Teen Treks

Burlington, Vermont is quite the special place. Sitting on the Eastern shore of Lake Champlain, it lies tucked away between NY’s Adirondack mountains to the west and Vermont’s Green mountains just to the east. All of these features coming together create some waterfront views that (almost) make it seem like your looking out onto the Puget sound (sans the killer whales). When you turn around and head into town, you’re then quickly greeted by an outdoor pedestrian street that could just as easily be in Ithaca or Boulder. The street punks are similarly crusty and the outdoor stores are just as plentiful. The difference here in Burlington though, is that the ice cream is from Ben and Jerry’s. We walked into the ice cream shop with a few ideas and walked out with something called a Vermontster, which basically consisted of 20 scoops of ice cream, every topping available, and about 10 spoons. We finished that off in an almost concerning amount of time before we ventured back down to the waterfront to take the Champlain Bikeway over to the campgrounds that we’re staying in for the evening. Before dinner we went for a dip in the lake and now that we’ve had our sloppy joes it seems that it’s about time for bed. Signing off, Go Catamounts.

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.

Another fantastic day for the New York Montreal trip! Today, after over 300 miles of riding, the Trekkers finally crossed the border into Canada!

Rough headwinds did slow us down, but didn’t stop us from completing 25 miles before lunch on the other side of the border. We got to try a Canadian delicacy too, (no, it wasn’t poutine) ketchup flavored potato chips. It tasted like a cross between barbecue and salt & vinegar chips. We also enjoyed fresh apples and donuts. At our lakefront campground the trekkers and Russell played a game of pick up basketball while Nielsen and Kyle prepared nachos for dinner and fried dough for dessert. Tomorrow we reach our final destination of Montreal!

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.

We started our day early today expecting to bike only 34 miles.We ate an early  lunch in the park in a small town. When we reached D.A.R Park we relaxed and went swimming in Lake Champlain. The water was very refreshing especially after a hot day. We decided that we wanted to bike further since we still had energy and time so we quickly stopped at a local supermarket, made dinner,  and had a beautiful sunset bike ride to Whispering Pines Campground. We got in well before dark, played frisbee, played with the neighbors dogs, set up camp and had ice cream for dessert.

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.

Another long one behind us. We biked about 50 more miles today and, oh boy, did it feel good to hop in the shower at the campsite tonight. One thing that did set the figurative winds at our backs though, was the patriotic energy that was emanating from small town after small town. Every closed post office that we rode by was like a shot of red, white, and blue straight into the bloodstream. Another nice little refresher that we enjoyed quite a bit was a stop off at a stream for some splashing and rock skipping to cut through the heat of the day. We also crossed state lines for the first time today! Vermont and it’s beautiful people have been treating us quite well so far. We were giving our soon to be massive quads a break at the top of another massive hill when we heard an organic dairy farmer’s voice calling out and offering to refill our water bottles and let us hang out with his dogs. We definitely accepted that offer. We don’t have nearly as many miles to ride tomorrow but we’re looking to get another early start in the morning. God Bless America.

Learn more about Teen Treks’ New York – Montreal Trek.