Vermont – Mississquoi Valley Rail Trail

St. Albans, VT

June 22, 2021

Trailhead in St. Albans.

We had a quiet night after the storms passed and awoke to much cooler weather. The temperature when we began our ride was 60 degrees, 30 degrees cooler then yesterday.

We are in the country. The trail provided lots of variety – dairy farms, beautiful dense forests and corn fields.

Beautiful fields of corn.

The trail was packed gravel and crushed stone, sometimes hard pack sometimes a bit loose. There were grades of over a mile long. We built some muscle and cardio on the uphill grades.

Trestle across Mississquoi River.

The trestle into Sheldon Junction is the site of a train derailment which prompted the closure of the railroad making way for the railtrail.

Mississquoi River from trestle.

Riding through the forest it was interesting to see areas with tubing used to collect Maple sap.

Tubing used to collect sap from maples.
We think this is a collecting area for sap before it goes to the sugar mill.

The trail is 26 miles long so we rode out 13 miles, almost to Enosburg Falls, and back. So, 26 miles for us today.

Abandon barn along the trail.

We are spending the night at Lake Carmi State Park. Rustic, no hookups and restricted generator use.