Ride 41: Westminster, Athens & Putney

Much like Ride 40, the loop for 41 went through many iterations. They’d both been planned for so long, that my skills, goals and knowledge around route planning outpaced them. Originally, the route was going to be a day route, avoiding the large ridge that separates Athens from Westminster and Putney. I then realized I wanted to keep the loops within the borders of the towns I hadn’t done yet (as much as possible) and also discovered some Class 4 roads connecting over the ridge. In addition to the abandoned town roads, there was also an entire trail network crisscrossing the ridge. And not only that, there was a CABIN on the ridge run by the same group that manages the trails and land. At this point, I rerouted onto the trails, and made it into a short two day trip by calling and making a reservation for the cabin. However, I soon had yet another realization that it’s possible to take the train to Bellows Falls (which yes is a village of Rockingham) but it’s right on the border of Westminster and I was a bit bummed to have missed lovely Bellows Falls previously! I very excitedly logged onto the Amtrak site to get tickets for an upcoming weekend, but while there were plenty of human tickets available, the bike tickets were sold out! It turns out the Vermonter line only has space for two, non-boxed bikes. How silly is that?!? So while this couldn’t be a fully bike and train-powered weekend, I was still excited to do some biking with both Maddie and Brad.

As the appointed Saturday neared, Brad let me know that he wanted to do a longer ride, given the length of the drive to get down there. That was totally understandable, as (in the end) the time it took me to ride day one was only marginally longer than the drive. So Brad left earlier and began riding from Hartland while Maddie and I drove down a few hours later. My start point would still be Bellows Falls, since I wanted to test if this would be a good potential train loop. Getting into town, the timing just happened to work out that it would have been almost exactly when the train would have arrived. In fact, Maddie took a video of the train’s slow roll out of town soon after I left. We parked next to the beautiful Frank Adams Grist Mill, a fully intact 1831 mill which was active until the mid-1960s. Maddie had opted not to ride this leg with me as it was really climby and she’d also enjoyed how we’d done things at Grout Pond. So she’d hang out a bit in town then make the drive and short hike up to the cabin. I began my ride by making my way out of town on VT 121, which I soon turned off, but as a note to fellow gravel enthusiasts: it appears to be a beautiful dirt road for much of its run up from Grafton towards North Windham. After entering Westminster, I turned onto Gage Street and Covered Bridge Road. It took a little digging, but I discovered that the road hasn’t had a covered bridge on it since 1967, when the Gageville/Grangers Covered Bridge was burned down. I then began a beautifully narrow, winding and wooded climb that ran alongside Interstate 91 and then popped out across a swampy likely former meander of the Connecticut River at Allen Brothers Farm. I took a right following the paved road up towards the I-91 onramp, but it soon became a nice dirt track that followed Morse Brook, lifting me up away from the river and into the hills which would dominate the rest of my day.

Eventually, I reached the top, which is located just after a somewhat nondescript woodshop of a company called Woodstone. It turns out that they make beautiful, high-end windows and doors using old fashioned tools and methods. On the way down, I knew there was a cheese producer that made delicious-looking sheep’s milk cheese. I’d added a little detour to the route, so I’d be notified about it on my descent, but I began to second guess if I’d actually added it. So when I saw the sign for Parish Hill Creamery, I threw on the brakes and pulled in. They had a small, self-serve farmstand which had a good variety of cheeses. I bought a wedge of “Jack’s Blue” and continued down. Much to my surprise, I soon came to the entrance for Vermont Shepard’s farmstand: the detour was in fact on the route and this road is just a cheese hotbed! Since I’d already bought some cheese, I decided I didn’t need to double down on the dairy and continued on, though it does look delicious and I hope to get my hands on some soon. I soon came to Westminster West Road, which would carry me north and into the eponymous settlement. I did some digging and couldn’t find a specific reason why it’s not called West Westminster, but I can only assume it’s a bit more poetic and easier to say Westminster West. Before getting into the village proper, I took a slight detour on Church Street, which has an extremely short unmaintained section. It lifted me up past some beautiful homes, then down to the Congregational Church and then the cute-as-a-button public library, where someone was unloading books and gave me a hearty hello. I continued north swinging by the former elementary school that now houses an “interactive, multi-disciplinary, art-and-theater-based program” for district students. 

