Putney, Dummerston
6/23/24
Intro – This is one of four rides (giving us a seven town total) that we did on a rainy camping trip to Fort Dummer State Park in June 2024. Fort Dummer is a forest oasis just a mile or so out of the city of Brattleboro. We arrived on late Saturday and did this ride Sunday morning.
This was a dirty ride, which will color my experience a bit I’m sure. We started biking Putney in the rain and most of this ride was on again off again showers,
And STILL it was one of the prettiest 251 rides ever!
Since it was a Sunday morning, we parked at the Putney Public School in the parking lot to the side. This ride takes you northwest out Hickory Ridge Road, and turns left onto Tavern Hill Road. Right out of the gate there are interesting things to see and photograph, beginning with altered STOP signs, and old farm machinery
This whole ride seemed like a hundred turns through a spiderweb of gravel roads, going up, going down – over and over. Mud was flying.
We passed gorgeous fields, and forests and farms. The gravel was clean and pristine!
It was a very wet, misty foggy day. Great weather to visit a good historic cemetery, and Putney didn’t disappoint.
There is a steady climb on this ride for the first four miles, with some ups and downs, but mostly ups. going from 400 to 1200 feet if elevation. Then it becomes a glorious coast down for the next 10 or more miles, though Canoe Brook Nature Preserve.
We saw dozens of cool, colorful funky homes and sights tucked away in the Putney and Dummerson hills. Near the Dummerston and Putney town line, you never know what you might see, like a flock of chickens and their friend the giant skeleton.
This ride was challenging for the elevation, but relatively short at 16 miles, so it all evened out.
At the end we were soaked and covered with grit, so we rewarded ourselves with a coffee and sweet bread at the Putney Food Coop.
