docross
In Memoriam to a Deceased Member
Buckette and I, after bagging Equinox yesterday and having a wonderful evening, dinner and breakfast at the Dorset Inn, headed off to do Dorset today. We didn't know her, but clearly we met Una Dogger as we were descending from Equinox; Buckette is the "fit senior woman" Una Dogger refers to!
Initially it looked as if the trail had been broken out from the summer trailhead, as there were both ski and snowshoe tracks. Alas, most of the snowshoe tracks and all the ski tracks disappeared from the route after about 0.2 mile, and we were left with tracks made by someone with a huge stride, who had been over the trail several days ago, because there were 2-3 inches of new snow on top.
Buckette wasn't up for breaking today, so it was up to me. Thanks to the good breakfast at the Dorset Inn, we didn't get on the trail until 9:20. Within a short time i was layered down to polypro and still warm. Although I had the old tracks ahead of me, it still was a LOT of work to shift the snow, and it was no longer the powder it had been.
One hour later I had gone 0.6 mile by GPS, had gained all of 200 feet or so, and the snow was up to my knees in places. Buckette was doing a good job of packing the trail down behind me, but it was obvious the summit was not in our future, not today, not from the south.
We headed out, and once back at the car, drove around through East Dorset to Rte 7a and Rte 7 to Danby, and then west on Colville Brook Rd to TH 30, where we found what had been, years ago, a snowmobile trail that Buckette had used in the winter.
Now they are logging up there, and since we saw the log truck exit, and the gate was open, we drove the Forester up to the yard. That gained us 300' elevation, but there didn't seem to be a safe place to park up there, and we surmised that the gate at the bottom of the road would be locked on weekends.
Still, that seemed like a possible way to summit, especially if snowmobiles are still using that route up toward the fire tower.
I wonder if anybody has done Dorset that way recently?
Initially it looked as if the trail had been broken out from the summer trailhead, as there were both ski and snowshoe tracks. Alas, most of the snowshoe tracks and all the ski tracks disappeared from the route after about 0.2 mile, and we were left with tracks made by someone with a huge stride, who had been over the trail several days ago, because there were 2-3 inches of new snow on top.
Buckette wasn't up for breaking today, so it was up to me. Thanks to the good breakfast at the Dorset Inn, we didn't get on the trail until 9:20. Within a short time i was layered down to polypro and still warm. Although I had the old tracks ahead of me, it still was a LOT of work to shift the snow, and it was no longer the powder it had been.
One hour later I had gone 0.6 mile by GPS, had gained all of 200 feet or so, and the snow was up to my knees in places. Buckette was doing a good job of packing the trail down behind me, but it was obvious the summit was not in our future, not today, not from the south.
We headed out, and once back at the car, drove around through East Dorset to Rte 7a and Rte 7 to Danby, and then west on Colville Brook Rd to TH 30, where we found what had been, years ago, a snowmobile trail that Buckette had used in the winter.
Now they are logging up there, and since we saw the log truck exit, and the gate was open, we drove the Forester up to the yard. That gained us 300' elevation, but there didn't seem to be a safe place to park up there, and we surmised that the gate at the bottom of the road would be locked on weekends.
Still, that seemed like a possible way to summit, especially if snowmobiles are still using that route up toward the fire tower.
I wonder if anybody has done Dorset that way recently?
