Vermont’s Viscous Season

We are in the thick of it. Mud season, that is, and “thick” is not nearly a powerful enough word to describe the quality, texture, and sheer voluminousness of the soupy morass that now counts for roads throughout the Mad River Valley. 

Every year, locals exclaim that this is the worst mud season ever. But this year, it may well be. Several freeze/thaw cycles and lower-than-average snowfall drove the frost layer deep underground. As temperatures warm and ice on road surfaces melts, that impenetrable frost layer prevents the water from draining. The result is mud soup so thick it can suck the boots off your feet and strip the undercarriage right out of your car.

For the uninitiated, mud season typically occurs between snowmelt and Memorial Day. But in truth, mud season is better defined not by a time but by an experience—specifically, the experience of trying to maneuver on roads that have become impassable.

“The ruts on my road were thigh-deep,” the manager of a local country store said. She shrugged and added, “There was no way my truck was getting through. I rode my fat bike two miles to get here this morning.” She was not the only one at risk of being mudbound. A group of neighbors who live on a steep and especially rutted dirt road in Warren had to wait patiently at the bottom of their hill while the owner of a robust pick-up truck shuttled them up to their homes. Vermonters are nothing if not resourceful.

Hard-working road crew members have been working overtime to free stranded locals and visitors alike. But even these hardy and mud-savvy souls have been hampered this year as the weight of their road vehicles causes ruts so deep that the roadway behind them becomes impassable even as they work to repair the road ahead of them. 

Mud season is inconvenient, to be sure, and can be dangerous if the roads are so bad that emergency vehicles can’t get through. But just as quickly as mud season arrives, it departs. And for all the grumblings and cries about bringing Vermont into the 21st century and paving all the roads, the misery is forgotten with the onset of spring and the exuberant growing season. There’s no time to complain about mud when there are starter seeds to plant. Besides, mud season can’t possibly be as bad next year.