Pico Peak, 2/9/2008
On Saturday I met my friend Joe and his two hiking dogs at the old LT crossing on Rt 4 at the decidedly non-alpine hour of 10:30. After all, 2.9 miles each way and 1,800 feet of elevation gain did not need an alpine start!
A quick walk on the start of the trail suggested that we use snowshoes. Just as we had finished putting them on two snowshoers came down the trail, warning us that they had lost the trail, and that it was sparsely signed. To be forewarned is to be forearmed!
The trail goes up in open woods almost all the way to Pico Camp, 500 vertical feet below the summit. It is also in close proximity to the ski trails most of its way, and indeed the Pico Peak trail map shows an area of "glade skiing" on the east side of the trails that probably includes much of the course of the hiking trail. So we had the combination of open woods, where the trail channel is ill defined, and multiple sets of tracks. Fortunately the blazes were plentiful, they provided reassurance even when the trail was clear, and helped clear up ambiguous situations.
A little below 3,000 feet we clearly saw where the two snowshoers had lost the trail. Their tracks went in one direction, through open woods, while in another direction there was a deep furrow; produced by previous hikers, and clear even though filled with new snow.
At one stage we were not sure where the trail went; we explored one possibility, and though it was open enough, we soon concluded that we had gone too long without any blazes. Returning to the last blaze we had seen, we looked around and soon saw a better line, which in fact soon came to a blaze.
Two years ago, when I was in much better shape than I am in now, I had co-led a Mendon -> Killington -> Pico trip. Descending from Pico Peak, after Pico Camp, we had reached the ski trail. Since none of us had read the trail description carefully, we assumed that the hiking trail crossed the ski trail, so we crossed the ski trail and looked (in the dark
) for the hiking trail. We did not find it, and later I discovered the reason: the hiking trail re-enters the woods on the same side of the ski trail; i.e. it does not cross it. Reading trail descriptions carefully before a trip is, when all is said and done, a good idea .
Beyond Pico Camp the trail changes nature drastically. Until the shelter it has gentle grades through open woods; above it rises very steeply through denser woods.
The descent was obviously much easier than the ascent. Gravity helped rather than hindered; there was no need to navigate carefully, and we had packed the trail quite well on the way up. Back to our cars a bit before 4 PM, and the drive back to Thornton, through the start of a snowstorm, was unexpectedly easy.
On Saturday I met my friend Joe and his two hiking dogs at the old LT crossing on Rt 4 at the decidedly non-alpine hour of 10:30. After all, 2.9 miles each way and 1,800 feet of elevation gain did not need an alpine start!
A quick walk on the start of the trail suggested that we use snowshoes. Just as we had finished putting them on two snowshoers came down the trail, warning us that they had lost the trail, and that it was sparsely signed. To be forewarned is to be forearmed!
The trail goes up in open woods almost all the way to Pico Camp, 500 vertical feet below the summit. It is also in close proximity to the ski trails most of its way, and indeed the Pico Peak trail map shows an area of "glade skiing" on the east side of the trails that probably includes much of the course of the hiking trail. So we had the combination of open woods, where the trail channel is ill defined, and multiple sets of tracks. Fortunately the blazes were plentiful, they provided reassurance even when the trail was clear, and helped clear up ambiguous situations.
A little below 3,000 feet we clearly saw where the two snowshoers had lost the trail. Their tracks went in one direction, through open woods, while in another direction there was a deep furrow; produced by previous hikers, and clear even though filled with new snow.
At one stage we were not sure where the trail went; we explored one possibility, and though it was open enough, we soon concluded that we had gone too long without any blazes. Returning to the last blaze we had seen, we looked around and soon saw a better line, which in fact soon came to a blaze.
Two years ago, when I was in much better shape than I am in now, I had co-led a Mendon -> Killington -> Pico trip. Descending from Pico Peak, after Pico Camp, we had reached the ski trail. Since none of us had read the trail description carefully, we assumed that the hiking trail crossed the ski trail, so we crossed the ski trail and looked (in the dark
) for the hiking trail. We did not find it, and later I discovered the reason: the hiking trail re-enters the woods on the same side of the ski trail; i.e. it does not cross it. Reading trail descriptions carefully before a trip is, when all is said and done, a good idea .Beyond Pico Camp the trail changes nature drastically. Until the shelter it has gentle grades through open woods; above it rises very steeply through denser woods.
The descent was obviously much easier than the ascent. Gravity helped rather than hindered; there was no need to navigate carefully, and we had packed the trail quite well on the way up. Back to our cars a bit before 4 PM, and the drive back to Thornton, through the start of a snowstorm, was unexpectedly easy.
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