Recreation ~ Beginner Trails
Willow Walk
Beginner
This leisurely hike will introduce you to Hawk's scenic 70-acre Nature Preserve. Wildlife can often be seen feeding in this richly vegetated lowland area. Look along the river where mink and otter slides are to be found. In the summer, continue on to the Observation Blind where you may rest and have an excellent view of the valley marsh that supports much of our wildlife population.
Beaver Run Trail
Beginner
Meander along the Black River and catch a glimpse of a diligent beaver, or the occasional moose, that may wander into this territory. You may notice that bark has been scraped-off the lower section of some alders from whitetail deer rubbing the velvet off their antlers in the fall amongst the many thornapple trees that line the edges of this trail.
Thornapple Trail
Beginner
This trail weaves along the valley floor, meandering through a wild thornapple orchard where squirrels scurry to horde apples away in the fall for use as feed in the wintertime. View tracks of snowshoe rabbits that scamper from the underbrush or wild turkeys that have once again become abundant in the area.
Ice Age Trail
Beginner
Hike into the woods to view the remarkable remnant land features left by glaciers which once covered Hawk and the surrounding area. During the last advance of the most recent ice age, all of New England was covered by an immense sheet of ice for over 100,000 years. When the region's climate warmed approximately 20,000 years ago, most of the ice sheet simply melted away. Glaciers formed a wide range of geological effects on the surrounding area, which can best be seen from this trail.
Bear Claw Trail
Beginner
This trail follows the ridgeline between the cirque trails. Although your chances of encountering a black bear are quite slim on your visit to Vermont, you have a chance on this trail to view a bear-clawed beech tree. Located halfway-up the trail, on your left, beside a large rock, stands just such a tree. Bears often climb this tree to rest on a horizontal limb and feed on beech nuts. Because beech bark is so smooth, the marks stay with the tree for years.
Cirque Loop 1
Beginner
Take this trail around the basin and view another ice age wonder of the bowl and its surrounding walls that rise steeply all around you. From this vantage point, you may access the steepness of some of Hawk's advanced trails that traverse up and around these mountains.
Cirque Loop 2
Beginner
Another route to the base area, this trail offers access for all to glimpse some of the most interesting land on the Resort 1200-acre property. Hawk advises avoiding this trail in the springtime, when winter runoff usually overtakes part of the trail.
Spring Loop
Beginner
On this brief excursion from the main trail network, you may observe a natural spring mysteriously bubbling-up from the earth year-round. It is the origin of the brook that eventually feeds into the Black River that passes through Hawk on the valley floor.
See Also
Intermediate Hiking Trails
Advanced Hiking Trails
Back to Hiking
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