Half-baked Vermont Excursion - 8/27 to 8/30

There were enough people into this that I decided to create a thread dedicated to the weekend. If you're committed to joining me or tentative, even if we've talked about it previously, please confirm here so I have a solid count.

Edit - I'm cutting this off here for any additional trucks. I'm sorry if you didn't make it, but this is getting to be a lot more than I initially expected and if we get too many more I am afraid we might be too slow on the technical sections to make good time on the rest of the route. Don't worry though, I'll make the map available when we're done and have a solid route.

Interested:
@Unchained 5150
@Spare Parts - might join on Friday night
@Skierrichy

Committed:
@BadDNA
@STgen3
@taco-houla
@Sloth +1
@mach1man001
@themajewski +1

I'm planning a multi-day overland trip through Vermont, Starting with us meeting up in the North East Kingdom on Thursday afternoon and finishing down in the southwest corner of the state on Sunday. I have a route planned out that will take us through and to some of what I think are Vermont's more interesting places. I've done my best to avoid as much highway travel as possible, there's no interstate highway driving on the route, and I've included a couple of class 4 roads that I think will be suitable for stock trucks just to mix it up a bit. We'll pass through some of Vermont's scenic notches and gaps, cross several covered bridges (and one floating bridge), see rivers, lakes, and waterfalls (with several opportunities to take a swim). I'm planning the trip to be self-supported with discrete camping each night, however if you wish, you can make reservations for yourself (I'll give you the areas I plan to stop at each night if you want) and rejoin the group in the AM. We should pass by or be camping near enough to food and fuel stops that we shouldn't have any problems keeping ourselves supplied and fueled up along the trip. The general route is below and I'll make it available via Gaia or file exports to anyone who joins me. After successful completion of the entire trip, I'll make the route files public for anyone else who wants to try it out.

Disclaimer: I have not driven a lot of this route yet, there is a possibility that we'll need to turn around and adjust our course if we come across an area that we can't safely travel through. There is also (always on trail rides) the possibility of some vehicle damage. Hopefully that will be limited to pinstripes but remember, you are driving your vehicle and ultimately you're responsible for what happens to it. Use spotters if you need to, and don't be afraid to ask for a spotter if you aren't sure about what you're driving over. I'd expect everyone will show up in a well maintained vehicle, but in the event of a breakdown that we're unable to fix on the trail, we'll do our best to get you to a public roadway where a tow truck can reach you. Ultimately, you're responsible for your rig and any passengers you bring. These last points should be obvious but I'll say it just so there's no ambiguity: I have no objection to alcohol or other legal intoxicants on this trip, but save it for camp, after we're done driving for the day; there will be zero tolerance for DUI or obnoxious drunken behavior.



Edit 1: Communications will be on GMRS, a cheap handheld should be sufficient (it's all I've got), with CB as a back-up if you've got it.

Edit 2: As I mentioned, there will be several opportunities to swim, but we'll also have a couple of chances to get out and hike a bit too, be prepared if you want to do that.

Edit 3: Thursday rally/gathering of vehicles - Let's plan to meet at the Darling Memorial Park on Rt-114 in East Burke at 3pm on Thursday and we'll head to camp from there. The street address is 1065 VT-114, East Burke, VT 05832, and you'll find the parking just past the softball field on the north side of town.

 

Probably +pet, maybe +1.

 

Cant this time but I'm interested if you do this again in the future.

 

Oh boy. Need help scouting? There's a second rout north of Manchester I can show you too. Forgot to send that map to you

 

Me + possibly my daughter. If not her i'll take the dog along.

 

@mach1man001 heard you were down too.

 

That is the primary intent of this trip; scout and refine the entire route. That's still my plan, but with some other people expressing interest, I figured why not drag some brave souls along and get outside perspectives on the route as a whole before I make it public.

 

So GMRS for comms? I've got CB too that's pretty well tuned. But GMRS is still superior.

 

Yeah, I'll toss that in the first post. We'll plan on GMRS for primary comms.

 

Ooooh, I'll have to check my schedule and ask permission from the ball and chain. This looks good!

 

Is that first leg FR71?


Also there's the second one up north if it interests you.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm this is actually at the tail end of my York Maine Vacation. how far from York Maine is the rendezvous point?

 

A floating bridge huh.. Sounds cool

 

I am. Eammon @BadDNA count me in!

 

Looks about 3 hours from York to East Burke VT, where I'm going to have people gather up.

 

York to Burlington, for all intents and purposes I think. about 3.5 hours without stops, I've done that trip before a time or two, beauuuutiful drive.

 

@BadDNA. ^^^

 

oooo oops.

still similar routes but a bit shorter. What time we thinking for Thursday PM? I might be able to pull off a half day work that day.

edit: last weekend in August, right?

 

The first leg is Gaudette Rd in Averil. I have driven that, it's a well maintained class 4 with some really spectacular views on it.

 

I’ve been in MA for a while but I’ll be heading back to VA towards the end of August! I’ll follow in here to see how this route goes for you guys. Maybe I’ll try some of it when I get back up here.