The Island Tour Bike trail is one of the top bicycling destinations in New England. I was surprised to learn it was not signed as the Island Bike Trail but as "Burlington Bikeway, Champlain Trail, Causeway Trail and one other I can not remember. This caused a bit of confusion and caused us to ride an additional 2-3 miles due to poor signage.
As we drove to the starting point just south of downtown Burlington VT, I noted the street was lined with parked cars. Then we entered the park, paid $8 to park. Coincidence? It was full upon our return.
We started out with Lake Champlain on our left and downtown Burlington on our right. That was the case for about 2 miles until it gradually transitioned to suburbia. We rode through neighborhoods and through woods until we got to Causeway Park. Initially making a wrong turn here, we eventually realized our mistake and returned to find the most delightful trail you can imagine. The railroad had built a causeway into the lake to link the mainland with South Hero on Grand Isle in Lake Champlain. The causeway was lined with huge chunks of marble. Some were carved by amateur sculptors. The causeway is about 3 miles. Toward the end as you approach the island, there is a break in the causeway. I'm certain it once was bridged but is open today for boat traffic to pass. On weekend you can board a bicycle ferry for a very short ride to the other side. It not being a weekend, this was the turn around point for us.
The wonderful tailwind we enjoyed on the ride out was negated by the 20+mph headwind for the return. It was a tough slog back.
Somehow we managed to bicycle back. Once on the mainland, the wind disappeared and we were able to ride normally back to Burlington. Our 27 mile ride took barely 3 hours.
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