I awoke early Sunday Morning and walked to the Trapp Family "wedding platform" to play my Native American flutes. The residual fog in the valley is always beautiful.
What's cool is I actually had a musical "conversation" with a hawk. As I played the flute (with backing tracks from my cellphone channelled thru a mini battery-powered amp), I heard the strange noises that I wasn't used to hearing. I stopped the backing tracks and played solo flute. Sure enough, a hawk would call back to me only if I played a certain set of notes. If I stopped playing, no response. If I played the lower register of notes - no response. But if I played notes in the mid to high register - the hawk would caw back!
Perry Hill
Next I went to my favorite riding spot: Perry Hill/Rasta Mtn in Waterbury. This time not to bike but to give my extended Family (my sister and the Ashtons) a mini hiking tour of the place.
As mentioned a few years back, they built a sculpted reroute of this section of the trail. Here's a comparison
Years ago
Now
this crazy steep section is now blocked off and the trail turns to the right
The ascent on a bike is still a ball buster but as you can imagine... the descent is pure nirvana!
We veered off the descent at the aptly-named Disneyland section of the park and enjoyed the incredible ambiance of trees, ferns and the play of sunlight on all of the greenery. I played flute to the squirrels and Rick generously took the time to film me - a couple of snippets will be eventually posted on YouTube.
I tried to take them down a gully I remembered that led to a very picturesque rock outcropping but there was a new trail put in since my last visit that confused me so we turned around at this point. Needless to say, the new trail is another masterpiece which I have put on my agenda to ride.
Foamers?
Lastly, Rick Ashton is such a kindred spirit and a fellow railroad enthusiast! We spotted what looked like railroad cars way down on a siding and had to go check them out.
On my annual end-of-August pilgrimage to Stowe VT, I decided to stop and ride the Retreat Trails in Brattleboro. I've ridden them twice before. Once, ages ago with my son we wandered around the section by Cedar St. and only a few years back I rode up from the Retreat Farm on Morningside Trail. This time I decided to start from the entrance up on Upper Dummerson Road.
It was a little weird at the start because the trail was roped off (no photo) but I ducked under the rope and rode uphill for a long stretch along the edge of a field. There were a short jaunt through the woods and over a bridge and I ended up in another field. My intention to take the Ice Road Trail all the way to the Pond. Once I hit the dirt trail tread in the woods, I realized my back tire pressure was low but I had no desire to ride back down to pump it up (I keep a pump in the car) so I forged on with caution...
short woods jaunt (there's a bridge ahead)
But where next to go was a complete confusion and I ended up down on a lower section of Morningside! There was no signage and no trail tread to follow over the fields.@$#@#@
lower section of Morningside
But after riding back up and trying another choice I didn't end up on Ice Road (my intention) but a well-traversed section of Morningside. It was stunningly beautiful so I thought: what the heck - just enjoy the detour! :-)
I rode up on Morningside and Roundabout (not really sure where I was half the time!) but Idid finally end up at my intended destination: the Ice Pond.
The ride back down on Ice Road was freakin' awesome - single track with many sections of serious flow. It's a great place to ride and next year I plan on spending more time here.
Whetstone
Of course any visit to Brattleboro is not complete without a burger and beer at Whetstone - it’s an old converted mill right on the river next to the railroad tracks - very cool!!
Trapp
I arrived at the Trapp Family Lodge later than intended but I did get a short ride in on the easy lower trails. The evening sunlight on the beech trees was beautiful!!
Every August, I take an Annual Pilgrimage to northern Vermont.
-Saturday August 25th-
Brattleboro
I always like to stop in Brattleboro for lunch. Right past the train statin, by the edge of the river is a wonderful brew pub converted from an old mill. A double IPA and grub while chowing down by the edge of the river was wonderful!
An Amtrak passenger train came cruising thru as well.
The view back up the hill to town reveals a waterfall.
Trapp Trails
That evening I rode the Trapp Family trails below the Resort. They are easy but always a blast.
-Sunday August 26th-
Perry Hill / Rasta Mtn
My personal nirvana is Rasta Mountain in Waterbury. Joe's and Campfire are my all time favorite trail(s).
