the Way of the Turtle

GREEN MOUNTAIN TURTLE, Part 2 -
Go Northwest, Old Turtle...
Saturday, February 6, 2010

Headed northwest from Northfield and made my way over to I91, which I took north into Vermont. Actually, the first stretch of highway driving took me about halfway up the Green Mountain State, roughly paralleling VT's eastern border and the Connecticut River, after which I headed northwest on I89 to the Burlington area.

Two things impressed me the most about my drive through VT. The first - mountains, mountains, and more mountains. I absolutely loved being surrounded by mountains for much of the ride. Yes, I know by some standards they aren't all that impressive; they're old, worn down, New England mountains rather than the rugged peaks out west. Regardless, I enjoy being surrounded by mountains, and today gave me lots of them to enjoy. I just wish I'd had more time to stop and see them. I had thought to make a side trip to Woodstock to hike up to one of the summits of Mt Tom (where I ran the inaugural Road to the Pogue trail race back in 2007) but decided to skip that - it was simply too far out of my way and would have probably meant arriving in Burlington after sunset, and I had places I wanted to visit out there.

The second thing I really liked about driving through VT was the lack of major development along the highway. When I drive across NY or MA, there are some wonderful stretches of countryside, but there are also plenty of cities and towns. What I saw in VT was mostly countryside. Looking at a map I realized after the fact that I had driven right past the state capitol, Montpelier... but I never would have guessed that from my surroundings.

I've often thought about taking time in the summer to visit some of the New England states for a couple of days... my idea is the essentially make a loop around whatever state I visit and each day spend my time running, hiking, or riding in as many cool parks and outdoor places as I can. If I ever manage to do that I'll probably start with Connecticut, both because I have friends there and because I'm more familiar with CT from my time going to school there... but there's no question that Vermont is now on my list as well.

JMH