominance on upland sites and persist for 400+ years. Thus, although some of the Hemlock Forests on college lands are older than the surrounding stand age, these trees could still persist for centuries into the future.

A 5.6-ha (14-ac) patch of old-growth Hemlock Forest occurs along an undulating, steep slope (30-50% gradients) alongside a tributary to Brandy Brook. This small natural community is one of the gems of the college lands. Hemlock measuring 50 to 80 cm (20 to 32 in) dbh strongly dominate the tree stratum. An additional canopy tree species is red spruce, while red maple, yellow birch and beech occur as understory individuals. One prism sample recorded a very high basal area of 57m³/ha (250 ft²/ac). Dead wood in many different stages of decay is abundant. Most of the dead trees are low snaps and have fallen in different directions. Striped maple and hobblebush grow in the shrub layers and common wood-sorrel, intermediate weed fern, painted trillium goldthread and Indian cucumber-root are among the most common herbaceous species. Few other ground cover species fill out the composition; these are pink lady’s-slipper, creeping snowberry, Canada mayflower, wild sarsaparilla, bluebead lily, shining clubmoss and cinnamon fern. The liverwort Bazzania trilobata forms a carpet on the ground. Soil observations indicate that the current trees established on an old blowdown. Fifty to 70 cm (20 to 28 in) of organic matter overlie the stony fine sandy loam spodosol soil. In several auger holes a 20 cm (8 in) layer of decomposed wood was part of the O horizon. The upper reaches of the slope have decomposing spruce stumps that indicate past harvest of that species. One hemlock was cored on 2015: the 57 cm (22 in) dbh tree showed a minimum age of 191 years (Lapin 2015).

From the Bread Loaf campus, simply hike 0.9 miles up Steam Mill Road. Elevation gain 300’.

Vermontbiz.com article: https://vermontbiz.com/news/2025/september/11/vnrc-partners-complete-dam-removal-and-reconnect-brandy-brook-headwaters

Please take care to avoid walking on the steep slope and by the brook where recent seeding and mulching is stabilizing seepy soils. It’s okay to walk in on the level mulch area that overlooks the steep slopes; that was the access road for the equipment.