Having just finished my 48, I was wondering what to do next. Technically, I was already at 49 of my 67 (New England 4000-footers) having climbed Old Speck last summer. Vermont was calling, and AMSTony was looking for a hiking partner for Saturday. Who was I to go against the wind?
As usual for the night before a hike, I didn't sleep well. I was looking forward to this trip, and woke up at 4:50 before the alarm could go off. I got my gear together and stepped outside into cool, dense fog. I knew it had been forecast, but it was incredibly thick and all I could hope for was that it would lift by the time we got into Vermont (or not be there). Tony and I would spend the drive looking for glimpses of blue, gaps in the grey mists. And in fact, as we cruised up I-89 the fog did lift, although the sky remained overcast.
We followed Bob and Jeri's suggestion to go into Roxbury and cross through Roxbury Gap into Warren. We were a little unsure when we got to the "Pavement Ends" sign, but put our faith in their not leading us astray and continued up the very steep, winding road. Where it crests, there is suddenly an impressive, open view down into the valley of Warren and the Green Mountain National Forest beyond. Then came the steep descent, a short drive on Rte 100, and back up Lincoln Gap Road, even narrower and more winding, to our first destination: the Long Trail crossing at Lincoln Gap. We shouldered our packs, and at 9:45am started northbound on the trail.
The first part of this trail was very reminiscent of the Kinsman Ridge Trail departing Kinsman Notch. It begins with a short but steep ascent parallel to the road, then turns away and moderates nicely. After about a hundred yards, we signed the register, and made our way through pleasant woods, winding and interesting. Our goal was to get out to Ellen and back before the forecast rain came in, so we pushed ourselves, and in just under an hour, we arrived at the Battell Trail junction, where Lindsay, the Battell Shelter caretaker, was putting in new signs. We talked with her for a bit, then we moved on, but not before I made her pose with her new (and perfectly plumb, I might add) signpost.
The shelter is very nice, with water nearby, a nice camping area, and even a picnic table! The privy was huge, needing to be elevated over the compost bins, and as such had steps not outside, but inside. This was ... weird. We didn't stay, however, wanting to continue our quest to beat the weather.
Getting up to Abraham from Battell Shelter was easy. The trail climbs but with good footing. There are sections of slab but they're contained within the trail; there isn't really any fall exposure. One spot was a bit tricky, though, and of an entire 50 yard section we worried that if wet, we'd have to go down seated. But rather than dwell on that, we popped up our heads and there was the alpine zone sign and the summit.
Most of the summit is a revegetation zone - there are low stone walls to keep you on the trail, as well as a ring of wall forming a windbreak. We took the obligatory summit photos in the cold, strongly-blowing wind, then quickly continued northward, immediately dropping back below treeline. Looking ahead, we tried to guess which summit was Ellen. Was it that one really far-away looking? Well, actually, it would turn out, I think, to be even further.
But first, we had some minor summits and ski areas to traverse. The next section of trail was reminiscent of the Wildcats: some ups and downs, in the trees but with a ridgeline feel. We made our way over Little Abe then dropped quite a ways before we suddenly came out onto the open summit of Lincoln above one of the Sugarbush ski area chairlifts. There's an observation platform here, next to some electronic equipment towers, and some fantastic views. This must be a very pretty place to ski.
Back into the woods, and we headed back up. I should point out that the ups and downs are no more than about 200-300 feet. This ridgeline is fairly even. However, going up and down a hundred feet over and over and over and over would soon prove to be very grueling. We were still enjoying ourselves at the summit of Nancy Hanks and the nearby overlook with excellent views back to the bowl of Sugarbush, and soon dropped to the top of another chairlift. We saw the odd sign: "Do not ski this trail alone. Turn back now." but could not attribute it to any trail except the one we were on, which didn't seem to make sense. We passed a nice summit lodge then followed the Middle Earth ski trail. This wasn't well-marked as a trail, but was an obvious path through the tall grass.
The Long Trail turns back into the woods at Hocks Hollow, where there's water, then began a series of 6 or 7 or a hundred ups and downs. Each time we crested we were sure that had to be the summit, but as we found no sign or cairn had to continue on, heading back down, hoping we hadn't missed it and were heading too far north. Finally, just after 1:00, I let out a whoop when I saw a bright, shiny new summit sign securely bolted to a tree. The cloud deck had been dropping the whole morning, and was beginning to touch the trees along the ridge, so we just did a quick photo shoot and turned back. It took us two hours of racing the weather to get back to a now fogged-in summit of Abraham, where Lindsay was acting as tour guide for her family, who had come up to visit. We exchanged cameras and photo duties, then cruised easily down the ledges back to the shelter. Just as we arrived and got under cover, the rain came. After about 15 minutes of eating and hanging out at the shelter and talking with the folks there, the rain stopped. We had timed it just right.
We packed up our things and started down the trail. After loudly pointing out the "awesome new trail sign" to anyone within several miles of earshot, we flew back to the car, getting there in just under 45 minutes. Some spots along the trail were wet, others dry, but it would not rain on us again until during the drive home. This trip was an excellent introduction to Vermont, and although the traverse felt more peakbaggish than I sometimes like, it was a pleasure to see new mountains and make a new friend. The day was grey, but we did have a modicum of beautiful views, and the foliage was clearly peaking with amazing colors. I'm looking forward to returning to the area.
This was a 12.6 mile trip. Mohamed's peakbagging web site estimates it taking 7:05, and it took us 7:06. Combining my GPS with topo software, going out was 2375' of climb, 800' of descent; therefore, total climb was just over 3000' (significantly more than estimated).
