Slate Valley Trails | 40+ Miles of Hand Build MTB Trails | Poultney, VT

What's up everyone, Jimmy from MTB Travel Review here, and today I'm in Pulteney, Vermont in the Slate Valley region, and I'm going to go check out the new Slate Valley trails I've been hearing so much about. As of now, they have around 35 miles of trails, primarily cross-country at this point, some blue, green, and a few black trails. They started with beginner and are working their way up. This is actually a really unique network. It is actually a culmination of a bunch of different landovers and some private funding to build out this community trail system that's completely free. Now, most of the trails here at Slate Valley are hand-built by Sustainable Trail Works, which is Tom Hardy and his wife that run that company. Most of the trails are built by hand. They do have a small excavator they use from time to time. Now, much like Kingdom Trails and some of the other networks that are popping up, this network is really built to be a part of the community. They want to be able to support the community to be an economic driver. I'm going to go roam around for a few days. Hazel's probably going to go with me, and we're going to check out the trails and share with you guys what we find. All right, I think we're climbing up Kearney through a beautiful field here. Time to get the legs moving. What do you think, pup? Nice little bench to chill. That is gorgeous. Yeah, pretty XC-oriented spot. If you don't like the pedal, it might not be the place for you, but I love this stuff. All right, so we are at the top of Kearney Trail on what is called the Fairgrounds Trails. So, there's also the Endless Brook Trails, which is kind of the other end down the bottom here in this area. So, Fairground Trails, I started right here, rode all the way up Kearney to here. Now, there's Big Top that goes all the way over. That's 2.3 miles, and then Scrambler's 0.5. These trails are super cool. A lot of bench cut. There's nobody out here. Beautiful, fast, and just really poppy trails. There's a ton of flow and just natural stuff. So, so far, so good. Nice. Yeah, there you go. Nice. Super cool 0.5 mile trail. Let the pup cool off. Now, we're going to go all the way back up. Now, one of the unique things about the Slate Valley Trail System is that most of the funding for the trails and then the land has actually been gifted. Remember that donations are graciously accepted. This is completely a volunteer group. So, anything that you can do to support if you're in the area, if you're riding the trails, show some love so that more places like this can pop up across New England and across the country. It's time to rip down Kearney. Ready, pup? Wow. Good girl. What's up, everyone? We're back for day two at Slate Valley Trails. Now, if you can't tell, my eye got bit by a mosquito last night. So, I'm going to do the best I can with one eye and have some fun out there. I am at the end or the bottom of Kearney coming out of the fairgrounds trails. Just cross this field over here. This Ringmaster Trail goes straight across and then we switch onto a fairgrounds, fairground campground cross connector trail, something like that. It takes us down to the southern portion of the trail system at Endless Brooks. We're going to go check that out today. Looks like there's a few more trails over there, some steeper stuff. Should be some fun. Those cornering skills. If you're worried about getting lost, nice thing is they have these Slate Valley Trails little signs here. It's got the trail fairgrounds connector we're on right now and they're all over the place. Made it over to Endless Brooks Trails. We're here. A little ways to go. I think we're going to hop on Porcupine. Take Porcupine all the way up to the top. It's about a 2.2 mile trail, about 600-700 feet elevation. Let's see what we can find. Love the trail signs. Up, up, up. And we're now switchbacks on Wow. All right. Looks like we made it to the top. We are now at the top. 2.2 mile climb. That was a workout in this heat. I think now we're going to go check out Hunker Down and Rocky Ridge first. I always shoot for the hardest trails first. Let's go. All right. I think we're almost to the tip Look at those views. Trails go all the way down there and all the way down the backside. All right, we're going to head down Rocky Ridge. Tight start. Another switchbacks. Really nice hand-built trails. Still super natural. Use the local slate. Little wall. No cut in corners. Really nice trail building by Tom Hardy and Sustainable Trail Works out here. Such a beautiful spot. Walking up. Do a little scouting on Hunker Down. A little rock roller feature. Heading towards the top. A couple drops here. Mandatory. Going around isn't really a better option. Super cool with all the embedded slate. Time for some Hunker Down. Steep drops, jumps. Let's go. Have fun. Boing. So fun. So fast. Booter. Steaming. That trail is so good. I think this is the first time I've ever done this, but Hunker Down is probably one of the most fun flow trails I've ever ridden. Little pops, jumps, jibs everywhere. God, what a blast. Just a mile long of pure speed. Just watch out for the shale. Some of those corners slide pretty well. God, that was unreal. All right, so I'm starting to run out of juice here. This heat is sucking the life out of me. I'm now on lower ledges. I'm going to take this up to the top one, switch over to upper ledges, and then I should be able to take Porcupine to Upper Birdie to Lower Birdie. Back to the home base. Hopefully, I'll have enough water to get there. I guess that's why they call it ledges. Super cool. Cruising along upper ledges. A little more mellow than lower ledges, just not as punchy as lower ledges. Ducked in some really cool pines here. Man, this place is just beautiful. Well worth the punishment. Apparently, I missed the Upper Birdie cut through. I think Upper Birdie is a pretty new trail. Of course, as soon as the trail starts, you got to start climbing. Typical Vermont. See you at the top. Upper Birdie was a climbing fest all the way to this. I think about two-thirds, three-quarters of the way. Starts to go down. Dropping in. Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. That was fun. We're back. Wow. In this brook, two thumbs up. All right, everyone. Just finishing up my weekend here in the Slate Valley region, riding some of the Slate Valley trails. I was planning to do another day tomorrow. Unfortunately, I ran into some bike troubles. I'm going to have to jet early, head back to the city. Not going to be able to go over to the north side and check out Free Fall or the other trail I was looking to do over there. There's a couple of black diamonds. Either way, this place is an absolute blast. Hardy Avery and Catron at Sustainable Trail Works have done an excellent job making some really, really fun, natural stuff, like Moose Haven, Greenwood, Poppy, Flowey. Just make it your own experience. I had an absolute blast out here. I'm looking forward to coming back. Again, if you come out to this area and support, make sure you check out the Slate Valley Trails website. They are a foundation, so they don't have a ton of funding, and they do obviously need some funding and support to keep the trails running and maintained. 40 plus miles of trails takes a lot of work. Huge thanks to them. Huge thanks to Sustainable Trail Works for all the building. Thanks for letting me come ride and keep riding, y'all.