Vermont Sports July, 2020

BILL MCKIBBEN PADDLES THE ADK | SWIMMING THE NEK | THE WILDEST GRAVEL RIDE

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NEW ENGLAND’S OUTDOOR MAGAZINE ON THE COVER: A quiet night on Kettle Pond. Photo by Nathanael Asaro

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EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - editor@vtsports.com

AWESOME INTERNS

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VERMONT SPORTS IS A PROUD MEMBER OF

If you want a pond of your own, see where Nathanael Asaro and Hannah Beach put in midweek on p. 24 Photo by Nathanel Asaro

5 The Start

15 Gear

24

What have we learned these last few months? Plenty.

This summer there's a new tent for any occasion.

A quiet, waterfront campsite is waiting for you in Groton State Forest.

A Time For Change

Your Summer Camps

6 Great Outdoors

16

Could you swim across 8 lakes in a week? Here's why you might want to try.

Paddle or boat to remote campsites on these Lake Champlain islands.

9 Great Outdoors

20 Feature

There's a new wreck coming to Lake Champlain. Get ready for it.

Author Bill McKibben on the best way to social distance in the ADK.

Swim Vermont's Wild Likes

Dive Into (Recent) History

12

Feature Islands in the Lake

Paddling the ADK's Lost Ponds

Feature The Undiscovered Park

29

Calendar Race & Event Guide

34 Endgame

The Wet Wilderness

Leath Tonino on swimming the length of Lake Champlain.

Feature Excellent Adventures

Pro cyclists Ted and Laura King just did the longest, hardest, wildest gravel rides of their lives.

ADVERTISERS!

The deadline for the August issue of Vermont Sports is July. 18. Contact ads@vtsports.com today to reserve your space.

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 3

“YOU’LL FIND YOUR WAY.” FIND TRAVEL GUIDANCE, TRIP IDEAS TO INSPIRE, AND MUCH MORE.

THE START

BICYCLE SALES & SERVICE • OUTDOOR GEAR • EXPERT ADVICE

A TIME OF CHANGE

STAY ACTIVE, STAY HEALTHY

IT'S TIME TO REALIZE JUST HOW LUCKY WE ARE.

A happy camper makes a splash at Camp Keewaydin on Lake Dunmore last summer. This year's camp was one of the many that was cancelled due to Covid-19. Photo by Oliver Parini

I

f there is one thing these last few months have taught us, it is how lucky we are.

How lucky we are to live in a state where we’ve seen so few direct victims of Covid-19.

How lucky we are to have access to the trails and forests and lakes that draw people from around the world to vacation here.

How lucky we are to have the space to social distance.

How lucky we are to have some of the world’s top athletes here to inspire us.

How lucky we are to be part of the vibrant, supportive community that forms the outdoor industry.

How lucky we are to be white.

Really? Lucky to be white? Are we?

We may not deal with the degree of hate that is sadly common in other states. But nor do we benefit from diversity.

How much are we missing because we haven't integrated a wider variety of skin tones, cultures, religions or genders into our hikes and mountain bikes, our ski forays and runs.

I say “we” because 94.2 percent of Vermont’s population is Caucasian.

That “whiteness” has been there like a low, underlying rumble. Like background noise, we don’t notice it because we are so used to it.

But after the incidents of recent weeks, that noise has become a roar.

Now that we are finally listening, we realize how deaf we have been.

By “we,” here I mean us here at Vermont Sports.

While we like to think we have been color blind, in many cases we have just been blind.

We haven’t done a good enough job of showcasing more diversity in our pages.

We haven’t worked hard enough to represent minorities of all types. We haven’t tried hard enough to answer the question: how can we grow Vermont’s non-white 5.8 percent?

We are working to change that, and we are asking for your help and patience. It takes months to pull stories together so it won't happen overnight. As a tiny staff, we rely heavily on outside contributors to pitch us stories and photos.

But rather than sit and stew over what hasn't happened and what we haven't done, we're going to take a cue from Ted and Laura King.

When these two elite gravel racers—athletes at the very top of their sport—found out their 2020 season was cancelled they could have sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.

Instead, they doubled down.

While juggling a newborn, both parents managed to bang out the most insanely grueling solo rides of their lives. They talk about them in "Excellent Adventures," on page 13.

This issue is also a celebration of all things summer and of all the things we can still do here in Vermont, even when events are cancelled. There are still islands to camp on (thanks to the easing of Covid-19 restriction in late June), ponds to paddle, state parks to explore. We can dive shipwrecks or swim across pristine mountain lakes.

We may not be able to toe the line at the start of our usual favorite summer races or mingle at post-ride events but there is one thing we can do and that's to appreciate how lucky we really are.

With gratitude, —Lisa Lynn, Editor

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JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 5

A WEEK SWIMMING VERMONT'S

WILD LAKES

SOME PEOPLE TRAVEL TO THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM TO TACKLE NEW MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAILS. THESE SWIMMERS HEAD THERE TO CONQUER NEW LAKES.

BY LUKE ZARZECKI

6 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

W

hen Lyn Goldsmith jumped into a lake for her first openwater distance swim, a 5K in 2015, the odds were stacked against her.

She was 62 and her swimming experience consisted mainly of swimming laps in pools near her home in Manhattan with a masters' swim program and taking stroke lessons from a coach The race ended poorly: she didn’t make it past the starting buoy since the current was too strong. However, she persevered and went on to finish a one mile swim in the Hudson, a two mile swim in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, a 10K swim in Bermuda and then a five mile swim in St. Croix.

At some of these events, she started hearing talk of the Northeast Kingdom Swim Week.

Goldsmith's introduction to NEK Swim Week was a five-mile swim that looped around Crystal Lake in Barton, Vermont. The course started with a swim to the cliffs, then veered south towards Moose Rock, then passed the railroad tracks and ended at the beach.

That was in 2016 and she's done every week since.

Now 68, Goldsmith describes the NEK Swim Week as her “favorite week of the year" and she is looking forward to continuing the tradition this year.

The August event consists of swimming eight lakes and 46 miles, all within nine days. Each morning, swimmers head to the lake of the day and choose a distance they want to swim.

Some swim the event competitively, some do it for scenery. “It’s not a race, it’s a beautiful swim,” says Phil White, the event director. For safety, each swimmer is accompanied by a kayaker

Swimmers take the plunge at the opening event of Kingdom Swim Week by diving off Moose Rock at Crystal Lake (left). One of the highlights of the week is swimming the nearly 5 miles, north to south, of Lake Willoughby, (opposite and below) Photo by Phil White

to give them snacks or help as needed.

Goldsmith takes it one stroke at a time.

Although it is not competitive, participants do need to qualify. They must have swum two-thirds of the distance they are swimming on a given lake before the race. The cost ranges from $100 to $250 for each lake event or $1,075 for all eight days.

This year Swim Week will start out at Crystal Lake State Park in Barton on August 8th. White labels this lake as one of the best in Vermont due to the pristine water and landscapes surrounding it.

Some climb up Moose Rock, one of the checkpoints in the course, and jump off.

The other lakes in the week include Island Pond (Brighton), Lac Massawippi (Ayer’s Cliff, Quebec) Lake Seymour (Morgan), Echo Lake (West Charleston),

Lake Memphremagog (Newport), and Caspian Lake (Greensboro). The lakes range from 614 acres to 5,940 acres.

This year, Covid-19 will change the logistics of the "Small Group NEK Swim Week," as it is now called. Ten swimmers will start two minutes apart so there is not a cluster. Face masks have to be worn until swimmers reach the water and lunch will not be served. Gatherings after swims cannot happen, and White says swimmers will “come, swim and leave.”

For both White and Goldsmith, the community has been one of the best parts of the event. People come from Canada, the Midwest, New York and Oregon.

“Every year it’s like a little reunion.

That’s one of the things I love about this

week, I get to connect with friends that I’ve known for years,” White said.

When Goldsmith retired last year from her position as the Clinical Research Director at Columbia University, she looked all over the globe for a home that had access to great swimming, including Thailand.

Vermont stood out because so many of the northern lakes are pristine, have little boat traffic and feature gorgeous scenery. “The sensation is like swimming through silk,” Goldsmith says of Vermont lakes. “My favorite thing is swimming along and watching the forest trees go by as I breathe,” she said.

She decided to settle down in Stowe, near her favorite swimming destination, the Green River Reservoir.

Like mountain bikers who travel to find the best trails, Goldsmith goes around looking for lakes and swimming holes. Along the way, she meets new friends, catches up with old ones and explores all Vermont has to offer. For Goldsmith, these open water swims are the reason she moved here.

“If I never came to any of Phil’s events, I wouldn’t be living in Vermont now. I would say it’s 100 percent the reason I came here. It’s my favorite week of the year,” Goldsmith said. Now on her bucket list is to find every swimming hole in Vermont and dive in.

For more information, see kingdomgames.co

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 7

GREAT OUTDOORS

Y

ou probably won’t be traveling to the Great Barrier Reef or elsewhere this summer, but you can get dive certified and explore wrecks on Lake Champlain. And next summer there may be a new wreck to add to your bucket list.

The Lake Champlain Transportation Company and local environmental, historical and recreation groups have worked together to find a new future for The Adirondack, the 107-year-old ferry boat, that has worked on Lake Champlain for the past 65 years.

LCTC plans to do a controlled sinking so that the ship sits upright on the bottom of the lake in the coming year. The boat will be sunk 68 feet and its new visitors may include divers and some of the 90 different species of fish that live in the lake. LCTC is footing the roughly $175,000 bill There are hundreds of shipwrecks in the lake and many are too deep or murky to be safe for divers to explore. However, The Adirondack will join ten other wrecks which are protected from looting and damage by the Lake Champlain Underwater Historic Preserve which is operated by the Vermont Division of

DIVE INTO (RECENT) HISTORY

LAKE CHAMPLAIN MAY SOON HAVE A NEW WRECK TO EXPLORE. BY SOPHIE HILAND

Chris Sabick, Director of Research and Archealogy at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, explores a wreck. The newest wreck will be sunk right off Burlington. Photo by Kotaro Yamatune

Historic Preservation.

The Lake Champlain shipwrecks, which vary in age and type, provide divers with the opportunity to explore history and marine life at the same time.

According to Scott Dillon who works for the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, “diving these wrecks allows for face to face participation in the long history of maritime activity on the lake. You can’t get it any other way.”

While diving in Lake Champlain is a less vibrantly colorful experience than diving in the Caribbean or other tropical

sites, Dillon explained that the cold fresh water in the lake preserve wrecks especially well. “You have essentially the whole history of US maritime activity reflected in the types of wrecks in the lake.”

Jonathan Eddy, co-owner of the Waterfront Diving Center in Burlington, adds that the lake is home to “a range of great structures and vertical walls” which make underwater exploring especially interesting as fish thrive in areas that provide them structure and protection and introduce more variation to the underwater landscape.

Eddy also explains that a large variety of fish, ranging from salmon to lingcod can be found throughout the lake but that during the summer months they move to water deeper than where divers usually venture.

Anyone with appropriate dive certification can explore the protected wrecks, either through guided adventures led by companies such as Waterfront Diving Center or, independently, off private boats. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum requests that divers register seasonally, at no cost, through their website in order to track how many divers visit the sites.

lcmm.org/archaeology With about a year until The Adirondack rests on the bottom of the Lake, now is the perfect time to get scuba certified. The Waterfront Diving Center in Burlington offers week long certification courses $550, and gear rental for divers with previous experience. They also do two charters a week on Wednesday evenings and Saturdays or Sundays mornings for varying levels of divers, starting at $55, plus equipment rental fees. “Try Scuba” events, which take place monthly and cost $45, teach the basic dive principles and how the gear works. Participants then “dive” in a safe environment like a pool or shallow part of a lake.

“Diving is perceived to be an extreme sport but it really isn’t," says Eddy.

"As long as you are in reasonably good health, are a competent swimmer, use good judgement, and take the necessary sanitation precautions due to the pandemic, the sport is incredibly safe.”

