Weekend Vermont Fall Foliage Bike Tour

Your leaders will pick you up in Burlington and shuttle you down to the Topnotch. After a quick bike fitting and orientation, you will have the opportunity to do a short loop to introduce you to the area’s quiet country roads. Enjoy your first dinner of the trip at the resort as you ease into your weekend adventure.

Today’s ride offers the greatest challenge of the week or you can opt for a more leisurely day at Topnotch where you might enjoy a walk along the river or indulge in world-class spa services. The notch through the Green Mountains was named for smugglers who, more than two centuries ago, used its caves and heavily forested slopes to hide illicit goods destined for Canada. These same caves were used in the reverse direction during the 1920s Prohibition era. Today, the narrow winding road that traverses Smuggler’s Notch is passable only between April and November. It’s a tough climb but the foliage lining the route is spectacular against the granite cliffs, and the downhill run on the opposite side is well worth the effort. In the village of Jeffersonville, you can visit award-winning Smuggler’s Notch Distillery or continue to Johnson for an array of woolens made at a family run mill operating since 1842. Enjoy a section of the newly-finished Lamoille Valley Rail Trail and stop for a sample of local craft beer at a local brewery before finishing the grand loop back to Topnotch. 

Today’s ride winds its way through farmland and small villages from Waterbury, the town next to Stowe to the bustling city of Burlington, also known as the “Queen City” of Vermont. Roll west along the Winooski River—the largest tributary watershed flowing into Lake Champlain. 10,000 years ago, the land along the banks of the river was like Arctic tundra and hunters tracked caribou, wooly mammoths, and mastodons. Visit the Old Round Church, a sixteen-sided round structure built in 1813 and considered to be one of the first community churches in the country and continue into Burlington on a bike path, to the iconic Hotel Vermont. Join us for a farewell dinner tonight.

Today we ride north out of Burlington on the Island Line. This former rail route enables cyclists to ride along Lake Champlain to a bike ferry that transports them across “The Cut” to the Champlain Islands. The cut in the Island Line has been kept open since the railroad’s demise so boats can pass between a sheltered bay and the broad lake. Enjoy a visit to Vermont’s first vineyard and winery. Ride through the patchwork farmland of the Lake Champlain Islands which retain much of their agricultural heritage so firmly rooted in apples and dairy, after which you will return to Burlington.