Exploring Vermont Rail Trails - Day 3 (of 4)

Day 3 (Lake Champlain - Waterbury, 130km or 81mi)

I was lying in my tent trying to fall asleep, thinking about coming rain. Since I hate packing wet stuff in the morning, I figured I could probably avoid this by bending the rules a bit. Deep at night I decided to move my tent (freestanding tents are easy to move) and bike inside the "breakout room" at the campground. It was nothing more than an old shed with some pool tables and arcade machines inside, but I figured that nobody will play there at 2am. I was lucky. Soon after I managed to hide inside, it started to rain. Heavily.

I woke up at 6:15am ready to start the day. Unfortunately, it was still pouring outside. I started packing up my stuff and wrapping everything in plastic bags. By 7:25am I was ready to go, if only weather was a bit more cooperative. The forecast said it would stop raining by 11am but there was no way I could wait for that. I zipped up my jacket and rolled on.

As expected, pretty soon I was all wet. That didn't really bother me that much. It was that kind of weather with steady rain yet warm and even when wet I wasn't cold and felt surprisingly comfortable. I did discovered a couple of issues with my setup though. One was that I had my camera in a hip bag, which was getting wet and muddy from the splash coming from the rear tire. I slid the hip bag over to the front, placing it on my belly which took care of that problem, but then I thought it would be really good to have a simple plastic, lightweight fender" attached to the bottom of saddle bag, protecting my butt and lower back.

The best decision of the trip was to take sandals instead of regular shoes. Sandals are absolutely the best as long as temperature allows it. No need to worry about soaked shoes and wet socks.

Once I got back to Swanton I simply continued on Lamoille Valley Rail Trail - the second one of rail trails planned for this trip. The section from Swanton to Sheldon Junction is still not officially open I think, but it's very usable, being nicely graded and finished with red crushed fine stone.

The more adventurous part starts after you cross the renovated rail bridge on Missisquoi River. From here the trail is officially not on map and it seems to be used mainly by snowmobiles in winter. It's often narrow, muddy and flooded in places, with lots of chunky gravel on others.

It's definitely useable for cycling, as long as you bring your mountain bike. Just be careful with bridges - there are many on the trail and most are in decent condition, with only a couple in a derelict state. Officially, in these places the trail is closed (which is properly marked), but you can still cross on your own risk. Just don't step on rotten wood beams.

This rough trail section continues all the way to Jeffersonville, at which point the trail becomes more civilized again and the officially open section begins. At that time it was about noon and rain stopped. My jacket and bike started to dry off and I raced along the flat path towards Morrisville. I was getting hungry and was very excited to arrive at Lost Nation Brewing around 1:45pm, where they serve excellent beer and really good food as well.

Once refueled, I continued south towards Stowe and Waterbury, taking a more scenic route away from the main road (Rt100) to avoid car traffic. At Waterbury I really wanted to visit Prohibition Pig bar, I heard so many good things about but I wasn't hungry nor thirsty and it was getting a bit late, so I decided to move towards the campground.

After arriving at Little River State Park I was told that campground was full and sold out. That's not something you want to hear after biking over 80mi in rain. Fortunately, after a while and some negotiations it turned out that someone was leaving early and I got a spot. I set my tent up, cooked a dinner, took a shower (good I had 2 quarters left!) and hang all food and soap in a bag on a tree. Just in case some teddy bear was going to visit at night.

That night felt much cooler and air was crisp and fresh. The rain must have pushed all the humidity away. It was going to be a cool night.