Duck Pond Road

I took a birthday ride this afternoon after brunch in Newport with Amy, Dwight, and Andy and all of the little dogs. It was nice.

I had wanted to see Duck Pond and I still haven't seen it: the road became too hazardous for my car. Seeing as I have never changed a tire, and that I am now taking the importance of tires in Vermont very seriously, I decided not to risk the rough trail to the pond.

Duck Pond Road begins in Barton, off of Rte 5 and ends up going parallel to I-91 all the way into Sheffield. The homes are what you would expect; some single-wides, double-wides, and some framed homes. The woods are deep. But many lots are cut for camps. There are a lot of trash sites, which is a damn shame. The road was bad in places with boulders cutting underneath the car. On one steep corner I nearly collided with a young woman who thought nothing of taking the road and the conditions too fast. She scowled at me.

In Sheffield, Duck Pond Road travels underneath I-91 through two huge culverts. You travel right through the median. The highway fence is on either side of this section, and obviously this helps wildlife travel from one side of the highway to the other.

I turned left after this section and came upon a large sugar bush. It was after this section that the road became bad and I turned back

I drove down into Sheffield, then into Wheelock to reach Barton through Sutton on the Underpass Road. Sutton reminded me of Brownington. The town is off all of the state roads. It is clean and has old trees lining the roads. The houses are not like in Barton but more like Connecticut. There seems to be money in Sutton. On the way out of town I found a waterfall by the side of the road:

And finally I went through the underpass off of Rte. 5. This is the infamous underpass where last summer's Agway bandits, who stole a truck at the campground at Willoughby, crashed the truck, breaking the driver's legs. Both legs. He was taken to Dartmouth hospital but not arrested. Nobody knew who had jurisdiction and he was heavily medicated so there seemed to be no rush. But the next day the bandit wheeled himself out of the hospital and escaped. He was found the next day hiding out in Lyndonville.

It was an enjoyable ride. It calmed me down.

I never would have completed it with those old winter tires.

Technorati tags: Duck+Pond+Road Barton Vermont

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