With a laugh, he adds a classic diving joke, “one of the most serious injuries in diving is somebody dropping a weight belt on their foot.”

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 9

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Excellent Adventures WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TWO OF THE BEST GRAVEL RIDERS IN THE WORLD FIND THEIR RACE SEASON CANCELED? IF YOU’RE TED AND LAURA KING, YOU DO THE LONGEST, HARDEST RIDES OF YOUR LIFE.

BY LISA LYNN AND TED KING. PHOTOS BY ANSEL DICKEY AND NICK KEATING

T

he weeks after your first baby is born is a time most parents find challenging. There’s getting enough sleep, feeding the baby, changing diapers and, this year, maintaining a work schedule during Covid-19 It’s not a time when you would expect both parents to do the longest, hardest single-day bike rides of their lives. And to do so mostly solo.

Unless those parents are Ted King and his wife, Laura Cameron King.

On March 7, the day before she gave birth to Hazel King, Laura went out for a two-and-a-half hour ride. “I was surprised to learn what my body could still let me do, “ she said later .

On April 18, the day Vermont’s legendary Rasputitsa ride was scheduled to happen, Ted King rode the route of the 40-mile-something NEK event —which had been canceled due to Covid-19—on his own. May 3, the same day he had been planning on racing in California’s premiere gravel event, the Belgian Waffle Ride, Ted hopped on his bike at his house in Richmond and rode to the Canadian border and back—141 miles, half of those on dirt or gravel with 11,220

Ted King, his wife Laura and three-month old daughter Hazel at home in Richmond (above). King rode from the Canadian border to Peacham, where he met up with pro rider Ian Boswell (top).

feet of climbing. A week later, Laura rode that same route to Canada and back.

Later that spring, Ted worked with gravel guru Joe Cruz, of Pownal, Vt. to map out a mostly gravel ride that would take him from the far northeast corner of the state, where Vermont rubs shoulders with New Hampshire and Quebec, to the southwest border with Massachusetts and New York—a 310-mile dirt and

gravel ride with 35,000 vert. It was King’s tribute to the mother of all gravel rides, Kansas’ 200-mile Dirty Kanza. (See "Ted King's Wildest Gravel Ride, p. 12.)

That same first week Ted did his big ride, Laura took off from their home in Richmond and rode, unsupported and mostly solo, 203 miles to Portland, Me. She hit 52 miles an hour roaring

down the Kancamangus Highway in New Hampshire and averaged 17 mph. And that was with stops to pump breast milk and get a sandwich.

“I didn’t start out to do a 200-mile ride or to prove myself or do a #DIYGravel or anything like that,” she said by phone a few weeks later. “A friend told me it was about 200 miles from Richmond to Portland.

Ted’s brother lives there, so I figured that would be a good place to ride to."

Ted King is, of course, the former Tour de France pro rider, a Middlebury College grad and a two-time winner of Dirty Kanza, the 200-mile gravel race in Kansas.

He’s also led the pack at Rasputitsa, the Vermont Overland and the Vermont 50, among other races. At 37, he is one of the best gravel racers in the world.

Laura, 34, a former elite triathlete, has been quietly carving her own path in gravel racing. In 2017 she entered one of the most grueling gravel rides, the Belgian Waffle Ride, 133 miles of Southern California dirt with 10,000 feet of climbing and over 1,000 competitors. She dropped out that year but came back in 2018 and placed second, just ahead of pro rider and Dirty Kanza winner Alison Tetrick.

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 11

Ted, who grew up in New Hampshire, and Laura, who is from the Seattle area, moved to a farmhouse in Richmond, Vt. in 2018 and a year later launched their own gravel ride, Rooted Vermont, out of Cochran’s Ski Area. With a “mullet protocol” (‘business up front, party in the back’) it sold out.

In 2020, as gravel rides around the country were cancelled due to Covid-19, Ted began replacing them with what he dubbed #DIYGravel, a challenge to ride similar distances and elevations to what say a Rasputitsa or a Belgian Waffle Ride might entail. The rules are simple: you have 9 days from the date of the ride to do your own ride, you ride alone and then enter your ride (or Strava link) on Ted’s website, iamtedking.com.

More than 2,000 people signed up.

For Ted, the #DIYGravel challenge has been a way to maintain his race schedule and the training it would have taken and to keep his 42,000 Instagram followers and sponsors —Cannondale, UnTapped (which he is co-owner of), SRAM, ROKA, Velocio and others happy..

For Laura, who has also been helping to host weekly webinar series, Girls Gone Gravel, the motivation has come from a different place.

An advocate for getting more women into cycling, Laura (far left) rode 203 miles to Portland, Me.

“When I decided to do 140-mile distance I had some hesitations and thought maybe I’d design a course that had a little bit less of an elevation gain and was a little easier than what Ted did. But after some thought, that’s really not how I operate. I thought if he can do the course he put together I am just as capable of doing it, too,” she said.

“I love this feeling of questioning whether I can do something and being nervous about it. It feels like the same as

when you enter a race. I have ridden 200 miles before in the Seattle-to-Portland ride but that was maybe 10 years ago.”

Riding mostly alone and subsisting on a piece of banana bread a friend baked for her, UnTapped waffles and Lemon Tea Mapleaid mix, Laura followed the back roads on a course Ted had laid out, only rerouting once when she came to a dirt road and an area she describes as “a bit sketchy.” Ted and Hazel met her briefly mid-route and then waited at the end with Ted’s brother, a former pro bike racer, Robbie and his family.

“I didn’t really put this out there on social media ahead of time because I wasn’t sure I could do it,” Laura admitted.

But, as she posted following her March two-and-a-half hour ride: My recent routine: wake up, feel tired and lethargic, lacking motivation with pregnancy aches and pains—I think of cancelling my plans to meet a friend to ride—but then I don’t. Without fail, the fresh air, exercise endorphins, friend time and outdoor beauty have me returning home energized, body aches gone, 100x more positive and motivated and with more patience than I woke up with. Get outside and move today, I promise you’ll feel better!.

Follow Ted and iamtedking.com

Laura

King

at

TED KING'S WILDEST

GRAVEL RIDE

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO RIDE 310 MILES ACROSS VERMONT IN ONE DAY, ON GNARLY GRAVEL?

BY TED KING A 310-mile ride will chew you up and spit you out. No matter how much I told myself to cool my jets, keep the powder dry, not go into the red, and any other metaphor with the message “Ted, don’t ride too hard too early,” I had a tough time doing so.

Let’s backtrack. It’s 11pm on Saturday night at the

end of a dirt road in way, way northern Vermont. There’s a steady pelting rain as I make the checks to my gear, lights, computer, clothes. If I started trudging through the woods north of where the road ends, I’d meet the Canadian border in a matter of minutes.

Ted's Cannondale Lefty, outfitted with Kingpin suspension, 48c Rene Herse tires, and a 46t x 10-50 SRAM drivetrain

Instead, I’m about to set off south to the Massachusetts

Is it calibrated? Yup. I guess I’m just itching to go. The

border: 310 miles of pedaling are ahead of me, 90 percent

of Sunday. In any other context, namely if I were off

climbing starts from the get-go and the road deteriorates

of it is gravel, and the pre-ride mapping software tells me

my bike making my way through this heavily forested

from “tame gravel road” to “backwoods of rural Vermont”

I’m in for 31,000 feet of climbing—but it will actually tally

woods, I’d be spooked. The way my handlebar light

quickly. Really quickly.

just shy of 35,000 feet. I’m as fresh and ready as ever.

shoots a cannon of light forward, bouncing off puddles

I’m an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of guy, so

Time to get #DIYgravel Dirty Kanza going!

and into the woods feels like an eerie black and white

setting out at 11pm is well past my bedtime. I took a nap

Rain pools on my computer screen already bright

kaleidoscope miles from any civilization.

Saturday afternoon, May 30 — Dirty Kanza Saturday.

with glare from my headlamp. I have a hard time taking

Those will be the final 90 minutes I’ll sleep for the next

the information in. Anytime I get a clear reading I’m

at night, I’ve ridden in the woods, I’ve ridden in the

23 hours. I’m so brimming with adrenaline (or coffee),

pushing power just shy of threshold. It feels easy. Weird.

rain, I’ve ridden in ferocious wind. Throw them all

though, that I’m also wide awake here in the early hours

together, however, and this is unlike anything I’ve ever

12 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

Photo by Dickey/Keating

The first six hours are pure novelty. I’ve ridden

experienced. The rain increases as temperatures drop.

At the top of every climb where the wind is the most intense, there are trees down sporadically across the rough gravel road. There’s so much climbing that my estimated 15mph is optimistic. It’s slow on the uphills for obvious reasons; I’m slow on the downhills because the roads are harrowing in the best of conditions, made all the worse with the weather.

The sun is still behind a wall of clouds at sunrise, but

it lights up the world as I roll into Ian Boswell’s driveway somewhere around 6 am. He has hot coffee and Pastry Chef Boswell has even prepared sausage cheddar muffins. I take five minutes to warm the mind and soul. I feel like this first 100 miles of riding in the wet darkness are a closed chapter with nothing but sunshine and tailwinds ahead.

And then we start climbing.

Here I am 7 hours into the ride when I meet a fresh-

faced, fresh-legged Ian—a guy who has been racing the Tour de France for the past few seasons. I bite my tongue as we go up and down and up and down and up and down on ever deteriorating roads.

Mind you, this is not a complaint. This ride is breathtakingly beautiful. I’m just the nincompoop who decided to link the start and finish together in one fell swoop on a bikepacking route that was originally designed to be done over four to six days.

It’s somewhere around my tenth hour on the bike

that Ian says, “Geeze Ted, this route is super hard!” I breathe the biggest sigh of relief of the day. It’s not just cumulative pain that has me deep down Struggle Street here in the heart of central Vermont.

This route is the brainchild of Joe Cruz, the bikepacking wizard from Pownal, Vt. I knew of his mapping prowess and penchant for an adventure when I reached out to ask if he’d ever connected the northern border of Vermont to its southern border on gravel. He hadn’t, but that sent him on a mission.

Joe is meticulous and doesn’t just study ridewithgps.

com. He allso searches public town records for the best public roads — ahem, “roads” — available. It’s no wonder his hobby is bikepacking, but his career is teaching philosophy at Williams College.

I say goodbye to Ian, who’s in for a century of his

own, at my mile marker 147. I'm not even half-way done.

I take the advice that’s been barked into an earpiece in Pro Tour races throughout my career, “Eat and drink, eat and drink, eat and drink”. Over the next 30 miles I slowly come back to life. As I roll into Sharon, I know my wife Laura and baby Hazel are waiting for a quick hello.

The next hundred miles are a blur. No matter how much momentum I get going, I can’t break 15mph. The climbing is relentless. If the hills ever get shorter, that just means they’re steeper. The one definite standout of this section is that people are out. I’m broadcasting the route with a traceable Garmin inReach, so a few dozen people are in their front yards, at intersections. Some join me for a pedal down for a mile or five. If that doesn’t raise my spirits, nothing will.

The longest climb of the day is about 260 miles into

The route (below) drawn up by Pownal bikepacking guru Joe Cruz sent Ted from the farthest northeast corner of Vermont along gravel roads, snowmobile trails and dirt paths. Ted left at 11 pm and rolled across the Massachusetts border just under 23 hours later.

the ride—a six-mile snowmobile trail. The path is rutted,

ride felt so far. I’m well past my 8 pm estimated arrival.

doesn’t see much traffic, and is so bumpy that it’s pretty

Thanks to the tracker, more and more people are out

much suited for a full suspension mountain bike. That’s

cheering me on. A few cars shuttle ahead of me. People

a take-home message for the day: this route is burly and

pop out, cheer, hop in, shuttle ahead, pop out, cheer. I

were it not for the plush Cannondale Topstone Lefty, I

really can’t think of a time that company on a ride has

don’t know how I would have gotten through this ride.

been so welcomed. When I finally reach the border.

