Insiders know that Vermont is best seen off the main roads and often on the back roads. Valley Quest has been leading families on structured discovery tours of the Upper Connecticut River Valley area for several years.

Now, some of these quests have been collected in a spiral-bound guidebook designed to be used outdoors. "Best of Valley Quest" is a collection of 70 treasure hunts modeled on the 150-year-old English rural pastime called "letterboxing."

About half the "quests" around the "Upper Valley" lead the reader to locations in Vermont and half to places in New Hampshire. At the end of each hunt the successful quester will find a "treasure box" containing a rubber stamp, a sign-in journal and a pencil. The adventurer then signs into the journal and uses the stamp to record in their own scrapbook, marking successful completion of the quest. That's the basic idea.

But the real reward is the quest itself, which invariably leads to a place of historical or natural interest, and proceeds through some interesting, perhaps even beautiful territory.

On the Grafton quest, for example, questers learn something about the natural environment of Vermont's hill country and a lot about the history of Grafton. The same is true of quests from Barnet and Newbury down to Woodstock and Plymouth. There are probably several years' worth of intriguing walks outlined here.

The school children, teachers, landowners and others who designed these quests have performed a genuine service and given something of real value to their communities. Their book is, in effect, a vital treasury of experiences.

Questing Guide
"Best of Valley Quest: Treasure Hunts to Special Places" Edited by Steven Glazer and Laura Dintino; 256 pages, paperbound, $24.95, Vital Communities, White River Junction