It is not often that I can truly say that i have recently undertaken something of such epic proportions, of mind bending beauty, of humanity shifting consequences as I can today. Along with my first ever touring buddy, we ventured into the wilds of the wild Vermont. A place where many have been forgotten, a place of hidden spots that speak of days of yore, of prehistoric times. A few still staggering dinosaurs and land walking whales roam these parts. We toured the Northeast Kingdom.
Leaving from the hamlet of Burlington, we headed north to St. Albans where they announce your right to cross the street by blowing an air horn and scaring you into running for your life, hence crossing the street. Being that small town Vermont is small town Vermont, there isn't much more to say. From here, we followed the Missaquoia Valley rail trail by not following it to Enosburg where we got coffee and heard the tale of a bank being robbed over 4 times in 4 years. Nice. Finishing up the rail trail (over 26 miles) we got to Richmond. Richmond has a sunny side and then a not as nice sunny side. Stopping at the 2nd best bakery in town we were told of a farm where we could camp (never found it) and also told that we will be encountering a mountain climb as unbeknown to us, we had to circumvent Jay mountain, a huge skiing resort. We decided to tackle the impossible climb of impossibility. Nearly an hour and a half later we hit the pass, and freewheeled what may be one of the best downhills to grace this wonderful world. Nearly 10 minutes of eye tearing amazement as we bombed down the
side of this mountain to our resting place for the day, Paddie's Snack Shack in North Troy.
We camped next to the train tracks which anywhere else would never have produced a train, but for us did. A rumbling freight train. Twice. Early the next morning, awaking to fresh blue skies, twittering birds of all sounds and sizes, we packed camp and headed off for a day full of mountain lakes and true Kingdom beauty. We cruised by nearly 6 lakes of various sizes and shapes of blue, but all numbed us from their crucial beauty. As we wound out way around the Kingdom we decided to make a path towards Glover where the infamous Bread & Puppet farm/theater/museum/etc is located. After finding our way to their uphill aboded, we spent the late afternoon and evening in the farm and woods, and enjoyed a shared dinner and saw some blighty potatoes getting burned before calling it a night and hitting the hay in our wooded campsite. A wonderful night of uninterrupted sleep followed and we woke up warm and refreshed the next morning. Yay!!!
To see the full range of crucial photos, check i say check them out by clicking here
2 comments:
This is a crucially beautiful account of a crucially beautiful experience.
You could almost inspire me to climb Mount Jay. Almost
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