una_dogger
Well-known member
Whenever I've put in for time off from work far in advance to do some peakbagging, its always been a crap shoot. I am feeling very grateful for the time I have just had in the woods. I think I will tell my story in reverse.
Mendon Peak, Vermont, Monday June 8, 2009: New England Hundred Highest No. 98
It can be a challenge to find people to hike with on Mondays, especially when you tell them they need to meet you in Vermont to bushwack. Today was a very special day for me because it signified the first time Silverfox and I have hiked together since his knee replacement. It was also special, because I lived for 1.5 years in Vermont and spent alot of time exploring the Rutland Wild Forest, though ironically, never summitted Mendon although I had walked the Killington Carriage road and passed the cairns before.
Turning onto Wheelerville Rd, I saw Terra perk up and I could feel her excitement, we'd spent many a day after work running on this road and exploring the herdpaths that lead off from the many forest service gates along its length. Many a summer night I'd head back down Wheelerville under a blanket of stars. Gotta love those long summer days.
I met Silverfox at the civilized time of 10:00am at the Bucklin Trailhead. We headed out through the gate onto the wide jeep road, passing Brad's Two Holer, then stopping in the field to allow my GPS to link up. The four crossings of the brook were easy and we kept our feet dry.
We had BobandGeri's map, so there really was no reason to question a summit today. A GPS point on the summit and some of MichaelJ's memories of the whack when he did it with Mnt Drew and MEB, and a couple of VFTT trail conditions reports from last month indicating the cairns were still there -- quite a good bit of beta.
We started the bushwack taking a 233 magnetic shortly after the second cairn, and quickly found a nice herdpath, which we followed to the summit of Mendon.
The path lightened significantly after the false summit, and proceded to the southern viewpoint just below Mendon's summit. The herdpath was a bit squirrely at the summit, and we may have endured a scratch or two finding the cannister.
Silverfox checks out a view of Killington just below the false summit of Mendon.
Silverfox on Mendon, way to go! He thinks its ~#84/NEHH for him.
Self portrait
The journal in Mendon's cannister goes back to 2002. I love reading the entries, my favorite went something like this; "I have Mendonitis and I plan to return here again and again". I would agree, I have Mendonitis....beautiful woods!
We deviated slightly from the herdpath on our way out, cutting down to the carriage road a bit sooner on our way out, and ran across a Moose carcass. We had been commenting along the way, that we were seeing alot of moose dung, but that it was older. The old resident moose appeared to have layed down in his moose yard for his final rest. Coyotes had done thier work and returned his flesh to the lifecycle of the forest. Terra sniffed a few places and then proceeded to leave her mark in the form of pee-mail. A large circular grey fur pile, maybe 12 feet in diameter lay next to some blowdown. Bones were scattered about 20 feet in all directions. It was a bit sobering. We shared a moment thinking about the life of this moose, and headed out, reaching the carriage road not far from where we entered.
A great day in the woods with Silverfox and Terra. I could barely keep up with them on the way out!
Scar Ridge, Sunday June 7, NEHH No. 97:
MichaelJ, Terra and I met Rocket21 at Half Baked and Fully Brewed in Lincoln sunday morning. We spotted two moose on the Kanc on our way over; one elderly matron who looked thin from winter and one yearling who chased alongside my car.
We were taking the "easy way" to Scar Ridge, an approach that MJ, Amicus et all had taken the year before. We hiked to the top of Walking Boss, a ski trail in the Loon ski area. The climb was long, hot and we were constantly pushing the black flies away.
After a nice break in the shade of the Quad, we took as side trip over to North Loon Peak on a well established herdpath that enters the woods from the Sunset ski trail.
We took our last sightline the ridge of Black Mountain, and headed into the woods, quickly finding a backcountry skier's herdpath. We stayed on this path until we reached a col, and then began the bushwack.
The climb is neither long nor steep, but its pretty non descript. The spruce ranges from five feet to six feet tall, so for much of the whack I could see nothing but spruce. We were wacking alongside MichaelJ's track from the previous year, but no real herdpath has formed. We hit several blowdown patches, like this one:
The blackflies were brutal. We found a light herdpatbh about 1/10 mile below the summit cannister. I can't really say I enjoyed this bushwack. It began with hobblebush, proceeded to spruce, and we didn't encounter any interesting woods or geologic features along the way. Although I am grateful to have been shown the easy way, because I understand that the other two approaches are hellacious. A special thanks to MichaelJ, I don't think I'd return to this peak so I really feel the LOVE! And another big thanks to Rocket21 who could have been hiking to a summit with a beautiful view on this fine sunny day! Good friends! Its bushwacks like this that make me question my interest in the NHHH!
Terra had fun, regardless!
