Everyone in Vermont has their favorite swimming hole so it’s my goal to try as many of them as possible to find my favorite.  For July’s OWA hike, we went to Little Rock Pond on the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail to get a hike and some swimming in.  Up the Mount Tabor Road/FS 10, there is a Big Branch picnic area with a nice view that we checked out after parking.

From there, we got on the Green Mountain Trail, a very lovely, well graded trail that gradually climbs up the side of Green Mountain.

There were a few more views along the way and at the top before descending a little more steeply to Little Rock Pond.

We found a good spot to swim right at the northeast end of the pond and jumped in, although it was cloudy and the air was slightly chilly.  The water wasn’t too bad though and we were quick to adjust to it.  It looked like there was a nice big rock to jump off of on the other side of the pond, but there were lots of people there so we were happy with our quieter spot.

After swimming for a bit and then drying off, we followed the LT/AT south back to the road, running into tons of people, when we hadn’t seen any on the Green Mountain Trail.

This is a great swimming hole, with a nice 4.7 mile hike in to help you get heated up and ready to jump in the water, and then an easy, flat 2.5 mile hike back out to the car.