Dorset, Stratton and Equinox 11/20-21/04

[Tom Rankin]

Jean, Nat, HarryK, and yours truly traveled to Southern Vermont over the weekend to bag a few New England 100 Highest peaks.

We met Friday and went out to dinner at a place called Mulligans. They have good food, but the prices were very high! They did have a very good beer selection. Manchester/Manchester Center is a huge tourist trap. The have tons of shops and places to eat.

We got up early Saturday morning, and headed off from the luxurious Stamford Motel (just North of Manchester Center, not a bad place, really, $55.00 for 2 beds, Frig., Coffee maker, TV, Cable TV, and Pool, which we did NOT use!), with Equinox in sight right out the front door. We didn't go there till Sunday though. Dorset was our first goal. Jean had a trip report that lead us straight to the dirt road that the trail starts on. We probably could have driven further up, but the road was pretty bumpy.

We left at 7:15 or so. The trail was smooth at first, but from the old 'shack' onward, it was pretty steep most of the way. I felt pretty tired at first. I realized I was overdressed, and after shedding a layer or two half way up, I felt much better. It was pretty cold going up, with a tiny bit of ice hear and there. The mud on the trail was more or less frozen hard. We arrived at the summit, having passed the Door knob (Dorset, Door knob, you figure it out!) attached to both sides of a tree that marked the last trail junction, at around 8:45. We took a few pics of each other on the summit, but there were no views from here. There is the ruins of a cabin, and some metal cookware strewn around the summit, along with a canister.

SherpaK: We did not find anything funny by you in the log book, but we did read about someone using one of the containers in an unusual manner. Was that you?

Harry and Jean raced off down the trail on the way back to do a side peak, where they got decent views from the wreckage of an old fire tower. We met back up with them, and more or less jogged down the trail all the way back to the flats. We were out of the woods by 10:00. We met no one on this hike, except 3 hunters in a truck just before we got back to the car. The ascent was 2600', in something less than 6 miles round trip.

Not being content with one peak, we drove off to find Stratton. We went past our turn, but managed to find the trailhead after a LLLLOOOOONNNNGGGG drive down a dirt road. Eventually you come to a very well marked parking lot with an AT/LT sign. This hike was longer in mileage, but quite a bit less ascent. I think it was 6.8 / 1700. We left around 11:15. This turned out to be nicest hike of the weekend. The AT/LT is fairly smooth and ascends gradually almost the entire distance to the summit of Stratton.

We met a few people on this hike, including an old man toting his rifle thru the woods. It scared me a little, because he almost passed right by me before I was aware of him. There is a sturdy fire tower on Stratton, where we ate lunch and had views in all directions. We could not see very far, but all the local mountains were visible, including several ski resorts with snow on at least a few slopes. It was quite a bit warmer here with little or no wind until we got above the trees on the tower. But the tower was open, so we were able to go in out of the wind and enjoy the views. We walked back down more slowly this time, drove back down the LONG dirt road, and got back to the Hotel by 4:00. We all collapsed and had a nap. Dinner was much cheaper this time, at a decent Italian place.

Sunday we got up later, and looked out to rain and fog. No view of the mountain at all. We had breakfast at Friendly's, then took a very short drive to just behind the Seminary, where we found the trailhead for Equinox. There is a large dirt parking lot just up above and past the main building. From here, you can almost see the first trail sign! We missed it the first time and wandered around before realizing this was the right place. You can also drive farther up the road, and then turn right and go down a dirt road to another tiny parking place, where the trail can be accessed. Construction seems to have altered the terrain enough that old photos we had were no longer useful.

The trail was extremely well marked at first, with new signs saying 'Blue Summit'. Equinox was about 3000' of ascent, and we were in no rush this time. It was moderately steep most of the way. The first half is on an old road. The rest was on a decent trail. Near the top, the trail leads off to a view point which we skipped, since it was quite foggy. A few minutes later we passed a TV transmitter and then a cell phone tower. This was followed by a large building rising out of the mist at the summit. Not exactly a pristine place! There is an old hotel there, accessed by a toll road. There was no one else there. We met no one on this hike except a hunter at the trailhead with 2 very excited dogs. Fortunately there were finishing, not starting. The hike back down was uneventful. The rain stopped and we were almost dry by the time we got back to the car.

After a light lunch at Orvis, we said our "Au revoirs", and headed home.

Crampons were never necessary this weekend. I'd recommend bringing your own water, as very little was available after the beginning of each hike. The temperature varied from about 20 to 40 during the times we were on the trails. Most of the time you are in the trees and sheltered from the wind, except for the summit of Equinox.

Overall, it was a successful weekend of peakbagging, and good times with 3 great people from North of the border! Thanks for the new "Fin-Du-115er" Harry! Thanks for driving Jean! And thanks to Nat for the jokes!