The initial climb up is always the biggest challenge. It has been redesigned and there's now a series of sculpted berms/switchbacks that make the climb almost manageable.
Once past the new section, these mini berms make this section of the climb much more interesting and sustainable.
I veered off the main doubletrack and continued climbing up a much more fun single track.
I ended up somewhere on Joe's or Campfire at this slick rock section. As I looked down I noticed the trail was much more sculpted than I remembered - there was obviously a lot of TLC and work put in to "refining this descent" in the last couple of years...
The descent is one non-stop orgy of amazing flow and breath-taking scenery. I had to force myself to stop and snap this photo!
3/4s of the way down you start to ride along the edges of ravines. The next two photos illustrate right and left of a typical gully/ravine.
Before the final descent, I wandered over to an area on a trail aptly named Disneyland. The fern undercover and the sun shining thru the thin canopy is magic...
Curiosity made me notice the railroad was doubletracked here.
Before leaving the park - I zoomed around the mini mogul area at the entrance,. It was hotter than hell but I was still charged up from the descent (despite the fact that someone's stupid dog walked in front of me on those nice berms near the bottom!!!!)
Tunnel Flute Playing
Finally, I put the bike back on the car rack and returned to the tunnel with my mini Native American flute and noodled around a bit . At 1:04, a couple of mountain bikers ride by and voiced their approval...
Sadly on Friday, the weather was crappy as well: cold, windy and very overcast most of the day but I finally rode Kingdom Trails again. It was 5 or six years back when I rode Kingdom with my son and its really the Mecca of Cross-County Mountain Bike Riding.
I ended up driving on every single friggin’ back country dirt road between Stowe and East Burke thanks to Google Maps giving me the shortest route (ARRGH) but by around 11 Am I was riding.
This lovely artifact was in the parking lot!
Once I signed in, as is customary, the staff gave me a map and drew a recommended route for me from my suggestions.
I then slogged up Uptown (I think that was its name). Its the new trail that keeps you off of the road for a bit, then I continued up on Herbs. At the end of Herbs, I veered south and rode Riverwood, then continued up (!) on Pines.
Oops - suddenly I realized these were the recommended trails for the long loop at the end of the day so I headed back north on Worth It then up the road to the Inn.
Heading to the north section, I grabbed Poundcake then Coronoary Bypass. Yikes... the descent on Coronoary Bypass was ridiculously amazing!!!
After recovering my senses (returning from Cloud Nine!) I continued on to Pastore Point. This was one of my preferred trails cuz of all of the roots (no I am not a masochist :-) ). Took a small spill on a large root and didn't realized until later that I lost my apple that was tethered to my handle bars - oh well!
Then it was a bit of a hike-a-bike up Coronary (I was already getting a bit bushed) but I was quickly rewarded with flying down Troll Stroll (ooo yeah baby!!!).
I took a breather midway thru Eager Beaver and heard the train roll by right behind me, then it was on to Webs (required a short jog back north). I remembered this trail well from my times with my son, It is glorious!
Then a long haul on some double track (lots of hills) and although my intentions were to ride Sidewinder-- I was out of water. I had forgotten my Camelbak (duh!) and had only a now-empty bottle in my cage.
I paused at the "Market Cafe" area expecting to chow down a bit and get water but it is only open on the weekends so I hammered up Old Webs (another magnificent trail) and found water at the Pavilion. This Pavilion wasn't there year ago when I rode with my son!
A quick trek up the Chapel where the wind was practically blowing you over...
Then down to Knob and the East River Branch. For a while it was practically dark in the forest but occasionally the sun would poke thru for a bit and then disappear. East River Branch was another of the requested trails on the route and it did not disappoint!
But by this time I was getting evermore bushed (and the East River Branch Trail is notoriously up and down) so I rode the VAST easy trail all the way to Kitchell and flew down those berms like there was no tomorrow.
Once back by the car, I grabbed a beer and a burrito at the Tiki Bar and Food Truck. None of this existed years ago when I was here with my son Greg!
Although I didn't get to Heaven's Gate this time - it did feel as though I had reached heaven at a few points on my ride. Kingdom Trails never disappoints!