Pictures are coming soon here .
ps - Tony, sorry if I left an oil stain on your driveway. It seems last week's oil change left something loose and my car has been dripping away all weekend.
As usual for the night before a hike, I didn't sleep well. I was looking forward to this trip, and woke up at 4:50 before the alarm could go off. I got my gear together and stepped outside into cool, dense fog. I knew it had been forecast, but it was incredibly thick and all I could hope for was that it would lift by the time we got into Vermont (or not be there). Tony and I would spend the drive looking for glimpses of blue, gaps in the grey mists. And in fact, as we cruised up I-89 the fog did lift, although the sky remained overcast.
We followed Bob and Jeri's suggestion to go into Roxbury and cross through Roxbury Gap into Warren. We were a little unsure when we got to the "Pavement Ends" sign, but put our faith in their not leading us astray and continued up the very steep, winding road. Where it crests, there is suddenly an impressive, open view down into the valley of Warren and the Green Mountain National Forest beyond. Then came the steep descent, a short drive on Rte 100, and back up Lincoln Gap Road, even narrower and more winding, to our first destination: the Long Trail crossing at Lincoln Gap. We shouldered our packs, and at 9:45am started northbound on the trail.
The first part of this trail was very reminiscent of the Kinsman Ridge Trail departing Kinsman Notch. It begins with a short but steep ascent parallel to the road, then turns away and moderates nicely. After about a hundred yards, we signed the register, and made our way through pleasant woods, winding and interesting. Our goal was to get out to Ellen and back before the forecast rain came in, so we pushed ourselves, and in just under an hour, we arrived at the Battell Trail junction, where Lindsay, the Battell Shelter caretaker, was putting in new signs. We talked with her for a bit, then we moved on, but not before I made her pose with her new (and perfectly plumb, I might add) signpost.
The shelter is very nice, with water nearby, a nice camping area, and even a picnic table! The privy was huge, needing to be elevated over the compost bins, and as such had steps not outside, but inside. This was ... weird. We didn't stay, however, wanting to continue our quest to beat the weather.
Getting up to Abraham from Battell Shelter was easy. The trail climbs but with good footing. There are sections of slab but they're contained within the trail; there isn't really any fall exposure. One spot was a bit tricky, though, and of an entire 50 yard section we worried that if wet, we'd have to go down seated. But rather than dwell on that, we popped up our heads and there was the alpine zone sign and the summit.
Most of the summit is a revegetation zone - there are low stone walls to keep you on the trail, as well as a ring of wall forming a windbreak. We took the obligatory summit photos in the cold, strongly-blowing wind, then quickly continued northward, immediately dropping back below treeline. Looking ahead, we tried to guess which summit was Ellen. Was it that one really far-away looking? Well, actually, it would turn out, I think, to be even further.
But first, we had some minor summits and ski areas to traverse. The next section of trail was reminiscent of the Wildcats: some ups and downs, in the trees but with a ridgeline feel. We made our way over Little Abe then dropped quite a ways before we suddenly came out onto the open summit of Lincoln above one of the Sugarbush ski area chairlifts. There's an observation platform here, next to some electronic equipment towers, and some fantastic views. This must be a very pretty place to ski.
Back into the woods, and we headed back up. I should point out that the ups and downs are no more than about 200-300 feet. This ridgeline is fairly even. However, going up and down a hundred feet over and over and over and over would soon prove to be very grueling. We were still enjoying ourselves at the summit of Nancy Hanks and the nearby overlook with excellent views back to the bowl of Sugarbush, and soon dropped to the top of another chairlift. We saw the odd sign: "Do not ski this trail alone. Turn back now." but could not attribute it to any trail except the one we were on, which didn't seem to make sense. We passed a nice summit lodge then followed the Middle Earth ski trail. This wasn't well-marked as a trail, but was an obvious path through the tall grass.
The Long Trail turns back into the woods at Hocks Hollow, where there's water, then began a series of 6 or 7 or a hundred ups and downs. Each time we crested we were sure that had to be the summit, but as we found no sign or cairn had to continue on, heading back down, hoping we hadn't missed it and were heading too far north. Finally, just after 1:00, I let out a whoop when I saw a bright, shiny new summit sign securely bolted to a tree. The cloud deck had been dropping the whole morning, and was beginning to touch the trees along the ridge, so we just did a quick photo shoot and turned back. It took us two hours of racing the weather to get back to a now fogged-in summit of Abraham, where Lindsay was acting as tour guide for her family, who had come up to visit. We exchanged cameras and photo duties, then cruised easily down the ledges back to the shelter. Just as we arrived and got under cover, the rain came. After about 15 minutes of eating and hanging out at the shelter and talking with the folks there, the rain stopped. We had timed it just right.
We packed up our things and started down the trail. After loudly pointing out the "awesome new trail sign" to anyone within several miles of earshot, we flew back to the car, getting there in just under 45 minutes. Some spots along the trail were wet, others dry, but it would not rain on us again until during the drive home. This trip was an excellent introduction to Vermont, and although the traverse felt more peakbaggish than I sometimes like, it was a pleasure to see new mountains and make a new friend. The day was grey, but we did have a modicum of beautiful views, and the foliage was clearly peaking with amazing colors. I'm looking forward to returning to the area.
This was a 12.6 mile trip. Mohamed's peakbagging web site estimates it taking 7:05, and it took us 7:06. Combining my GPS with topo software, going out was 2375' of climb, 800' of descent; therefore, total climb was just over 3000' (significantly more than estimated).
Pictures are coming soon here .
ps - Tony, sorry if I left an oil stain on your driveway. It seems last week's oil change left something loose and my car has been dripping away all weekend.
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