A Tour of the Back Forty

Cruising by one of the large dairy farms in Whitefield

We had an outstanding ride along the Sheepscott River on Saturday, May 19th. Beautiful weather - warm, calm, with a sparkling, cloudless blue sky. After a long, rainy spring, it felt like summer had finally arrived.

One of the few flat stretches on the route

 

 

Leanne led us out of the Windsor Fairgrounds as we headed south towards Whitefield. We rode along some great back roads past some large, prosperous dairy farms set back from the river  among lush, verdant hillsides.

One of a seemingly endless series of hills

As the ride continued south down towards Alna and Head Tide we encountered a challenging series of short hills. The rains had nurtured an abundance of greenery, and the roads were often lined with wildflowers. We stopped to admire the many metal sculptures at the Iron Horse, the sculpture garden of Roger Majorowitz set in a pastoral setting. Continuing along, we came to the endgame of dairy country: the large manure processing outfits of "Cowshit Corner."

The Not-So-Blime

The Sublime: Roger Majorowitz's Sculpture Garden

Photo-Op at the Dam on the Sheepscott

We stopped at the dam on the Sheepscott River with a number of old mills in the background. We watched dense schools of alwives cluster at the face of the dam, working their way up the fish ladder at the far side. There were a pair of fish-monitoring traps set downstream of the dam, and a number of canoes were being launched from the river landing. Leanne gathered us together on the dam for a group photo before we headed back on the return trip. You couldn't ask for a nicer 40-mile ride.

A velo study in primary colors