Tuesday, our touring goal was Isle La Motte, the most out-of-the-way of the Champlain Islands that has road access. Getting there entailed a transportation stage on US-2 across North Hero Island and onto the Alburg peninsula, then picking up VT 129 and crossing a short causeway to Isle La Motte. We were drawn to Isle La Motte as one of the world's terminal nodes, quiet and in its own way significant. Fossil sites associated with the
Chazy Reef, a time machine good for 450 million years and more, were there to be explored at the Fisk Quarry Preserve and the Goodsell Ridge Preserve. Ste Anne's Shrine sits on the site of the former Fort Ste Anne, built by Capt. La Motte as a bulwark against the Mohawks during the French and Indian Wars. The Old Schoolhouse Bike Hostel bore investigation. Between stops at those destinations, and some other nosing around, including a ride on the Alburg Dunes Nature Trail, we logged
49.35 miles. This day gave the most scope to my daughter's practice as a naturalist.
North Hero Island: Betsey tracks a Cooper's Hawk.
North Hero Island: rescue of a Monarch butterfly that had been stunned by a passing truck, and was lying on the pavement. After a few minutes on a little bush, it revived and flew off.
Isle La Motte: welcome to our island, please stay in line. To be fair, as we entered Isle La Motte, a peloton of Quebecois cyclists turned up, and some odd interactions ensued. File Indienne isn't such a bad idea, given relatively narrow roads and a local population that, while welcoming, are not themselves on vacation. We saw this sign several times.
Isle La Motte: Ste Anne's shrine is a place of religious veneration with deep roots in local history, dating back to the 17th Century.
We rode to the Fisk Quarry Preserve, and had a very interesting time finding, photographing, and identifying fossils.
At some point we realized that people had been surrounding fossils they had located with stone circles. After that, suddenly we were seeing dozens of them, in a sort of crowd-sourced natural history museum. It was pretty exciting.
Isle La Motte: Moving on, and feeling a bit hungry and thirsty, we stopped at Hall's Orchard's farmstand, and bought a half-gallon of very cold cider, which we divided between two water bottles. We enjoyed a bit of gentle rustic humor in the process.
Isle La Motte: Godsell Ridge Preserve had wonderful fossils, along with excellent interpretive material for a self-guided tour. A complementary approach to that used in the Fisk Quarry Preserve; both seemed successful to me.
Isle La Motte: stopped at the Old Schoolhouse Bike Hostel, and were graciously treated to a tour. Hospitable, and a labor of love for its organizers.
North Hero Island: stopped to buy some corn at the Savage Gardens farmstand. Those folks have funny heads. The corn was delicious.
rod
Day 3