Rochester and Pittsfield
The Perspiration Trail
7/26/25
This is a VERY exciting ride, but only if you are competent on a mountain bike and comfortable on steeper slopes. So, before we did this ride, we consulted Doon at Green Mountain Bikes in Rochester. He advised riding a mountain bike on the trail, not a gravel bike, so we rented one for Marcia.
Chris planned a point to point starting in Rochester and ending in Pitsfield, so that necessitated two cars that could haul bikes, and dropping one off in Pittsfield on the way to Rochester.
Marcia note: This was an interesting ride for us, as I am NOT a mountain biker. In fact we had to rent me a mountain bike from Green Mountain Bikes for the day. But Chris grew up in Rochester, VT and it is just over the mountain from us. We always love a day trip and we were determined to explore this quality trail system between Rochester and Pittsfield.
We drove to the start riding at Chittenden Brook Camping Area, 2 miles from Route 73 and 600 feet higher in elevation than the entry point from the state highway. There is a single track that begins at the bottom, called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. These trails were constructed within the past 5 years using federal money and small earth moving machines.
For steep ascents and descents, switch backs with banked corners were built. We pedaled most up for the first hour, this trail is named “Perspiration” and we understand why it was named that. After leaving Perspiration Pass (elev 2,450) we zig zagged down the side of a steep mountain on switchbacks, really very exciting!
The entire trail was built without bringing in roadbed material or drainage structures, due to remoteness of the site. The trail experiences some erosion, leaving only rocks, over time, however the erosion is minimized by extensive water bars and intelligent drainage design.
Then we traversed a few miles southeast losing elevation before connecting to a class 4 road leading to Pittsfield village. Total drop is 1,650 feet. The traverse had many drainage crossings lined with rocks at the bottom/stream found at the site.
At the end of the trail, you cross a rickety bridge, that eventually brings you into Pittsfield village.
We went back to the Pittsfield General Store to our vehicle, loaded our bikes, and returned to Rochester for our other vehicle.
