Finding the Steeps in East Burke: Rude Awakening

The Kingdom Trails are awesome; for sure. But I couldn't find anything in that trail system that was steep or gnarly enough for my liking. So, we decided to tackle Burke Mountain. And DANG am I happy we did! Both Rude Awakening and Upper J-Bar reprepresent the best in show for steep, rocky and rooty terrain in Northern Vermont. I had heard they were steep, and technical, and down right scary. Heck, I was almost convinced I should leave these trails alone. Thank goodness I'm not good at taking sound advice.