Certainly not in one day.

there's a big marble slab that denotes Massachusetts on

Up and over, down the final climb, a lightning fast

one side and Vermont to the other. It’s now well past 10

six-mile descent, never has the final 10 percent of a

pm and still a handful of people are there to cheer me in.

Superlatives

are

a

strange thing when they’re subjective. Is it the longest ride I’ve done? Absolutely yes, by nearly 100 miles. Is it the hardest? The worst? The best?

The coolest? The gnarliest?

All good questions.

I’ll tell you what, ParisRoubaix is hard. Dirty Kanza is hard. Vermont's 200 on 100 is hard. #DIYgravelDK is definitely in the running for hardest.

This ride was, perhaps, the most legendary.

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

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Getting you back to the trails you love.

Sports Medicine at Copley Hospital.

Even with COVID-19, the great outdoors is open! Don’t let injuries or chronic knee, hip, shoulder, or ankle pain keep you from getting back on the trails you love. The experts at Mansfield Orthopaedics can help with state-of-the-art treatments designed specifically for you with Copley's warm, personalized care.

Our physicians: Nicholas Antell, MD; Brian Aros, MD; John Macy, MD; Joseph McLaughlin, MD; Bryan Monier, MD.

To make an appointment with a Mansfield Orthopaedic Specialist at Copley Hospital, call 802.888.8405 ORTHOPEDICS | OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY | CARDIOLOGY EMERGENCY SERVICES | GENERAL SURGERY | ONCOLOGY UROLOGY | REHABILITATION SERVICES | DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING

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GEAR

SUMMER CAMPS

SUMMER VACATION PLANS SCRAPPED AND KIDS’ CAMPS CANCELLED? IT’S TIME TO THINK ABOUT A NEW TENT, AND THE PERFECT PLACES TO PITCH IT.

Victory Screenhouse

Dog House’s Rooftop Summit 3 Series

Big Agnes Salt Creek SL2

ENO Jungle Nest

A ROOM WITH THREE VIEWS So you found that sweet campsite with a view of the water and the sunset. Then why crawl into a tent where you’ll only get a small glimpse of it? The Big Agnes Salt Creek SL2 ($299) could be your new summer house. It has three zip-open screen panel doors, for easy access and better air flow on hot summer nights, an awning-style flap that can serve as a front porch and steep sides that allow for maximum headroom—nearly four feet. The 28-square foot tent sleeps two in style and the multiple doors mean no crawling over your partner in the middle of the night. For stowing gear, there’s a vestibule off the back and handy bin storage above your feet as well as plenty of pockets. Total packed weight is 4 lbs.

Perfect for: Setting up camp lakeside at Groton State Forest or any waterfront site.

ROOFTOP LIVING If you traded the Europe trip this year for a road trip, Dog House has you covered. Dog House’s Rooftop Summit 3 Series ($999) is a three-season tent that fits neatly on your car’s roof—no worries about rain-soaked ground beneath you, just climb up. The Summit’s ripstop 600 Denier poly/cotton canvas fabric is covered with a water-resistant and UV coating, comes with a non-deforming sponge mattress and includes a built-in mosquito screen. Hardware includes a telescoping ladder, sturdy 5/8” aluminum tubing and a heavyduty travel cover. The Summit Series 3 weighs 130 pounds and is at the lower end of the price range for rooftop tents. Perfect for: Overlanding in the Northern Forest or setting up for a week at a drive-in campsite.

A BUG-PROOF NEST If you’re paddling to an island, or even a waterfront site where the trees are plentiful and flat dry spaces not so much, consider ditching the tent in favor of a hammock.

If you are anywhere in the woods of the Northeast, you’ll want the ENO Jungle Nest ($110) with its integrated stowable bug net. Drape that over a spreader bar and ridge line and tuck into an airy, comfy cocoon that even the tiniest noseeum can’t break into. At 10 feet by close to 5 feet, it’s roomy enough to spread out but packs down to a mere 10 inches x 5 inches x 5 inches and, with the suspension system, weighs in at just 24 ounces. And it’s equally light on your bank account.

Perfect for: Fastpacking or paddling light in a canoe or a SUP.

THE CAMPING CLUBHOUSE NEMO has plenty of lightweight backpacking tents but the New Hampshire-based company has developed its lifestyle line. The NEMO Victory Screenhouse ($399) will be a hit at any group campsite and you’ll find kids flocking into it or adults using it as a clubhouse or dining room. Unpack the duffel bag, slip in the aluminum poles and you have a 10 foot x 10 foot room with nearly 7 feet of headroom at its peak. Rain gutters channel water off the roof and the NEMO Victory Blanket XL ($129.95) with a waterproof bottom and flannel top fits the interior footprint like a rug. Perfect for: A group camping trip to Burton Island

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ISLANDS IN THE LAKE WHETHER YOU PADDLE OR SAIL THERE, TAKE A WATER TAXI OR FERRY, ESCAPE TO LAKE CHAMPLAIN’S REMOTE ISLAND CAMPSITES THIS SUMMER. STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN WARREN

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A favorite stop on the Lake Champlain Paddler's Trail, Law Island sits just off the Colchester Causeway. Paddle in early for its first-come, first-serve campsites and get ready for spectacular sunsets.

I

was camping on an island along the Maine Coast many years ago, when I stumbled upon an abandoned cabin. An engraved sign on the cabin wall had a quote from a Rachel Fields poem: “If once you have slept on an island, you’ll never be quite the same.”

That quote has stuck with me. I’m continually drawn to campsites on remote little islands. There’s nothing like waking up to my own piece of waterfront property. Watching the many moods of water is soul-soothing. There is also something special about not being able to jump into my car to solve the problem of forgotten tent stakes or a camp stove run dry of fuel. I relish the challenge of finding MacGyver solutions to the dilemmas that come up. Plus, because I can’t fit the kitchen sink in my kayak or canoe, life is pared down to the essentials. The freedom and simplicity of island camping make me feel not quite the same when I return.

In Vermont, we don’t have to go far to find that feeling. The Inland Sea of Lake Champlain—the waters east of Grand Isle and South Hero and just west of Franklin County— is blessed with some gorgeous remote island campsites. The state parks on Burton, Knight, and Woods islands offer lakeside camping without the bells and whistles of commercial campgrounds. Tiny Law Island located near the Colchester Causeway is another remote camping island jewel. What you give up for running water and flush toilets, you

Popping up from the shallow waters of the Inland Sea, Burton Island (far left) and Knight Island (above) have pebble beaches and remote campsites you can reserve through the Vermont State Parks system.

gain back in blazing orange sunsets, misty morning quiet, and dialing back the pace of life to synchronize to island time.

I’ve paddled to and camped on all these islands over the years. Each provides its own unique experience of discovery. One fall weekday, I kayaked over to Knight Island for a few days of solo island time away from the craziness of my job. I know the math of islands: take beautiful moments in nature, add water and sky, subtract outside world news, multiply by adventure, and it equals re-centering and relaxation. So I set out on a two-night trip. There’s no

ferry service to Knight and no dock so unless you arrange for a water taxi it’s a three-mile crossing from Knight Point State Park on North Hero, which keeps it quiet.

With the exception of a few daytrippers, I had the 185-acre island all to myself and my pick of seven remote campsites. Mornings and evenings on Knight were my own private paradise with a starry sky to tuck me in and my own waves lapping the beach just steps from my tent to wake me. The first evening, I grilled quesadillas with wild greens on the fire grate and roasted swamp oak acorns I’d found that day.

Fantasies of subsisting off the island wild edibles entertained me as I imagined staying for a few extra days. At sunset, I paddled the placid water around the island with a moon rising. It was that aching kind of beautiful that says “don’t leave”. Islands have a persistent way of not letting go.

Another time, while canoeing over to Burton Island to camp, a big storm blew in on the lake. One minute it was calm and then quickly we were buffeted by big rolling waves that threatened to capsize the canoe my friend and I crossed in.

Fortunately, we were close enough to the landing to wrestle the canoe through the surf to safety. But as I glanced back on the expanse of the lake, I watched a sailboat twice the size my canoe catch a sudden gust and flip over like it was a kid’s toy boat. I learned that day about the unpredictable weather on the lake.

Burton Island is accessible by ferry but if you plan to paddle to any island on Lake Champlain a knowledge of wind, waves, and weather is essential. Wind speed is affected by fetch, the distance wind travels over water. Lake Champlain has a fetch that goes from Whitehall, NY to Canada, a distance of around one hundred miles. So when a strong south blow sweeps up the fetch of the lake, the wind and waves build.

A prudent paddler knows to wait it out.

I’ve been windbound many times on the coast of Maine, in the Great Lakes, in the fjords of Alaska and on the sounds of New Zealand. It’s always an extreme

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

test of patience but a necessary course of action. To gauge the wind and weather conditions before paddling, check out the Lake Champlain recreational forecast put out by the NOAA National Weather Service. Remember that “if it blows, don’t go” is a wise safety measure.

BURTON ISLAND STATE PARK Don’t be surprised that you don’t think “remote camping” when you arrive at Burton Island. Burton Island bustles in the summer. A 100 slip marina has flashy cruising boats tied up and bands of 'tweeners leave dust behind them as they bike down the campground trails at top speed. But with nary a car on the island, the joy of island life still offers a feeling of slowing down, which is why families return year after year.

The Island Runner Ferry transports campers and their gear to Burton seven times daily. The 10-minute crossing from Kill Kare State Park in St. Albans costs $8 each way. In addition to 14 tent sites and 26 lean-tos on the northeast end of the island, there are three 3 ADA accessible lakeview cabins with beds for 4 people (closed this season due to Covid-19). Amenities include pay showers, flush toilets, fresh water and, gasp, WiFi. There are ample places to swim from campsites as well as a designated swim beach. In normal times you can rent bikes or kayaks and canoes. An island naturalist interprets the natural and cultural history of the island with hikes and campfire programs. Dogs are welcome and have an off-leash area to run along the shore.

But paddlers looking for something a

Heading out the WInooski toward Law Island.

Check NOAA forecasts before setting out .

little wilder can book any of four paddlein sites on the southeast side of the island. There are fire rings, picnic tables, and privies nearby but no running water.

Primitive campers who want to grab a shower or fill water bottles can hike the Southern Tip trail about a mile to the center of activity on the northeast side of Burton. But do make it back for the evening show. When the buttery light

PLANNING TO CAMP ON VERMONT’S STATE PARK ISLANDS? CALL AHEAD. This may be the summer you get lucky. State Parks were closed until June 26 and normally the island campsites book up fast. Advance reservations for all three state park islands (Burton, Knight and Woods) are strongly advised. There are three ways to make reservations at Vermont State Parks: reserve on-line at vtstateparks.com, call the reservation center at 1-888-409-7579 weekdays, or call the park directly during the camping season.

Some of the prime lean-tos and cabins (cabins are currently closed due to Covid-19) on Burton Island are as tough to get so book early. Reservations can be made up to 11 months in advance. Fees range from $19 per primitive tent site for 4 people to $40 for a Burton Island waterfront lean-to site.

Looking for more solitude? Midweek camping has much more availability.

Camping out of season also yields many unclaimed sites and is free of charge. The off-season officially runs from November A waterproof chart, lifejackets and reservations 1- April 1 but you’ll find privacy out on the are some of the essentials for island camping. islands any time after Labor Day. 18 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

a 5-mile trip. Alternatively, North Hero Welcome General Store has a ramp and parking for a fee and can help arrange a water taxi via Driftwood Tours (802-3730022). They also rent canoes and kayaks KNIGHT ISLAND STATE PARK for transportation to Knight. The general Knight Island is the second largest of store has everything you need to stock up the Lake Champlain island state parks with 185 acres of wooded beauty. including overstuffed deli sandwiches for a beach picnic and the best mixed berry Camping is by reservation only during the season for the 7 remote campsites. pie in the islands (and perhaps the planet).

