The Chickering Bog is located just 10 miles from Vermont's tiny capital, Montpelier. It has been there a long time. As the glaciers receded 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, a huge check of ice was left in a depression carved by the glacier, creating a pond. Vegetation grew in the pond, died and decomposed slowly into peat providing a base for other plants to survive.
Chickering Bog is a misnomer. It's a fen. The difference being the source of the water. Bogs rely solely on rainwater whereas fens, in addition to rainwater, get groundwater which picks up nutrients as it passes over bedrock. This allows fens to be more nutrient rich and more alkaline that acidic bogs. This fen has an inlet, outlet and a small pond visible from the boardwalk.
Pitcher plants grow here and I was surprised to see small Pitcher plans popping through the Sphagnum moss beside the boardwalk. This fen is 10 acres and considered a Class 1 wetland.
It looks like you could just walk out there. Your first step would involve sinking into the peat. How far? I don't car to find out. This fen has been measured at 24.5 feet deep beside the boardwalk and up to 30 feet in other areas.
Bob Klein was a former director of The Nature Conservancy, the current land owner. In 1982, TNC approached one of the owners, Art and Jo Chickering. They sold 30 acres. Another local land owner sold 29 acres. In 1990 the Chickerings donated an additional 75 areas. By 2014, TNC had acquired 220 acres and public access was permitted.
The trail to the fen is about 1 mile through a Spruce/Fir/Tamarack forest. Look for the stone staircase along the snowmobile trail to find the fen.
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