Kingdom Trails, Vermont

Wow, three months in the northeast has snuck up on us! We really didn’t start checking off destinations we wanted to hit until just a few weeks ago (at least all of the ones that were outside of Maine). 

Vermont was one of those that we definitely wanted to make sure we made the time to visit before we left. Especially with it only being a few hours of driving. 

There wasn’t anything specific that we had planned to do in Vermont for quite awhile. Well, until a few of the guys that Oliver worked with started to bend his ear by talking about the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, Vermont.

As you can imagine, It didn’t take much to sell us on the idea of going here. We booked a campsite, loaded the bikes, grabbed some friends, and headed off. 

The Kingdom Trails (KT) is one of the top rated mountain biking destinations in the US. With 130+ miles of maintained singletrack. KT has everything from technical black diamond singletrack to very beginner friendly cross country trails that take you through pine forest and rolling pastures. 

The day started early (as usual), we had a 4 hour drive and the trails opened at 8:00am. It was a beautiful drive from Cushing, ME to KT. Heading straight inland, we would eventually go through New Hampshire and pass by the White Mountains just outside of the town of Gorham, NH. The mountains there are stunningly beautiful (little did we know we’d be back in less than a week to run the Presidential Traverse). From Gorham, it’s only about an hour until you pass into Vermont. Vermont is exactly what I pictured in my head. Large farmhouse style houses with fields surrounded by dense forests. 

Oh, and lots of “Moose X’ing” signs. 

Once we arrived, we stopped at Trailside Village Sport Shop to have them fix my bike. I had bent one of my high gears on my cassette. The folks working there were fantastic! Within a few minutes they had a new cassette on, and we were out the door getting ready to ride.

our bikes at the Village Sport Shop!

Sarah and I had about an hour to kill before some friends showed up that were also going to be biking and camping with us that night. We decided to go ahead and get a few miles in. From the Trailside shop, we headed down the road to do a short loop on some of the easier trails. 

A cool thing about KT is that the majority of trails go through private property. We started by riding down the gravel road for about a mile before making a left onto some trails that are next to the Mountain View Farm. The green trails are mostly wide double tracks that wind in and out of the fields and woods. It was a really enjoyable way to get warmed up and see a lot of the countryside. 

Once our friends Hayden and Jocelyn arrived, Sarah and I rode much of what we had just been on with them. With today being an unusually hot day for Vermont (temperatures hitting over 80 degrees), we didn’t ride long before we headed back to the cars to refill on water and eat a snack. At this point Hayden and I left the ladies to go ride some of the black diamond and intermediate trails. This really gave me a better taste of what KT has to offer. 

We started out riding down Newt. a very fast and flowy trail that has some of the tightest switchbacks i’ve ridden! From there we made a left onto the River Run trail. This trail follows the river for a bit winding up and down along the bank. This would eventually turn into Violet’s Outback. It’s a climb. Up. Up. Up. We eventually reached a clearing with tables and benches set under some tall pine trees. Before covid, there would have been a trailer in this area that would serve cold beer and snacks. After letting the lactic acid wear off from our climb, we pedaled toward Side-Winder. This trail was GREAT! It wound back and forth, up, down following this ravine between two hills. It was like a rollercoaster! Coming down one side, then immediately blasting your way up the otherside would make your stomach drop. Side-Winder quickly comes to an end though. It probably is not even a mile long, unfortunately. After a few fist bumps and laughs, we began our climb up West Branch back to the picnic area. From there we would start making our way back to the car and to meet up with the ladies. We took the easier and more scenic route. Going up the Border trail until we hit the road that would take us over to The Chapel of the Holy Family. Just as we hit the parking lot, we spotted some very familiar looking helmets in the field just next to the Chapel. Sarah and Jocelyn had also made their way there!

We all headed back to the car and made a plan for lunch. Some of the folks working at the bike shop suggested we go to The View Pub which is inside the Burke Mountain Hotel. A ski resort overlooking Easy Burke. Here we enjoyed our lunch (I highly recommend the chicken sandwich) with an amazing view of the hills below. 

It was mid afternoon at this point and we were now able to check into our campsite at Camp Kiki. Just a stones throw from the trails we had been riding on, this campside has only two spots available for folks to book. From the campsite we rode into town to explore some of the shops and hit a secret swimming hole. Hayden had lived here for a few years, so fortunately for us he knew all the “local” spots. The water in the Passumpsic River felt AMAZING. Exactly what we needed after a day of riding.

In Burke when the sun starts going down and all the bikes are given a rest, pretty much everyone lands at one place. Mike's Tiki bar. We dried off at camp and got ready to ride to the Tiki bar. 

The sun was still out and a few of us still had some energy in our legs to get out.. So we ended up taking the long way around and hopped on some singletrack to get a few more miles in. Literally across the street from our campsite was the trail White School, which also had the trail Ware’s Davis that split off of it. Sarah, Hayden and myself headed off. White School was a wide flowy trail that had short punchy climbs with fun flowing downhills. At one point near the intersection Hayden and I stopped to take some photos. Sarah kept on riding making a left onto Ware’s Davis. We both had no idea she had taken this trail, so we continued on White School. After about a mile we started to wonder where exactly Sarah had disappeared to. Hayden and I never even saw the trail she took. We continued down to Burke Hollow Road where both trails would eventually end up. Well, Ware’s Davis is a bit longer than White School, so Hayden and I decided to ride up and meet Sarah. We finally ran into her about 2 miles up the trail. We all rode together to town where Jocelyn would meet up with us so that we could head to the tiki bar for drinks and dinner.

Mike’s Tiki Bar is THE SPOT to be at after a long day of riding. Literally everyone is there still in their riding clothes and bikes loaded on the back of the vehicles. The bar itself is just a large patio area with probably 20 tables spread out all around. You have two choices of food trucks to choose from for grub. One served wood fired pizzas, and the other had burritos and other Mexican style food. Sarah and I opted for the pizza. 

After enjoying a few beers, we headed back to camp from some much needed rest. It felt so good to climb that ladder and lay back in the tent. The day was in our opinion successful.

our basecamp at Camp Kiki