poison ivy
Well-known member
HikerBob & I set out to hike Dorset on Sunday, figuring we’d have a nice, easy 6.5-mile hike up to the peak. Little did we know that the trail would be an eight-hour slog through blowdowns and bent over trees… adding a third adventure to our list of “winter condition hikes that the two of us should not have tried to tackle alone.”
We arrived at the trailhead on Dorset Hollow Road at just around 9 a.m. -- a late start but we figured we were in for a fairly easy day. We parked just after the junction of Upper and Lower Dorset Hollow Road in a small spot that could fit two cars, geared up and marched down the icy road, which had a pretty little brook along side it.
About a half-mile or so up the road, at a big thicket of bent over trees, the icy tire tracks disappeared and we began bare booting through about three to four inches of powdery snow. The only tracks we saw on the lower reaches of the trail were from mice and snowshoe hares. Of course, we had to stop a lot to try to knock the snow off the branches -- sometimes managing to get a neck-full of snow in the process.
The road gets steeper as you ascend and HikerBob was about 10 feet behind me, when he noticed a tire off to the right the woods. He suggested that this was a turn in the trail but from my higher vantage point, all I could see were bent over, snow-covered trees. I took out the Dayhiker’s Guide to Vermont and noted that the turnoff is next to a hunting cabin, which we should pass right by. Since we couldn’t see a cabin, I was convinced we should up the road. HikerBob said okay and we continued walking for maybe 15 minutes until reaching a giant blowdown in a big gully. HikerBob was sure that tire marked our turning point. So we turned around and went back to the tire, to find that it indeed marked the path to the cabin and our turn on the trail.
At the cabin, the trail became a lot steeper and the snow became deeper too. Added to that were a number of blowdowns that we had to crawl under, around and through. HikerBob carried a saw and cut through the branches on a few of the tougher ones -- which I was really thankful about on the return trip! About a half-mile up the trail we came to a spot where the trail just disappeared behind three walls of downed trees. We probably spent about a half hour wandering trying to figure out the route after deciding that straight-ahead there were too many trees growing in what would have been the trail. We decided this might be the brook crossing on the map and were encouraged to find several small logs lined up together in the brook. So, we decided to keep the brook on our left and push through the bent over trees. After about five minutes of walking up next to the brook, we managed to find the trail again.
We probably barebooted a little longer than we should have but finally stopped to put on our snowshoes after I postholed to my knees while trudging around a blowdown. The powdery snow ranged from about six inches to a foot near the saddle between Dorset and Jackson peaks. We reached the saddle at 11:30 p.m. -- and stopped for a lunch break before heading up to break out the snowmobile trail, which was just littered with blowdowns, so it was more slow going.
We reached the junction with a second snowmobile trail and had to make a decision on whether to hike up the steep way to south peak or take the longer route straight to the north peak of Dorset . Thinking it would be easier to take the short way -- since the longer route would have more blowdowns and more trail to break, we headed up to South Peak.
We arrived at the old fire tower and grill at 1:50 p.m.. We had discussed turning around at 2 p.m. but with just a half-mile to go before the north peak we reassessed. We had four headlamps between us, a now tracked out trail and no desire to come back and ever hike this mountain again. So we decided to push on through the col and head over to the north peak. It was actually fairly easy going -- though we had to break trail there weren’t a lot of blowdowns to worry about. Luckily, someone had tied some green tape to a tree or we probably would have walked right by the canister, which we reached at 2:30 p.m. Dorset was my 84th peak on the New England Hundred Highest list and HikerBob’s first canister (probably #50.)
After signing in at the canister, we looked for the continuation of the snowmobile trail, which forms a loop to the original junction. However, even after taking a bearing and checking the map, we weren’t 100 percent sure of where to go. So, we decided to just head back the way we came since we already knew the correct route, even though it meant an ascent back up south peak. Actually the ascent proved easier than we thought so it was a good decision. Plus, we got to see the famous Dorset doorknobs on our return to the col -- we had walked right by them the first time without noticing.
