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Ellen Agree with Rup, I live there and definitely no chair up Ellen but the Sugarbush ride is nice. If you're on Rt 100 though, you may consider Killington, if the chair's running it takes you just a few feet from the top with great views and/or Mansfield, either the toll road which ends at a...

Herd path to Big Jay Agree with Marty, not to worry. If there are any fences left you'll easily be able to go around them. I did so not too long ago in winter and in summer of course, even easier. Good luck finding he exact summit of Big Jay, in deep snow I did a lot of walking around, don't...

Foxy I've definitely noticed an increased number of foxes, including mothers with foxlets, in central Vermot, so their increased presence seems to be widespread. John

Tahawas lonliness A few years ago, after doing Allen as a winter day trip, I stuffed my car into the snow while failing to make the turn at the junction near the mine. Took me two hours digging with a snowshovel to get my car out, while on empty and dehydrated, at night. Every since then, I...

Ellen via Jerusalem Hey Yvon, Sorry I can't give up to date beta on the Jerusalem trail or Long Trail to Ellen, but FWIW, I live at the base of Ellen and the weather in the past week has been pretty benign, so I'd think worst case is you'll have to break trail, especially on the Long Trail...

Microspikes vs stabilicers lx93 you'll probably get a bunch of answers on this; here's mine: I've got both, used the stabilicers a few times, got microspikes, now the 'icers are resigned to my storage box. I've found the microspikes to have better traction on icy stuff, weigh less, pack much...

Monadnock Agree with New Hampshire, it's about a 20 or so minute drive between the two trails. John

Ski area hiking at night Good point, Michael J, but I've been up Ellen quite a few times at night and find it a good way to go since hiking on the trails avoids most of the trip & fall hazards on the skinny hiking trails, and though the cats and guns are a hazard for sure, both make their...

Ellen, Killington Agree with above posters, winter access no problem for these. On Bucklin, after the second brook crossing and walkiing up the south side of the brook for a while (10 or 15 minutes??), be sure to watch for the hard right heading up the hill, as sometimes the tracks will lead...

Millinocket lodging Agree with previous posters, several places that are fine but the Terrace seems to be the standard "last meal and shower" place before Baxter and has a plentiful and reasonable breakfast, a nice thing before heading up with the sled. Enjoy! John

Hi Woody48, IMHO this section is more suited to just showshoes. Much of the trail in this section is twisty and narrow, and if packed out it's a single track trough. Bringing skis might be worthwhile if you want to ski down Mad River trails, but I'd think you'll end up carrying them more...

Hi Woody48, IMHO this section is more suited to just showshoes. Much of the trail in this section is twisty and narrow, and if packed out it's a single track trough. Bringing skis might be worthwhile if you want to ski down Mad River trails, but I'd think you'll end up carrying them more...

Montbell Alpine Light, love it, bought for Nepal trekking last fall and it was just perfect for cold nights and chilly mornings above 10k, about 14 ounces or so and looks great as well. It quickly became my "always-in-the-pack" item for winter hiking in New England. John

Charles Houston Charles Houston was a legend, but more than that, he was a wondeful human being. After hearing his presentation of "Brotherhood of the Rope" at UVM with Brad Washburn, a couple of years ago I spent a delightful hour in his home in Burlington, VT. The excuse was to get his...

Monroe trailhead update Following up on my previous comment: Today the new gate had a sign "Closed from dusk to dawn, if you need to have gate unlocked to get out, go to ranger cabin". The summit ranger said the gate is a response to vandalism in the upper parking lot. The new gate is...

Agree with Kevin, no gating problem, you're good to go. Having said that, last weekend I noticed that there was a new gate in the open position across the road to the summer access (near the top of the Couching Lion summer trailhead access road) and have been meaning to email the Green Mountain...

Abe - Ellen The only ladders are on the section of the Long Trail from Stark's Nest at the top of Mad River Glen to Rt. 17 at Appalachian Gap, and I doubt they would be any problem for a fit dog to circumnavigate. They'll figure it out just fine. Enjoy! John

Snowshoes not needed, probably Agree with Mookie, I live at the base of Ellen and unless we get significant snow in the next couple of days (keep your eye on the weather), I can't imagine you'd have any trouble barebooting, though gators might be a good thing. Enjoy! John

Winter boots/narrow feet I have size 12 feet, B width, and it's virtually impossible to find "winter" boots that fit, so I use Lowa Banff boots in Narrow which fit great and on the more extreme hikes carry Sherpa neoprene boot covers (probably hard to find now) which I've used a few times such...

Camels Hump access Both roads will be fine for a normal car, they have gotten washed and repaired regularly this summer but are town roads. The last bit of private road up to the Monroe summer trailhead will be sketchy but quite driveable with care, and if not just leave car at winter...