I’m up early again. even though I was exhausted the night before I still don’t sleep in. It’s just as well I guess, because then I can get up & out and start the day early. The AirBnb host is not awake yet so I sneak out of there before anyone is awake.
I find a local place to eat, the Hartland Diner, which is a really cool little throwback place. It’s small & cozy, and I have a leisurely breakfast and knock down a few cups of coffee while I let the morning crawl forward.
The place is really awesome. Really a cool little place carved out of a small town. Hard to find places like this anymore.
I head over to the festival and see Johnny & Shep at their campsite. I get myself ready then go register for the day but it turns out that it’s the same bracelet as the day before. So they scanned my QR code but beyond that it wasn’t necessary.
I head over to the VMBA tent and talk to Joe who I was supposed to meet at Killington a few weeks ago. We talk for a little bit then I am off to try to find a ride.
Ken is running late so I decide to head up Norcross and check it out myself. I go up the hill and do the first section then meet up with 2 hikers who ask for some directions. I give them what I know of the area and they are on their way.
As they walk away 3 bikers come from another trail which turns out to be the quarry overlook, and they convince me to join them. Their names are Steve, Terry, and Brad.
We get to the next trail access point in a few minutes and see a few other bikers who say not to bother with the long out & back. At that point I get a text from Dave that he is on Norcross. I had told him that’s where I was going before, so I told him to keep going and I would meet him.
I break off from the 3 guys and turn around and go back and meet up with Dave in 2 minutes. It turns out that he had no idea I was up there and only got the text after he got up on Norcross. He had just decided to try it on his own.
We go to the quarry overlook and it is an old abandoned quarry. I will leave the below photo dump instead of trying to describe it. All I will say it that it was cool as heck.
We turn around and head back, going down the way we came then going down the hill the same way I did at the end of yesterday. We get to the bottom of the hill, rinse off the bikes, then take a quick break. I head to the car to change my socks, gloves, and head sock. It gives me a slight bit of freshness for the second leg.
I meet up again with Dave as nobody else is around yet. We do Wind Up then Last Mile across to the falls. Up Nimbue & Cloud Climber to make our way over to the top of that ridge. We meet a few guys who talk us into doing Boulder Dash and while short, it is a pretty cool trail.
From there we go down Pass the Buck and take a detour on Quarry Trail which brings you to the top of the falls.
More pictures.
We wrap up the ride by doing Quarry Chase, then back down Nimbus, Last Mile, and Just Smile. Then we take the junky trails across the bottom back to the lot.
In all we did 12.7 miles in 2:20. The Strava link can be found here.
At that point Dave & I part ways, I head to the car to clean up, then I hit the road for the long drive home. I stop on the way for some pizza-ish thing, some berries, a kombucha, and an espresso.
Then I reel off the miles and make my way back home, wrapping up another Vermont trip.
Traveling Normandy 