Après Ski - 3 Buick Roubaix

 Nov 16, 2024

Ann had a meeting with her accountant Saturday afternoon so I headed out on the bike to ride some gravel between Rutland and Castleton Vermont. I had been looking at all the gravel roads in the area and have been planning some rides. This one in particular was going to be climby.

3.9 miles into the ride the first climb began with Campbell Road.

I like it because it has a great view of Rutland

First Dirt was on Boardman Hill Road

Hanley Mountain in West Rutland

After riding through the park and a little greenway connector I turned onto Clarendon Ave and then hung a right onto Dewey Avenue to start the next climb

and it was a nice grind

that became dirt around the nine mile mark.

Sweet dirt it was.

Nearing the top of the climb there were cows

and the dirt kept going

and going 

and finally ended when I got to Ira with a marvelous view of Pico and Killington Peaks.

The Cross Check is in it's element on Vermont dirt roads.

After a bit of hardball (VT 133) began a punchy dirt road climb up Weaver Hill Road

which still had some snow on the sides of the road.

At the top of the climb I found the three Buicks.

On Walker Mountain Road I found this little rock fold on the side of the road.

I need to come back and see if I can find some signs of uplift that occurred in this area.

This is an impressive specimen of the tectonic forces that shaped this area.

The Clarendon House is a historic former hotel building on Clarendon Springs Lane in Clarendon, Vermont. Built about 1835 and enlarged in the 1850s, it is one of Vermont's finest examples of pre-Civil War resort architecture, and a rare little-altered survivor of that period. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It and adjacent buildings are (as of 2015) vacant and for sale.

Built about 1835, the Clarendon House is one of the oldest surviving mineral spring resort hotels in the northeastern United States. Originally built as a two-story structure, and enlarged in the 1850s, it resembled a combination of a typical stagecoach hotel and high-class hotel accommodations of the early 19th century, as exemplified by Boston's Tremont House. The local mineral springs had been known since the 18th century for their restorative powers, and Thomas McLaughlin built this hotel about 1835 to capitalize on the business it brought. Its business, spurred by railroad construction through the area, was principally from southern states, and was consequently ruined by the American Civil War. After the war, business resumed under new ownership, but failed due to changing tastes and its inability to compete with other resorts offering a wider area of activities. In the 20th century the building has at times house a variety of businesses, including a restaurant and an antiques business. It has been used as an antique business since 1973 & still operates to this day.

Turning onto School House Hill was the start of the last climb of the ride.

It goes up to Quartermine Road in Clarendon and the last dirt road on this ride.

Killington Peak in the background and Mendon Peak afore.

I found some abutments for the Clarendon & Proctor Railroad line, 

a short line for one of the Marble Quarries in Proctor. 

The main line to NY crosses over Otter Creek