Vermont Huts & Trails to mark 10 years; Waterbury hut project delayed until 2027
June 8, 2026 | By Lisa Scagliotti
The Chittenden Brook Hut in the Green Mountain National Forest was the first built on the Vermont Huts & Trails network. Photo by Katie Lozancich
The Waterbury-based nonprofit backcountry access organization Vermont Huts & Trails marks its 10th anniversary this summer and plans a celebration on Thursday, June 18, at the West Monitor Barn in Richmond.
The community is invited to this special event that will both look back at the group’s decade of groundbreaking work in outdoor recreation, conservation and accessibility and look ahead to some of its activities on the horizon, including adding a historic cabin in Waterbury to its hut network, now expected in 2027.
The celebration will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps Barn (located at 1949 E. Main St./U.S. Rt. 2 in Richmond). It will include live music from the band The Grift, pizza from Woodbelly, a silent auction, and prizes. Space is limited with advance tickets available online at vermonthuts.org/10th-anniversary.
In announcing the celebration, Vermont Huts & Trails leaders reflected on the organization’s genesis from a July 2016 meeting at the Green Mountain Club headquarters in Waterbury Center. A group of outdoors enthusiasts gathered to discuss the idea of a year-round hut network across the state. A month later, co-founders RJ Thompson and Devin Littlefield had officially incorporated the Vermont Huts Association as a nonprofit entity. Thompson today serves as the organization’s executive director.
The group’s first hut was the Vermont River Conservancy’s Nulhegan Confluence Hut, which joined the network in August 2018. A month later, Vermont Huts opened the Chittenden Brook Hut in Green Mountain National Forest. It was constructed off-site by students at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School and designed to be ADA-friendly and accessible to a diverse range of guests.
Since then, Vermont Huts & Trails has branched out from its original vision, adding to its projects the Velomont Trail, which began in 2019 in collaboration with Vermont Mountain Bike Association chapters. Envisioned to someday be a more than 400-mile trail network, the trail already provides a multi-day, hut-supported bike route through the Green Mountains.
In 2020, Vermont Huts & Trails began what it calls its F.O.R.E.S.T. Program – short for Fostering Outdoor Recreation, Education, Sustainability, and Teamwork. This initiative provides free hut retreats, including transportation, gear, food, and outdoor education, to underserved youth and historically marginalized communities.
The Vt. Huts newest hut, Grout Pond Hut, also is in the Green Mountain National Forest. Courtesy photo
Since its start, Vermont Huts & Trails says it has:
Accommodated more than 60,000 hut guests.
Grown to a network of 19 huts
Built more than 32 miles of new and/or improved Velomont Trail
Hosted nearly 300 F.O.R.E.S.T. participants.
“Ten years ago, we set out to build a hut. But together, we’ve built a lot more than that,” Thompson said. “We’re grateful that so many people believe, as we do, in the positive impact outdoor recreation can have on people, their communities, the environment, and local economies.”
As Vermont Huts & Trails continues to maintain its ongoing efforts, it also is looking to continue to grow. The group says upcoming projects include renovating a building it has acquired in Randolph to become an ADA-friendly hostel for outdoor adventurers and travelers. An extension of the Velomont Trail is also in the works following approval late last year from the U.S. Forest Service for use of some 72 miles of National Forest System trails in the Manchester Ranger District and more than 30 miles of trail in the Rochester District. The new terrain will allow the Velomont to connect Rochester and Killington.
The organization will also start building what will be called the South Pond Hut in the Green Mountain National Forest. That structure is intended to be a stopping point along the Velomont Trail and Catamount Trail.
Goodell House project moved to 2027
This file photo from 2021 shows the Goodell House today with a protective tarp covering the roof and windows boarded shut. Photo by Dani Kehlmann
A Waterbury project is also on the group’s to-do list, but work anticipated for this year has not panned out.
For the past seven years, the huts group has been working on a plan with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation to add the historic 1860s Goodell House at Little River State Park to its network.
Last summer, the state announced that it had approved the relocation and preservation of the Ricker Mountain structure to a new site at the state park as part of the state forest management plan. The wooden cabin is the last remaining building from the once-thriving 19th-century mill and farm community near the Little River.
Under the arrangement, the state would retain ownership of the cabin and Vermont Huts & Trails would relocate, restore, and maintain the Goodell House as part of its hut network for public use.
Work was to begin on the restoration project this spring, but establishing the long-term contract between the state and Vermont Huts & Trails has taken longer than anticipated.
“To ensure the reconstructed Goodell House would remain open to the public for decades of use, Vermont Huts & Trails requested a long-term lease agreement with [the state],” Thompson explained.
Such an agreement needed legislative approval, which it has recently received. “The good news is, it looks like the lease is just about ready to go, and once both parties have signed, we can get back to work with our environmental permitting for the project,” he said. “That means we are unlikely to break ground on construction this field season, but we should be ready to roll in 2027.”
Find more information online at Vermont Huts & Trails.