The destination was the Vermont side of Lake Champlain close to Burlington. Lake Champlain is a large lake that stretches 125 miles from the top of Lake George all the way into Canada and is 14 miles at it widest. The lake has many big and small islands and is surrounding by mountains on both sides. It is an extremely picturesque place with a lot of interesting things to see. This is a long post that describes our trip if you just don't feel like reading the whole post just Click Here for pictures which will show you most of what we did.
We rented a house on South Hero island right on the water. The house ended up actually being nicer than expected and was a pretty comfortable place to stay. The only surprise was that the water for the house came directly from the lake meaning we couldn't drink it and had to buy some bottled water. There isn't a lot in South Hero so everything is down the road a piece (meaning 15 miles to the nearest dinner) but Burlington is about a half hour away if you need some entertainment.
The drive up was a long 6 hour plus drive since we had to go almost to Canada to get there. Once we all got there we settled in, got some supplies and had a decent dinner at a local diner. We had planned to stop at the local pizza place but it was closed for some reason.
Thursday morning was our first bike ride and the plan was to use the ferries to do a 50 mile loop down to Burlington then across the lake and back up the New York side to Plattsburg. We had plan to start from the house but the road was gravel so we started in town about a mile away.
It was a bright sunny day so we had some good views of the surrounding mountains. This is one of the reasons that I came up here to do some rides where the scenery is dramatically different than in NJ.
The area around Burlington is filled with nice bike paths so after about 10 miles on a county highway we wound our way along the coast and through the woods to the city. Along the way we enjoyed some nice views of the different part of the lake.
The ferry from Burlington to Kent only runs a few times a day so we timed the ride to take the 1:30 pm ferry. I padded our starting time to make sure we got there early so by 1pm we were at the dock waiting for the ferry. It was windy so the ferry ride itself was a little rough and cold. Once we got to Kent on the NY side we warmed up quickly climbing a hill away from the lake then following the Amtrack rails up the coast.
The wind was at our back and getting stronger so we made really good time all the way up to Plattsburg. From there we took the ferry back to South Hero island. We stayed at the back of the ferry on the short trip to the island because the wind and waves were spraying water over the front. At times it was a little hard to stand.
We ended up getting back around 5pm because of the late start and ferry ride but it was fun day. Today the pizza shop in South Hero was open so since is was late and we were tired we got some decent food from the pizza place and relaxed in the house for the night.
Friday we headed out for another bike ride. This time the idea was to ride close to the Canadian border and do a loop over the border. We started on the Isle La Motte at the Saint Ann Shrine. This shrine is advertised as the place of the first catholic mass in Vermont. The church has an unusual outdoor pavilion full of pews where they hold services.
From the shrine we took a quick tour of Isle La Motte then headed up the coast of another island toward Canada. The wind was still blowing from the south around 15-20 mph so we made good time but knew it would a head wind on the way back.
We eventually made our way near the top of Lake Champlain and crossed from VT to NY into the town of Rouses Point which is small town on the NY/Canadian border. There was construction on the bridge which make it a little tricky to get over it. There was only one lane was open and the east and west traffic had to alternate going over the bridge. I wasn't expected much from this town since we were north of the middle of no where and as we rode in the town it did look a little run down. We did however find one of nicest coffee shops that we have ever seen. I don't drink coffee but the others said it was really good. They also had some great pastries and I had a good piece of crumb cake that they even heated up for me.
From Rouses point Lynn, Cheryl, Laura and I headed into Canada. Larry did not have a passport so he rode off back the way we came to meet us where we would be coming back into the US. Once we got over the border we had to stop for 10-15 mins for some paving work they were doing on the rode. This area is mostly farmland and once we got pass the road work we has some nice views and quiet roads then we turn backed toward the US and hit a hellacious headwind that had us a times in single digits for speed.
At the Canada US border we had a little hard time getting the attention of the border guard but eventually made it through the border and met back up with Larry. From here we continued along the roads of the island and worked our way back through the head winds back to the shrine.
Dinner that night was in Burlington which is a college town with a good selections of restaurants in a nice open mall area in the middle of town.
The next day the wind was really kicking up and was probably gusting close to 30 mph so instead of biking we decided to go to Stowe.
Stowe is one of the best ski area on the east coast and a good place get some scenic views of the Green Mountains. We didn't have any really plans but once we got to Stowe we headed towards the main ski mountain and ended up driving most of the way to the top of Mount Mansfield then doing a 1.4 mile hike to its peak. Although the trail had a few difficult spots where we had to climb over a few large rock we eventually made it to the peak while enjoying some good views along the way.
After the hike we when into the town of Stowe itself, for lunch, before heading back to the house. We of course had to stop at the Ben and Jerry's factory which was on the way back. We spend a quiet nite at the house before heading home the next day.
On the way home we stopped off in Saratoga Springs to visit Dave F who moved there a few years ago. It was nice to catch up with him and we talked about coming back up this way again to do some rides in this area.
If was a good trip besides riding and hiking in a different area it was nice to spend some extended time hanging out with some of my biking friends. This is definitely something I will try to do more next year.
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