An easy hike around Equinox Pond in Manchester, Vermont

A few weeks ago, my husband and I spent the week in Vermont. After driving along Lake Champlain and stopping at Fort Ticonderoga in New York, we crossed the state line and arrived in Manchester, Vermont.

Located in southern Vermont, Manchester is a small town nestled in the heart of the mountains, with the famous Green Mountains to the east and the Taconic Mountains to the west. We obviously wanted to take advantage of our trip to go hiking, but since it was extremely hot on that day, we decided to opt for an easy trail in the Equinox Preserve.

We drove through cute Manchester and parked at the end of West Union Street. At the very end of the parking lot, we found the trailhead and headed into the forest.

The Equinox Preserve protects 914 acres on the slopes of Mount Equinox, the highest mountain in the Taconics. There are several kilometers of trails, including one that goes right up to the summit of Mount Equinox (a hike totaling about 10 kilometres / 6 miles). But since it was already late in the afternoon, we decided to do a shorter (and easier) hike, which would allow us to go around Equinox Pond.

We first started to follow Red Gate Trail, and it offered us a small climb in the northern hardwood forest.

The Red Gate Trail follows for a few metres the same route as the Blue Summit Trail (the one leading to the summit) and I admit that since I have a slight obsession with mountains, I would have really liked to continue following this one. But as I said, we had opted for an easier hike, so we eventually turned onto the Flatlanders Pass trail (indicated by yellow markers).

As its name suggests, this trail goes through flat terrain so it was quite easy to follow. We followed it for about a kilometre, until it led us to the Pond Loop Trail.

The Pond Loop Trail is arguably one of the gems of the Equinox Preserve. This wide trail circles Equinox Pond and offers a few viewpoints of it. With Mount Equinox in the background, it looked lovely.

Note that Equinox Pond and the pavilion located there belong to the Equinox Resort and are therefore private property. Occasionally, private events take place there, so the trail and access to the pond can be restricted, but everything was very quiet when we passed by.

The hike continued easily around Equinox Pond. When we completed the loop, we decided to return by taking the Red Gate Trail again, then we followed a small portion of the Trillium Trail. There are many trails in the forest and they intersect at several points, which offers endless possibilities for hikes of varying lengths and difficulties.

The Red Gate Trail eventually brought us back to our starting point. In total, we hiked 4.25 kilometres (2.8 miles), with a vertical gain of 176 metres (577 feet). It was an easy first hike in Vermont, but it really made me look forward to the next ones!