There are 6 sites with lean-tos and one tent site, all out of sight from each WOODS ISLAND STATE PARK other, adding to the remote feeling. Woods Island is the smallest and most A signposted nature trail around the remote of the state park islands. And island reveals the island’s history of it also has the most poison ivy. Either farming and other natural features. bring a quart of calamine lotion or learn Stone beaches surrounding the island the “leaves of three, let it be” mantra and invite swimming and wading. The tread carefully. In spite of the poison ivy, rocky shallows off the north tip of the Woods is a gorgeous wilderness island. island are a fun playground for kids.

Campsites have a fire ring and Five campsites are generously dispersed nearby composting privy. There is no over the 125 acre island with a 2-mile trail potable water, so bring your own or connecting them. The bluff campsite on filter, treat, or boil lake water. The dock the southwest point is choice for views on the west side of the island is up to and breeze to keep the bugs at bay so try a mile away from some campsites so to score that one on the park reservation you might be schlepping gear quite line. Yet, any of the campsites on Woods a distance. While there are no docks will confirm the Rachel Fields poem. at the campsites, the landing beaches Sandwiched between Burton and near each are accessible to paddle Knight Islands, Woods is a 2-mile paddle craft. from Kill Kare State Park, where you Launch your boat from the beach can park overnight. Although the island adjacent to Knight Point State Park landing is marked on the east side, paddle (a 3-mile paddle) and leave your craft can easily access the pocket beaches car in the lot there for free. Power near the campsites. Fishing and swimming boaters might prefer to launch from are excellent on Woods Island. Each Kill Kare State Park near St. Albans, campsite has a fire ring and a composting just before the sun sets melts onto your tent, scurry out to the southern point of the island for the grand finale.

of Colchester Point. As weather and winds can change quickly on the wide and broad Main Lake, paddlers should check the National Weather Service’s Recreational Forecast for Lake Champlain for predicted wave height and be prepared for inclement weather.

Valcour Island's Bluff Point Lighthouse was built in 1874 and can be reached by following the island's 7.5 mile perimeter trail.

privy. There is no potable water so bring water or filter/treat lake water.

LAW ISLAND At nine acres, Law Island is a tiny gem located south of South Hero near the Colchester Causeway. Towering limestone bluffs grace the west side of the island, providing exquisite views of terns diving for dinner, wedges of Canada geese during migration, and the sun giving a show as it dips behind appropriately named Sunset Island to disappear behind the Adirondacks.

On a recent trip to Law Island, the resident bald eagle perched above the landing carefully eyed me as I pulled in. Eagles nest on the island and the big bird was curious about what kind of visitor I’d be. Since there’s no guarantee of a bald eagle marking the landing every time, look for an eastfacing cobble beach in a cove adjacent to the causeway. A spacious campsite is on the northwest point nestled in among the cedars and oaks. If it’s occupied, there are several gorgeous cliff side sites to tuck in a tent or two.

Just make sure no one in your group sleepwalks.

At the main campsite there is a picnic table and a large fieldstone fireplace left over from a prior settlement on the island. Follow the scenic island ring trail to find the outhouse. There

VALCOUR AND SCHUYLER ISLANDS Part of the Adirondack State Park and only a mile paddle from the Peru, N.Y. boat launch, Valcour Island looks and feels like the coast of Maine. On the southern tip, exposed to the full breach of Lake Champlain, waves crash against rocky cliffs and stubbled pines, rooted in granite, appear to be holding on for dear life. Nestled above the cliffs are 29 remote and often stunning campsites, accessible by 12 miles of trails that circle the 968-acre island. The campsites are free and first-come, first-serve but you need to check in with the DEC caretaker and get a permit.

At the busy northwestern end is a sandy beach where powerboats are often rafted up side-by-side. On either side are a few protected coves where boats vie for safe anchorages, which is no water source except for Lake that includes these camping islands. are often packed on busy weekends.

Champlain water so plan to boil or The committee has established the Lake Paddlers can pull in at Bullshead Bay, bring something to purify the water.

Champlain Paddlers’ Trail and provides North Bay and Butterfly Bay. Island visitors should carry out their excellent information and stewardship Still, if you can sneak out during own trash. The camping is free but a of natural sites of interest to boaters. the week or off-season, you'll find donation to the Lake Champlain Land The shortest paddle to Law Island Valcour and its history are fascinating.

Trust, the non-profit that conserved the is from a public boat launch at the Samuel de Champlain first documented island, is always welcome.

Colchester Point Access Area on the island in 1609 and in 1776 the Like the island state parks, Law Windemere Way. This 3.5-mile journey Battle of Valcour was one of the most Island is part of the Northern Forest starts at the where the Winooski River important battles of the Revolutionary Canoe Trail. The Lake Champlain spills out to Lake Champlain and War as Benedict Arnold led a flotilla of Committee oversees the NFCT section heads along the southern shoreline gunboats that stopped the British from dividing New England from the other newly-created states. If the Clinton County Historical Museum is open (it is currently closed due to Covid-19) pick up the Valcour Island Heritage Trail Guide.

After the Battle of Valcour, Benedict Arnold retreated south to Schuyler Island—a mile paddle for today's travelers from the Port Douglas boat launch. At 161 acres Schuyler is the second largest of New York’s Lake Champlain islands and, like Valcour, is home to white-tailed deer… and poison ivy. Pull up on a rocky beach on the west shore and from there it’s a short hike to one of the island’s three designated campsites, some perched near grassy bluffs. Keep in mind that during the season this is a popular picnic spot for dayboaters who sometimes leave it lessthan-pristine. Still, like any island, it’s Sand, sunset, a picnic table and a place to pitch your tent: Law Island has it all. not a bad place to retreat to.

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

PADDLING THE ADK'S

LOST PONDS THE ADIRONDACKS ARE RIDDLED WITH QUIET WATERWAYS AND LOST PONDS. THIS MAY BE THE PERFECT WAY TO FIND THEM.

BY BILL MCKIBBEN 20 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

The Adirondacks may be famous for bigger lakes, long portages and multi-day canoe trips, such as the Seven Carries, but if you truly want to social distance, try exploring its quiet ponds.

M

onths with the novel coronavirus on the loose have taught us all sorts of new tricks: not only can you Zoom, you can manage the background on your Zoom image. Everyone with a sewing machine has figured out how to make a mask. I can wash my hands like a surgeon.

But let me tell you about one more tool that’s absolutely perfect for the moment we’re in. A Lost Pond solo canoe, built by Pete Hornbeck at his small shop in the central Adirondacks, is pretty darned good almost any time—I’ve had mine for 35 years—but these last weeks have revealed a whole new beauty.

In mid-June, I set out to paddle from one of the ‘lost ponds’ that Hornbeck designed the boat to serve, to another lost pond, and back again.

These ponds—just south of Garnet Lake, and near my home in North Creek—are not charismatic bodies of water with romantic names and histories.

In fact, they’re so uncharismatic that one of them is called Mud Pond, and the other is called Round Pond.

(The first name, as you shall see, is entirely apt, and the second at least approximate).

I left my car at the DEC trailhead by the first of these and hiked perhaps a quarter mile down a path to the water.

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 21

Bill McKibben has owned a Hornbeck for 35 years and still uses it to find hidden ponds in the Adirondacks. Photo by Sue Halperm

The Hornbeck weighs 15 pounds, which means you can rest it easily on your left shoulder, almost as women once slung a handbag—with your right hand you can carry your carbon fiber paddle ready to push through brush if necessary.

Once at water’s edge, you float the boat and then, with some care, put one foot inside, sink your butt onto the foam seat on the floor, and shift your weight to bring your other foot inside.

It has what I believe boatbuilders call 'low initial stability,' meaning it’s a little tippy to get in to. But once you’re inside, it couldn’t be more stable. You use a two-bladed kayak paddle, resting your feet against braces mounted inside the hull that allow a surprisingly easy and powerful stroke. It handles chop up to a foot without any trouble—I’ve taken it through larger whitecaps, but in those I confess I hug the shore.

This day, there was no wind and no problem. I was across Mud Pond in minutes, reaching its western edge where a beaver dam raised the level of the water. I clambered out, hauled the craft easily across the dam and the 18inch drop on the other side, clambered back in, and proceeded.

About eight feet further I had to undergo the procedure again.

Lather, rinse, repeat. The channel was impossibly narrow in spots, though when I got out to pull the boat between the reeds, it was also remarkably deep— often up to my chest.

I can think of no other boat I could have pushed, pulled, tugged and rassled through the next four or five hundred yards; it took me a fair part

22 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

of the afternoon, but all of it enjoyable in its way, and then the prize: I was in the open, meandering flow between Mud and Round, perhaps half a mile of absolutely still beauty.

The grass was hardly higher than the freeboard of the boat, and a red-winged blackbird chittered on every stump.

Dragonflies danced by the thousands, and when I stopped paddling I could hear the constant chortle of frogs. Just to lean back and watch the afternoon clouds float patiently by was pure joy.

At the end of that half mile, a 40-foot carry put me on Round Pond, where deer shyly watched from the woods by a sandy beach, and where I placidly paddled in circles thinking deepish

thoughts. A good place to camp, for sure, with very little chance of being bothered by another human. The virus and its attendant traumas seemed far away.

The return voyage, however, was a reminder that there’s more than one form of bother. It went just fine...at first. As I retraced my wake through the beautiful, nameless flow, a loon came charging by directly overhead, beating what always look to me like impossibly stubby wings for all it was worth. It was a reminder of just how predictably sweet the Adirondacks are, especially for those who like to paddle: water collects on this great dome, and its classic trips—the Seven Carries, say—are nonpareil.

I took this little Hornbeck on a four-

day saga once that ended at Lake Lila; it’s the aquatic equivalent of a mountain bike, and it can carry you into heaven... or, conversely…the other place.

For that difficult final 400 yards back to Round Pond, I went to the left instead of following the same narrow watery track that had gotten me there.

I thought it might be easier, and for a few minutes it indeed seemed wider— but then it began to crowd in, and soon I was out of the boat, leading it like a horse on a halter. But this time we were in truly epic mud—again and again I sank in well above my waist in clinging muck, and didn’t find much bottom. It was a tad unnerving.

But now my trusty boat was like

a plank for someone trapped in quicksand—I’d lay my chest across it, and lever myself out, and then begin again. (One hiking sandal now rests somewhere in that bottomless mire.) But we persevered, boat and I, even though the black flies had begun descending, and eventually—brown with mud and flecked with a bit of blood from the bites—I was back on the pond, and then at the put in, and then hoisting the airweight boat back on the car.

No other boat that I know of could have made this trip—you couldn’t have hauled a Grumman or even a Wenonah as easily over those endless checkdams, and anything longer than ten feet couldn’t have made the endless three-point turns required to maneuver through those cramped lanes of grass and shrub.

Which means, depending on how you look at it, no other boat could have gotten me in as much trouble or in as much joy. Gotten me in, that’s the thing.

In deep, in the real world, which is where we want to be right now. This trip was the opposite of Zoom—it was focus.

Vermont-based author, educator and activist Bill McKibben has been exploring the Adirondacks for more than 35 years. He is the author of The End of Nature, Falter, and numerous other works.

A HORNBECK HISTORY

T

he Hornbeck design is based on a historic canoe, built in the 19th century by famed boat-builder Henry Rushton. He had a client, an outdoors writer named George Washington Sears.

That was his real name, but most people knew him by his nom de plume, Nessmuk. (He’d borrowed it from a Native American he’d known in his youth, who taught him outdoor skills. That makes it a pretty perfect example of what we’d now call ‘cultural appropriation.’ But this was then.)

Anyway, Sears went to work at age 8 in a cotton mill, which may explain why he liked the woods so much—he grew up to write for Forest and Stream, and when he wanted to undertake a long voyage through many of the Adirondack Park’s 3,000 lakes and ponds, he convinced Rushton to build him a boat that would make for easy carries from one remote pond to the next. Since he only weighed 110 pounds, Rushton could go super-light. The resulting craft, made of white cedar with elm ribs, weighed 10 and a half pounds, and worked like a charm.