A brief visit with SSmith at the Mountain Wanderer, the best way to finish off any trip to NH.
Mendon Peak, Vermont, Monday June 8, 2009: New England Hundred Highest No. 98
It can be a challenge to find people to hike with on Mondays, especially when you tell them they need to meet you in Vermont to bushwack. Today was a very special day for me because it signified the first time Silverfox and I have hiked together since his knee replacement. It was also special, because I lived for 1.5 years in Vermont and spent alot of time exploring the Rutland Wild Forest, though ironically, never summitted Mendon although I had walked the Killington Carriage road and passed the cairns before.
Turning onto Wheelerville Rd, I saw Terra perk up and I could feel her excitement, we'd spent many a day after work running on this road and exploring the herdpaths that lead off from the many forest service gates along its length. Many a summer night I'd head back down Wheelerville under a blanket of stars. Gotta love those long summer days.
I met Silverfox at the civilized time of 10:00am at the Bucklin Trailhead. We headed out through the gate onto the wide jeep road, passing Brad's Two Holer, then stopping in the field to allow my GPS to link up. The four crossings of the brook were easy and we kept our feet dry.
We had BobandGeri's map, so there really was no reason to question a summit today.
A GPS point on the summit and some of MichaelJ's memories of the whack when he did it with Mnt Drew and MEB, and a couple of VFTT trail conditions reports from last month indicating the cairns were still there -- quite a good bit of beta. We started the bushwack taking a 233 magnetic shortly after the second cairn, and quickly found a nice herdpath, which we followed to the summit of Mendon.
The path lightened significantly after the false summit, and proceded to the southern viewpoint just below Mendon's summit. The herdpath was a bit squirrely at the summit, and we may have endured a scratch or two finding the cannister.
Silverfox checks out a view of Killington just below the false summit of Mendon.
Silverfox on Mendon, way to go! He thinks its ~#84/NEHH for him.
Self portrait
The journal in Mendon's cannister goes back to 2002. I love reading the entries, my favorite went something like this; "I have Mendonitis and I plan to return here again and again".
I would agree, I have Mendonitis....beautiful woods! We deviated slightly from the herdpath on our way out, cutting down to the carriage road a bit sooner on our way out, and ran across a Moose carcass. We had been commenting along the way, that we were seeing alot of moose dung, but that it was older. The old resident moose appeared to have layed down in his moose yard for his final rest. Coyotes had done thier work and returned his flesh to the lifecycle of the forest. Terra sniffed a few places and then proceeded to leave her mark in the form of pee-mail. A large circular grey fur pile, maybe 12 feet in diameter lay next to some blowdown. Bones were scattered about 20 feet in all directions. It was a bit sobering. We shared a moment thinking about the life of this moose, and headed out, reaching the carriage road not far from where we entered.
A great day in the woods with Silverfox and Terra. I could barely keep up with them on the way out!
Scar Ridge, Sunday June 7, NEHH No. 97:
MichaelJ, Terra and I met Rocket21 at Half Baked and Fully Brewed in Lincoln sunday morning. We spotted two moose on the Kanc on our way over; one elderly matron who looked thin from winter and one yearling who chased alongside my car.
We were taking the "easy way" to Scar Ridge, an approach that MJ, Amicus et all had taken the year before. We hiked to the top of Walking Boss, a ski trail in the Loon ski area. The climb was long, hot and we were constantly pushing the black flies away.
After a nice break in the shade of the Quad, we took as side trip over to North Loon Peak on a well established herdpath that enters the woods from the Sunset ski trail.
We took our last sightline the ridge of Black Mountain, and headed into the woods, quickly finding a backcountry skier's herdpath. We stayed on this path until we reached a col, and then began the bushwack.
The climb is neither long nor steep, but its pretty non descript. The spruce ranges from five feet to six feet tall, so for much of the whack I could see nothing but spruce. We were wacking alongside MichaelJ's track from the previous year, but no real herdpath has formed. We hit several blowdown patches, like this one:
The blackflies were brutal. We found a light herdpatbh about 1/10 mile below the summit cannister. I can't really say I enjoyed this bushwack. It began with hobblebush, proceeded to spruce, and we didn't encounter any interesting woods or geologic features along the way. Although I am grateful to have been shown the easy way, because I understand that the other two approaches are hellacious. A special thanks to MichaelJ, I don't think I'd return to this peak so I really feel the LOVE! And another big thanks to Rocket21 who could have been hiking to a summit with a beautiful view on this fine sunny day! Good friends! Its bushwacks like this that make me question my interest in the NHHH!
Terra had fun, regardless!
A brief visit with SSmith at the Mountain Wanderer, the best way to finish off any trip to NH.
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