My next detour was supposed to be onto South Goodard Road, but the entrance looked too much like a driveway, so I chickened out for some reason. Brad took that road from the north later in the day and said I missed out. So while I did miss that section, I didn’t miss out on North Goodard, which was a pleasant, pine-filled cruise down. My first steep climb arrived quickly as I turned onto Bemis Hill. It wasn’t too bad and I had the company of a stream, some beautiful homes and even an old overgrown graveyard. I couldn’t read many dates, but the oldest I saw was a death in 1829. The road was well maintained until we reached a section where it briefly enters Rockingham and then enters Athens. Luckily, it was downhill and I was able to ride much of it. I’d certainly not recommend trying it in the opposite direction. The town of Athens doesn’t have much in the way of a downtown. I stopped at the town offices and was able to refill bottles at the adjacent church, but beyond that, there’s not a whole lot. One of the biggest things to happen in town was a family being featured on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. But sadly (as often happens) a few years later, the family was struggling to keep up with the show’s hidden costs. I passed houses as I worked my way back south, some more madeover than others and soon turned left to begin my climb back up to the top of the ridge.

Reaching Old Country Road, I saw a sign that I hoped was a good omen: “No Snowmobiles or ATVs”. Ideally, this meant that the old road would be pleasant and not rutted out, but it could also mean an overgrown hellscape that’s barely ever used. Luckily though, it was more of the former. There were certainly some boggy bits and some dirt bike tracks (they found the loophole) but all in all it was a solid climb. It would appear that this is used somewhat frequently by mountain bikers, as there’s some single track to the south that shows up on Strava and the trial map. Once I reached the top and Old Athens Road, I hooked up with the Latham Trail, which would take me to the Pinnacle Cabin. The trail was rideable but the roots and rocks would have been more manageable with some suspension. About halfway to the cabin, I crossed paths with a couple pushing foldable, fat tired e-bikes. They seemed a bit out of their depths: the track suit-clad husband of which said something along the lines of “This trail looks a bit different than they’d described.” The wife didn’t really say anything. I hope they managed to enjoy their ride eventually. One neat thing about the ride was the proliferation of stone walls. It’s obvious evidence of how cleared these valleys used to be. Soon enough, I reached the cabin where Maddie had arrived on foot only about 30 minutes prior. What a view that place has! It’s a full 180 degrees to the west and there are barely any roads or buildings visible. I unpacked a bit and changed, relaxing in the blustery sun until Brad got there. We had a few hiking visitors come up, many of whom were excited for us to be staying there overnight. “The price is right,” I’d tell them: costing only $5 a person. The process is a bit funny to make a reservation. It involves making a phone call to Valerie, who I can only assume is a volunteer. I think they make it a bit convoluted on purpose to keep the riff-raff out. It seems to have a lot of availability, so I’d recommend giving them a ring! 

I should take a step back and talk a bit about the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association. Founded in 1992, they’ve slowly worked to purchase and provide access to the over 2,725 acres of forest and 25.7 miles of trail they manage today. It’s truly a remarkable organization and the cabin is the crown jewel of the area. The cabin was originally built in 1967 and used to have running water and a kitchen. It could even be accessed via car and served as a summer retreat for the Farnsworth family. It was then bought and eventually transferred to the Association by the Littmans and it was renovated to its current state. It has a sleeping loft and a working fireplace! It really is something special and I can’t recommend it enough. We sat in the sun chatting and eventually made dinner inside as the golden glow of sunset shone through the three huge west-facing windows. We stayed up enjoying the fireplace and one another’s company before turning in. The next morning, the fog lay thick in the valleys and it was quite the sight to eat breakfast to. We greeted more early morning hikers and had a quick second breakfast of popcorn made in an old timey Jiffypop stovetop popper before packing up and beginning to pick our way down off the ridge.

Maddie began the journey down first, with Brad and I following behind soon after. The trail was wider and smoother than what I rode the day before, but it wasn’t all rideable. It may have been on an unloaded bike, and certainly would have been on a full-suspension mountain bike, but it was enjoyable. There were smooth sidewalk-like sections, a few interpretive signs and even a section that was like a wide-open grassy meadow but in amongst the trees! We overtook Maddie near the bottom and all rendezvoused at the car. Brad and I had already decided that since the car was right there, it would be silly to haul all our camping gear for the rest of the day. So we slimmed down our rigs and confirmed the plan with Maddie: she’d drive to the end of the route in Bellows Falls and begin to ride it backwards towards us and then turn around when we met and we’d all ride back together. Brad and I turned right onto the Class IV section of Windmill Hill Road and Maddie turned left to work her way north. The road was a great ride, turning to a smooth, quiet descent after a brief chunky beginning. We soon passed into Putney and caught up with a crew of 4 folks out on a ride. Then immediately as we were passing them, we saw another rider headed up Tavern Hill Road as we turned south. We all (sarcastically) agreed that the roads were getting way too crowded. After a quick drop down, Brad and I turned right to do a quick up and down on Cory Hill Road which had lovely views over a field to the east. I mentioned to Brad that I added this road to the route since it bordered a field and we went off on a sort tangent about how we plan routes and what we look for on maps when doing so. It’s always fun to hear others’ processes. 

