Jay H
New member
After a restful sleep at the New Baltimore rest area on the NY Thruway, FunkyFreddy and I made the 1.5 hour trek out to Manchester, VT to the Equinox Hotel to meet up with Dr Wu for a beautiful hike up Equinox, the highpoint of the Taconic range.
After precisely getting there at 7:30 (could not have timed it better!) and meeting Dr Wu there, we leave at approximately 8am. Conditions for the day were almost perfect, clear blue sky, little haze, cold but not windy and not extremely cold. Our little party of three head out towards West Union Ave according to the VT dayhike book. At this point, conditions become fuzzy as we missed the turn into the Burr and Burton academy parking lot and found us walking about 1/4 mile up West union road, past some nice houses and woods. See a large Water Tank on the right at which point we start to wonder where on earth are we. Snake out the book and found we're supposed to cut across the parking lot to the NW corner, not cross the lot. Oh well, return back to the lot. If you see the Water tank then on west union, you've gone too far!.
Anyway, we get to the right trail with the sign for the blue Summit Trail. Snow is light but very icy underneath, trail is well packed so we barebooted and left the snowshoes in the car and brought crampons. The little tote road is a nice walk in the woods, past the cabin, pass the Preserve signs, past a bunch of side trails. Instantly, we start to get warm and with the ~2700' climb in the ~2.7 mile hike, it's going to get a bit warm. Continuing on the tote road, we hit the spring and the turn off of the road. This point, the trail steepens and narrows and the evergreens and spruces appear. Very pretty and still very broken out. Pass a huge blowdown on the trail that meanders around it and continue at the steep pace. Hit the TV tower and the sign of a snowmobile track. After a little confusion of which way to turn, we check the guidebook and the footprints that lead us right and then left towards the summit. Instantly, you go through the spruce and the Inn faces you and clear blue sky. The summit! Wow, just a fabulous view, too bad for the silly hotel, but then again, the evergreens probably would dominate this summit except for the hotel's clearing...
Dr Wu, Fred and I check out the lookout, say hi to Robohiker (no response!) and admire the views.
After a good 30-45 minutes at the summit and eating our lunches (it's around noon), we head out to Lookout Rock. We go down the same way we came about 500' to a turnoff to our left and follow tracks for a bit and some red markers.
Suddenly the tracks stop, like the folks who broke this out turned around. Slightly confused, we push on, following very faint red/yellow markings and a faint path, postholing like mad though. Eventually we hook up with the snowmobile path and follow that in the right direction of Lookout Rock. Eventually we come across a sign that marks the route to LO rock and also the Beartown Trail to Beartown Gap. Following the LO rock trail we get to the bench and the overlook towards the Long Trail. Neat!
After some more trail food, we head back towards the Burr and Burton Trail and back down, passing a solo man and then 2 younger men trudging their way up. Back to the car around 2:30pm and a beautiful day.
Pictures:
Webshots slideshow
The following is a panorama shot at the summit with Robohiker looking on
Equinox Summit Panoramic
The following is another panorama shot from Lookout Rock looking towards the quaint town of Manchester and the Long Trail in the background.
Lookout Rock Panoramic
Jay
After precisely getting there at 7:30 (could not have timed it better!) and meeting Dr Wu there, we leave at approximately 8am. Conditions for the day were almost perfect, clear blue sky, little haze, cold but not windy and not extremely cold. Our little party of three head out towards West Union Ave according to the VT dayhike book. At this point, conditions become fuzzy as we missed the turn into the Burr and Burton academy parking lot and found us walking about 1/4 mile up West union road, past some nice houses and woods. See a large Water Tank on the right at which point we start to wonder where on earth are we. Snake out the book and found we're supposed to cut across the parking lot to the NW corner, not cross the lot. Oh well, return back to the lot. If you see the Water tank then on west union, you've gone too far!.
Anyway, we get to the right trail with the sign for the blue Summit Trail. Snow is light but very icy underneath, trail is well packed so we barebooted and left the snowshoes in the car and brought crampons. The little tote road is a nice walk in the woods, past the cabin, pass the Preserve signs, past a bunch of side trails. Instantly, we start to get warm and with the ~2700' climb in the ~2.7 mile hike, it's going to get a bit warm. Continuing on the tote road, we hit the spring and the turn off of the road. This point, the trail steepens and narrows and the evergreens and spruces appear. Very pretty and still very broken out. Pass a huge blowdown on the trail that meanders around it and continue at the steep pace. Hit the TV tower and the sign of a snowmobile track. After a little confusion of which way to turn, we check the guidebook and the footprints that lead us right and then left towards the summit. Instantly, you go through the spruce and the Inn faces you and clear blue sky. The summit! Wow, just a fabulous view, too bad for the silly hotel, but then again, the evergreens probably would dominate this summit except for the hotel's clearing...
Dr Wu, Fred and I check out the lookout, say hi to Robohiker (no response!) and admire the views.
After a good 30-45 minutes at the summit and eating our lunches (it's around noon), we head out to Lookout Rock. We go down the same way we came about 500' to a turnoff to our left and follow tracks for a bit and some red markers.
Suddenly the tracks stop, like the folks who broke this out turned around. Slightly confused, we push on, following very faint red/yellow markings and a faint path, postholing like mad though. Eventually we hook up with the snowmobile path and follow that in the right direction of Lookout Rock. Eventually we come across a sign that marks the route to LO rock and also the Beartown Trail to Beartown Gap. Following the LO rock trail we get to the bench and the overlook towards the Long Trail. Neat!
After some more trail food, we head back towards the Burr and Burton Trail and back down, passing a solo man and then 2 younger men trudging their way up. Back to the car around 2:30pm and a beautiful day.
Pictures:
Webshots slideshow
The following is a panorama shot at the summit with Robohiker looking on
Equinox Summit Panoramic
The following is another panorama shot from Lookout Rock looking towards the quaint town of Manchester and the Long Trail in the background.
Lookout Rock Panoramic
Jay
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