Two States of Gravel

From l to r: Dave, Tom, Malcom and me

When my friend Malcom reached out that he was camping at Lake Saint Catherine State Park and asked for local gravel recommendations, I immediately shared my Ride with GPS (RWGPS) library of Vermont dirt road routes. He suggested we plan a ride together starting near the campground. Having camped there last year with Ann, I knew the absolute perfect staging spot: The Cluckin' Cafe & Cones Point Country Store (which conveniently serves the best creemees in the area). To make the most of our meetup, I mapped out a brand-new route for us to tackle: Two States of Gravel.

We started from the Cluckin' Cafe as the route wound around the southern portion of Lake Saint Catherine and then headed west towards New York.

First Dirt was 3.3 miles in on Bullfrog Hollow Road and it was a really nice road with some rollers, a little climb and a wonderful downhill. Also, RWGPS doesn't include the dirt section of the road after Greer Road to the gas station.  I made that change on the route and this becomes a 77% dirt road ride!

Turning onto VT Route 149 we headed west and crossed the NY line into Granville, NY.

Getting onto the Rail Trail was a little confusing. It starts out as a mostly grass right of way with a little gravel trail. 

Certain places get better

while other section are graveled dual track.

Maintenance appears to be lacking, at least on the NY portion of the trail. There was tree down in the middle of the trail.  We were able to ride around it.

Crossing back into Vermont at West Pawlett the trail improved quite a bit. Malcom said that it was due to the fact that this trail is maintained by VAST, Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (Snow Mobilers) and the Vermonters spend quite a bit of effort to maintain their trails.

When I saw the Free Beer sign I rode over to the Art Gallery to inquire only to find out if that I forgot to read the fine print, Only if you bring it.

Not much going on in West Pawlett except for a few Art Galleries and a Post Office.

There's a great map of the Rail Trail here and it gave some insight into the route that I planned that uses Clark Road.  

The map shoes that there is a trail/primitive road that connects the two ends. I had already checked the Dirt Roads website and it said that this portion was gravel, which we would come to learn really meant rocky.

And the Vermont section of the trail is definitely better maintained.

This is truly God's Country!

We left the Rail Trail on Saw Mill Road and made a quick dog leg onto Clark Road and started climbing.

Clark Road is the first significant climb on the route.  A mile, Category 3 hill, with an average grade of 7%

It's not a bad climb to start

but there is a steep section (13%) before Hi Go Road

When the road turns primitive is when the real fun began.

It's not bad at the start

but it got progressively worse, with rocks, a few puddles, and some washouts but I never had to put a foot down.

It was a white knuckle descent, in the drops and on the brakes.

The latter portion of Clark Road was nice and then descended down Rupert Hill Road

and got a look at Haystack Mountain, which dominates the landscape.

Stopping at Mach's Market for snacks we got yelled by some local to park our bikes in their bike rack.

We started riding on VT RT 30 when we passed Cemetery Road, 

which was dirt and connected back to RT 30 so I called an audible and we rerouted on it.  Only, what the map didn't tell you was that it turned into a driveway of sorts that goes by a cow manure pit. If you can't stand the smell then stay on RT 30.

We turned onto Waite Hill Road and found that grading was in progress. That meant extra dust and a lot of loose stone.

We got the best view of Haystack Mountain from here.

Haystack Mountain is perhaps the most distinctive of the three peaks that make up the Three Sisters: Haystack, Middle and Bald Mountains. With its sheer cliffs and dramatic outcrops of slate and quartzite and from the modest 1,919-foot summit you can see as far west as Glens Falls, NY and south beyond the farms of the Mettowee Valley to Mount Equinox in Manchester.

Waite Hill is the second climb of the route and another Category 3 climb for nearly 2 miles.

It was dusty and loose

and traversed some lovely country side.

We got our first glimpses of Vermont Cattle

and there were plenty of horses.

More cows

Then a bit of hard ball before the next climb

The third climb, Tadmer Road, is almost a mile, Category 4 hill

with some rollers

At the top of the climb there is a trio of distinct hills, from left to right: Moosehorn Mountain, Pine Hill, and Northeast Mountain.

The descent was fast and refreshing.

The last climb, Lamb Hill Road, was another Category 3 hill for almost 3 miles.

Didn't see any sheep but there were some cows

and the climb was grueling.

At the intersection with Ballard Farm Road Lamb Hill turns into a Class 4 road.  The sign says No Winter Maintenance but after descending the first part of the road I would say that it gets no maintenance at all. Malcom said they road Ballard Farm yesterday and called it Bastard Farm because it is really tough climb up to this point.

Then we had a 5 mile descent back to VT RT 30. We took a selfie, said our goodbyes and the guys headed towards the camp ground, while I headed back to the Cluckin' Cafe.

Where I had a large Maple Creemee!