It's been quite some time since I have done a post for the #wednesdaywalk initiative started by @tattoodjay. It's that that I haven't been out walking, but with the holidays and our recent trip to Vermont last month, my posting schedule has gotten a bit messed up.
After we left Philo Mountain State Park, we headed back through Burlington, VT to a small area north of the city.
It seems while I was doing my research for our trip to Burlington, @mrsbozz was also doing her own research. One of the places she discovered was the Lake Champlain Causeway or the Colchester Causeway. Given it was a relatively nice day compared to the weather we had previously gotten, we decided it was worth checking out.
Just in case you aren't familiar with the term, the Internet tells us that a causeway is "a raised road or track across low or wet ground". I don't think that term gets used as much in the US as it probably does other places.
The causeway actually connects to the Burlington Greenway that I wrote a post about a couple of weeks ago. If the weather was nice enough and you were ambitious enough, you could ride a bike, walk, or run from our hotel all the way to the causeway.
You can also just drive to the causeway like we did. There is a small parking lot near the causeway where you can park and then cross the road to get to the trail that makes up the causeway. It's actually a bit of a hike before you even get to the point that you can see the water. According to Google maps it looks like about a half mile from the parking lot to the point in the causeway where you have water on both sides.
As you can see, the causeway is made up of crushed gravel and it lends itself quite well to biking, running, or walking. It's very wide and there is plenty of room for multiple people to be on the trail. They also have small areas where you can sit and watch the water on either side of the trail.
The causeway used to be part of the Island Line railroad built by the Rutland Railroad according to Wikipedia. Our goal was to make it to the 200 foot gap in the trail that allows boats to come in and out of Malletts Bay and the surrounding area of Lake Champlain, but given the weather, hunger, and the fact that we had already had a busy morning, we didn't make it more than a quarter of a mile on the open part of the trail.
From the open part of the trail, it's another two and a half miles to the gap in the causeway. That means it would have been a total six mile hike because we all know once you get there, you also have to get back right?
In the summer, there is a ferry you can donate money to that will take you and your bike across the gap so you can continue your journey.
Six miles is definitely do-able for @mrsbozz and I, but like I said, it was pretty cold and windy day. Plus, it was getting close to lunch time and we knew we still had to drive back to Burlington.
I honestly thought we made it a lot further than we did, but when I saw the small island called Law Island in the photos above on the Google satellite image, I realized just how far we fell short!
Despite the weather, it was still quite beautiful and we had a great time walking out on the causeway. Lake Champlain is narrow enough that it is quite easy to see across it. Unlike the Great Lakes or some of the larger lakes in Michigan. You also get a nice view of the Adirondack Mountains across the lake in New York.
It is a bit of a swampy area, but once you get out past the shore and into the better part of the lake, it isn't too bad. Rumor has it there is a monster that lives in Lake Champlain similar to Loch Ness. The monster's name is Champ and you can read more about it here if you want. We did not see Champ on our trip to Lake Champlain, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Oddly enough, I think some of the best pictures I took from this part of our trip were at the point we decided to turn around and head back to the car. It was actually a good thing because I had to piss like a racehorse and there aren't any facilities anywhere in sight. We had to drive down the road to another park called Airport park where they thankfully had an open public restroom for me to use.
It would have been cool if there had been more boats out on the water during our trip, but given the fact that it was late October and not long after we left, Vermont got their first significant snow of the season, I understand why there weren't.
If are the sort of person who enjoys the outdoors and you ever make your way to Burlington Vermont, I highly recommend you check out the causeway. It's definitely worth it and on a sunny summer day, it's probably absolutely beautiful!
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