Hello Friends of Millstone Trails,
Millstone Trails Association is ending a fantastic winter season at the Barre Town Forest. Thanks to great work by our winter grooming team, there were trails available for skiing, fat biking, snowshoeing and walking. Even with frigid temperatures and a finicky snowmobile, volunteers were out grooming loops throughout our long winter. Thanks to everyone who donated funds to help us cover our expenses during this time. We were busy this winter planning the upcoming spring season and have information to get out to all of you.
We are very excited to announce a new collaboration with the Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA). MTA has decided to become a chapter of VMBA which will give you many additional benefits as members of Millstone Trails Association. We feel that this relationship will benefit both our trail users and MTA as a whole, since it will lift some of the administrative work from our small volunteer organization and add many new opportunities for members. You can learn more about the great benefits of MTA membership here. For mountain bikers, a primary benefit of membership with MTA is a season pass for riding our trails.
Memberships are available for purchase now! Get yours here before the season opens so you’ll be ready to ride!
Just as in years past, day passes will be required for mountain biking if you are not a member. Once the season opens, we will be selling day passes at several area locations including Lawson’s store (cash only), in addition to online via our website. We look forward to relaying more information to you over the next month as we come closer to the start of the riding season.
Here are some of the highlighted changes being made for the upcoming season:
- Mountain Bike Season Memberships can be purchased by going on to our website and clicking on Membership – this will allow you to choose us as your home chapter for your VMBA membership. Check out all of the benefits of chapter membership here.
- We have decided to no longer have a physical storefront in Websterville. We have come to the conclusion that the cost and time of renting and staffing the store would be better spent working on the trail system and developing relationships with area partners. Day passes for non-members will be purchasable at Lawson’s store right next door to our old shop, as well as several other area businesses which we will list on the website in the next few weeks.
- The parking lot on Little John Road is no longer available for visitor parking. Visitors to the trails should park in the public parking lots for the Barre Town Forest (a large one off Brook Street in Websterville, and a smaller one near at the end of Barclay Quarry Road). We are working on several other options and will keep you updated as things progress. For directions to the parking lots, please consult the maps on our Contact page.
- The number one piece of feedback we have received from our trail users is that we need to work on our maps and signs. We have heard you and are taking action to shape things up. We want you to have a great time on the Millstone Trails, know where you are, and be able to effectively plan your visit. You need a map to do that and we want to you have one. To that end, our newly revised trail maps will be available free of charge this season. For more info, see our Maps and Meet Our Trails pages.
- We will also be signing the boundaries of the Millstone Trails. At a few locations throughout our network, trails appear to extend beyond the area maintained by the Millstone Trails Association. In these locations, we will have posted signs to let you know that you have reached the end of an MTA-maintained trail. If you continue beyond these signs you will enter private land for which MTA does not have an agreement to facilitate public access.
We encourage your participation and here are a couple of ways to get involved!
- Join MTA as a Member
- Trail work – winter and summer seasons
- Become a member of our Board
- Participate on a committee (more info coming soon)
- Donate
We are a non-profit organization that maintains the Millstone Trails, a network of non-motorized recreational trails in Central Vermont. Our trails traverse 1,500 acres of diverse and dramatic terrain, among historic quarries, New England villages, and Northern forests. Donations and mountain bike passes are the source of funding that keep the Millstone Trails open. 100% of these funds go directly to trail maintenance, primarily materials and tools, parking maintenance and grooming trails in the winter, and the administrative expenses of operating a public recreation area.
Thank you for enjoying and supporting the Millstone Trails. Again we look forward to updating you with more information over the next month leading up to the beginning of the spring season.
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