Green Mountain gravel and trail.

    So, this  TR is a little off the beaten track of the forum, a little off road,if you will.  Our first gravel road bike tour.  After taking some older bikes, one my ' '75  Peugeot road bike that was a commuter back then, and adding gravel tires, straight bars, rebuilt brakes, cranks,  and  racks, we have been pedaling rail trails, gravel roads in Vt. and NY and generally absorbing the  aesthetics of the incomparable typical NE summer.  Our first overnight was on a NF road that crosses  the LT and the AT, along with numerous side trails and logging roads.  20 miles on the hilly gravel with lots of fun ups and downs. We carried the bikes across a stream into  a perfect  LNT !!! campsite far from the madding crowds.  Having UL backpack gear was a phenomenal plus. We lived in luxury. In the evening we hiked  a 4-5 mile  round trip into a  an old clear cut trail that is becoming a foot/mountain bike bypass of part of the LT.  Open views and tons of raspberries and bird life. We watched the full moon rise over a beaver pond and meadow behind our campsite.  Had a Mountain House meal for the hay of it for dinner.  Chicken Fajita Bowl with  shredded lettuce, sour cream, local Green Mt. salsa rolled in a tortilla. Two thumbs up and then some.  We did try a few  boughten BP deserts, too. One was a joke store vomit, the other diarrhea. At least it was hilarious. We'll stick to chocolate chip cookies.


     One distressing thing we observed was the tremendous number of out of state users and the rangers trying to control them. One pond, considered by many to be one of the prettiest in NE had people hauling in kegs and generators to  camp in what may hold 20  campers on a good day, and is a shelter for through hikers, but only 2 level miles in from the road. Worse by far in our estimation was a newish trailhead for the LT that has been converted into a large party zone right on a wild trout stream . More kegs, generators, blaring music, young people from Ma. Conn. and RI  smoking dope in large circles and generally ignoring the pandemic and partying thanks to tips where to go for this behavior on the internet. PARTY!!!!!!!    Oh to be young, arrogant and ill-informed, both intellectually and morally again........


      I needed this  trip badly. I truly mean that. Earlier in the week I walked into a  pine grove and meadow created to preserve a rare butterfly , sat on a bench and burst  into tears. I generally don't break down.  In Feb. I was told I was terminal. I have a rare myleoma and failed kidneys. I fought like the dickens  to get where I am; my docs think I'm a miracle.  I had just began to reduce the chemo treatments before they destroy my heart and create more neuropathic infirmities. I  was told this week, thanks to a "just in case" biopsy I also have prostate cancer they may have metastasized, as it mimics the lesions of the myeloma quite well.  The battle starts all over again, just when it had quieted into sporadic  skirmishes.  I resorted to living my favorite quote as balm and succor to my distress:  From the bard's As You Like It.  " Our lives exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in  running brooks , sermons  in stones, and good in everything" . Wilderness is to be preserved and protected for multitudes of reasons and the preservation of many species, one of them being our own.  I'm blessed they're  still here.

P.S.  this road is  off Rt. 7.  Several on the forum will recognize that.