Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Abe and Ellen was Saturday, we did a thru hike from the Batell trail to the Jerusalem trail. Both trailheads offered easy access. It's about 11 miles from car to car, and about 3200' of elevation gain. Starting up to Abe we had micro spikes on as the trail was almost frozen solid. Eventually we put on showshoes, partly because of the increasing snow depth and partly to help manage the increasingly common and increasingly deeper post holes. 
The summit was barely windy, and the feared open rock sections were still snow covered, so no crampons were needed. After that, we began the long trek over to Ellen, passing a host of lesser peaks, such as Little Abe, Lincoln, etc. The trail was not exactly pounded down, but it only had a few inches of snow in most places. We did hit a few windy spots, but no big deal. As we neared Ellen, we encountered a few skiers, who helped smooth out the trail. At Ellen, we got a tip from a very friendly skier on how to get back on the LT. We quickly found it, but soon ended up on a ski slope that we had not taken during the summer. We ducked back into the woods after a while, on what might have been the LT. Eventually we saw a faint track heading in from the left, and a few white blazes. The white blazes are very scarce on the ridge line and even worse after Ellen. The worst part was about 20 minutes from the summit, where we lost the trail for quite a while in a partially open glade that had been heavily skied. But we persevered and found the Jerusalem trail eventually. It was well blazed, and turns into an ATV track after a while. The ATV users are working on what was by far the largest Maple Syrup operation I had ever seen! It must have gone on for a mile! Soon after that, we were back at the car. We celebrated with a trip to a new Brewpub in the Burlington area, Fiddlehead.
Sunday we drove to the Burroughs trail and hiked up Camel's Hump. I wore microspikes all day, and Laurie wore snowshoes part of the way. Either way would work fine. The trail was pounded down but icy, so bring some kind of traction. It was above freezing the whole time, but it snowed off and on several times. Once it came down like styrofoam pellets. The first group we met coming down told us they could 'almost stand up at the top'! But we kept going and the 2nd group told us it was 'not too bad'. So soon after the junction we layered up and headed to the top. It was foggy, but the wind was easy to manage. All in all a pretty easy, fast hike, less than 4 hours round trip.
This makes 107 of the W115!
The summit was barely windy, and the feared open rock sections were still snow covered, so no crampons were needed. After that, we began the long trek over to Ellen, passing a host of lesser peaks, such as Little Abe, Lincoln, etc. The trail was not exactly pounded down, but it only had a few inches of snow in most places. We did hit a few windy spots, but no big deal. As we neared Ellen, we encountered a few skiers, who helped smooth out the trail. At Ellen, we got a tip from a very friendly skier on how to get back on the LT. We quickly found it, but soon ended up on a ski slope that we had not taken during the summer. We ducked back into the woods after a while, on what might have been the LT. Eventually we saw a faint track heading in from the left, and a few white blazes. The white blazes are very scarce on the ridge line and even worse after Ellen. The worst part was about 20 minutes from the summit, where we lost the trail for quite a while in a partially open glade that had been heavily skied. But we persevered and found the Jerusalem trail eventually. It was well blazed, and turns into an ATV track after a while. The ATV users are working on what was by far the largest Maple Syrup operation I had ever seen! It must have gone on for a mile! Soon after that, we were back at the car. We celebrated with a trip to a new Brewpub in the Burlington area, Fiddlehead.Sunday we drove to the Burroughs trail and hiked up Camel's Hump. I wore microspikes all day, and Laurie wore snowshoes part of the way. Either way would work fine. The trail was pounded down but icy, so bring some kind of traction. It was above freezing the whole time, but it snowed off and on several times. Once it came down like styrofoam pellets. The first group we met coming down told us they could 'almost stand up at the top'!
But we kept going and the 2nd group told us it was 'not too bad'. So soon after the junction we layered up and headed to the top. It was foggy, but the wind was easy to manage. All in all a pretty easy, fast hike, less than 4 hours round trip.This makes 107 of the W115!
