Back to Burlington Vermont

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We had spent over three weeks in Burlington back in the summer of 2018. We had only planned to stay a week but had car issues that delayed our departure. We had discovered that Burlington is a really nice place. It kind of has a funky vibe like Ithaca New York or Sedona Arizona. As we were planning for our summer travels this year we squeezed in a 4 night stay in Burlington. Last time we stayed at the Elks Lodge and could have done that but after coming off 14 nights with no water or sewer hookups, we really needed to get caught up on laundry so we reserve a spot at North Beach Campground with full hookups. This is a pretty popular campground and also has a beach area on Lake Champlain as well as the very popular bike trail that runs along the lake. It’s only about a hundred mile drive up and around the north end of the lake and back down. We get situated at our site and take it easy the rest of the day getting a few chores done.

The next day we head out to explore parts of Burlington we didn’t get to the first time. Even though we had seen much of the area back then, we still found plenty to do. First stop was at Wheeler Nature Park in South Burlington. This city park has a couple miles of trails here as well as the old Wheeler Homestead and a community garden. We were warned by a guy walking his dog as they came back to the parking area to look out for mud and standing water on some parts of the trail. We start by visiting the old brick house that looks operated as some sort of party venue with outdoor space.

Old Wheeler Homestead

There are some very nice flower gardens around the property as well as a children’s area complete with a tea set for smaller parties.

Bright Flowers

Anyone for a Cup of Tea?

We start to walk along the trails. There is a mixture of paved walking path along a road, wooded hiking trails and other trails in the meadows. It was a nice walk and we found the geocaches hidden here. As warned, we did find some wet sections but for the most part managed to keep our feet dry.

One of the Trailheads at Wheeler Nature Park

Stream in the Woods

Planks in Wet Area

Staying on the south end of town, we head over to Red Rocks Park which is on the shore of Lake Champlain. This park has a few miles of trails predominantly in the woods. The terrain is quite varied with some short and steep hills. There are also plenty of large boulders and rock outcroppings along the way.

Entrance at Red Rocks Park

Large Erratic

The trail down to the lake overlook is rather steep but will be worth the effort of coming back up after seeing the view of the lake, boats and Adirondack Mountains across the way. An informational sign tells about the history of two of the small islands just off the shore.

Lake Champlain with Adirondacks in Distance

Juniper Island

We finish up the hike following the south end of the park and find the remaining geocaches hidden there. We follow a dirt access road from a water treatment facility back up to the car. This was a nice park to explore and not overly strenuous.

Ghost Plant

The next day was a stormy one so we stayed put. Our last full day turned out to be very pleasant weather with partly cloudy skies and not as hot and humid. We decided to head out for a bike ride along the Burlington Greenway Trail that heads north and south along Lake Champlain. When we were here before, we had frequently biked this route and had discovered that at the north end of a long causeway was a missing bridge with a pedestrian/bicycle ferry that transported people across the 200 foot gap. We hadn’t tried out the ferry or visited the island on the other side but we thought we should this time. We did a little research about the ferry to understand when it operates and how it works. Good thing we did since the ferry was not going to start as early as normal due to scheduled maintenance. It is about a 6 mile bike ride from our campground to the starting of the Colchester Causeway. Most of it is on a dedicated bike path but there is one section that is a half mile long thru a residential area with marked bike lanes.

View Along Burlington Greenway

The causeway is neat since it is a manmade path created back in 1900 by the Rutland Railroad to connect Colchester with South Hero Island. It is constructed of massive amounts of granite and marble tailings from nearby quarries. We had seen huge piles of the stuff when we visited a granite quarry in Barre Vermont a month ago so it isn’t too surprising that there could be enough tailings to construct an over 3 mile long causeway. The whole thing is only about 50 feet wide with a 10 foot surface for the bike trail.

View on the Causeway

We arrive at the gap about 20 minutes before noon when the ferry is expected to be back in service. There was already a line of over two dozen cyclists so we queue up at the end. There was one woman that was associated with the ferry who came down the line to explain what was going on. The boat had already left the dock after getting serviced and should be here shortly. She said they can take around 16 people and bikes at a time.  It looks like we should be able to make it on the second trip. She also provides some information about what there is to see and do on the island and provides directions to where people are looking to go. Turns out the ferry operates by donation. They have a place to put your cash or even a QR code to pay online. The suggested donation is $5 per person each way.

Lined Up for the Ferry

Sure enough, a few minutes before noon we see the ferry heading to our dock. It pulls in, ties off and starts to load people and bike. The boat ride takes less time than it does to load and unload. About 25 minutes later we are walking down the dock to hand off our bikes and take a seat.

Here Comes the Ferry

First Group of Passengers Board

Now It Is Our Turn

A Full Load of Bikes

Once on the island, the trail continues for about another 3/4 mile before we need to take roads to get to our destination. Our goal is Snow Farm Vineyard and Winery just under 3 miles from the end of the bike path. Too bad the old railroad bed didn’t get converted into a continuation of the bike path. We had gotten used to the general flatness of the greenway trail and now we had a decent hill to go up for a mile before making a left hand turn and coming back down the hill towards the winery. Near the base of the hill is White’s Beach. There are picnic tables and a nice view, so we take the opportunity to use this spot for the lunch we had brought with us. The other thing to see here are the hundreds of colorful birdhouses in the trees by the beach.

Colorful Bird Houses on South Hero Island

The birdhouses had a practical start back in the 1990’s. Two neighbors put up 20 of them to attract tree swallows to help combat the mosquito population in the swampy area near their homes. They decided to paint them bright colors and over the past 25 years or so, there are now nearly 1000 of them in the South Hero area. In the woods with all the birdhouses are also several pretty large dinosaurs prowling around. There was no real explanation for how the dinosaurs fit in with the bird houses but they are quite unique.

Brontosaurus Amongst Birdhouses

Velociraptor Hides Between Trees

After lunch we headed the remaining 3/4 mile to the winery. Along the way we spot some very fancy stone castles. We had heard there are several of these around the island. Built by a resident of the area, they became popular and many home owners had ones built on their property. Unfortunately the ones we saw had signs asking visitors to not enter the property so we were only able to check them out from the road.

Stone Planter, Castle and Arch

Snow Farm Vineyard is a fairly large place with lots of indoor and outdoor seating. We get a flight of their dry wines and head out to enjoy the views. Later in the day they were having some sort of concert on the grounds but we couldn’t stay since our ferry only runs so late in the day and we do not want to miss it and need to find out how long the ride is via roads. We started chatting with some women at the table next to our. They were from New York City and visiting Burlington for a long weekend. We gave them some insights on other things to see in the area.

Snow Farm Vineyard

We enjoyed almost an hour at this stop but knew we should start back. We didn’t want to push our luck with the ferry plus we knew we had a big hill we would need to bike up to get back to the greenway path. We didn’t have to wait long for the ferry to head back to the northern dock. There were only 8 of us waiting so we all easily fit on the next trip.

Heading to the Ferry Stop

On the Ferry

We headed back down the causeway and onto the “mainland”. We stopped a few places along the way to check out the views or find some geocaches that we had skipped on our ride in the morning. We ended up with a 27 mile bike ride that was very enjoyable and scenic.

Causeway View

Vibrant Flowers

Bridge Along Burlington Greenway

We enjoyed this short stop in Burlington. If you are reading this and wondering more about what there is to see and do, you can check out the first of several blog posts from our stop in 2018. Burlington blog post. Next stop Newport Vermont in the far northern end of the state in an area known as the Northeast Kingdom - or NEK for short.