Wandering Home with Bill McKibben

For fall break this year I was fortunate enough to spend my time with the Rubright-Scott family in New Haven, Vermont, a beautiful area talked about in Bill McKibben’s book Wandering Home.  I got to drive through Ripton, Vermont, where McKibben begins his story. It is a tiny Vermont town home to Robert Frost’s small cabin. We stopped at a small general store and gas station in Ripton that overcharges prices because the owner claims “it’s better gas.” A little further down the road we stopped at the Bread Loaf Campus of Middlebury College, a school of English open during the summer months and a cross-country ski area in the winter, mentioned by McKibben in his book.  Even farther down the road is the Middlebury Snow Bowl, the local ski area for the college. Although not in the book, this is where McKibben spent much of his time skiing.

John Rubright managed the Middlebury Snow Bowl for 30 years before retiring in 2009, handling much of the ski trail grooming, lift maintenance, and snowmaking. Mr. Rubright showed me an article written by McKibben himself about Mr. Rubright’s work at the slopes for the Middlebury Alumni magazine from 2005. He talks mostly of getting ready for Middlebury’s Winter Carnival, two days of Nordic ski racing. The article reveals the anxiety of working at a place that relies heavily on very unreliable weather and what Mr. Rubright had to do to combat the sporadic winter temperatures and conditions.

            We continued our drive through New Haven, passing Mount Abe during the peak of fall foliage and the New Haven River, bubbling with water after all the heavy rainfall. Through Lincoln we drove to another small town general store, and up Lincoln Peak to the most beautiful view. Now I know why Mckibben lives and writes about this area. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

My view of Bristol, Vt
 July 2014

New Haven, VT
October 2014

On top of the Appalachian Gap
October 2014 

Middlebury Snow Bowl
October 2014