[VT Mike]

These trails have been talked about a bit here, so I figured it would be good to put up some pictures. Sorry there are no riding shots, I took them on a day I was on foot.

 

[VT Mike]

a few more

 

[VT Mike]

and some more

 

[VT Mike]

and again

 

[VT Mike]

more!

 

[VT Mike]

some more

 

[VT Mike]

last one

 

[Theresamarie11]

thanks vtmike

Thanks VTMIKE for the nice shots. I haven't rode in middlebury but it looks like a nice place. How do I get to this place?

Terri

 

[Severum]

So when we hooking up. LOL. That place looks wonderful.

 

[atkinson]

God I love that high-side turn on Rastaman, one of the last pics. I am now scouting for a trail that will include as many of those type of turns as I can make in a row. Flowy fun!

These are in Waterbury, not Middlebury, although there is similar stuff in Middlebury at Snake Mtn. The easiest way to find the Waterbury trails is to park at the new skating rink, ride over the railroad tracks and through the tunnel under the highway(89).

You can't get too lost, unless you make some serious wrong turns up high. Do not ride anything blindly here. Stop and scope, until you know what's up. Also, you aren't safely done until you've crossed back over the railroad tracks and gotten to your car. I know of at least two people who have taken the heli-ride to the hospital after crashing on the last few mellow waterbars right before the tunnel. One guy I met about a month ago out there is now healing from a broken neck and learning to walk again. Take it easy.

Nice pic's Mike. The only way you were ever able to take that many pictures is because you weren't on a bike. Too much interrupted flow otherwise. I have a few more around here from H20berry, if you look in the various forums. Case anyone's interested in riding shots.

Many thanks to the Stowe Mountain Bike Club/ VMBA for all their work here, especially Hardy and crew. These trails are still not totally approved by the State yet, but hopefully this summer. Give support to VMBA Chapters for more Green Mountain goodness! Just so everybody understands what's been done here ... For this one area, there have been thousands of hours of trailwork, including donated heavy machinery to help with major drainage problems, hundreds of hours of advocacy work and countless meetings with state officials and local landowners. All of this work is on-going too. Respect!

John
www.vmba.org

 

[Jozz]

Hey nice work!

We'll be down at Sleepy Hollow later this month and we were planning on riding Catamount also... but looking at these makes me wanna try those BAD!!

So can someone post trail head info and/or where to get a map, if their is one since I read in another thread that is was a hidden gem...

Maybe there's a bike shop in town that could give us good 411. Is the trail an easy loop to follow or is it easy to get lost?

That bridge look so damn fun!!

 

[Theresamarie11]

directions

John, thank you for directions. I'm in Williston and have ridden mostly catamount, indian brook, and other mild trails around here. I do mostly road riding but now that I have a decent mountain bike, I'd like to try a little more trail riding and branch out a bit.
Also, thanks for pointing out my mistake in locale (Middlebury vs. Waterbury). I noticed it after posting but didn't want to clutter the forum. I knew you'd know what I intended.

I've just discovered the trail guide here and the fotwheel site. It's amazing just how many trails are all around me that I never knew about.

Terri

God I love that high-side turn on Rastaman, one of the last pics. I am now scouting for a trail that will include as many of those type of turns as I can make in a row. Flowy fun!

These are in Waterbury, not Middlebury, although there is similar stuff in Middlebury at Snake Mtn. The easiest way to find the Waterbury trails is to park at the new skating rink, ride over the railroad tracks and through the tunnel under the highway(89).

You can't get too lost, unless you make some serious wrong turns up high. Do not ride anything blindly here. Stop and scope, until you know what's up. Also, you aren't safely done until you've crossed back over the railroad tracks and gotten to your car. I know of at least two people who have taken the heli-ride to the hospital after crashing on the last few mellow waterbars right before the tunnel. One guy I met about a month ago out there is now healing from a broken neck and learning to walk again. Take it easy.

Nice pic's Mike. The only way you were ever able to take that many pictures is because you weren't on a bike. Too much interrupted flow otherwise. I have a few more around here from H20berry, if you look in the various forums. Case anyone's interested in riding shots.

Many thanks to the Stowe Mountain Bike Club/ VMBA for all their work here, especially Hardy and crew. These trails are still not totally approved by the State yet, but hopefully this summer. Give support to VMBA Chapters for more Green Mountain goodness! Just so everybody understands what's been done here ... For this one area, there have been thousands of hours of trailwork, including donated heavy machinery to help with major drainage problems, hundreds of hours of advocacy work and countless meetings with state officials and local landowners. All of this work is on-going too. Respect!

