This is a little video of some of the trails on or last trip in Southern Vermont. Enjoy!

The club put on another great run in southern Vermont over the last weekend in may. Held at a farm that’s been in one club members family for generations, it proved to be a picturesque weekend.

I arrived at camp early Saturday morning, much earlier than most of the others that had arrived the night before would get up. The forecast was calling for a great day.. mild, sunny and dry. I had arranged to spend the day as a co-pilot to Tim, I had been looking forward to getting to ride in his 1974 lightweight.
Because we were totaling over 11 trucks, the group was split into 2 smaller groups. Each group would cover a certain group of trails, and the following day we would switch.

Our group started off on the trail that had become known as the Rain forest Challenge. It proved to live up to it’s name as the first obstacle gave us an option of 100 feet of silt and swamp that was at least 2 feet deep, or a mud slickened step climb that had developed axle swallowing holes. Our trail leader attempted the swamp crossing, but it proved to be too soft as he sank to his door sills. A quick winching from the Rubicon that was following got him out. We then set off to tackle the mud covered climb. Adding tree sections that had been left behind by some snowmobile trail cutting added just enough filler to allow the trucks to get up the climb, although most needed the winch to do it.

Mostly pleasant geenlaning brought us to a fantastic lunch spot by a beautiful water fall. We took the time to chat some and take in the day before continuing on to the next trail, a challenging section due to the lack of maintenance during the winter.

The going on this section was fairly quick at the beginning, but proved to be our undoing as we encountered blow-down after blow-down that had to be removed. We had only one chainsaw between us, so the order of the day became a choice of whether to continue cutting for the rest of the afternoon or head back and let the next group (which had three chainsaws among them) tackle it. We hiked for an hour and it was plain to see we’d not be able to make a dent in it so the choice was made to head back.
Arriving back at camp, setting up for the night’s dinner was the first order of business. Homemade chile, from our gracious host, made the chill that was falling on us not so cold. As always, the banter around a VTXS campfire is second to none. A better group of guys could not be found….

The Vermont Expedition Society has developed a tradition over the last few years of having a New Year’s Day trail run first thing on New Year’s Day. Having missed the last couple of runs, I wanted to make it a point to be sure to attend this one.

The day started bright and early (well, dark and early) as Jacob and I got up at 5am to meet Peter V. at Brattleboro, VT by 8am. It was cold… like 3 below when we left in the dark. We made it to Vermont with a little time to spare so I made sure I re-filled at Dunkin’ Donuts. Peter arrived and we caravaned south into Ma.

Met up with the rest of the early morning crew and headed pff to the trail. There was a pretty good snow covering (6 or so inches), and 3 or more inch ice covering the waterways.

The going was pretty quick, even with the cold. My picture taking duties were severely limited. For some great shots, look here.

First off, yes I know I’m very late in writing this report. Funny how life gets in the way of so many things (see Ice Storm story). Anyway…

On October 23, 2008 the Vermont Expedition Society gathered in Northern Vermont on the border with Quebec to begin it’s 4-day, 335 mile trek to Massachusetts. What makes this trip special, is that over 170 miles of it are on trails.
By utilizing unmaintained town highways, or class IV roads, the club hopes to draw attention to the possibilities that these venues give to the public for recreation.

I had the pleasure this year to ride along with Jason Merrill, the Executive Chef at The Hanover Inn in New Hampshire. He offered me the co-pilots seat in his rig for the trip, with the plan for he and I to fuel saturday night with some fare we’d brought in. Due to family obligations (and Jason’s work obligations) we’d both missed the first day. We met up with the group late night on saturday. The plan was to meet them at Camp VTXS (Vermont Expedition Society), but the weather that day had put them so far behind in time that we were forced to change plans and meet them at the VTXS Flophouse a few towns over.

sorry for the pic quality… it was POURING!

We spent our time warming the place up and heating up dinner. Jason made his fantastic chili for the crew (30 quarts for 15 people!)

I busied myself with the heat, and making sure the desserts I brought were set up. The crew finally rolled in about 8:30pm. after a 15 or 16 hour day on the trail. We all ate very well thanks to Jason and hit the beds.

The next day started with Brian discovering a leak of ATF into the radiator. He and Chris T. headed off into the morning to patch it up. We made out way on to a great day of trails. And marvelled at Brian completing a radiator tear-down, a trip to Concord, NH from Woodstock, VT and back, and a radiator install in something like 4 hours. The trip alone is around 3! We made great time and arrived at our bed down right on schedule.

A good nights rest had us waking to the final day. After a coffee and food run the group was off on our way. We managed to dig up some nice challenging terrain, along with some really great views. We finished our day and the trip on the border of Massachusetts right about 5pm.

It was a great trip and I really look forward to it next year with all new towns and roads to explore.

Tags: ancient highways, expedition, Vermont

It was raining pretty hard, and cold. The lights started flickering and my wife and I knew what was coming. luckily we had enough time to fill the tubs with water before the power went out. Every year we say we should buy a generator…

Power went out, and man did the trees come down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. In the woods behind our house, it sounded like little grenades going off. You hear the tops of the trees coming off and the crash of them hitting the ground 40 or 50 feet down.

Jacob and I went out to see what was going on in town. Most of the roads were impassable because of the trees and all the power lines that had fallen. Having the truck I drive made me feel secure knowing I could get my family somewhere if I really needed to. I saw some people in smaller cars trying to navigate through… and they just couldn’t.

It seems we weren’t the only people looking for a generator either… stores had waiting lists 70 or 80 names long for deliveries of 20 generators… and of course the entrepreneurs kept springing up on the sides of the road selling generators out of u-hauls for a 30% markup. My wife and son spent the time in a hotel. I stayed home to take care of the dogs and birds… thankfully the gas fireplace works when the power is out. It got chilly, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t manage. We found a generator 5 days in… and I got a lesson in home wiring as I fitted it up. It’s a nice feeling now knowing it’s there. If there’s a problem again, we can live comfortably here until power is restored again. Well, Jacob will miss watching spongebob…

Tags: ice storm