Nessmuk christened his craft the Sairy Gamp, for a Dickens character who ‘loved her gin straight and never took a drop of water with it.’ The boat, too, never took in a drop of water, or so its owner claimed; Rushton, meanwhile, soon had the delicate problem of explaining to many well-heeled customers that they were…slightly too big for the craft.

He went on to build many other ultra-lights, all of them slightly bigger—you can see many of them in the boat room at the Adirondack Experience museum in Blue Mountain Lake, but not this summer because it’s closed because you know why.

Anyway, about fifty years ago a local high school teacher named Pete Hornbeck started figuring out how to build a knockoff of the Sairy Gamp. He eventually settled on Kevlar, the stuff in bulletproof vests, as his standard, though now of course there are also carbon-fiber versions. His most basic model is roughly the same size as Rushton’s boat, about ten feet. It weighs about 15 pounds, and it can handle paddlers who weigh up to 200—beyond that there are now a whole range of craft, some with slightly sleeker and faster designs, but all designed to be easily portable and highly rugged. Good, that is, for crashing through the woods in search of isolated sheets of water. Good for right about now.

Pete Hornbeck’s son in law, Josh Trombley, who now handles the business end of the operation, reports that sales are brisker than ever during the pandemic. You need to call their Olmstedville headquarters and book an appointment for a visit— there’s a pond there to try the craft before you buy.

Which you almost certainly will. Because there’s never been a better time to go off by yourself in a little boat and muck about.

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JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

Undiscovered Park The

IN GROTON STATE FOREST, A QUIET, REMOTE CAMPSITE IS JUST A SHORT PADDLE AWAY. STORY AND PHOTOS BY NATHANAEL ASARO

24 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

Two views of Peacham Pond: from aboard a canoe (opposite page) and from Owl's Head (top left, this page). Top rght, Hannah Beach paddles from the campsite at Kettle Pond where a lean-to (above left) and stone fireplace, make for a cushy waterfront campsite. Alone on a granite rock in the middle of Kettle Pond seems like the perfect place to practice a sun saluatation and start the day.

I

t was a weekday in June. My partner Hannah and I packed up our supplies and put the canoe on my truck. It was a beautiful early summer day and the temperature was reaching the mid 80s. We left our home in Waterbury Center, stopped at the coop in Montpelier to get a few last minute

food items, and then it was on to Groton State Forest.

We arrived at the park around 3 pm.

We stopped and talked to a park ranger who informed us there were spots still available at Kettle Pond where we could canoe to a remote site on the water. We unloaded the canoe and all our camping

gear in the parking lot and then did some brainstorming about how many trips we needed to make to the water. From the parking lot it’s about a 10-minute walk on a flat gravel path to the water’s edge.

After two trips back and forth to the truck we had the canoe loaded up with everything we needed for the overnight.

As we paddled out to scout for our site the water started to calm and the calls of birds echoed all around us. After all the work we put into getting here, we could finally enjoy the relaxing environment.

As someone who grew up in Vermont, you’d think I’ve been everywhere in the state. But it wasn’t until a few years ago

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

The only light you might see at Kettle Pond is the moon rising or the stars.

that I discovered Groton State Forest, a unique landscape that is specific to the north east side of Vermont. The park is filled with granite boulders, some covered in moss on the forest floor and others on the shores of lakes, ponds, and brooks. The abundance of water makes this area ideal for paddlers.

Options to camp remotely by the water or car camp make Groton a great choice for families or for people looking to challenge themselves and find solitude in wilderness.

This year, with Covid-19 shutting down Vermont State Park campsites

26 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

until June 26, it felt like we could have the place to ourselves.

We checked out a few different remote sites and settled on one that might be one my top five favorite campsites in Vermont. The site includes a log cabin-style lean-to and a beautiful stone outdoor fireplace. There were boulders and moss leading right to the edge of the pond with a few granite islands in front that you could swim out to and sunbath on.

We unpacked the canoe and set up our tent in the lean-to. It was still in the 80s and the sun felt nice, so we paddled out to one of the boulder islands and enjoyed a hard cider and a dip in the pond. The water had become completely still. The air was soft and warm and the long June daylight lingered until hunger called us back to camp.

We lit a fire in the stone fireplace and seared our homemade veggie burgers in a cast iron pan over the open flames. As the embers burned down, the chirping of peepers and the long mournful calls of loons echoed across the pond. After a little while we decided to paddle out to the boulder again beneath a starlit sky. We sat on the rock in the middle of the pond gazing at the stars for a while and watched the moon set over a small mountain until we were tired.

I woke before sunrise the next

morning to go for a solo paddle. I watched the sun come up over Owl's Head Mountain, which you can see from Kettle Pond, then paddled back for breakfast. We took the canoe around the pond one last time with all our gear and headed back to the portage. It was still early in the day when we left the parking lot, so we decided to check out the

northern edge of Peacham Pond which is only a 10-minute drive from Kettle.

We ventured out for about an hour or so before we returned to the boat launch and headed home to unpack.

We’d been gone for less than 24 hours but it felt like we’d been a world away.

PADDLE-TO CAMPING AT GROTON STATE FOREST I have camped at Groton State Forest around 10 times now in the remote sites and car camping spots and every time I go I find something new to explore. There are so many outdoor opportunities to experience—paddling, biking, hiking, camping, fishing, birding, and so much more. I highly recommend Boulder Beach on Lake Groton for swimming and a picnic.

Groton State Forest comprises seven state parks, the Groton Nature Center, and eight lakes and ponds. The area was once home to 12 sawmills and remnants are still visible. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped develop the area, constructing roads, trails, fire lookouts, and picnic shelters and planting trees. Glaciers covered the area 10,000 years ago and their retreat created the mountainous terrain mixed with streams, ponds, bogs, and wetlands.Groton State Forest is also home to several state-designated natural areas, such as Peacham Bog Natural Area (748 acres) and Lords Hill Natural Area (25 acres).

A number of the ponds have remote, paddle-to campsites. New Discovery State Park’s Kettle Pond has seven remote lean-tos. Osmore Pond’s 48 acres are undeveloped and home to four leanto sites and three waterfront campsites. You can reserve a site at Kettle or Osmore via Reserve America for $28 a night.

If you don’t own a canoe, you can also rent one at New Discovery State Park or at Umiak Outfitters in Richmond or Stowe.

For more visit vtstateparks.com

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28 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

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RUNNING JULY 4 | Virtual 37th Annual Clarence DeMar Road Race, South Hero Head out for a run or walk on your own time either on the existing course, which is an out and back on South Street, or your own favorite route. Gmaa.run 6/21-9/5 | Virtual Montpelier Mile, Montpelier This now-virtual race follows the honor system and can be run anytime between 6/21 and 9/6. Run the course and submit your times to see how you compare to other runners in your age group. Cvrunners.org 11 | Brain Freezer 5K, Burlington How fast can you run a 5K and eat a pint of ice cream? The Brain Freezer 5k is your chance to see! Run 1.5 miles, eat a full pint of ice cream, then run back. Brainfreezer5k.com 12 | Virtual 40th Stowe 8-Miler and 5K, Stowe The race has been converted to a virtual format so run either distance on your favorite trail, a new route or a treadmill any time and submit your time. Stowe8miler.com 17 | 40th Goshen Gallop, Goshen Starting at the beautiful Blueberry Inn, this 10.2K race or 5k runs on beautiful cross-country trails of the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area. Goshengallop.com

AUGUST 1-9 | Virtual Fairfax Egg Run, Fairfax This virtual fundraiser supports improvements to the town’s Community Center. Send in confirmation of your completion and all finishers will receive a t-shirt and gift card to use at a local business. Fairfaxrecreation.com/egg-run/ 8 | Sugarworks 5k Trail Run, Shelburne Walk or run one lap (1.5 miles) or run two laps for a full 5k.

The course is somewhat hilly and winds through the woods on the beautiful trail system at Shelburne Sugarworks.

Racevermont.com 7-16| Jenkins Mountain Scramble, Paul Smiths, N.Y. The marked courses for half marathon and a 10k will be set up for 10 days, and those who are familiar with the trails are encouraged to tackle the 2,000+ feet of elevation. Paulsmiths.edu/vic/visit/jenkins-mountain-scramble/ 8 | Moosalamoo Ultra, Goshen Head to the Moosalamoo Ultra for a 36-mile trail race through the Green Mountain National Forest starting at Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen. Moosalamooultra.com

9 | Virtual Get Your Rear in Gear 5k, Colchester Run or walk a 5K to support the Colon Cancer Coalition.

Share your run or walk on social media using #GYRIGMyWay Coloncancercoalition.org/colchester

1-15 | Last Mile Ride Home Edition, Randolph A 5k run, one- and 2.5-mile walks and a motorcycle ride.

Register online for free, donations are suggested and greatly appreciated. All funds will go to help ease the endof-life experience and support grieving families. Giffordhealthcare.org/last-mile-ride-run-and-walk-goes-onlinewith-home-edition/ 21 | Wild Card Friday, Dorset A race that rotates annually between uphill and downhill.

This year will be a downhill mile! Rundorset.com/wildcard-friday/ 22 | Lost Cat 50k, East Dorset All funds will go to support Second Chance Animal Center.

Three races are 26.2K, 50K and 13.1 distances with varied terrain such as single-track, doubletrack/jeep trail and road terrain. Rundorset.com/lost-cat 23 | Dorset Hollow Road Race, Dorset Run 5K or 10K on a scenic loop through Dorset Hollow, with mountain views and steep trails. Rundorset. com 30 | Virtual Race to the Top of Vermont, Stowe The virtual, 36-hour self-paced, any distance, any surface, challenge gives participants one entry into a raffle for each 250 ft of vertical they climb. The more vertical you tackle, the more chances you have to win! Supporting the Catamount Trail Association. Rtttovt.com

SEPTEMBER 3 | Kingdom Games Fly to Pie Kingdom Marathon, West Glover “Run it - Bike it - Hike it - But do it” the event’s tagline reads. 26.2 miles, 17 miles, 13.5 miles or 10km, these races can be completed however you’d like! 20 % of all fees will be donated to the Halo Foundation, helping Orleans County families dealing with cancer. Kingdomgames.co 3-12 | Peak Blood Root Ultra, Pittsfield Whether you chose the shortest trail run, which is 10-miles or the longest trail run, which is 200-miles, something in between, or to do a 200-mile or 500-mile relay, these Ultras are sure to put your physical fitness to the test. peakraces.com/peak-race-schedule/ 5 | Slate Valley Scramble, Poultney Run on some of VT’s newest and best single and doubletrack trails in an 8 km or half marathon on the beautiful Slate Valley Trails. This event is a great opportunity to explore the Slate Valley Trails (SVT) by participating in this inaugural trail run race and fundraiser. Runreg.com/9319 5 | Samantha Brochu Memorial Run, Morristown This annual race commemorates Brochu, who died of unexpected heart failure and all proceeds go to a scholarship fund for those graduating from Hazen Union High School.

Runsignup.com/Race/VT/Morrisville/SamanthaBrochuMemorialRun 11 | Archie Post 5 Miler, Burlington Run the bike path and take in sweeping views of the Green Mountains. Gmaa.run

12 | Charlotte Covered Bridge 5k/10k Run & Walk, Charlotte Do a 26.2-, 15- or 6.5-mile trail run. The three races all take place on a mix of trail, dirt road and multi-use hiking trails.

