Vermont – Island Line Rail Trail

Burlington, VT

June 21,2021

After a relaxing dinner last night we headed to the local Walmart to spend the night.

Oops!! Imagine our surprise when we opened our shade this morning.

We were only about 10 minutes from Oakledge Park trailhead in South Burlington. High winds and thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon so we were anxious to get our ride done.

Lake Champlain- Burlington lake front.

The trail headed north from the trailhead along the waterfront with beautiful views of Lake Champlain. We passed through some industrial areas, parks and a very busy awesome skatepark.

Winooski River Trail Bridge

We crossed the Winooski River Bridge followed by a half-mile elevated boardwalk across a flood plain.

Pointing the way to the Colchester Causeway.

The causeway portion is the highlight of this trail. Built in 1900 atop huge marble boulders, the raised railbed cuts across Lake Champlain. We had high winds at our backs headed out and the waves were only feet away.

Colchester Causeway across Lake Champlain.
Mileage marker near The Cut. You can see the bike ferry in the background.

The causeway ends abruptly out in the lake at “The Cut”. There is a bike ferry to take bikers to South Hero Island. Because of the high winds and threatening weather we decided not to make the crossing.

They call this “The Cut”, a 200 foot gap in the trail where the railroad swing bridge once stood.
End of trail for us.

With the wind at our backs it took us a little over an hour to reach The Cut. Our return ride into the wind took about an hour and a half.

We are now in Saint Albans, VT, not too far from the Canadian border. The winds are shaking the motorhome and we’ve had some heavy rain. The temperature was 90 earlier but has thankfully dropped considerably after the rain.

More adventures to follow – 25 miles down, 75 to go.