Gonna be visiting Vermont in a couple months. My plan is to fly into Burlington, spend a few days there, then take an Amtrak train over to Montpelier, Waterbury, and Stowe, then back to Burlington to fly out. Any suggestions for what to do? My hobbies are hiking and photography. I won't have a car, so I'll have to use buses/Uber to get around.
>>2725675So you'll be there in December. You could hike but it'll be cold in the mountains and take photos but honestly right now is perfect with the fall colours and temperatures. Do you like to ski?
>>2725727Current plan is mid-January. >Do you like to ski?Nah, not my thing. I know Vermont is famous for its autumn scenery, but I wanted to go when there's lots of snow on the ground. I'll be sure to bring lots of warm clothes, and maybe I'll buy some snow boots.
>>2725675>buses/Uber to get around.That basically rules out hiking unless the uber situation's much better than I would expect. Being able to get to Stowe sounds like a gamble since you're a few miles from the downtown at the train station.Downtown Burlington, just explore on foot. Small enough town you can find a lot of the cool stuff yourself with a day or two. Only real restaurant recommendation I have is American Flatbread.If you can manage an uber to it, Mt Philo has a great view and is a short enough hike a novice would be comfortable doing it in winter. But it's 25 minutes south of Burlington, so you'd have to get lucky with uber. Even then, sounds like a gamble of being able to find an uber back.In Montpelier, Three Penny Taproom had an amazing burger and frites with garlic aioli. This was 12 years ago, so it might be different now. They also had an amazing beer selection at the time. Lots of Hill Farmstead, a VT brewery which dominated the top of Beer Advocate for a while. Positive Pie, if it's still there, was a cool bar/restaurant with a huge identity crisis. Nobody could tell if the place was trying to be formal, sporty, or eclectic. But they had decent food and a good environment. Charlie O's is something to see if you like crunchy dive bars. Been 12 years since I regularly hung out there though, so I can't say how much the town's changed.
>>2725761>Mt PhiloI was looking at that, but apparently it's closed during the winter. I think it's the same for all state parks in Vermont.
>>2725736>Nah, not my thing.Well that's probably the best outdoors stuff you can do in New England in winter, especially if you are stuck with ubering/bussing around. Vermont is very rural, you'll be hard pressed to reliably find Ubers to take you all over the state to the middle of nowhere unless it's to a ski resort. Mount Mansfield (over by Stowe and the tallest summit in VT) has a ski resort on it so you could probably book a room there ($$$$$) and park and climb the Long Trail but your trail options will be limited as some trails like the Hazelton trail descend a ski slope (off limits to hikers most likely) and no car means you can't get to Underhill State Park on the other side of the Mt readily. It's not particularly a difficult climb for someone with mountaineering experience in the summer, about 3000ft ascent but everything is harder in winter. If it is icy, your climb will be more challenging/risky and it will be cold, also temperature drops considerably from the base to the summit of the mountain especially with the windspeed but YMMV. I would not recommend climbing in the winter alone, unless you know what you're doing and have done several other peaks. It is recommended to bring crampons, I've never personally climbed it in winter, only fall so I have no idea if it is a necessity or not. If you're feeling lazy, you can take a ski lift/gondola up or down ($$$$$) it's about 80% of the way from summit. A healthy chunk of the trail will look like pic once you get closer to summit. There will be shuffling over 1.5-4' boulders on the Profanity Trail.If you decide to stick around the Burlington area and get bored, you could consider going up to Montreal, QC in Canada they run Greyhound busses up there daily.
>>2725675>Going to Vermont>In December>With no carBe ready to freeze your ass like never before
>>2725892I'll probably stick to the easier hiking trails, honestly. I'd like to be able to set up a camera tripod and whatnot. And like you said, I'll be alone, so I wouldn't want to attempt the more dangerous ones. Might have to stick with buses if there aren't any Ubers around, but luckily it looks like buses should work fine.>>2725939>Be ready to freeze your ass like never beforeI one time had to walk a mile and a half in -15 F weather to buy cat food. I'm not too worried about the cold.
>>2725952Cold doesn't hit the same when it's humid and/or windy. I highly suggest renting a car. It's a rural area after all.
>>2725960Tell you the truth, I'm not a very good driver lmao. Plus, I've never driven on snowy mountain roads before, and I have no idea how to install chains. I'd like to avoid driving completely if possible.
>>2725675Shame about the time of year. Bicycling is a great way to get around Vermont without relying on rideshare drivers or public transit, but it's treacherous if the roads are snowy. When I visited Vermont in June, there were so many people bicycling the highways even in the rain.
>>2725952>probably stick to the easier hiking trailsProbably sensible, plenty of good trails out there that don't involve 3000ft of vertical gain. Mt Hunger is over by Stowe too and I think it's better but it will be more remote.>I'd like to be able to set up a camera tripod and whatnot.ah so hauling equipment with, yeah lol better to not do a full ascend by foot. Mt Mansfield has a gondola that goes 80% of the way up the summit but there is a beautiful Ridgeline along the mountain before summit that is mostly flat. When I hiked Mansfield in the fall I saw probably seven or eight people with tripods and cameras along that ridge so pretty good views. Think it was like 30 bucks up and down a few years ago. but obviously in VT there are plenty of pretty places.>And like you said, I'll be alone, so I wouldn't want to attempt the more dangerous ones. Yeah be careful, most of the New England mountains and trails get icy IME in winter. On higher trafficked areas less risk.>Might have to stick with buses if there aren't any Ubers around, but luckily it looks like buses should work fine. Might have to, probably cheaper but more time to get from A to B if rental cars are off limits. Understandable on driving, weather and snow can be rough if you get unlucky, chains are most likely unnecessary if you stick to higher trafficked roads.
>>2725870I've done it in the middle of the winter. "Closed" will just mean the gate for the parking lot & the road to the top is closed. You can still park and walk in.But again, without a car, it's iffy. IDK how uber works as far as requesting drivers from 10 miles away to come down and pick you up, but I can't imagine uber drivers just loitering around Charlotte VT.
>>2725996>I can't imagine uber drivers just loitering around Charlotte VT.As a Texan, this is so strange to me. 10 miles outside of the largest city in the state, and there's no one? lmao 10 miles away from DFW airport is still DFW airport.
>>2726015Burlington has like 50k people in it, that's like half the population of Temple TX, it's puny contrasted with DFW, Houston, and Austin which are all over 1M in the metro. Vermont is the most or second most rural state in the continental US (trading places with Maine regularly), arguably more rural than Alaska as most people there live in cities along the coast there. Also, winter is not what I would consider peak season to visit Vermont unless you're going to a ski resort and the surrounding few miles.
>>2726015You're overestimating how large the largest city in Vermont is.Burlington's a standard college town. ~40k people. It has some area of suburban density around it to the north, east, and south-east. But going south, it becomes rural farmland real quick.Another issue's probably there's not that many other towns that an uber driver would expect to be shuttling people from. Essex, Williston, Colchester? Maybe. But going south, it becomes picrel in about ten minutes.Picrel is one I took from the hike we're talking about. Not the clearest day, but it's a nice view. You can see the sort of area it's in.
I've heard about a fire escape in Burlington that's a popular hangout spot, but apparently it's on a university campus? Is it open to the public, or do you have to be a student?
>>2726374Well I know it's a rural area, but I figured that since it's so close to Burlington, there'd be drivers. Where I'm from, 10 or 20 miles is nothing to pick up a fare, but I dunno, maybe it's different up in New England. What about regular taxis? You think they'd pick me up from, say, 15 miles south of Burlington?