Cvrunners.org/cvr-races/groton-forest-trail-run/ 12 | Groton Forest Trail Runs, Groton State Forest The Central Vermont Runners host these 26.5-mile and 15-mile runs on multi-use trails. Cvrunners.org/cvr-races/ groton-forest-trail-run/

12 | Maple Leaf Half Marathon and Kotler 5 K, Manchester Your run will take you from the downtown community to picturesque village settings to country roads past farmlands back to the finish. Manchestervtmapleleaf.com 17 | Pisgah Mountain Trail Races, Chesterfield, N.H. A mostly single-track 50K and 23K trail race in Pisgah State Park to benefit the Special Olympics. Trailrunner. com/event/pisgah-mountain-trail-races/ 19 | Maple 5k Fun & Walk, Brattleboro This run/walk k is an important fundraiser for Black Mountain Assisted Family Living. Btmafl.org/maple-5k 19 | Champ 5K, Burlington Follow the same course from USA triathlon in 2012 which is all downhill after a killer quarter mile climb up Depot Street from the start and finish point at Waterfront Park.

Runvermont.org 19 | ADK 5K, Lake George, N.Y. Follow the lake on this run which culminates with music, food trucks and games at the Adirondack Brewing Company. Greatamericanbreweryruns.com/adk-5k 19 | 12th Annual Lt. Mark H. Dooley Race of Remembrance, Wilmington A 5K walk/run and kids’ fun run followed by live music, food and awards. Markdooley5k.com 19-20| 24 Hours of the Northeast Kingdom, East Charleston See how many laps you can complete as an individual or as part of a relay team in this 6-, 12- or 14-hour race on the trails of North Woods Stewardship Center. Ironwoodadventureworks.com 20 | 7th Annual Island Vines 10K, South Hero Run a scenic 10k in the Champlain Islands and enjoy wine from Snow Farm after. Runvermont.org/island-vines-10k 20 | 17th Annual TAM Trek, Middlebury The TAM Trek offers a race for everyone. The three courses include a range of distances and difficulty. For the younger crowd or those looking for a shorter distance, pick the 2-mile family fun run. If you’re up for the challenge, try the 19-mile course that attracts serious trail runners from around the state, and if you’re somewhere in between those options, perhaps the shorter-than-19-miles, but equally scenic, 10K is for you. All proceeds go towards maintaining the Middlebury Area Land Trust. Maltvt.org/tam-trek 20 | Maple Leaf Marathon, Springfield Run eight laps of a 3.3-mile course for a full marathon or four laps for a half marathon. Newenglandchallenge.org/ maple-leaf-marathon

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 29

25-27 | Beebe Farm Classic, Dorset . Choose between a 48-hour, a 12-hour, a 6-hour race, a marathon, a 50K and a ”quadzilla” all on a 0.87-mile loop at Harold Beebe Farm. Netrailruns.com

11 | 25th Annual Mad Dash, Waitsfield The 5K and 10k dirt road courses through the Mad River Valley include views of farms and plenty of fall foliage. madriverpath. org/maddash

26 | Miles for Migraine, South Burlington Run a 10K, 5L or two-mile course to raise awareness about migraine disease and research. Milesformigraine.org/burlington-2020/

17 | Trapp Mountain Marathon & Half Marathon, Stowe The two races will take you through the hilly trails of Trapp Family Lodge during peak foliage. Trappmountainmarathon.com

26 | 47th Art Tudhope 10K, Shelburne Start at Shelburne Beach for a scenic run through Charlotte apple orchards along Lake Champlain. Gmaa.run 27 | Vermont 50 Run and Bike, Brownsville Run a 50-mile or 50-kilometer trail race, or mountain bike. The course is point to point on dirt roads and trails that cross beautiful private lands, to raise funds for Vermont Adaptive. Based out of Ascutney.

Vermont50.com 27 | Causeway 5k, 10k & 15k Race, Colchester Run from Airport Park and follow a gravel trail out onto the historic Colchester Causeway before turning around to run back on a relatively flat course. Colchestervt.gov

OCTOBER 1-31 | The 2020 VetriScience Chase Away 5K, Burlington This fun race benefits Chase Away K9 Cancer. Dogs are more than welcome at the event, but not required! Runsignup.com/ Race/VT/Burlington/ChaseAway5K 3 | New Hampshire Marathon, Bristol, N.H. Run a full marathon, half-marathon, 10K or kids race around Newfound Lake in this Boston Marathon qualifier event. nhmarathon.com 4 | Leaf Peepers Half Marathon and 5K, Duxbury Run out and back along River Road.

Leafpeepershalfmarathon.com 10 | The Dee Run, Rockingham This hilly race 5K will take you through wooded trails and on dirt roads. The Dee Foundation works to create accessible and welcoming communities. thedeefoundation. org/the-dee-run-information 11 | Shelburne Farms 5K, Shelburne The 5K run begins and ends at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn. Run past Lake Champlain, through the quaint farm grounds and onto the trails and fields before making your way past the Inn at Shelburne Farms, on your way to the finish line. racevermont.com/event/shelburne-farms-5k/

30 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

18 | 50th Green Mountain Marathon and Half Marathon, South Hero A certified marathon and half-marathon begin and end near the house where Clarence H. DeMar, seven-time Boston Marathon winner, once lived. The course is out and back on the shores of South Hero and Grand Isle; a land of farms, and summer cottages. The terrain is flat to rolling and about half dirt road. Gmaa.run 18 | Heady Trotter 4-Miler, Stowe This 4-mile loop starts at The Alchemist and takes you on the Stowe Bike Path, and up a decent climb before ending back at the brewery for food trucks, music and beer. greatamericanbreweryruns.com/headytrotter-4-miler 25 | Black River Beatdown, Craftsbury Common Whether you pick 15K, 30K or 45K and solo or relay, this race will take you through the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in the incredible Northeast Kingdom. You’ll go through forests and around lakes on this impressive trail system. ironwoodadventureworks. com/blackriverbeatdown 31 | Kingdom Challenge, St. Johnsbury The point-to-point half marathon will take you through four covered bridges, scenic back roads and up some classic Vermont hills. The 5K loop course starts at the St. Johnsbury School. Thekingdomchallenge. com 31 | Nor’witch Halloween Half’witch, Full’witch and Ultra’witch, Rupert The 25k loop course will take you through the northern Taconic Mountains with considerable elevation change. 50k runners will do the loop twice and 100k runners will do it four times. Runthewitch.com 25 | Vermont City Marathon & Relay, Burlington Rescheduled from Memorial Day with a Virtual Run option as well as one or twoyear deferrals. More than 7,500 runners and 20,000 spectators come to Burlington for the marathon and relay—the second largest in New England. Run around the scenic Queen City in a full, half or relay. The Timberlane Dental Group Mini Marathon will be held on May 24. Runvermont.org

CYCLING JULY 6/26-7/11 | The Dirty Project, Norwich Between June 26th and July 11th, complete three incredible rides on your own and track them through STRAVA. The first two stages, which can be ridden in one day or separately, include a combined 89 miles of total riding, 47.5 of which on dirt. The third stage is 51 miles total, 35.5 of which are dirt. Each stage includes between 4,500 and 5,900 feet of elevation. Thedirrtyproject.org The Virtual Prouty, Hanover, N.H. Ride 20-, 35-, 50-, 77- or 100-miles on roads in the Upper Valley or tackle a 70K or 100K gravel ride.

Dhmc.convio.net/

AUGUST 1 | Virtual the Point to Point, Powered

by VSECU, Montpelier FE Get on your bike or put on your running shoes and register for a virtual century, half-century or 25-mile road ride, a 40-mile gravel grinder or a half-marathon run to support the Vermont Food Bank and help fight hunger. Thepointtopoint.org

13 | The Vermont Challenge A four-day tour of south & central Vermont.

Limited to 100 people offering three routes each day. There will be two groups for each route all led by seasoned ride leaders and stops at local markets and country stores.

Vtchallenge.com 22 | Vermont Overland Maple Adventure Ride, East Burke A new date and location for this notoriously mud-ridden off-road adventure ride which circumnavigates the Ascutney Basin area.

Vermontoverland.com 23 | Overland Grand Prix, Reading A 44-mile dirt road bicycle race featuring 5,700 feet of climbing, seven sectors of “Vermont pavé” (unmaintained ancient public roads), two well-fortified sag stops, a magnificently scenic route. Vermontoverland.com 29 | The Ranger, Tunbridge A gravel Enduro 18-mile fun ride where finish times are based on timed STRAVA segments (each roughly 2 to 8 minutes) instead of overall loop time. Plus, a guided women’s ride on the 18-mile course and tentative party at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds after.

Therangervt.com

SEPTEMBER

1 | Tour de Slate, Middletown Springs This ride, which benefits those who are battling addiction, includes five different routes: a short family ride, 24.7-miles, 36-miles, 63.4 miles and 100 miles.

Tourdeslate.org

4-7 | Green Mountain Stage Race, Burlington The largest pro-am cycling race east of the Mississippi returns for its 20th year with the Burlington criterium scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Gmsr.info

7 | Kearsarge Klassic, Warner, N.H. Choose between a 35-mile, 55-mile and 83mile adventure route in this gravel grinder through the rolling farmland of the Mt. Sunapee region. Grvl.net/kearsage-klassic

5-6 | Champlain Islands Small Group Bike Tour, South Hero Join Farm to Fork Fitness Adventures for a great day of adventure and exploration in this new format which has replaced the Champlain Islands Fondo of years past..

These 20 person tours will take you through quaint villages and along quiet meandering roads to some of the best farms, vineyards, breweries and dairies the region has to offer. One day tours range from 25-miles to 60-miles. Farmtoforkfitness.com

7-9 | The Vermont Gravel Camp, Stowe Focused on gravel and “adventure” style riding, the camp will include gravel roads & unmaintained historic roadways of storied New England. Enjoy access to Cycling Formula Coaches, incredible scenery and picturesque roads. Thecyclingformula.com/ tcf-vermont-gravel-camp/ 15 | Virtual Bike M.S. Green Mountain Getaway, South Burlington This virtual ride, which raises money and awareness for multiple sclerosis, offers virtual bike MS Photo Booth Props, a digital bib and, of course, a certificate of completion. Nationalmssociety.org 15 | Tour de Valley, Underhill The traditional Tour de Valley is 30-35 miles and requires 5-6+ hours while the Cross-Valley route is a long but less technical option; a children’s race that takes 3 hours will also be offered. Brmbc.org/ tour-de-valley/

12 | Virtual 15th Annual Kelly Brush Ride – Middlebury This family-friendly event has gone virtual, replacing group riding with STRAVA segments and other interactive challenges to encourage teams and individuals to have lots of fun through their participation. A fundraiser for the foundation which helps people with spinal cord injuries lead active lives. Kellybrushfoundation.com

11-13 | UCI Grands Prix Cyclistes, Quebec & Montreal, CA Watch some of the best bike racers in the world from 17 teams, many with Tour de France experience, race the streets of Old Quebec City on Sept. 11 in a hilly 16-lap circuit. Part of the UCI World Tour, the event moves to Montreal on Sept. 18 for 18 laps.

This is some of the best bike race spectating west of the Champs Elysees. Gpqm.ca 13 | The Peak Woodsplitter 6-Hour Mountain Bike Race, Pittsfield The PEAK Woodsplitter is a race full of grit and grind in 2020 on a 10+ mile loop on the unbelievable Green Mountain Trails.

Compete to see how many mountainous laps you can cover in the 6-hour time limit.

