Matthew Dickerson, Reprinted from the Addison Independent, March 9, 2000.
You don't often meet the owner of a ski touring center whose ambition is to insure that there will always be free skiing. That, however, is the goal of Tony Clark. Rather, it is one of his many goals which fall under the broader heading of "conservation".
For those who don't know him, Tony is the man behind The Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen. Having lived in both England and France, he came to Vermont in 1967. After teaching French in Burlington, he moved down to Goshen and opened the Inn in 1971. Asked why he did it, Tony responded simply, "I needed a way to stay in Vermont."
All it takes is one visit to Blueberry Hill, however, and you get a very strong impression that the man knows what he's doing as an Innkeeper. The Inn exudes hospitality, from the family-style dining room with 5-star meals, to the home-made bath salts, to the infamous chocolate chip cookies which sit in a never-empty cookie jar just off the kitchen. The Inn also boasts its own spring-fed trout pond and a sauna.
It was a few years after the Inn opened that ski-touring really began to explode (thanks in part to the growing expense of alpine skiing). By then Tony had become friends with some of the Von Trapps who recommended he start a Ski Touring center in central Vermont--hence the Blueberry Hill Ski Touring Center. The center sits at the heart of the Moosalamoo trail system which is one of the most comprehensive connected networks in Vermont. It includes portions of:
Indeed, the Moosalamoo trail system is a wonderful--though underutilized and underrecognized--resource. Cross-country skiers, for example, can take a four-night Inn-to-Inn tour without leaving the trails. After a night at the Chipman Inn in Ripton it's only 11 miles to Blueberry Hill: a moderate day on cross-country skis. Another12 miles brings you down to the Churchill House Inn in Brandon. Then a longer day of 15 miles to Mountain Top for the final night.
As development pressures continue to mount throughout Vermont, Tony is hopeful that the Moosalamoo trails will remain protected and well-managed. The fact that about 80% of the trails sit on Green Mountain National Forest land is a strong factor in his favor.
There are continuing issues that need to be resolved, however. One issue is the variety of recreational uses of the land. In recent years, ATVs, Mountain bikes, horses, and dog-sleds have joined cross-country skiers and snowmobilers in making use of the trails. Sometimes their interests are conflicting. Mountain bikes can chew up the trails pretty well. Horses and dog-sleds wreak even greater havoc. But Tony doesn't argue against those uses of the land. He simply seeks a way of dealing with these issues and potential conflicts in a way ultimately beneficial for all--and for the land itself. For example, twenty years ago similar conflicts existed between snowmobilers and cross-country skiers. On occasion reckless snowmobilers would buzz past skiers--some of whom responded by putting ropes across trails to harm the snowmobilers. Though the number of miscreants on both sides who engaged in such activities was a small percentage of the population, it created understandably bad feelings between the groups. However the advent of self-monitoring snowmobiling organizations such as VAST has done wonders for improving the image of snowmobiling by promoting responsible recreation. Now the groups not only coexist, but most cross-country skiers are fans of snowmobilers because of the well-groomed trails their machines leave behind.
In any case, Tony Clark is committed to working through these issues. He recently chaired a Governor-appointed forest recreation board. Five years ago he helped found the Moosalamoo foundation in order to take over trails and manage them with a no fee system. What legacy does he hope to leave? A simple one. "I want to make it possible to protect the land for generations to come."