John
www.vmba.org

 

[Mr Magoo]

There's some of my skin still on those trails

Rastaman, Burning Spear, and Joe's.
Nice photo's, Mike. I'm interested in riding Waterbury Sat, 8/7 around mid-day. My son is playing soccer at 4 in Williston. Riders wanted.

 

[VT Mike]

God I love that high-side turn on Rastaman, one of the last pics. I am now scouting for a trail that will include as many of those type of turns as I can make in a row. Flowy fun!

These are in Waterbury, not Middlebury, although there is similar stuff in Middlebury at Snake Mtn. The easiest way to find the Waterbury trails is to park at the new skating rink, ride over the railroad tracks and through the tunnel under the highway(89).

You can't get too lost, unless you make some serious wrong turns up high. Do not ride anything blindly here. Stop and scope, until you know what's up. Also, you aren't safely done until you've crossed back over the railroad tracks and gotten to your car. I know of at least two people who have taken the heli-ride to the hospital after crashing on the last few mellow waterbars right before the tunnel. One guy I met about a month ago out there is now healing from a broken neck and learning to walk again. Take it easy.

Nice pic's Mike. The only way you were ever able to take that many pictures is because you weren't on a bike. Too much interrupted flow otherwise. I have a few more around here from H20berry, if you look in the various forums. Case anyone's interested in riding shots.

Many thanks to the Stowe Mountain Bike Club/ VMBA for all their work here, especially Hardy and crew. These trails are still not totally approved by the State yet, but hopefully this summer. Give support to VMBA Chapters for more Green Mountain goodness! Just so everybody understands what's been done here ... For this one area, there have been thousands of hours of trailwork, including donated heavy machinery to help with major drainage problems, hundreds of hours of advocacy work and countless meetings with state officials and local landowners. All of this work is on-going too. Respect!

John
www.vmba.org

John

Thanks for following up my post - you definitely added some important info. It really is important to check the trails out before you bomb down them. There are quite a few places where you could really get hurt if you turn the wrong way, or ride through a section with too much or too little speed. I ride here a lot, so I try to do my part as far as trail maintenance goes. I keep a folding saw in my pack and have cut quite a few trees that fell and blocked the trails. But that's nothing compared to the efforts made by the guys you mentioned that do the bulk of the work on these trails. You're right, I'd be hard pressed to stop and take any pictures at all if I was on my bike. It's just too much fun here, especially the turn you mentioned on Rastaman.

 

[VT Mike]

Rastaman, Burning Spear, and Joe's.
Nice photo's, Mike. I'm interested in riding Waterbury Sat, 8/7 around mid-day. My son is playing soccer at 4 in Williston. Riders wanted.

Mike

I'd love to join you, but I'm going away for the weekend.

have fun.

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

Sob.....

Those pix have got me all misty eyed.
It's been 4 weeks since I left VT and now all I have is Colorado

Thanks for the memories Mike. Too bad we never took those action shots we always talked about.

 

[trainnvain]

Dang, thanks for the Pics Mike. I just rode this area yesterday after seeing this thread. Awesome job by the SMBC and VMBA. It was a fairly painless day with the exception of hookin' a bar on the fence coming back from the dirt jumps (Doh!). I think I just scratched the surface, I'll be back for more.

 

[Severum]

Gotta bring this one back. I actually know some of these trails now. Is that bridge coming down the hill that scary one 10 feet up? Looked worse on Saturday.

Do you have any other pics hiding around? I'm guessing the steeper looking pics are way up the hill?

 

[radair]

Gotta bring this one back. I actually know some of these trails now. Is that bridge coming down the hill that scary one 10 feet up? Looked worse on Saturday.

Do you have any other pics hiding around? I'm guessing the steeper looking pics are way up the hill?

You're killing me here. I gotta drive right past there today and I know those trails are unrideably saturated.

Next year, I guess.

 

[SLinBend]

Wow. Great pics. Thanks for posting those. Brought back some memories! My wife and I were on a big mnt. biking road trip last year and swung by that trail system while in Vermont. I have to say that out of ALL of the riding that we did on the eastern sea-board (and we rode in a lot of places), the Waterbury trail system was our absolute favorite. Actually, I'd rank it in the top 5 out of every place that we rode in the US. Great climbs and a fabulous mix of flowy, fast single-track and some serious pucker-factor technical stuff/drops. It'd be nice to have more rideable miles overall, but that's about the only nick I'd put on it. Hats off to the folks that cut those trails.

These trails have been talked about a bit here, so I figured it would be good to put up some pictures. Sorry there are no riding shots, I took them on a day I was on foot.