Peakraces.com/bike-races/mrb6/ 25 | Super8 Grand Depart, Montpelier This small group, self-supported backpacking ride will take you around the state in a figure-8, 640-mile gravel route vetted by more than 20 riders . Vermontbikepackers.org 26 | Just Bike! Justice for Kids, North Bennington This most-likely-virtual event offers 30-, 20-, 5- and 2-mile routes. Bccac.org/justbike-justice-for-kids 26 | Mt. Ascutney Bicycle Hillclimb, Windsor Held annually from 1999 to 2014, this event came back last year and is once again on, after being postponed from earlier this summer. It features a paved 3.7 -mile course with an average 12 percent grade. Part of the BUMPS hill climb championship series. Facebook.com/ BikeUpTheMountainPointSeries 26 | Hungry Lion Bike Tour, Whitingham Great cycling ranging from 5-miles to 75-miles in distance on rolling hills surrounded by beautiful fall foliage. Hungrylionbiketour.com 3 | Kingdom Games Fly to Pie Kingdom Marathon, West Glover FE “Run it - Bike it - Hike it - But do it” the event’s tagline reads. 26.2-miles, 17-miles, 13.5-miles or 10km, these races can be completed however you’d like! 20 % of all fees will be donated to the Halo Foundation, financially helping Orleans County families dealing with cancer. Kingdomgames.co/ fly-to-pie-kingdom-marathon/

JULY 4 | Small Group Saturday Clubhous Swim Series, Newport Training swims of 2, 3.3, 4, 6.5, and 10 miles in Derby Bay on Lake Memphremagog. Each Saturday is limited to 10 swimmers and 10 kayakers and is conducted in a socially distanced way. This is the first of seven Saturdays in July and August in which these Small Group Clubhous Swims will be offered.

Fees: $50 for 4 miles and under. $100 for 6.5 and 10 miles. Kingdomgames.co 11 | Virtual the Prouty, Hanover, N.H. Paddle up the Connecticut River 2.5 miles to the SAG at Kendal Riverfront Park and then back 2.5 miles to end at the Ledyard Canoe Club as part of the Prouty. dhmc. convio.net

19-20 | NEK Swim Week, East Charleston Swim 47 miles across eight Northeast Kingdom lakes in nine days or register for individual swim events. BYO accompanying kayaker. Ironwoodadventureworks.com

OTHER JULY 7/31- 8/2 | Vermont Be True Yoga Festival, Fairlee Explore Vermont through mindfulness hikes, horseback riding and camping and attend meditation workshops, listen to inspirational speakers and unplug for a great getaway. Vtbtyogafest.com

AUGUST

AUGUST

1-31 | Virtual VT Sun Branbury Classic Triathlon, Salisbury Help yourself stay motivated this year and look forward to next year’s events by running the actual course or map out the distances where you live! Time yourself and send in your time by the end of August and they will be kept in the archives. There is no fee. Just have fun while you stay fit!

Vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

9-11 | North American Obstacle Course Racing Championships, Stratton Expect a 3K short course championship on Friday, followed by a 15K standard course on Saturday and conclude Sunday with the team relay event. Noramchamps.com

2 | Stand Up for the Lake, Burlington One of the largest stand-up paddleboard races in the Northeast. A 6-mile or 3-mile (one lap) course open to all ages and elite to recreational abilities with a $3500 cash purse and free onsite camping for participants. Proceeds support scholarships.

Standupforthelake.com

SEPTEMBER 5 | Fiddlehead Fallfest, Smugglers’ Notch Resort Catch live music, beer, food trucks, a pig roast, rock climbing and hiking, disc golf championships and more. Smuggs.com

17-20 | Spartan Ultra World Champion and Super, KillingtonThese two events are sure to push you to your limits.

The Spartan Ultra is a 50 km, 60 obstacle race while the Spartan Super is a 10 km, 25 obstacle race that blends speed, endurance and technical skill. Spartan.com 18-20 | Vermont Climbing Festival, Bolton An event for new and current climbers to socialize, participate in clinics, see keynote speakers and gain new skills while camping out. Vermontclimbingfestival.com 24-27 | Green Mountain Horse Association Fall Foliage Pleasure Ride, South Woodstock Join fellow horseback riders for up to four days of pleasure riding during the best time of year for trail riding in Vermont while you explore the trails GMHA has to offer.

Gmhainc.org 28-29 | She Casts- A Women’s FlyFishing Weekend, Woodstock Hosted by the Woodstock Inn & Resort, an Orvis Endorsed Lodge, and taught by resident guide Chandra Anderson at Suicide Six and surrounding waters. Learn everything from the basics to advanced tactics and skills. Gear provided. Suicide6.com/summer/orvis-endorsed-fly-fishing

2 | New England Marathon Paddlesport Championships, Brattleboro Canoe, kayak, stand-up paddleboard and surf ski races on the Connecticut River. The New England Canoe and Kayak Championship race is 12 miles; recreational course is 5 miles. Neckra.org 13 | 44th Josh Billings Triathlon, Stockbridge M.A. Bike from Great Barrington to Stockbridge, paddle round a beautiful lake and then run to the finish line at the main gate of Tanglewood Music festival in Lenox.

Joshbillings.com

WATERSPORTS & MULTISPORT July - September | In Search of Memphre IX, Newport In search of the mystical, lake creature Memphre, this 25-mile swim on Lake Memphremagog between Newport, VT and Magog, Quebec is swim in three-day periods throughout summer. kingdomgames.co/ in-search-of-memphre/

Limitless.

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JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 31

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The service department offers tune-ups and repairs for all brands of bikes. Come to the shop to rent a bike or get information about local group rides or get advice on where to ride your bike in the Northshire. Battenkill Bicycles is the Number One eBike seller in Southern Vermont and is an authorized Bosch eBike systems service center.

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BERKSHIRE OUTFITTERS

RR 8, 169 Grove St., Adams, MA 413-743-5900 | berkout@bcn.net We are a full-service bike shop at the base of the Mt. Greylock State Reservation. We also border a beautiful 12-mile paved rail trail. We carry Jamis, Rocky Mountain and G.T. We offer sales, repairs and hybrid bike rentals for the rail trail.

WHY BUY LOCAL? These days, more than ever, it's important to support you local, independently-owned bike shops.

Here's why:

1. Trust: When you shop locally, you know if something goes wrong, they're ready to help.

2) Fit: there are few wrong bikes, just wrong fits.

3) Local knowledge. Want to know where to ride. Here's where you'll get your local beta.

4) Group rides: What's more fun than joining a small group for a great ride?

5) They make it happen: these are the shops that help build trails and volunteer their support at local charity rides. Do right. Support them.

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We are located in Manchester Center.

Always known as your go-to ski shop we are now your go-to bike shop. We have one of the best bike mechanics in Vermont on staff, Dan Rhodes. Many of you know of his reputation as a master bike mechanic.

Dan runs all aspects of our bicycle operations. We carry the full lineup of Cannondale and GT bikes—mountain bikes, gravel, e-bikes, BMX and hybrids. We are a full-service operation with sales, service, accessories and rentals including e-bikes.

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CHUCK’S BIKES

45 Bridge St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-7642 | chucksbikes802.com Putting smiles on people's faces for over 35 years. Bikes by Jamis, Transition, Norco, KHS, Davinci, Raleigh, Marin and Diamondback. Hours: Mon - Wed and Fri 10-5, Sat and Thurs 10-2. Be well by being smart.

EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS

6

2069 Williston Rd., South Burlington, VT 802-864-9197 | earlsbikes.com Earl’s Cyclery has been serving Vermont's cycling and fitness needs for more than 65 years. With over 12,000 square feet at the new location, Earl’s has the largest selection of bikes from Trek, Giant, Scott, Bianchi, Electra, Haro, and more. The service center at Earl’s has professionally trained technicians who are certified to work on all makes and models of bicycles, not just the ones we sell. Whether

7

EAST BURKE SPORTS

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215 | eastburkesports.com We are the original home to Kingdom Trails. Located in the heart of town, we pride ourselves in expert knowledge while providing friendly customer service. A fullservice shop awaits you and your repair needs. We have 100 rental bikes with an enormous selection of clothing, parts, and accessories. Hours: 9 - 6 every day

8

74 Main St., Middlebury, VT 802-388-6666 | froghollow bikes.com Take advantage of the most advanced and courteous service in our region, with quick turn-around time in our service shop downstairs. Upstairs in the sales room, we offer the best in new and used road, mountain, lifestyle, and children’s bikes and new gear. We carry brands that offer superior products that balance innovation and performance with reliability and value.

9

THE GEAR HOUSE

16 Pleasant St., Randolph 802-565-8139 gearhouse.com As Vermont's newest full service shop, The Gear House brings fresh energy and excitement to the state's cycling scene. Randolph has newlyrevived MTB access that mixes classic oldschool singletrack with some machinebuilt zones. Start the 12/12a loop from the shop for 38 miles of smooth, safe road miles. Or map out a day ride entirely on the gravel. The shop is also home to R.A.S.T.A.'s outdoor trail hub with a state map including every VMBA chapter, as well as 3D topographical maps with epic rides. Park in the municipal lot next to the shop and say hi before exploring the area!

10

GREEN MOUNTAIN BIKES

105 N. Main Rochester VT 800-767-7882 | greenmountain bikes.com

St.

Located in the center of Vermont, in the heart of the Green Mountains, we are surrounded by terrain that calls to mountain and road bikers alike. Whether you ride twisting trails or back to back gaps, we service, sell, and rent all styles of bicycles, featuring Kona, Jamis, Juliana, Raleigh, Santa Cruz, Transition, and Hinderyckx bikes - hand crafted by our own Rochester boy Zak Hinderyckx. So STOP READING and RIDE YOUR BIKE! Hours: 7 days a week, 10 – 6.

11 HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY & MOUNTAIN GUIDES

2733 Main St., Lake Placid, NY 518-523-3764 | highpeakscyclery.com Adirondack's source for bicycling and outdoor gear since 1983!

Sales, service, rentals, demos, and tours. Salsa, Giant, Yeti, and more. Your adventure center for mountain biking, gravel and road riding. Dirt, gravel, road, e-bike tours, Basecamp Lodge, and dirt camps!

12

MALLETTS BAY BICYCLE & SKI

794 W. Lakeshore Dr. Colchester, VT 802-863-2453 | mbbicyle.com

Malletts Bay es�� ����

Bicycle & Ski

Service, rentals and sales. Located on the shores of beautiful Malletts Bay, our shop offers expert repairs, top quality rentals, a fine complement of accessories and new bicycles from KHS, Swix, Intense and Reid.

Rent a bike from our Airport Park location and be out on the Colchester Causeway, the ‘Jewel of the Island Line Trail,” in minutes!

13

MOUNTAINOPS

4081 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-4531 mountainopsvt. com

We offer bike sales and service, fast and friendly with no attitude. We sell a full like of Rocky Mountain bikes for all abilities and riding styles. You’ll find tons of clothing and accessories in our converted 1893 barn.

Our techs have decades of experience with all types of bikes and our knowledge of local trails is awesome. We rent cruisers and performance mountain bikes for Stowe’s sweet collection of trails and are a Scott Demo Center!

14

OLD SPOKES HOME

331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 | oldspokeshome.com Vermont’s best selection of professionally refurbished used bikes and new bikes for touring, bike packing, commuting, fat biking, and simply getting around town. Named one of the country’s best bike shops for it’s “plain-talk advice and no-nonsense service.” A non-profit as of January 2015, Old Spokes Home uses 100% of its revenue to run programs creating access to bikes in the community. And don’t miss their famous antique bicycle museum!

Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10 - 6, Sun. 12 - 5.

15

OMER & BOB’S

20 Hanover St. Lebanon, NH603448-3522 | omerandbobs.com The Upper Valley’s bike shop since 1964.

We carry road bikes, mountain bikes and kids bikes from brands including Trek, Specialized and Colnago.

Featuring a full service department offering bike fitting, bike rentals and a kids’ trade-in, trade-up program. Hours: Mon. – Fri. 9 – 6, Sat. 9 – 5.

ONION RIVER OUTDOORS 20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736 | onionriver.com

16

ORO is Central Vermont's premier bike, car rack, and outdoor gear shop. Friendly and knowledgeable sales and service. We carry Specialized, Niner, Rocky Mountain, Salsa, Surly, and Yuba, and a large variety of clothing and accessories, including Giro, Smith, Club Ride, Patagonia, and more.

