Hardwick, Wolcott, Craftsbury,Greensboro
7/11/23
This was a bit of a magical ride, dodging butterflies and dragonflies as we rode, past deep forests and waterfalls. At 19.4 mi and 2,258 ft of elevation, it is not a very long ride, and it felt like it was over almost as soon as it began. It had several interesting Class 4 sections of road, however, some more and some less challenging, but all beautiful.
Getting there, we drove through Hardwick, turning north on RT. 14, before parking at the bottom of Town Farm Rd on the right. To begin, we biked a little section of RT 14 to the left of Town Farm, before turning off to the right onto a quiet wide gravel road.
Not far down that road, we ended up at a Class 4 road – a rough, rocky, back woods adventure. We had to get off our bikes to push and climb some steep hills, or what Chris calls, “hike a bike.” We could then ride some, and then would have to hike our bikes a bit again, on and off until we reached a high point and were able to ride the rest of the way down this first section of Class 4 road. Very challenging and fun.
We eventually went across the flats in Craftsbury where we stopped briefly at the Craftsbury General Store and got a drink and a snack. While we did not get lunch, we heard from folks waiting for their deli order to be ready that they had very good sandwiches. We found a pleasant place to sit outside and eat, and rested for a short bit.
Heading out of Craftsbury, and leaving the General Store, we rode past the famous Pete’s Greens Farmstand. We continued along the lakes, where you could catch glimpses of the lake on the right, as dragonflies tried to drag race us. we rode some level gravel before climbing onto Overlook Road- a high road with good views off either side.
Our favorite section as right at the end where our route ended, on a short and beautiful Class 4 Road called Town Farm Road (where our car was parked on the other end). It was a safe, pleasant and easy downhill, as far as Class 4 Roads go, and then we were back to start.
