Pages

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Brattleboro Area Mountain Biking

A two-night trip to beautiful Southern Vermont this past weekend with my friend Steve. Our main goal was to ride the well-known Retreat Trails just outside Brattleboro (practically speaking, the capital of the southern part of the state).

We stayed at Fort Dummer State Park, just south of Brattleboro and less than an hour from our front doors. A warm-up ride before Steve arrived revealed an 1810 slate quarry and a nice long view from a hilltop right in the park.



The retreat trails, just barely north of town, were mostly nicely shaded, and featured lots of sharp ups and downs—and stone walls, this being New England.


The central feature of the area is the Harris Hill Ski Jump, which an enterprising local built in the 1950s, and which has been in use since. There is a big jumping event there every February. I'm guessing the participants need to climb those stairs every time they want to jump. Oof.


What looks like a small water slide at the top is a very long ramp. Air speeds reach 60 mph.


The heat was well upon us by midday, so we opted for a nearly-chilly swimming hole along Route 30 north of town. Delightfully restful.


Steve had to make for home that afternoon, so I camped solo that night and, in the morning, headed a touch west to picturesque Guilford. It takes about ten minutes to feel like you're deliciously in the middle of nowhere. I had no route chosen; I just knew there were plentiful dirt roads in the area. I drove until I found a promising one: Sweet Pond Road.


Though the promised pond turned out to have been drained recently (much to my overheated dismay), the views were worth the very serious climbs.



I can't recommend Sweet Pond Road and Packer Corners Road highly enough. All dirt, all gorgeous, all challenging, all rewarding. There was even chainsaw art by the side of the road...


...and a stand full of free detritus that was somehow very sweet and very Vermont. Water-logged fabric softener sheets and vintage View Master discs were all for the taking.


At the end of the ride, a genuine treasure: a new lunch place, the Guilford Country Store. Excellent sandwich, and gluten-free, no less!


I'll most certainly be back to the Bratt for riding, and soon.



12 comments:

  1. Harry this is long overdue. You inspired me to get back into mountain biking. It started with me googling salsa vaya in 2013 and I haven't looked back since. Thank you so much, I noticed you don't always get a lot of comments , but that doesn't mean people don't appreciate what you do, maybe some are like me and suck at punctuation and don't type a lot but your blogs inspire me thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MP, thank you for your gratitude. I often wonder if people are getting anything out of this. Let me know how mountain biking works out for you; it's certainly a good way to get a whole other world of fun out of two wheels.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mountain bike disc brakes also work much better under adverse conditions. This is because they are located at the center of the wheel.cruiser bike reviews

    ReplyDelete
  4. Motorcycles presently are typically made of adjustable forks, steel, aluminum outlines which hold the front haggles brakes. Power motors normally comprise of four barrels and, less regularly, up to eight chambers, combined with a manual five or six speed successive transmission, which drives the swing arm mounted back wheel by a chain, driveshaft or belt.tie-downs nylon webbing

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your website is really cool and this is a great inspiring article. Best Mountain Bikes Under 300

    ReplyDelete
  6. Howdy! I just want to give an enormous thumbs up for the great information you might have here on this post. I will likely be coming back to your weblog for more soon. fixed cost oil tank removal

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you for the sharing good knowledge and information its very helpful and understanding. As we are looking for this information since long time.
    buy clomiphene
    buy liquid clomi
    buy liquid clomiphene

    ReplyDelete
  8. Its an extraordinary delight perusing your post.Its loaded with data I am searching for and I want to post a remark that "The substance of your post is marvelous" Great work. oil tank inspection

    ReplyDelete
  9. Extremely fascinating online journal. Alot of online journals I see nowadays don't generally give anything that I'm keen on, however I'm most definately intrigued by this one. Recently felt that I would post and let you know. Google Outlook Sync

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is my first time i visit here. I discovered such a large number of fascinating stuff in your online journal particularly its dialog. From the huge amounts of remarks on your articles, I figure I am by all account not the only one having all the satisfaction here! keep doing awesome...
    mealpost

    ReplyDelete
  11. Awesome post I might want to thank you for colon cleanse the endeavors you have made in composing this intriguing and educated article.

    ReplyDelete