Hiker enjoying the sites at High Pond Preserve. Tell Us About Your Visit   Sign our digital Preserve Visitors Log and tell us what you thought about this preserve or read what others have to say about their visit! Visitor Information A new one-mile trail leading from the entrance of the preserve to High Pond itself was built with the assistance of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps in 2005. More information and directions to this natural area. Get Involved Would you like to get outside and help nature at the same time? Our stewardship staff holds volunteer work days here and around the state. Check out our volunteer page.

Located in the northernmost corner of Vermont’s Taconic Mountains, High Pond Preserve is a haven for wildlife like large-ranging mammals and birds. It also supports a number of plant communities that reflect both boreal and more southern affinities.

Size
2,977 acres

What to see: plants
Mixed northern hardwood is the most common forest type in the High Pond Preserve, composed of maples, birches, ash, oaks, cherry, and hemlock, among other species.  Another feature of the preserve is the community of old growth hemlock, one of fewer than ten of its size and age that can be found in Vermont, a nearly pure stand of chestnut oak, and a distinctive, fire-influenced red pine community high on the ridge beside High Pond.

What to see: animals
A number of mammals such as bobcat, fisher, and bear can be found at High Pond Preserve, as well as birds like the pileated woodpecker and the black-backed woodpecker.  There is also an abundance of amphibians in the vernal pools and the ponds of the preserve.

What The Nature Conservancy is doing
High Pond Preserve is owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy of Vermont. The preserve was originally established through the generosity of the late W. Douglas Burden, a conservationist and explorer who lived in Charlotte, Vermont.

Visitor information
With the help of a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps team, the Conservancy recently created a one-mile visitor’s trail to High Pond. The trail leads through the preserve to High Pond itself, passing through a number of different forest communities including a hemlock ravine and mature northern hardwood forest with abundant black birch. Please read our preserve visitation guidelines. 

Directions
From the north: come down Rt. 7 into Middlebury and take Rt. 30 South. Monument Hill Road will be on your left, approximately 6 miles from Sudbury village. You will pass Lake Hortonia on your left about halfway down, then you will pass though Hubbardton Gulf and come out onto the flats. Shortly after passing Black Pond Rd on your right is Monument Hill Rd. Follow this road uphill approximately 3 miles to Ganson Hill Road, which will be the first real left turn you can make off Monument Hill Road. There is a large house at the intersection. Head up Ganson Hill Road until you come to the parking area on the left.  A trail will be on the opposite side of the road about 100 feet further down the road.
 
From the south: take route 30 north. From that intersection, Monument Hill Road is +/- 7.5 miles north, on the right, just past the northernmost end of Lake Bomoseen. Follow this road uphill approximately 3 miles to Ganson Hill Road, which will be the first real left turn you can make off Monument Hill Road. There is a large house at the intersection. Head up Ganson Hill Road until you come to the parking area on the left.  A trail will be on the opposite side of the road about 100 feet further down the road.

From other points: take Route 4 West, getting off at Exit 5. Turn right from the exit ramp onto East Hubbardton Road; you may see a sign for the Hubbardton Battlefield historic site. Follow this road approximately 10 miles to Ganson Hill Road. You will pass the battlefield site at about the halfway point. As the road rises, then levels off and the woods close in, you will see High Pond Road on your right. A very short distance beyond is Ganson Hill Road, also on your right.  Both roads have street signs. Head up Ganson Hill Road until you come to the parking area on the left.  A trail will be on the opposite side of the road about 100 feet further down the road.

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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Sarah Wakefield/The Nature Conservancy (Visitor at High Pond Preserve).