Cady Hill Revisited

On Saturday, on my way up to the Trapp Family Lodge, I stopped for an afternoon ride at Cady Hill. The parking lot was packed!

Part One 

I rode up to the Green Chair Overlook and stopped to chat with a few other mountain bikers.

The weather was kind of hot but not too bad. The problem was it was pretty humid in the woods...

Green Chair Overlook

Pausing on the Snake Trail ascent

Looking down on some of Snake Trail's switchbacks

Part Two

After ascending Snake, I decided to check out the Schween Loops and a couple of bikers I talked to recommended the outer loop (rather than the inner). It was pretty hard but doable if you knew the trail. A combination of a steady climb along with an unbelievable amount of roots and moguls made it tough going. Fortunately once you finish that slog, there is a rapid fairly flowy descent. Ooo yeah!

The rest of the ride out was an amazing bomb on mainly super flowing contoured trails. The final descent on Bear's is truly unbelievable  - it is hard to imagine you have ascended that much as the descant seems to go on forever! :-)

Further Info

Cady Hill Forest

Stowe - Cady Hill Trails

After a short visit to the Perry Hill entrance, I decided to forgo that ride today as it was lunchtime and getting kinda hot. I drove back to the Waterbury Train station--which is truly awesome--and visited the history exhibit there. Nearby was a small cafe where I had a "non-alcoholic" lunch. [Too many awesome pubs further up the street had great beer but I didn't want to get lethargic because I decided at that point to ride Cady Hill instead.]

The Ride

I opted to ride in from the south side this year instead (last year I went in from the parking lot on Mountain Road) but there was only one entrance on Cady Hill Road where you could park.

On Cady Hill Road there's a small space to park where a trail begins. The first trail section is labeled "On Private Property" but it quickly joins up with Charlie's (at that intersection is where I saw the "On Private Property" sign)

Where I parked and rode in

Charlie's 

Charlie's is tough but doable. There are a lot of roots and sudden switchbacks on hills.

Charlie's

Zog's is great once you get past a series of tough climbs.  I was not in the mood to wear myself out so I did the Walk of Shame on most of those hills until I got to this spot.

Zog's after the climbs

Zog's

I was aiming to ride the various Schween Loops but there wasn't any signage so I inadvertently veered off my intended path. Once I unexpectedly came to a street, I turned on the GPS and realized I was way over at East Shaw Hill! $&@$%$!! Yikes!

But (as I indicated on the map) the trails were wonderful. I started MapMyRide and retraced my way back on the same trails I had taken. These trails were rooty, traversing primarily thru Conifers. There were lots of moguls but the hills were gradual and the flow was real good. It was great to ride :-)

Great trail!!

Which way, dude?

Finally, I climbed back up Cady Hill Connector -- which is a pretty easy double track and found Florence. I knew this was my fun-filled ticket out on the park. Florence is a machine-built Flow Trail.
I had to force myself to stop and take this photo - you can't help but fly!

Check out this GoPro WebCam (not mine!) to get an idea of the ride

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KJUXYoiz0Q

One of many berms (20?) 

Close-up of berm - these were solid!

At the end of my Florence run where it meets Charlie's,  I paused for a photo shoot. The downhill run went by in a flash - a fitting way to close out this visit. Woo-eee!

End of Florence

Cady Hill Forest

After riding the Island Rail Trail in Burlington (late morning), I grabbed lunch in Burlington and headed back to Stowe and got started here at 3 PM. I was here 4 years ago with my son back when it was still a purposely semi-secret place. Well things drastically changed (for the better!) and now--not only is the place recognized as “official”--but there has been considerably more trails added.

Simply put - it is freakin’ awesome...

Entrance on Mountain Road

After a strenuous but do-able one-way climb thru a series of switchbacks, you get to an intersection and your choice of riding fun begins...

Great Singletrack!

the climb...

well labeled intersections
(straight ahead - the climb to the "chair")

I opted to head up to the green chair, which I remembered from my previous visit. It's at the top of the first mountain. A chair from a ski lift was randomly hung here years ago and by looking thru the chair you can see the Mt Mansfield ski trails. Sadly that section of the photo got bleached out by the sun :-(

the "chair"

There are some rough hewn rock outcroppings here and there which you can ride (I simply chose the B line) and there is constant climbing and roots and twists and turns everywhere you go.

terrain features

Much of the higher ground is a tall pine forest so you have that lovely lack of undergrowth...just a lush bed of pine needles on the ground all around. All these side trails are "old school" and fun but challenging to ride.

nice "old school" trail

The trail aptly named "Bridgey" has quite a few boardwalks to traverse.

check out the bridge/boardwalk

After finding the trail "Zog", I planned on heading out (I was bushed!) but noticed the sculpted trail off to the side that wasn't on the map. Man... this was amazing!  I--without even trying--end up flying down a series of huge sculpted berms and curves at probably close to 30 mph! I end up back on Zog and had to slog back up but it was worth it.

just made >>  new flow trail - berms galore!!!

The rest of the main trail out-- on the Cady Hill connector-- once in the downhill section--was professionally sculpted as well and another fast bomb :-)

Lastly, the one-way out on Bear's Trail seemed to last forever. A series of switchbacks took me back down to the parking lot and I realized just how much the climb was to get into the park! Phew! For a change, it felt like I had done more descending then ascending!

Once in the parking lot, I chatted with another rider who said the sculpted trail I rode next to Zog's was just finished yesterday! Boy was I a lucky dude :-)

Short Video