The Great White North-In Vermont

What a weekend! Finally came up to enjoy Vermont's winter wonderland, after spending so much time running back and forth building, and meeting with contractors, and planning, and on and on. We came up Friday and our plan was to just come up and have fun, riding our snowmobiles, and not doing any work.

It was a balmy 30 degrees when we dressed up and left, and we originally took off to ride the power lines and possibly up to Island Pond. We got about 10 miles into the ride, and hit a trail closure, due to some trail work. So much for that plan.

So we regrouped, and decided to head west toward Danville, and the north toward Sheffield and west toward Walden. Of course to do that we had to pass back through the underpass near our place. Always a little bumpy but gets you from one side to the other. During the ride we came upon the scene above, a tree arched over the trail, snow still on it's limbs, and the tubing from a maple sugar operation. The trails were awesome! Snow was everywhere, and the deeper you went into the woods, the more the snow was clinging to every tree branch, pine needle, and tree stump. We rode till early evening, and put on about 70 miles from like 3-7PM. Coming back down the railroad bed towards home we tried a couple of night shots.
We even met up with the groomer following him for a few moments till we could pass him,

then it was back to the camp, change clothes and out for a bite to eat. The next day we headed out to try the power lines again. We left around 9:30 in the morning, and it was a bit cooler about 9 degrees. We made it around the closed section this time thanks to a temporary re-route. After a short ride, we stopped on Kirby mountain for that scenic picture, and I had a Laugh-In moment. Remember Laugh-In, and the guy on the tricycle? He would stop, then fall over. Well we stopped, and I pulled off to the right edge of the trail. As soon as I completely stopped, the bank gave way way and the next thing I knew I was tipping over in slow motion :-)

No damage this time and we got a picture of it to boot. We headed north and east and hit the power lines, and shortly after we hit some snow squalls, but the riding was great. If you look closely you can get an idea how far the power lines run. They keep going forever it seems. By this time it was maybe noon, and we had only seen like 10 snowmobiles so far. We drove off the power lines, hit some other trails, and ended up in Bloomfield Vt on the NH border. We stopped for gas and a bite to eat @ a place called Debanville's General Store. Great sandwiches, and very nice people. They had a sign in the booth, "we work on the honor system- here is a basket with a pencil and paper, please write down what you eat and drink and bring to register to pay" Kind of refreshing outlook on life. After a bite to eat, we headed south and east, near Maidstone Lake, and some of the streams there made for great pictures.
From there we looped around to the north, and then west. We went down one particular trail and it afforded us a spectacular view of the mountains, treetops covered in snow, and glistening in the sun.
Continued on west to link up with the intent of catching a certain trail to make it home. Instead we took a side trail, and ended up extending the trip a little. We wandered through several small towns, and passed the parked groomer for the Burke Drift Skippers.
Cruising now, we went through Burke, Sheffield, trying to get home, as the temperatures were dropping, and so was the sun. We made it to one hilltop and the sunset was really nice, so of course we had to stop for a picture. The sleds were put on cruise control (not really) but we knew exactly where we were, and how far from home, so we got into a rhythm, and soon we rounded the corner, and there was the groomer! I actually knew he was coming, because our communicators pick up a beacon in the groomer to warn people they are on the trail. From there on it was smooth trails and before we know it we were at the gas station. A quick top off, and back on the railroad bed and a smooth, groomed carpet of white gold all the to our door! We arrived back @ the camp and it was a blustery -6 degrees outside, and a still chilly 30 degrees inside. I need to get working on insulating so we can take full advantage of the heaters. But hey I felt like we deserved a little fun for once you know? We'll get it done someday, and the hotel is 4 minutes down the road and heat is included in the meantime. Here is what the ride looks like on the map roughly.

Sunday morning, we woke up and it was -20 degrees! We decided not to ride, but we went to the local clubs fund raiser. The club we joined this year is the Danville S-Ski-Mo's, and they had a spaghetti lunch fundraiser, so we went for an early lunch, and met some of the club members, some local folks, and even some folks from CT who live like 4 houses down from my dad. Small world.They had a great turn out from what we saw over a hundred in the first hour alone we overheard. Its good to support your local clubs, as the fundraisers go toward offsetting grooming costs, equipment, and trail projects. The turn out was mixed with lots of people riding in and some driving in. We thought about riding in but we were headed home right afterwards, so decided not to dress for a 5 mile ride. There was good rider and groomer representation though. All told we rode 231 miles, filled our gas tanks twice, ate in 3 different restaurants, met some new folks, saw some excellent scenery, and had a great time! The trails were awesome all weekend, the number of snowmobiles whose path we crossed was very low, not sure if its the cold or the economy, but we saw maybe 40 snowmobiles all weekend. That definitely makes for some...Happy Trails!