Hi. I just joined VFTT, although I know and have hiked with a lot of the people I see here. Anyway, here is my first VFTT TR.
The original plan was for Whichway and me to hike the Osceolas on Sunday. However the weather forecast was worse for Sunday than Saturday, and there was a group organizing a Saturday hike, so we moved it up a day. There was a lot of fluidity over the several days leading up to the hike as to who would come and what the target would be, fueled by weather forecasts which more and more pointed to rain on Saturday as well. Just as I was about to leave for the north in the wee hours of Saturday, it was finalized as Whichway, me, BobC, and Getawaygirl climbing Hale by the Fire Warden's Trail, along with Whichway's dog Delilah. I didn't actually need Hale for the winter, but I'd never been on FWT before, and I was mostly just looking for a day in the mountains anyway, so I was fine with that.
It rained lightly most of the way up to Whichway's place in Vermont, but it had stopped by then. As it turned out, that was all the rain I had all day.
On the way to the trailhead, Whichway and I saw a bald eagle. Not in the trees or the sky, but standing by the side of I91.
We met BobC and Getawaygirl at the Little River Road, and took the well tracked bushwhack to the summer trail head of North Twin Trail. We all were on showshoes all day long. The trails, including the unofficial ones, were all well broken out and packed down. It was very warm for January; we mostly kept our coats etc. in our packs.
On NTT we first started following a false path which we thought was the Fire Warden's Trail, but soon backtracked and went further down NTT. The next path we tried was in fact the FWT.
The Fire Warden's Trail goes through some very beautiful birch forests. I think they were yellow birch, or a combination of yellow and paper birch. In any event, they were beautiful.
At one point we came across a snowman. We also met a hiker coming down at about that time who said that a man and a woman were hiking together higher up the trail. We, of course, suspected that they must be Big Earl and Trail Trotter.
After a while the birches changed to firs, and the melting snow made it seem like it was raining, so we put on our rain gear. Soon we did, in fact, come across Big Earl and Trail Trotter coming down the trail.
There's a good viewpoint on the trail a little below the summit, where you can see the Presidentials. The summit itself is a clearing in the forest. While up there I verified that compasses were unreliable in the summit area, which I had heard, but not until after my last trip up there. There were several other people up there, mostly having come up other trails. One of the people was Red Oak, on this forum, whom none of us had met before, but who knew who we were from here and various other online fora.
We went down the way we came. After the warm day, the snow was noticibly softer than it had been. It probably would have been difficult to ascend in that soft snow, but descending it wasn't too bad. Then we went out to dinner in North Woodstock.
It was a great day, and, for me, part of a great weekend. Thanks to BobC, Getawaygirl, and Whichway for a great day in the mountains. Although I've been hiking with Whichway a lot recently, this was my first hike with either BobC or Getawaygirl since 2009, and it was good to reconnect.
Here are the pictures.
--
Cumulus
NE111: 104/115 (67/67, 35/46, 2/2); Cat35: 21/39; WNH4K: 25/48; NEFF: 30/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
The original plan was for Whichway and me to hike the Osceolas on Sunday. However the weather forecast was worse for Sunday than Saturday, and there was a group organizing a Saturday hike, so we moved it up a day. There was a lot of fluidity over the several days leading up to the hike as to who would come and what the target would be, fueled by weather forecasts which more and more pointed to rain on Saturday as well. Just as I was about to leave for the north in the wee hours of Saturday, it was finalized as Whichway, me, BobC, and Getawaygirl climbing Hale by the Fire Warden's Trail, along with Whichway's dog Delilah. I didn't actually need Hale for the winter, but I'd never been on FWT before, and I was mostly just looking for a day in the mountains anyway, so I was fine with that.
It rained lightly most of the way up to Whichway's place in Vermont, but it had stopped by then. As it turned out, that was all the rain I had all day.
On the way to the trailhead, Whichway and I saw a bald eagle. Not in the trees or the sky, but standing by the side of I91.
We met BobC and Getawaygirl at the Little River Road, and took the well tracked bushwhack to the summer trail head of North Twin Trail. We all were on showshoes all day long. The trails, including the unofficial ones, were all well broken out and packed down. It was very warm for January; we mostly kept our coats etc. in our packs.
On NTT we first started following a false path which we thought was the Fire Warden's Trail, but soon backtracked and went further down NTT. The next path we tried was in fact the FWT.
The Fire Warden's Trail goes through some very beautiful birch forests. I think they were yellow birch, or a combination of yellow and paper birch. In any event, they were beautiful.
At one point we came across a snowman. We also met a hiker coming down at about that time who said that a man and a woman were hiking together higher up the trail. We, of course, suspected that they must be Big Earl and Trail Trotter.
After a while the birches changed to firs, and the melting snow made it seem like it was raining, so we put on our rain gear. Soon we did, in fact, come across Big Earl and Trail Trotter coming down the trail.
There's a good viewpoint on the trail a little below the summit, where you can see the Presidentials. The summit itself is a clearing in the forest. While up there I verified that compasses were unreliable in the summit area, which I had heard, but not until after my last trip up there. There were several other people up there, mostly having come up other trails. One of the people was Red Oak, on this forum, whom none of us had met before, but who knew who we were from here and various other online fora.
We went down the way we came. After the warm day, the snow was noticibly softer than it had been. It probably would have been difficult to ascend in that soft snow, but descending it wasn't too bad. Then we went out to dinner in North Woodstock.
It was a great day, and, for me, part of a great weekend. Thanks to BobC, Getawaygirl, and Whichway for a great day in the mountains. Although I've been hiking with Whichway a lot recently, this was my first hike with either BobC or Getawaygirl since 2009, and it was good to reconnect.
Here are the pictures.
--
Cumulus
NE111: 104/115 (67/67, 35/46, 2/2); Cat35: 21/39; WNH4K: 25/48; NEFF: 30/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
