Northeast Kingdom Roads

[pwt54]

With the weekend coming I thought I should mention a few of my favorite Northeast Kingdom roads. The way things look, the best foliage will be above Lyndonville, Vt. Routes US 5, 5A, 114, 105 east of Derby, and 122 appear to be the ones to ride. Route 122 is a favorite of mine. It starts across from route 114 north of Lyndonville village. I did notice a lot of red on a ridge on route 16 in East Hardwick last Monday so you might want to try route 16 also. These are all paved main roads. There are not too many paved secondary roads in the “Kingdom” . There are 2 that might be good. The first is the Burke Hollow Road. This starts on route 5A in West Burke right near where 5A meets route US 5.It goes to route 114 in East Burke. The other is the Underpass Road to Sutton,VT. It starts off route US 5 between West Burke and Barton and goes to Sutton where you come to the most confusing intersection of any 1 horse village in America ! Don’t panic. Just bear left and follow the pavement. This is the Burke Road and it ends as the Burke Hill Road at Depot Street in West Burke. Dirt Roads! There are plenty of dirt roads around here and I’ll give you my favorites. The Victory Road starts off Route 114 about 3.2 miles north of East Burke and ends as the Granby Road off route 102 in Guildhall, VT. It starts paved and turns to dirt. You will hit a short paved section going into Gallup Mills. There is a road on the north side called the Radar Road. It’s a short 5 mile or so road. It’s a good ride if you want to try it. There is a road on the south side called the River Road. This goes through Victory and ends on route US 2 in North Concord. If you continue straight you will come to Granby with it’s itty-bitty country store and working 1 room schoolhouse. Continuing on the road you will see many side roads, but all but 2 are deadend roads. The Paul Stream road does go to route 102 in Maidstone, but I DO NOT recommend this for a car. Farther along you will see the Fellows road on the south side. If you plan to drive route 102 south take this road and turn right when it ends on route 102. If you are taking route 102 north continue straight and turn left when you hit route 102. The next road starts as the Darling Hill Road off route 114 in Lyndonville. It’s about a mile north of the intersection of route US 5 and on the north side of the road. It starts paved and has some nice long views. When you go past the Inn at Mountain View Creamery the road splits. Go straight onto the dirt road. When you come to the stop sign at the Burke Hollow Road go straight. This road changes it’s name to the Maple Ridge road in Newark. It goes to Newark Hollow, where you pick up the Center Pond Road. Drive this road to the end at the Abbott Hill Road. Now, if you turn right you go back to route 114. BUT, if you turn left you have a nice ride back to route 5A north of West Burke. Note; about a mile after you turn left you will see a sign for Jobs Pond. Take the drive down to the pond and check it out. My next road is the Hinton Hill Road in Westmore. It starts next to the Town Hall. Drive past Goodwin Mtn. Lane and Perkins Lane (both deadend) for a great view of Lake Willoughby. Driving on you come to a split in the road with Hinton Hill going left and Coles Road to the right. It doesn’t matter which road you take because they both meet again at the Westmore Road in Charleston. When the roads ends turn right to get to route 105. At route 105, if you turn right you go to Island Pond. If you turn left you go to derby. Better yet, go to a bookstore, grocery store or Staples and get a Vermont Atlas by Delorme, Northern Cartographic, or Jimmapco (my favorite) and get lost the natural, old fashion way. P.S. All of our Welcome Centers on the Interstate Highways and off route US 4 in Fairhaven and route US 2 in Alburg have Green Mtn. Coffee Roasters coffee available. It’s free but if you can donate some pocket change to keep the coffee flowing we do appreciate it. Some Welcome Centers will have Safety Breaks with non-profit groups provide coffee and goodies. This is also a donation type program.