We hooked up with Aiken Road and the lone cyclist we’d joked with before. We chatted a bit on the next climb and he’s from Keene New Hampshire, about 40 minutes away. It was a good reminder of how far south we were! We split soon after before Brad and I came to the Putney School. This small (about 225 students) private boarding and day school is well reviewed and has some diverse alumni (from singer/songwriter Sam Amidon to actor/admissions briber Felicity Huffman). It also has a small dairy farm at which a rotation of students work throughout the year. After passing by campus we had a classic cruise down Houghton Brook Road which was shady, smooth and followed a brook. We both decided that someone should map all of these kinds of descents in the state. I’d love to ride all of them. We had a quick punch up then down Signal Pine Road, then ended up in downtown Putney stopping at The Putney General Store. We each got a delicious breakfast sandwich (for third breakfast I guess) and I’d strongly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area, though Brad says the Co-op just down the road is solid as well. Across the street, crouched above a set series of falls in Sackets Brook sits the diminutive Soundview Paper Factory. They make napkins towels out of recycled paper and survived a fire earlier this year. We went past the factory crossing an historic stone bridge and onto one of the best named roads in the state: Hi-Lo Biddy. I’ll let the fine folks at Brave Little State explain the history of the name, but I unfortunately can’t share a photo of the sign: it was missing at the intersection with River Road!

As you could probably guess, River Road parallels the Connecticut River. Being paved, I’d thought it would be fairly busy, but it was quite quiet: nearby Route 5 takes non-local traffic where they’re going much faster. We passed beautiful barns, active farms and a beautiful culvert/bridge that carried the train tracks across East Putney Brook. I wasn’t fast enough to catch a photo and it’s actually just downstream from yet another historic stone bridge in Putney. Eventually we turned onto East Putney Falls Road where we began a short climb. We made our way back under I-91, passed a lovely looking hall that apparently hosts contra dances, crossed Route 5 and turned onto Old Stage Road to do our last Class IV section. It wasn’t too steep or technical, but it was just rocky and wet enough to make it not rideable for a short stretch. But it was a fun section. Soon we met up with Maddie (happy to have caught her on the north side of the Class IV…it’s not her type of riding). We had a fun cruise down Pine Banks, past “Fred’s Rock Shop” where we eventually began a climb up Piggery Road to the Kurn Hattin campus. The collection of small homes, dorms, academic and farm buildings have provided education and supported living for children “whose families are experiencing a period of need or instability” since 1894. They’re just coming to terms with apparent years of abuse, but hopefully the recent settlement will bookend a dark chapter and they can begin providing the much needed services to the children of the area.

We then dropped down into Westminster village, which seems to be much older than Westminster West. In fact the settlement is Vermont’s oldest existing town, having been “chartered in 1735 by the Province of Massachusetts Bay and was called New Taunton or Township Number One”. The main street is lined with many colonial-era buildings and many of them haven’t changed much over the years. A bit further north we passed what was labeled as The People’s Car Company, but what I think is John’s Car Corner. They had a TON of VW automobiles out front including at least 10 vans and just about as many Beetles! We continued on 5 until closing the loop from the day before, where Brad and I turned at Allen Brothers farm to do one last stretch of dirt, while Maddie took 5 back into town. The climb in this direction was steep, but we soon were heading down. I’d originally planned to hit up the Bald Hill Trails to get back, and I thought about doing it (even to the point of braking too hard by the turnoff and almost forcing Brad to rearend me). But ultimately, I wanted to see Twin Falls and I’d had enough single track for the day. So we continued on and met up with Maddie back in Bellows Falls. We managed to cram everything into the car and began driving our way back to Brad’s car. We needed lunch and decided to stop at Brownsville Butcher. It was delicious, plus it helped make up for my disappointment on Ride 17. The other momentous thing the completion of this ride means, is that there are only 9 towns and one ride left in this whole project! My hope is to just pick the best looking weekend day in October, invite anyone who’s done one of these rides with me and wrap this puppy up! Folks have asked if I’m going to celebrate in some way and while I’ll be happy with the accomplishment, it’s always been a silly, arbitrary goal, so I’m not wanting any pomp or circumstance. It will just be fun to see the rest of the towns and know I’ve seen the whole state’s worth!

The Details:

https://www.strava.com/activities/9862963647

https://www.strava.com/activities/9869359154

https://fatmap.com/routeid/3471809/dirt-251-westminster-athens-putney-day-1?fmid=cp

https://fatmap.com/routeid/3471812/dirt-251-westminster-athens-putney-day-2?fmid=cp