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Moderate Rides:
1. Plainfield-Cornish Loop
2. Norwich
3. Bayley-Hazen Loop
Buy the book, Adventures in Paradise, for over 30 more
rides!
The Dirt Roads of Norwich
Norwich-Hartford Loop. 9 miles, demanding climbs.Begin in Norwich village, I-91, Exit 13 Rough terrain
requires prudence. Mountain bike. Stunning sunset views.
Numbered cues below refer to MAP. Click here. (PDF)
Ninety years ago, when the Dartmouth Outing Club built
Happy Hill Cabin in southwest Norwich, the site was chosen
for its suitability for “pasture skiing.” Hard to believe
today until you begin to explore the Podunk triangle
bounded by West Hartford, West Norwich, and the Jericho
neighborhood, all of which straddle the Quechee and Hanover
topos. Ghosts remain to be discovered – stone walls, field
maples, barn foundations, roads that lead to nowhere – but
no people. Dozens of families once scrounged out a country
living here. A few now lie under the Griggs Mountain’s
flinty brow in the remote Parkhurst Cemetary. Reconnoiter
this lost triangle another day.
1. Beaver Meadow Rd. to Bragg Hill Rd. Shaded climb after
the first few hundred yards.
2. Cossingham Rd. becomes rough Class VI horse road,
crosses AT at HOL. In spring, the surface consistency is
identical to Rocky Road ice cream but with real rocks.
3. Brook crossing to another mudslide. Confusing side
roads.
4. Paved road continues steeply down from vantage point
to VT Rt. 14. Return to Joshua and go right on Jericho
Street.
5. Newton Lane. Hard left from paved to dirt.
Copyright: Dick Mackay, 2007
Website Creator: Abraham Clayman
Website maintained by RLG.