The View Beyond Mount Equinox
- Corey Stottlemyer
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The first time we visited Vermont, we stayed at the Toll Road Inn in Manchester Center. At the time, I was just happy to have a confirmed reservation but did not have any context for the name. As we have continued our trips to Vermont, we have seen the advertisements for the Skyline Drive up to the summit of Mount Equinox, from where you can see four states: Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts. The Skyline Drive happens to be the longest privately-owned toll road in the United States.
As Cade, Liberty, and I were planning our trip a couple summers ago, we decided to see what the fuss was about and travel the Skyline Drive. Earlier in the week, we met my former professor Ed and his husband Steve for lunch. We mentioned that we planned to go up to see the views from Mount Equinox. Ed and Steve did not try to dissuade us from going, but did remind us how many great views there are throughout Vermont. Ed mentioned a great spot on what I heard as Cloven Hill Road. After our lunch, I did a quick search for that road but did not find it, so I made a mental note to look for the road later.
A couple days later, we headed for the Skyline Drive to see what the hype was about. Access to the toll road is between Manchester and Arlington. The top of the mountain reaches 3,848 feet above sea level and is the highest point along the Taconic Ridge. The toll road is owned and maintained by the Carthusian monks who have a nearby monastery. The Carthusians lead lives of “austere silence and solitude,” and I believe they found the right place for that escape from the masses in Vermont.
Along the five-mile road, our elevation increased by about 3,000 feet. Cade has always had an elevation app on his phone and at the ready on our travels. While we were ascending rather slowly on the curving, narrow road, I kept hoping that no one was coming down. There were several scenic overlooks to stop at and take in the views, which we did a couple times.
When we reached the summit, there was a building, viewing platforms, and a trail. It was a clear day, with billowing, fluffy clouds. The views were everything we had hoped. To the south, we could see Sunderland and Stratton Mountain in the distance. To the north, we could see Dorset and Killington Mountain.
We took the rocky trail through the woods to another lookout point. Up that high, there were many fragrant balsam fir trees, which I do not often see at the lower elevations. We traveled back down the Skyline Drive. This time, I was even more concerned about meeting another car around a bend in the road as we were now on the outside of the road near the drop off. We made it down safely.
That trip, we were staying at a farmhouse near Danby. Each morning, I went for a walk along the road. It was picture perfect. One morning while on my walk, my brother and I were checking in by phone, and I shared that the road had a Funny Farm vibe. So much so that I was expecting to see a mailman driving along kicking up dust on the gravel road. On my walks, I turned around and headed back just before I came to the next road.
Based on Ed’s recommendation, I continued searching for variations of Cloven Hill Road to no avail. I kept being directed to Clover Hill Road, in a small development in Peru, VT. I was a bit disappointed that I had not found it.
As we were leaving the Danby farmhouse to return to Maryland, we decided to see where the other end of the road led. After a turn or two, I looked up at the road sign at the intersection and read: Colven Hill Road. What felt like a place in the middle of nowhere was exactly the place Ed had told me about.
As we went up the road, the landscape opened up and we found ourselves at the crest of a hill looking out over the mountains. There was a white house on the right with a million-dollar view. We could not resist pulling over to take a few photos from the narrow Colven Hill Road.
Every drive through Vermont is filled with picturesque views. The juxtaposition of a gorgeous view that we paid to see and another one we did not know was just around the corner perfectly sums up what I love about Vermont and seeing where the roads lead.
