Scutney

 July 8, 2024

Another two state ride starting from Hanover, NH, only this time I headed south to ride around Mt Ascutney. Ride with GPS didn’t pull any surprises with the road surface types this time. 

I couldn't ask for a nicer day!

On the Vermont side of the Connecticut River I got a surprise but it wasn't like the map software got it wrong.  VDOT was redoing RT 5 and the road was torn up for miles. Not that I am adverse to riding dirt on the Waltly, it just adds more time to the ride. The only alternative was to head further inland from the river and ride dirt roads. I stuck with my course and sucked it up.

Couldn't get a clear shot but I did see this Green Mountain Railway train 

pulling a few freight cars towards White River Junction.

I rode through Windsor, VT down to Mt Ascutney and then around and back to Windsor.  There is a misconstrued notion that this mountain is an extinct volcano but it's really a magma reservoir that supplied lava to a volcano at one point. 

Mount Ascutney, a 3,144-foot mountain in Windsor County, Vermont, is not a volcano, but rather a "pluton"—an igneous intrusion of solidified magma formed 120 million years ago. It is a monadnock (an isolated mountain) exposed by erosion, representing the deep, hardened core of an ancient, inactive magmatic system rather than a former, erupting cone.

My feeling up to this point was I thought Vermonters were pretty considerate of cyclists until I got buzzed by pickup truck

Windsor has some picturesque views

Windsor, Vermont, famously known as the "Birthplace of Vermont," is a historic town in Windsor County where the state’s constitution was adopted in 1777. Located along the Connecticut River, it blends deep historical roots with a modern craft and artisan culture. 

I stopped at the local Cumberland Farms for some cold drinks and some food.

Then I crossed back over the Connecticut River using the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge.

The Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge is a 159-year-old, two-span, timber Town lattice-truss, interstate, covered bridge that crosses the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire (on the east), and Windsor, Vermont (on the west). Until 2008, when the Smolen–Gulf Bridge opened in Ohio, it had been the longest covered bridge (still standing) in the United States.

Aerial view from the Web

Heading north on NH RT 12A along the Connecticut River

Out in the sticks, NH drivers are pretty considerate to cyclists 

Blowme-down Mill

The Blow-Me-Down Mill is a historic 19th-century gristmill located within the Blow-Me-Down Farm complex in Cornish, New Hampshire, now part of the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park. Built along a brook of the same name, the site includes a, a dam, and a pond used for recreation, offering scenic views and a glimpse into the area's rural, artistic history