Five walks for every ability
Franklin County’s best walking is flat, quiet and wildly varied — freshwater marsh, boreal bog, island shoreline and a riverside rail trail, most of it easy enough for families and strollers. Here are five to build a weekend around.
Stephen J. Young Marsh Trail
At the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Swanton, the Stephen J. Young Marsh Trail is a 1.25-mile loop that lets you stand inside a thriving freshwater marsh without a boat. A crushed-gravel path through a pollinator meadow gives way to a low boardwalk over cattails and water lilies.
Halfway around, a two-story observation tower with viewing scopes opens a 360-degree panorama of open water and silver-maple floodplain, the Green Mountains rising to the east. Bring binoculars — the refuge sits on the Atlantic Flyway.
Discovery Trail & Maquam Bog
Also on Tabor Road, the 1-mile Discovery Trail behind the refuge visitor center threads several post-glacial ecosystems, crossing raised boardwalks and sandy 'oak islands' left behind when ancient Lake Vermont receded.
It ends at the edge of Maquam Bog, where oaks give way to stunted pitch pines, highbush blueberry, carnivorous pitcher plants and rhodora — a rare native rhododendron that blooms magenta in late spring. Interpretive panels explain the geology along the way.
Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail
For a longer, level walk, the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail runs 26.3 miles on an old railway bed from St. Albans to Richford. The prettiest stretch is the eight miles between Sheldon Junction and Enosburg Falls.
It opens by crossing the Missisquoi on a converted trestle — pause for the marker to the 1870 Fenian Raids — then traces river rapids past cornfields and red barns, with Jay Peak rising ahead as you reach the historic Enosburg Falls depot.
Fairfield Swamp & Burton Island
For solitude, the Fairfield Swamp Wildlife Management Area offers a 2.5-mile woods-road walk along a ridge above a wild wetland of black spruce bog and cattail marsh — prime habitat for nesting bald eagles and ospreys. Wear waterproof shoes in spring.
And for a shoreline change of pace, the car-free trails of Burton Island State Park — a short ferry from Kill Kare — wrap 253 acres of cedar groves and shale beaches with open views to the Adirondacks.
Good to know
Which walk is best with young kids?+
The Stephen J. Young Marsh boardwalk loop (1.25 miles, flat) and the Discovery Trail (1 mile) — both short, easy and full of wildlife and interpretive signs.
When should I go for birding?+
Sunrise or dusk from late April into May, when thousands of migratory songbirds and waterfowl move through the Missisquoi delta on the Atlantic Flyway.
Are the trails good year-round?+
Spring through fall for the marsh and bog boardwalks; the rail trail doubles as a cross-country ski and snowshoe route in winter. Expect mud on low-lying trails during the spring thaw.