FIELD NOTES #12
SMUGGLER’S NOTCH,
VERMONT
Still promising, but no longer simple.
Dates
Sep 8 – Sep 15, 2026
Miles to camp
80
(1,999mi travelled so far)
Weather
50-70
Sunny
Symptom Score
18
(baseline: 23)
WOuld we return
Yes
How I Felt
During our stay my average score was 18, not the confirmation of the success we had during our last stay here we were hoping for.
What We Did
Our return trip to the Smuggler’s Notch area of Vermont did not go as we hoped from a symptoms standpoint, but it was still an awesome visit exploring the area again. There was so much we didn’t get to in the first week we were here and it was great to have another week to spend in the area.
We started our week off with a trip to our favorite swimming hole: Rum Runner’s Hideaway. The swimming hole is part of Smuggler’s Notch Resort, but has public access from the road. A short 10 minute (and hilly) hike and you find yourself at the perfect swimming spot in the mountains.
On Friday we were lucky enough to catch the last of the summer’s (May to early Sept.) weekly South End Get Down block party in Burlington. The city closes off Pine street and fills it with live music, beer, food trucks, crafts and more. We caught a drum line performance and found some dinner at the food trucks.
Over the weekend we biked the Island Trail in Burlington which runs 5 miles out into Lake Champlain to South Hero. There is a channel at the end of the bike trail just before the island so you can’t ride the entire way unless you wait to take on of the free ferries. It was an awesome ride going out, but the wind was super intense the way back. The boys were champs though and rode close to 12 miles! After a ride like that we couldn’t help but head downtown Burlington to the Church Street Shopping district and grab the boys some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream to celebrate their hard work.
The next morning after the rain died down we headed out to the Stowe Recreation Path, which is a 5 mile paved trail that crosses West Branch of the Little River 10 times. It took us past the Stowe weekly farmer’s market and kids playing fall soccer in front of the Stowe Community Pool (the Swimming Hole). After lunch we hiked both sides of Bringham Falls in Smuggler’s Notch State Park and the Stowe Land Trust. The river was fast, clear and beautiful. The falls make all sorts of twists and turns as they go down a deep gorge in the side of the mountain.
Smuggler’s Notch is a truly beautiful area. Even though I experienced pretty intense symptoms it is possible that a location better situated than our campground could be a good fit for our family. It isn’t necessarily “the answer” but it stays on our list going forward.
Our Favorite Moment
Finding the “Enchanted Playground” hidden in the woods in the Stowe Resort during a weekday afternoon errand run
Observations
The Journey Continues
We are visiting 45 campgrounds in 300 days to find a place where our family thrives and my symptoms improve. Follow along as we share what we learn along the way
Graham Simplified
Scorecard
5 / 10
6 / 10
7 / 10
9 / 10
6 / 10
7 / 10
Yes
Overall
6
/ 10
- This campground was at about 811ft elevation in the Green Mountains surrounded by mixed hardwoods, grassy fields and sparse sub-canopy growth. The wind was pretty consistent and we had a couple of days of rain.
- Another good stop in a diverse ecological area continues to make me wonder about the impact of bioaerosols.
- I had another bad flare at the start of our time here, but I think that it was my fault, not the environment that caused it. I got too exicted about potentially relaxing my very strict low-histamine diet and I started adding back things like hummus, chocolate, preservatives and more. It was a thoughtless mistake and I am back on my strict (and boring) diet again.
- This second stay is probably worse than the first because it is a very different biological season. Late summer/early fall is when weed pollen, fungal spores, decaying vegetation, and agricultural bioaerosols are much higher than they were in early July. This possibly pushed me over my threshold even though PM2.5 and other standard measures look better.
- This second stay may reflect a seasonal late-summer/fall problem rather than the location being bad year-round, so it could still be a place where I feel substantially better for much of the year, which is still a win compared to where we were living in Michigan. It is also very likely that the campground is not the best place we could stay in the area. It is lower and near a wetland.
- We drove around this area a bit more and found that the Underhill VT area could potentially have the elevation, exposure, access to housing in our budget and schools that we are looking for.
Next we are headed to:
Freeport, Maine
Our goal is to test if we can get further away from the ocean and still get some benefit which would help with our housing budget.