GEAR 17 OUTDOOR EXCHANGE 37 Church St., Burlington, VT 802-860-0190 | gearx.com OGE offers riders a premier bike shop with a knowledgeable, friendly, and honest staff. We have commuters and gravel grinders from Marin and KHS, mountain bikes from Pivot, Transition, Rocky Mountain and Yeti and a wide consignment selection as well as a demo fleet so you can try it before you buy it.

Our service department is capable of everything from tuning your vintage road bike to servicing your new mountain bike and offers full Fox shock service. Come see us on Church Street! Hours: Mon. – Thurs.

10 – 8, Fri. – Sat. 10 – 9, Sun. 10 – 6.

18

POWERPLAY SPORTS

22

TYGART MOUNTAIN SPORTS

35 Portland St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-6557 powerplaysports.com

57 Pond St. STE 1, Ludlow, VT (802) 228-5440 Info@tygartmountainsports.com, Tygartmountainsports.com

North Central Vermont's Trek and Giant Dealer nestled in the heart of bike country.

Selling new and used bikes for every budget and every type of rider from beginner to expert. We service all manner of bike and sell tons of accessories and apparel. Bike rentals for the Lamoille Valley

We are a full service bicycle sales and service center. We carry a wide selection of Scott and Kona bikes and a variety of accessories from Scott, Giro, Louis Garneau, Blackburn, Park Tools and others. We offer service and repairs on all makes and models including inhouse suspension service, wheel building, and full bike build-outs.

19

RANCH CAMP

311 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-2753 | ranchcampvt.com Ranch Camp is Stowe’s mountain bike base lodge, and your hub for bikes, gear, and culture! Ranch Camp offers a full-service mountain bike shop, tap room, and fast casual eatery, featuring sales and demo bikes from Specialized, Evil, Yeti, Rocky Mountain and Ibis. Looking for top of the line mountain bikes and components? Got ‘em. How about local brews from New England's finest purveyors of craft libations? You bet. And if you need a thoughtfully crafted graband-go meal for your ride, or a place to sit down and refuel afterwards, Ranch Camp has you covered. Best of all, Ranch Camp is situated trailside with its very own public access entrance into Stowe’s iconic Cady Hill trail network.

20

SKIRACK

85 Main St. Burlington 802-658-3313 skirack.com

Locally-owned since 1969, Skirack provides gear, clothing, expert fitting and accessories for all cyclists, with full service tuning and repairs...plus complete bike suspension service on most forks and rear shocks.

Designated one of America’s Best Bike Shops, Skirack is blocks from Lake Champlain. Open seven days a week. Visit www.skirack.com for up-to-date hours and online shopping.

21

STARK MOUNTAIN

9 RTE 17, unit b Waitsfield, VT 802-496-4800 Find us on Facebook

Located at the lowest spot in the Mad River Valley so you can coast in when you break your bike on a ride! 21 years of advise,directions and fixing anything that pedals. Thinking about a Yeti? Come ride one of ours,we have been selling Yeti since 2006! Hours: Tues-Fri 9-6*, Sat 9-4, and Sunday 10-2. *Close at 5 on Thursdays for the Shop Ride.

23

VILLAGE SPORT SHOP

511 Broad St. Lyndonville, VT 802-626-8448| villagesport shop.com

Established in 1978, we are a family-owned, passiondriven sporting goods store serving customers for four seasons of adventure.

Strongly focused on bike and ski, we have highly skilled knowledgeable technicians and sales staff to assist in all needs of purchase, rental and service. With two locations, one nestled trailside on the world-renowned Kingdom Trails, and the other in downtown Lyndonville, we’re here to make your adventures happen!

24

WATERBURY SPORTS

46 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT

802-882-8595 | waterburysportsvt.com A full service bike shop selling Trek and Giant bikes in one of Vermont's most convenient locations. Nestled in downtown Waterbury a short distance from the Perry Hill MTB trails, WBS services all bikes and can handle any repair you might have. We also have a fleet of demo bikes and and an excellent selection of parts and accessories.

Open 7 days a week!

25

WEST HILL SHOP

49 Brickyard Lane, Putney, 802-387-5718

westhillshop com Since 1971, West Hill Shop has been a lowkey, friendly source for bikes ‘n gear, service and rare wisdom. We are known regionally as the go-to place for problem-solving technicians. Our bike fitters specialize in comfort without sacrificing efficiency.

Recently, we’ve focused on stocking gravel road bikes, with awesome dirt road riding out our door. Join our West Hill Grinder in September, a rural adventure on scenic gravel roads or wily trails. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-5.

JULY 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 33

ENDGAME

I

’m by no means a phenomenal swimmer. Sure, I can keep myself afloat by breaststroking and sidestroking and backstroking and half-assing the crawl (read: flailing), but when it comes to basslike grace, to loonlike buoyancy—forget about it. Not an unselfconscious denizen of the wet, that’s what I’m saying. Not effortlessly at home in the water.

Nevertheless, since earliest tykehood I have been tossing myself into the drink—that primordial home, that ultimate source of biological creation— and remaining there until my toes become white prunes, my brain a sodden sponge. The reason, I suppose, is a desire for elemental intimacy, a passion for the strange, exciting, unpredictable adventure of fluid togetherness.

Intimacy with a chlorinated pool in Vergennes? Togetherness with a muckbottomed pond in Bolton? No and no.

For me, inspiration has from the start been associated with a specific place: Lake Champlain. Some folks climb mountains to touch nature’s primal energy, its unadulterated power, while others rappel into caves, leap from airplanes, bicycle off booters, etc. Dip a toe into Champlain, though, and you’ve made instantaneous contact with 6.8 trillion sloshing silvery gallons. In my opinion, these gallons are Vermont’s wildest wilderness.

Exploration of the wilderness began with bright summer mornings, me and my sister rigging together random toys (inner tubes, inflatable plastic chairs) and shoving off on grand voyages of discovery. Inevitably, what we discovered was that our poor knots loosened, our lashings unlashed, and instead of riding a scrappy raft along the cedar-draped cliffs of the Charlotte shore, we were forced to swim beside tangled wreckage, nudging it forward, aiming for the safe haven of a stony beach or concrete dock.

Such formative journeys— unsupervised, gleeful, certainly way less epic in actuality than in memory— signaled to us the potential of fullon immersion. Connect the prongs of Thompson’s Point: can do! Link Thompson’s Point to Garden Island: indeed! With our mother close by in a kayak, we pushed farther and farther, learning (by the seat of our suits) to be wary of sneaky waves, to regulate our breathing, to relax, to keep going.

Kids grow bigger, of course, and goals do the same. By high school, my sights were set on the Split Rock Lighthouse in Essex, New York: one mile as the snappy-

34 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2020

OUR WILDEST WILDERNESS

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW VERMONT, TRY SWIMMING THE LENGTH OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND CAMPING ALONG THE WAY. BY LEATH TONINO

"A perfectly calm dawn, I track steadily, making good progress, unbroken planes of glassy smoothness extending from fingertips." Sunrise at Split Rock.

“The fear, the inner voice insisting risk is dumb and adventure is mere recklessness disguised as legitimate behavior—oh, you know how it is.” winged merganser flies, probably two miles by my crooked, inefficient stroke.

Rather than assign the safety boat to Mom, I enlisted a pair of friends, both of whom were (pun alert) highly interested in smoking copious amounts of marijuana midlake, then chauffeuring me back in their dented metal ashtray of a canoe. We left Charlotte under clear skies, tagged the Empire State under gloomy charcoal clouds, and almost got struck by 33 lightning bolts on the return—a terrifying, exhausting success.

Chastened by the near misses of that electrical storm, I eased off long crossings and spent subsequent summers hugging the coast, practicing

the art of the solo swim, dragging behind me a foam noodle (tied to my waist by a piece of clothesline) should emergency strike. There weren’t any emergencies, thank the Lord, just rhythmic splashing, a profound sense of liberation, and a burgeoning plan: Hmm, if I can crank five miles in a single evening, I could maybe do Champlain’s entire 120-mile length in a week or two, eh?

I could and I did. South to north.

Over the course of 10 days in August.

Wearing a sleeveless wetsuit. Kicking behind a yellow boogie board to which was attached a neon pink flag and a green drybag bulging with minimalist camping gear: hammock, thermal undies, stove, couscous, headlamp, iodine, knife. A very long swim, that swim, and a very long story—too long to recount in ink (better a bonfire, beers, no hurry).

Okay, but here’s the odd thing, the weird surprise I will quickly mention: that project, for all its arduous zany commitment, for all its hours and hours and hours of forward “march,” for all its weather and ache and beauty, failed to bring about the elemental intimacy, the fluid togetherness, that was, and remains, my fundamental desire. The boogie and the gear had me feeling encumbered, somewhat divorced from my surroundings. I was in the lake as opposed to with the lake. At night, naked, I occasionally slipped into the starry water, searching for a kind of immanence.

Photo by Lisa Lynn

Unlike growing kids, adults often tend to shrink, their dreams contracting, the world’s juicy wonder draining away, leaving behind a parched, withered terrain. I’m trying to avoid that fate, trying hard, and part of my trying involves a new fantasy—or perhaps it’s an old fantasy, the original fantasy that’s been tossing me into the drink and keeping me there since tykehood (only tweaked, revised, re-visioned).

In this fantasy, I see myself between Thompson’s Point and Split Rock, totally alone: no sister, no Mom, no stoned friends, no foam noodle, no boogie. No safety net. No protection whatsoever.

A perfectly calm dawn, I track steadily, making good progress, unbroken planes of glassy smoothness extending from fingertips. Lake Champlain’s 6.8 trillion gallons hold me up and, simultaneously, threaten to pull me down.

The fear, the danger, the inner voice insisting risk is dumb and adventure is mere recklessness disguised as legitimate behavior—oh, you know how it is. And so I may not do it, may not accept this invitation, may not take this particular plunge. But at least the fantasy exists, the image of pure exposure, pristine trust: my body of water balanced against another body of water, Vermont’s wildest wilderness, suspended.

Ferrisburgh native Leath Tonino is the author of two essay collections, most recently The West Will Swallow You (Trinity University Press, 2019).

REGISTER ONLINE TODAY www.thepointtopoint.org

A VIRTUAL BENEFIT EVENT FOR

THE VERMONT FOODBANK

THE POINT TO POINT, POWERED BY VSECU, IS GOING VIRTUAL! We are going virtual, but the goal stays the same. Get outside, have fun, and ride or run to help fight hunger! Due to COVID-19, the Vermont Foodbank needs support more than ever.

The good news is that you can help NOW! We have reduced the cost of entry and are putting all our effort into meeting this urgent call.

Get on your bike or pull on your running shoes and register for the Point to Point, powered by VSECU. All funds go to the Vermont Foodbank as you raise them.

Between July 17 and August 2, ride or run our road, gravel, or trail courses; choose your own course; or log miles on your virtual trainer.

All participants will be entered in fundraising challenges and receive a gift bag with an event t-shirt and much more.

HELP FIGHT HUNGER.

www.thepointtopoint.org

Osprey Mira 32 L with Hydraulics 2.5 L

GEAR CHECK | HIKING HYDRATION

Reliable (Re)Source Water is fluid, but getting a handle on better ways

has integrated into all of its flexible bottles and

to haul it while hiking is the type of trailworthy

reservoirs. To save cubic space this material also

innovation that fires up our inner gear nerd. We’ve

collapses to minimal volume for easier packing

seen hundreds of bottles, backpacks, bladders and

when empty—a huge benefit when repacking an

even buckets over the years—but what is really

overstuffed pack. And, for even more space-saving

making a difference in our trail packs boils down

convenience, many of their bottles’ caps can be

improvements in durability and compressibility.

swapped with the Katadyn BeFree filter that turns

The big change in the former is lightweight, durable

lakes and streams into safe, drinkable backcountry

TPU—the outer coating on bombproof base

water sources.

camp duffels—that hydration leader HydraPak

Katadyn BeFree Water Filter fits all Seeker models Plug-N-Play Cap Kit fits all Seeker models

Stash 1 L expanded and collapsed

Seeker 3 L