We followed our tracks down, which made the return trip fairly easy going, since we didn’t have to decide how to get around the blowdowns. HikerBob had a sled with him but found that all of the good pitches on the snowmobile trail had a blowdown at the bottom he might smash into, so it stayed strapped to his pack unused. We made it back to the car at 5 p.m. -- it was still light enough that all of our headlamps also stayed in the pack.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
-Ivy
We arrived at the trailhead on Dorset Hollow Road at just around 9 a.m. -- a late start but we figured we were in for a fairly easy day. We parked just after the junction of Upper and Lower Dorset Hollow Road in a small spot that could fit two cars, geared up and marched down the icy road, which had a pretty little brook along side it.
About a half-mile or so up the road, at a big thicket of bent over trees, the icy tire tracks disappeared and we began bare booting through about three to four inches of powdery snow. The only tracks we saw on the lower reaches of the trail were from mice and snowshoe hares. Of course, we had to stop a lot to try to knock the snow off the branches -- sometimes managing to get a neck-full of snow in the process.
The road gets steeper as you ascend and HikerBob was about 10 feet behind me, when he noticed a tire off to the right the woods. He suggested that this was a turn in the trail but from my higher vantage point, all I could see were bent over, snow-covered trees. I took out the Dayhiker’s Guide to Vermont and noted that the turnoff is next to a hunting cabin, which we should pass right by. Since we couldn’t see a cabin, I was convinced we should up the road. HikerBob said okay and we continued walking for maybe 15 minutes until reaching a giant blowdown in a big gully. HikerBob was sure that tire marked our turning point. So we turned around and went back to the tire, to find that it indeed marked the path to the cabin and our turn on the trail.
At the cabin, the trail became a lot steeper and the snow became deeper too. Added to that were a number of blowdowns that we had to crawl under, around and through. HikerBob carried a saw and cut through the branches on a few of the tougher ones -- which I was really thankful about on the return trip! About a half-mile up the trail we came to a spot where the trail just disappeared behind three walls of downed trees. We probably spent about a half hour wandering trying to figure out the route after deciding that straight-ahead there were too many trees growing in what would have been the trail. We decided this might be the brook crossing on the map and were encouraged to find several small logs lined up together in the brook. So, we decided to keep the brook on our left and push through the bent over trees. After about five minutes of walking up next to the brook, we managed to find the trail again.
We probably barebooted a little longer than we should have but finally stopped to put on our snowshoes after I postholed to my knees while trudging around a blowdown. The powdery snow ranged from about six inches to a foot near the saddle between Dorset and Jackson peaks. We reached the saddle at 11:30 p.m. -- and stopped for a lunch break before heading up to break out the snowmobile trail, which was just littered with blowdowns, so it was more slow going.
We reached the junction with a second snowmobile trail and had to make a decision on whether to hike up the steep way to south peak or take the longer route straight to the north peak of Dorset . Thinking it would be easier to take the short way -- since the longer route would have more blowdowns and more trail to break, we headed up to South Peak.
We arrived at the old fire tower and grill at 1:50 p.m.. We had discussed turning around at 2 p.m. but with just a half-mile to go before the north peak we reassessed. We had four headlamps between us, a now tracked out trail and no desire to come back and ever hike this mountain again. So we decided to push on through the col and head over to the north peak. It was actually fairly easy going -- though we had to break trail there weren’t a lot of blowdowns to worry about. Luckily, someone had tied some green tape to a tree or we probably would have walked right by the canister, which we reached at 2:30 p.m. Dorset was my 84th peak on the New England Hundred Highest list and HikerBob’s first canister (probably #50.)
After signing in at the canister, we looked for the continuation of the snowmobile trail, which forms a loop to the original junction. However, even after taking a bearing and checking the map, we weren’t 100 percent sure of where to go. So, we decided to just head back the way we came since we already knew the correct route, even though it meant an ascent back up south peak. Actually the ascent proved easier than we thought so it was a good decision. Plus, we got to see the famous Dorset doorknobs on our return to the col -- we had walked right by them the first time without noticing.
We followed our tracks down, which made the return trip fairly easy going, since we didn’t have to decide how to get around the blowdowns. HikerBob had a sled with him but found that all of the good pitches on the snowmobile trail had a blowdown at the bottom he might smash into, so it stayed strapped to his pack unused. We made it back to the car at 5 p.m. -- it was still light enough that all of our headlamps also stayed in the pack.
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
-Ivy
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We made it up and back in about 3 hours! Sorry, but it was pretty easy that day! We also saw the doorknob(s), and knew where to turn off to the summit. We didn't do both peaks. 
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