Vermont Bikepacking – The Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail (Part 1)

Is it worth driving almost to the Canadian Border just to ride your gravel bike on unpaved rail trails? Can you make a multi-day trip out of it? The recently completed Lamoille Valley Rail Trial is the longest single trail in New England. If you combine it with the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, you have a destination for sure.

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*AllTrails GPS recording:*
Day 1: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/afternoon-hike-82cec96-57
Day 2: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/vermont-bikepacking-day-2-ef41d48
Day 3: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/vermont-bikepacking-day-3-a052f1f
Day 4: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/activity-august-29-2023-fd9dcf1

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https://www.mvrailtrail.org/

Trail Section Maps – Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail

Lamoille Valley Rail Trail

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Chapters
0:00 – Intro
0:48 – Getting there
2:23 – Climbing the Hill
4:46 – On top
6:30 – Sheldon Jct.
7:36 – To Rte 236
9:55 – State Park Road
10:42 – Lake Carmi State Park
12:22 – Part 2 Preview

What if I told you there’s a new bike packing destination in Vermont you’d probably agree just in principle after all everyone knows Vermont as a top outdoor destination however I’m here to tell you something new and exciting has happened in 2023 the state of Vermont recently completed the 93m Lao Valley

Rail trail this Trail when combined with connecting mcoy Valley rail trail and countless dirt roads provides endless Adventure let’s talk about what makes this a destination first consideration is the bucolic scenery which includes open farmland livestock wide river valleys streams dirt roads and beautiful Rolling Hills the trail Network passes

Through Charming small towns with just the right amount of services each provides a unique opportunity to get off the trail and explore before we get started please hit the Subscribe button so you don’t miss any of the upcoming episodes this VR map shows the start of our journey from St Albans to Sheldon

Junction the first 5 miles are a steady climb up and over the Foothills to reach and cross the mcoy river in Sheldon the day started off West but it would stop raining by the time we arrived in St Albans I rode with Mike and Ian drove

Separately since he had to leave one day early St Albin is a small town just 15 miles south of the Canadian border we drove here today but if you were taken the train and TRX ver monor provides daily Service in 1,000 ft turn right onto Seymour Road St Almond’s is known as the maple syrup capital of the world so what better place to grab our pre-ride lunch than the Maple City Diner the Northwest Vermont rail trail Council governs missa Valley rail trail in ill laois Valley rail trail their websites are very helpful I put links in the description below parking at St Albans was a concern after all who wants to return after 3 days of bike packing

To find their car has been towed I reached out to the rail trail console coordinator Amy Adams and she told me all I had to do was let the St ALB Police Department know our plans and vehicle Information on numerous occasions I have mispronounced the name of the state park where we stayed it’s pronounced Lake carai State Park it’s about 20 minutes after 2 we just got underway on the St alin’s end of the Missy Valley rail trail and we’re heading off to Lake Cary State Park

Where we’ll be camping tonight this would be my longest bike packing Adventure at 4 days and 3 nights the original plans were to ride the ly Valley rail trail from St Johnsbury but severe flooding in northern Vermont closed the entire Trail fortunately the Missi Valley rail trail was still open

So we made plans to start at St Albin and hoped the state of Vermont would open less damaged Northern section of the L Moy Valley rail trail before our late August trip all we’re in uh Swant now we just crossed over into the next town we’re

Climbing a hill right now at about mile five will reach the summit back in the day the uh Central Mount Railway used a pusher engines which was an extra engine they put on the back of the train to help it get up out of the city of St

Albin and up this hill we’re packing 25 30 extra pounds of gear on us so uh it could be a challenge for us Too we’re making the final push up this hill and while I would say normally it’s not a big deal 60 plus pounds of bike and gear um makes this a bit of a challenge I’ve got Ian and Mike with me up ahead and uh we’re just about to crash to the hill

Yeah it’s long and steady I’m feeling [Applause] it what you think of that Hill what you think of that Hill Mike that was a good grind definitely we’re in Fairfield Now the Miss Railroad completed this line after several name changes the line fell under the control of the central Vermont Railway in 1888 the central Vermont abandoned this portion of the Richford branch in 1990 and the pulp Mill at Sheldon Springs switched the trucks [Applause] After to our left is an Old Mill I think it’s a paper mill but it’s a dam on the river and they used to have their own tracks going in There the mill here is currently operated by West Rock a fiber based packaging company Oh As we cross this bridge you’ll notice the third and final span is of lighter construction it was built for the trail because in 1984 a train derailment damaged the original span which was not replaced so this used to be a former customer you might imagine they did have real

Service and uh if we were to dig around the weeds we would find this foundation for the train station all behind me is the msoy which we just came up and over here on the left is the L Moy Valley which goes to Swanton we’re going to continue straight over here on

The mcoy and later on in the trip we’re going to be going up from that road down there which is the L Moy Valley towards St Johnsbury Vermont the second part of today’s trip starts at Sheldon Junction where the misso valley rail trail crosses the ly Valley rail trail for the

Next 2 miles we are treated to River views from the trail before Crossing route 105 again after 14 Mi of Trail we take Route 236 North to Lake carai State Park in Franklin we just passed mile post 9.5 and that was Sheldon Junction back there Sheldon Junction was the junction

Of the St Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad and the mcoy Valley branch of the central Vermont Railway and now it’s the junction of the leoy valley rail trail and the msoy valley rail Trails so we’re a little over half halfway to the campground did about 10 miles so far uh at some point a few more miles we’re going to be hitting some paved Road in a serious Hill to get to Lake Cari State Park how you doing good are you all right little packing huh a little extra weight but worth every note of It so I’m having a little slippage on my front bag here adjust it probably the back Too back is drag you said the back was dragging I could use a little bit More all right this is uh the end of the run on the rail trail today so we’re going to be uh taking Route 236 a couple more miles to Lake Cary State Park good ride so far Yeah okay this is definitely the toughest Hill today definitely hopping and popping with all this Luggage so we’ve arrived at Lake carai I’ve been saying it wrong checked in we’re all set pretty soon we’re going to head down to the campsite but right now we’re trying to catch a little bit of Wi-Fi let every let our loved ones know we’re here safe it’s official after about 18 miles

We arrived at Lake carai State Park site number 13 it’s time to unload the bikes and set up the tents undressing the Yellow Jacket after arriving at Camp it was time to set up our tents shower and eat I labeled mine day three was find day one I’m not really

Sure F this Choice maybe few jumps to furthest when they light their [Applause] That Okay Mike what did you have and how was it got a mountain house was Ona it’s actually pretty good what are you having uh spicy sausage pasta it any good that’s good eight out of 10 and I had this uh trailtopia beef strer enough I liked it it’s just the

Right size too stay tuned for day two of this trip where we ride over 40 Mi and explore the rest of the missa koi Valley rail tra including the towns of Richford and Enosburg Falls