Lake Champlain Islands · US-2

A ride on the water: you leave Sand Bar State Park, cross the US-2 causeway to South Hero and run the islands through Grand Isle and North Hero to Alburgh, where you take VT-129 to Isle La Motte and finish at St. Anne's Shrine. It's 27 flat miles, about scenery rather than bends, with Lake Champlain on both sides. The drawbridge between Grand Isle and North Hero opens for boats, so you may have to wait. Don't continue into New York or Canada.

Isle La Motte, at the end of the route, is where Samuel de Champlain went ashore on July 9, 1609, and where the French built Fort Sainte Anne in 1666 as the southernmost defense of Montreal and Quebec. St. Anne's Shrine stands on the site today, by the lake, with an open-air chapel. Along the way, in Grand Isle, the Hyde Log Cabin sits beside US-2: built in 1783, it is believed to be one of the oldest log cabins in the country, and the Hyde family lived in it for about 150 years.

The loop is flat and short, made for a slow ride with the lake on both sides. The drawbridge over The Gut, between Grand Isle and North Hero, was rebuilt and opened in 2023, and it still lifts to let boats through, so a short wait is normal. Sand Bar State Park, at the start, has a beach and a lot by the causeway. Don't continue into New York or Canada; turn back from Isle La Motte.