The Taconics · Dorset, Rupert & Pawlet

A loop through the Taconic valleys: from Manchester Center you take VT-30 to Dorset, cross to Rupert on VT-315, ride up through West Pawlet and Pawlet, continue to Middletown Springs and Tinmouth and come back through Wallingford, Danby and East Dorset. It's 71 miles of pavement among farms, marble villages and rolling hills, with some good bends on VT-315. Watch for the dirt roads branching off on both sides and stay on the route. Manchester has roundabouts and traffic; fuel there before you go.

Dorset is marble country: the Norcross-West quarry beside VT-30 in South Dorset is said to be the oldest commercial marble quarry in the country, opened in 1785, and today it's a swimming hole. Dorset marble went into buildings such as the New York Public Library. North of Dorset, VT-30 follows the Mettowee valley as part of the Stone Valley Byway, and VT-315 climbs over a ridge to Rupert, where the Merck Forest and Farmland Center keeps a working farm and trails.

Middletown Springs, the loop's northern end, was a 19th-century resort: mineral springs found around 1811 led to the grand Montvert Hotel, built around 1870 and torn down after the springs went out of fashion. Mineral Springs Park, right by the village crossroads, keeps a rebuilt spring house. On the way back, US-7 passes Emerald Lake State Park in North Dorset. The route stays on pavement on purpose: many of the side roads here are dirt. Fuel in Manchester Center.