 

[Rik]

Tom,
Nice trip. I have climbed Equinox and Dorset recently so it was fun to hear about them. I actually thought Dorset was very fun and bizarre. With the doorknobs, pitcher, and of course the grill bolted to the old tower base I felt like Alice in Wonderland. One note I would make is that there is a spring on a side trail off the Equinox trail. Appeared very strong so I can't imagine it drying up. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Tom,
Nope, not me. I'd never do anything like that, never mind write about it. What Alpinista was referring to was that when I tried to write in the log, it was raining so hard that I could barely read it. I put the log back in before it got completely soaked. Manchester got over 5.5 inches of rain in a 24 hour period. I did Equinox and Stratton the day before, staying at Stratton Pond, slogged back in sometimes knee deep water then headed up to Dorset before calling it a day. Dorset was #99 for the NEHH for me.

 

[percious]

Next time you are in/near Manchester, consider taking some time to hike to Lye Brook Falls. It is definately the best attraction in Manchester. Its a great sore leg Sunday trip before you head home.

-percious

 

[smh444]

Nice trip - now you have piqued my interest in these mountains. Glad you found "The Stamford" - best deal in yuppytown. Nice owners (they live there), clean rooms and VERY reasonable - especially in late winter/ early spring if you are in the area to ski.

Didn't know you could hike Equinox for free - will have to try it.

 

[Lovetohike]

Sounds like a nice weekend of hiking. I've climbed Equinox many times when I feel like a good workout without the long drive to New Hampshire. I would say that the trail is very continuously steep: 3000 ft. vertical in less than 3 miles. Nothing really difficult or technical, just very continuous. Also, I usually just make a quick stop at the old hotel at the summit and head over to the lookout 1/4 mile north of the summit. In decent weather it is actually a great view to the east over the valley below. It is a bit dicey finding the start of the trail from the Seminary parking, but once you figure it out then you're all set for the future.

 

[bill bowden]

Bear Mt. and Mother Myrick

Are relatively unvisited 3000 footers in the area, one reached by a reasonably uneroded ATV/snowmobile trail, the other via a classic fernwhack. Both lovely spots.

 

[Rik]

Bill,
Or anyone that knows the answer. Are there any views to be had from Bear or Mother Myrick?

 

[bill bowden]

Views can be found from both peaks. Panoramic from Mother Myrick, mor elimited but still not bad from Bear. Most of the southern Vt. 3000 footers offer some sort of vew. especially in fall because the broadleaf trees carry on to the summit. by memory Hoosac summit was marked by 3 spruce trees in a forest of about 8 foot tall oak trees.

 

[arm]

we scouted out a loop hike over Mount Equinox sunday

tried to drive up into Beartown, on the west side of Equinox, after spotting one of our cars behind the Equinox Hotel (where the Day Hikers Guide to VT suggests parking when hiking Equinox)

VT Gazeteer seemed a bit sketchy covering these dirt roads, which got rough once we drove up into Beartown, as we were hoping we'd find Beartown Trail, shown on the Equinox web site
http://www.equinoxmountain.com/mountain/trailmap.htm

gave up on that idea, then drove back around to the east side of Equinox, through Manchester Center, bearing left onto West Road, left onto Three Maple Road, left onto Beartown Road

parked near the end of this dirt road, then hiked up the dirt road (shown as Jeep Trail on topozone.com, marked in red in the loop-hike-map.jpg below), up into Equinox Highlands Natural Area
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4784285&e=655694&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25

turned sharp left about a mile up Jeep Trail, then turned left onto a snowmobile trail less than a mile later when we reached height-of-land (marked by an orange sign, shown in the picture below, and marked in blue in the map below)

pretty sure this snowmobile trail was Beartown Trail, shown on the Equinox map ... Jeep Trail continued over down toward Beartown (west) at the snowmobile trail junction

followed Beartown Trail up close to Lookout Rock, where we saw the "Beartown Gap" sign ... from here, we hiked over to Lookout Rock, over past Mr Barbo's Grave, on to the summit, then down Burr-Burton Trail to our spotted car

fun day exploring scenic Vermont, with a post-hike stop at McNeils Brewery in Brattleboro
http://www.pubcrawler.com/Template/ReviewWC.cfm/flat/BrewerID=228

 

[John S]

Good info, Arm. Would have been a bit more useful a week earlier, however.

After a long drive to a short hike this past Sunday, that loop could have added a bit more interest. I saw the loop on the DeLorme Gazetteer but didn’t have the time to inquire about road conditions, parking, legal access, etc. re Beartown Road. Still, up and down Burr and Burton from the seminary with some really good friends made for a very fine day.

Hope you had some views on the summit. It was clear when we headed up, thickly clouded at the top about noon and, of course, clear again back at the cars. By the way, you don’t have to park behind the hotel. There is a huge parking lot off West Union Street just above the seminary, with an exit to the trail at the northwest corner of the lot. Check out the map on Bob and Geri's web site.