Sparse lodging options in Dont

Dissonance

Reasonable & Prudent

Lil Dewey

Chirstmas Quest 2026 - Second Leg

She honed in on the Old Red Mill even while skipping the red (for the mill) meets brown (Brown's River) clue. I didn't realize the mill actually houses the Snowflake Bentley museum, my intention was just to narrow it down to Jericho. Adding the museum to the rainy day list. Clue 4 was the one most likely to see any foot traffic and I was nervous it might not have survived the night but sure enough she reached the sign at the beaver pond, went 10 paces east, and pulled the bag from under the tree. 

Next to Jericho Ale & Bean to solve the crossword over pints of the Vermont Brewer's Association 30th anniversary english ale. I tried to tempt her with the bonus hint shots at every slight hang up, and eventually managed to trade one shot for two small hints to get her across the finish line. After a bit more liquid courage she went and gave the passcode to the awesome bartender who was in on my scheme and passed over the second gift and sixth clue. 

It turns out writing substitution ciphers is half the battle. Realized part way through that I had made a couple mistakes that made it impossible to solve. Freebie letter and a penalty shot for me, gotta honor the sanctity of the quest. The secret message combined with the passcode and the coordinates from what3words.com (huge shoutout to Brian Staveley for the find and general quest-setting mentorship) gave her the next location, but accessing it was a bit of a puzzle in its own right. 

She opted for the sand pit trespass (very proud of this) and driving directly to the trailhead in over half a foot of snow. Braved tetanus and mouse poop to retrieve the final clue which was a short message and some gps coordinates. While she reasoned on how best to reach them I went and snuck into the gutted barn we caught sight of a few hundred feet away. Empty except for a circle of chairs on the second floor, bit weird. 

Her first inclination was to go to the Catamount center but was put off by my guidance that we would have to bushwhack on the side of any groomed nordic trails. Second choice was to continue down the sand pit road to the next VAST crossing but we were thwarted by a fence. So we parked all the way at the northern end, did our penalty shots, and set off into the woods. Made it about a third of the way before she said "Fuck VAST" and took a hard left into the woods to straightline it, sliding down an embankment and crossing a stream not 30 feet from a very lovely bridge 😂 But she persevered and made it all the way to the cave where she claimed the final prize and we made it back to the car with just enough daylight to not need headlamps. Calling this a major success and already starting to brainstorm on how to level it up next year...

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Sam Wallis

Chirstmas Quest 2026 - Second Leg

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Sparse lodging options in Dont

Dissonance

Reasonable & Prudent

Lil Dewey

Chirstmas Quest 2026 - Second Leg

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