Page 8 - Aug_2014

MOOSALAMOO

By Andy Kirkaldy & Angelo Lynn

A rider enjoys a shady tree-lined section of an old logging road in the Moosalamoo NRA, which is part of the 25,237-acre Breadloaf Wilderness Area in central Vermont.

RIPTON/GOSHEN — Tucked in a 16,000-acre Touring Center throughout the winter, said the area
pocket of Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest offers almost everything to everyone of an outdoor bent.
on the edge of population centers, yet surprisingly “Every component of outdoor recreation is
remote, are more than 37 miles of designated point-to- available to the general public,” Clark said, referring to
point mountain biking trails through the heart of the Moosalamoo region.

Moosalamoo National Recreation Area.
And that’s not far off the mark.
Three years ago, Patrick Kell, then executive The region is named after 2,643-foot Mount
director of Vermont Mountain Biking Association Moosalamoo that overlooks Lake Dunmore and sits
(VMBA), led a $150,000 effort, fueled by manual labor within the Breadloaf Wilderness Area (the largest
from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, to build a wilderness in the state) that spans an additional

10-mile single-track scenic loop that starts at Silver Lake 25,237 acres aong the spine of the Green Mountains
(1.6 miles up a logging road), climbs the Chandler Ridge from roughly Route 4 (Killington) to Sugarbush’s
overlooking Lake Dunmore, and rides that ridge for 3.5 Mount Ellen.
miles of beautiful, undulating terrain before dropping Within the Moosalamoo NRA are numerous
through rocky hillsides and onto the botanically diverse popular features:
Leicester Hollow trail, which climbs a gentle 3 miles • The Robert Frost Interpretive Trail lies at its north end,

back to Silver Lake.
off of which there are more trails for skiing and hiking.
Since then, maps of available mountain biking in • The Catamount Trail runs through Moosalamoo NRA
the region have been helping savvy bikers discover the and the Breadloaf Wildernes area.
charms of the region, which are as diverse, if not more • Silver Lake and the Sugar Hill Reservoir nestle into the
so, than any mountain biking region of the state.
hillsides, as does the Moosalamoo Campground. More
This summer, crews are working on a 7.6-mile camping is just to the west at Branbury State Park on
Mountain biking trails lace through the 16,000 acres of the
section of the Oak Ridge Trail, off of Route 125 (which Lake Dunmore.
Moosalamoo.
goes over Middlebury Gap) to Mount Moosalamoo, • VAST maintains snowmobile trails in the area, and
which, when completed this year, will connect a hunting, fishing and bird watching are plentiful.
loose system of mountain biking trails that span the • Clark’s Blueberry Hill Inn offers Nordic and three of them in my life, and there were two of them
Moosalamoo NRA from Route 125 to Route 73 (the backcountry skiing in the winter and hiking in the growing next to each other.”
And then there’s the biking.
road over Brandon Gap). Seven miles in, Blueberry Hill summer, and there is access to public blueberry picking
Inn sits in the heart of a lot of riding, hiking, birding in the summer. It’s also one of the few businesses located Chas Lyons, vice president of the Middlebury Bike
and camping — a respite in what is otherwise a fairly within the NRA.
Club and someone who, like Clark and Acciavatti, has
uninhabited area.
Acciavatti, a Bristol resident, said he has come spent plenty of time working on Moosalamoo trails, said
“It’s kind of like this beautiful, mini-habitat with to appreciate Moosalamoo for the diversity of its the work on the Chandler Ridge and Leicester Hollow
this great trail system,” says Bruce Acciavatti, current wildlife and plant life. He said his clients report trails has paid off big time for mountain bikers.
“The Moosalamoo improvements were vast. The
president of the Moosalamoo Association that oversees everything from families of owls to bears, porcupines
the Moosalamoo NRA. “You’ve got a lot of great to beaver, eagles to peregrine falcons, and he has seen improvements were largely to the Leicester Hollow
habitats around the state, but you don’t have as extensive plenty on his own, including fisher cats, loons, hooded Trail, which was literally washed away (in the 2011
a trail system with as many great viewpoints at this mergansers and rare flowers.
flooding), so they had to recreate a lot of that,” Lyons
elevation level anywhere in Vermont. The views of the “Every time you go out you see something different. said. “They also brought some of the steeper sections (of
Adirondacks from Rattlesnake Cliff are fantastic.”
I was just doing the Moosalamoo Trail the other day and the Chandler Ridge Trail) to more current standards... I
like the way the old trail rode, but as far as longevity and
Tony Clark, long-time owner of Blueberry Hill I was coming down and I saw the most incredible purple-
Inn and a Nordic skier who still runs the Blueberry Hill
fringed orchid, about that high,” he said. “I’d only seen
access for more abilities, the improvements were great,

8 VTSPORTS.COM
AUGUST 2014