Originally Posted by
davidb21
Can anyone provide general recommendations for a bike camping road cycling trip in Vermont next year. Any advice would be appreciated. Is southern better than northern? I've read Lake Champlain is nice but im not afraid of hills. Southern Vermont has more camping. Thanks
David
I did a one-way trip back in June of 2022. Parked in Brattleboro (There is a cheap garage that allows long-term parking. IIRC, it was $5/night with Sunday free.) and rode north, almost to the Canadian border (Ritchford), before turning south to St. Albans, where I caught convenient Amtrak service back to Brattleboro for the drive home. (You need a reservation for a bike space.)
I camped exclusively at state parks except for one night in Newport, where I stayed in a city park campground. Every state park I stayed I had lean-tos, which was nice when it rained. All the parks had flush toilets and showers. So did the park in Newport.
The route was pretty good, but there were some places near larger towns that had traffic. I’ll post the RWGPS route next time I’m on my desktop. Note that there were unpaved miles, but nothing rough or technical. Dirt roads in VT are generally pretty good. Largest climb was over Jay Peak east to west. It was harder than it needed to be because of a very stiff headwind. If you have a passport, you can avoid Jay Peak by going into Canada an coming back into VT at Richford. Much flatter, and there is at least one campground on the Canadian side.
I also have a route from St. Albans south through Burlington and Brattleboro that I’ve done twice as part of tours home to Philly. Burlington is a fun place for a day off. The Island Line Trail is unique, and there is a campground right along the trail and not far from the center of town.
The Island Line Trail:
