Burke Mountain

 Some members of acidotic RACING and I had the privilege thanks to one of our teammates of camping on his families property on the Kingdom Trails in Lyndonville, VT. The land we camp on is just near the Chapel of the Holy Family which is an unbelieve little chapel overlooking the beauty that is the Northeast Kingdom. One of my favorite places on Earth. Camping is not my thing, but being in this place is so very special to me. I had tried once before to hike Burke Mountain, but had not brought the correct footwear.. even though I had gone and purchased some cheap sneakers, I had trouble finding the trailhead, and once I did.. ventured a few hundred yards down before turning around. It hadn't felt right. Fast forward to now, and I'm back at Burke Mountain Resort again, ready to take on the mountain. The majority of trails at Burke Mountain are mountain biking trails (during the Summer) but there are some designated trails that allow hiking as well. I started on the Red Trail from the parking lot, which meanders through the woods for just under a mile before briefly merging with Kirby Connector (one of the MTB trails) and then turning left and heading up the mountain. The trails are steep, but are remarkably smooth (again thanks to doubling as MTB trails) and today was very humid, so I got sweaty quickly! At just over 1.5 miles from the car, the trail forks and I decided to take the right branch onto West Peak Trail and make a loop over the summit. The trail continued to climb but was still great footing. At about the 2.5 mile mark, West Peak Trail ended and Profile Trail continued on up and around the summit to the fire tower. This was really the only section that was somewhat more technical. Some peekaboo views started to open up. I climbed the fire tower and the views were 360 degrees and just incredible. You could see for miles. Into Canada, into New Hampshire and of course the gorgeous countryside of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The views over to Willoughby Gap were the most impressive. The only downside is there is also a communications tower on the summit, so one side is marred with that structure.. but that doesn't detract from the beauty everywhere else! Back down the tower, I followed the path out to the road and the top of the toll road that you can pay to drive up and looked down the ski trails before re-entering the woods and picking up the Red Trail, which I followed all the way back down. 

Strava Activity

Starting out on Red Trail from the parking lot

continuing on Red Trail off Kirby Connector

one of the more technical sections

Willoughby Gap

heading back down

top of the ski trails

looking at Burke from our campsite