For the past several years, the Vermont Huts Association has worked to create a network of backcountry huts to give new and experienced explorers four walls of shelter in the farther reaches of Vermont’s forests.
The imagined hut-to-hut experience is one that already exists in states such as Maine and Colorado, and in other countries, such as Switzerland and New Zealand. It’s intended to create an accessible environment for anyone who is not fully prepared for more primitive camping, and to provide backcountry skiers with a warm spot to spend the night.
“Our whole mission is creating an enriching and immersive outdoor experience for everyone, and huts are a great way to do that,” said RJ Thompson, executive director of the Vermont Huts Association.
But the organization’s newest proposal — a 10-person, accessible hut with one and a half stories, a kitchen and heat, located 315 feet off the eastern shore of Silver Lake, a popular recreation spot in Addison County — has raised concerns among some nearby residents who fear the hut will contribute to overcrowding.
Silver Lake is within the 16,000-acre Moosalamoo National Recreation Area, which has 70 miles of trails, according to its website. The Moosalamoo Association oversees maintenance. National Recreation Areas, which are federally designated, are chosen and protected for their recreational assets.
With 11 huts already in their network — including one hut the organization owns and operates itself, called the Chittenden Brook Hut — several projects on the way and a successful 74% occupancy rate, advocates of a hut-to-hut system in Vermont aren’t far away from their goal.
But some fear the plan, and the huts more generally, will cause disturbance in otherwise serene venues and bother wildlife in the area. Silver Lake boasts a pair of nesting loons.
Galina Chernaya, a resident of Goshen, hikes to Silver Lake almost every day, including in winter. On a recent warm weekend, she said she had never seen the parking lot more crowded, with cars lining both sides of Route 53. She has spearheaded opposition to the hut, and she says the group communicates mainly over email and is loosely organized.
“People are very passionate about their views on preserving the place,” she said.
In addition to the overcrowding, Chernaya said the group is concerned about the archaeological significance of the site, where Native American artifacts have been found, and about potential fossil fuels used to heat the hut in the winter.
“The climate is changing, so we all, as citizens of this planet, should definitely think of using less than more, and we should teach our kids and our grandkids also to use less than more,” she said.
The hut would cost between $65 and $165 per night, and revenue left over from the operation of the hut would be split between the Moosalamoo Association and the Vermont Huts Association. Thompson estimates the profit would be between $5,000 and $10,000 per year.
Christopher Mattrick, a district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service who oversees the Moosalamoo area, said trucks would use existing maintenance routes to supply heating fuel. Vehicles already come in and out to maintain the privies at the site, he said.
Thompson said the association likely would choose propane as the heating source because of safety concerns about wood stoves, and because building a fire poses another barrier to entry for people new to the outdoors. Though propane is a fossil fuel, wood is not clean-burning, he said, and the group would be using efficient propane appliances.
Mattrick’s district includes the Chittenden Brook Hut, and he said he hasn’t seen “any issues arise with maintenance or concerns from other campers or anything like that.”
“It’s very popular,” he said. “It’s booked almost year-round.”
Proponents of the plan — namely the Vermont Huts Association and the Moosalamoo Association — expressed doubt the hut would significantly agitate an environment that already draws a significant amount of visitors, including campers, in the summer. The hut is intended to be used primarily by skiers in the winter, Thompson said.
Sue Hoxie, executive director of the Moosalamoo Association, said the hut will be equipped with sleeping pads and cooking utensils, lessening the amount hikers would have to carry. That could help young families or elderly hikers spend more time in the outdoors, she said.
Huts “create new points of access for folks who might not have the necessary gear in the backcountry,” Thompson said. “They allow for folks who have mobility issues to experience the outdoors. We also have a program called the FOREST program that brings underrepresented youth into our facility, free of charge.”
Staff with the Forest Service will complete a review of the proposed Silver Lake hut this summer, he said, and the review will include biologists and archaeologists who will determine if the hut would threaten the cultural or ecological legacy of the site.
A public comment period will likely begin in early June and last for 45 days, Mattrick said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story overstated the height of the proposed hut.
