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Here's a comedy of errors that could have turned out much more uncomfortably for us:
Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Vermont before heading down to Tanglewood for a concert. On Saturday the plan was to hike to Stratton Pond, since we were with two friends (I'll call them B&B) who hardly ever hiked and weren't in shape for much of anything other than a walk. Friend Marge was with us, an able hiker.
I left my map in the car after having taken a good look at it and noted some mileages ( I didn't mean to leave it, but it made no difference in the outcome of this story anyway).
As we walked the 4 miles in to Stratton Pond, I suggested that B&B could head back the same way on their own while we did the bigger loop encompassing Bourn and Branch Ponds. There were no side trails to confuse them.
We ate lunch at Willis Ross Clearing at the Pond, and the weather was perfect and we all felt great, and B&B decided that they'd come along. After all, it was flat.
We picked up the Lye Brook Trail at the other end of the pond and immediately started running into muddy, rocky, rooty sections that B&B weren't too happy about. I directed them into the woods to avoid the worst, and they immediately got nervous about getting lost (we never lost sight of them). I suggested they might want to backtrack, since it was quite straightforward, but no, they were forging ahead.
Soon we encountered an amazing blowdown area where the trail had been cleared just enough but there were lots of hip-high trunks to be negotiated. Ominous grumblings were heard from B&B and by then it was too late to turn around. I later read that the Lye Brook Trail is maintained this way on purpose. Since there were no more trail junctions, Pat, Marge, and I forged ahead with a promise to wait at Bourn Pond. Oh, and of course there is nothing flat in Vermont - the trails are all at least rolling - 100 feet up, 100 feet down. One of the B&B's was starting to palpitate but owned up that her heart was OK - her doctor had pronounced her "out of shape."
Bourn Pond is magnificent - we encountered a huge loon with baby very near to us, and the shoreline was teeming with hundreds of purple pitcher plants.
B&B actually caught up pretty quickly, and we set off on the next leg, the Branch Pond Trail, promising as usual to wait for B&B at any junctions or tricky spots.
At Branch Pond, a spur path signaled a needed place to wait, and here's where it started to go wrong. Marge was well ahead of me and Pat, so I told Pat to go ahead and catch up with her so they could do the roadwalk,get the car, and drive it to the Branch Pond Trailhead to save B&B a mile or so. I told him to stay on the TRAIL and ignore any signs for the Branch Pond ROAD.
I walked back about 5 minutes and met B&B who were looking quite pained until I told them my great idea: they could exit at the Branch Pond road and wait for us to drive around and pick them up, and all they had was seven-tenths of a mile left!
So off I ran to catch up with Pat. I raced past the road's spur trail, huffed up a hill and met some backpackers who said, No, they hadn't met anyone in a while (except Marge). So I turned around and ran all the way out to the road where there were a few cars parked. I knew it was a LONG way to our car this way, about 7 miles. Luckily the Branch Pond Road is mostly downhill to the Kelley Stand Road. I had run about 1.5 miles when a car drove up behind me and I wildly flagged it down. The wonderful young couple offered to save me (there I was, sweating, red-faced, babbling). I bet they thought twice about stopping, but I guess I looked enough like someone's grandma and not an escaped nut.
To make a long story a bit shorter, we found Pat around the next bend, and they drove us all the way to the car where Marge was dozing on a rock, unaware of the drama. Poor Pat got quite an earful from me. We drove back to get B&B, who incidentally almost missed the spur trail to the road - the backpackers with whom I had spoken were leaning against the sign, hiding it. B&B would have stayed on the main Branch Pond Trail and would have precipitated a whole new drama when we went to get them with the car. I can't believe that I caused us all to be separated and potentially benighted. In reality the Kelley Stand Rd (aka Arlington-Stratton or Arlington-West Wardsboro) is well traveled and we'd have gotten out soon enough, but I was concocting amazing scenarios as I tried to catch Pat, calling his name, but losing my voice and having it come out like a pathetic bleat, "PAA-AA-AT!"
Major Moral of the story: NEVER let Pat out of your sight;
Minor moral: never overestimate the abilities of your nonhiker friends and never underestimate a trail you've never been on.
Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Vermont before heading down to Tanglewood for a concert. On Saturday the plan was to hike to Stratton Pond, since we were with two friends (I'll call them B&B) who hardly ever hiked and weren't in shape for much of anything other than a walk. Friend Marge was with us, an able hiker.
I left my map in the car after having taken a good look at it and noted some mileages ( I didn't mean to leave it, but it made no difference in the outcome of this story anyway).
As we walked the 4 miles in to Stratton Pond, I suggested that B&B could head back the same way on their own while we did the bigger loop encompassing Bourn and Branch Ponds. There were no side trails to confuse them.
We ate lunch at Willis Ross Clearing at the Pond, and the weather was perfect and we all felt great, and B&B decided that they'd come along. After all, it was flat.
We picked up the Lye Brook Trail at the other end of the pond and immediately started running into muddy, rocky, rooty sections that B&B weren't too happy about. I directed them into the woods to avoid the worst, and they immediately got nervous about getting lost (we never lost sight of them). I suggested they might want to backtrack, since it was quite straightforward, but no, they were forging ahead.
Soon we encountered an amazing blowdown area where the trail had been cleared just enough but there were lots of hip-high trunks to be negotiated. Ominous grumblings were heard from B&B and by then it was too late to turn around. I later read that the Lye Brook Trail is maintained this way on purpose. Since there were no more trail junctions, Pat, Marge, and I forged ahead with a promise to wait at Bourn Pond. Oh, and of course there is nothing flat in Vermont - the trails are all at least rolling - 100 feet up, 100 feet down. One of the B&B's was starting to palpitate but owned up that her heart was OK - her doctor had pronounced her "out of shape."
Bourn Pond is magnificent - we encountered a huge loon with baby very near to us, and the shoreline was teeming with hundreds of purple pitcher plants.
B&B actually caught up pretty quickly, and we set off on the next leg, the Branch Pond Trail, promising as usual to wait for B&B at any junctions or tricky spots.
At Branch Pond, a spur path signaled a needed place to wait, and here's where it started to go wrong. Marge was well ahead of me and Pat, so I told Pat to go ahead and catch up with her so they could do the roadwalk,get the car, and drive it to the Branch Pond Trailhead to save B&B a mile or so. I told him to stay on the TRAIL and ignore any signs for the Branch Pond ROAD.
I walked back about 5 minutes and met B&B who were looking quite pained until I told them my great idea: they could exit at the Branch Pond road and wait for us to drive around and pick them up, and all they had was seven-tenths of a mile left!
So off I ran to catch up with Pat. I raced past the road's spur trail, huffed up a hill and met some backpackers who said, No, they hadn't met anyone in a while (except Marge). So I turned around and ran all the way out to the road where there were a few cars parked. I knew it was a LONG way to our car this way, about 7 miles. Luckily the Branch Pond Road is mostly downhill to the Kelley Stand Road. I had run about 1.5 miles when a car drove up behind me and I wildly flagged it down. The wonderful young couple offered to save me (there I was, sweating, red-faced, babbling). I bet they thought twice about stopping, but I guess I looked enough like someone's grandma and not an escaped nut.
To make a long story a bit shorter, we found Pat around the next bend, and they drove us all the way to the car where Marge was dozing on a rock, unaware of the drama. Poor Pat got quite an earful from me. We drove back to get B&B, who incidentally almost missed the spur trail to the road - the backpackers with whom I had spoken were leaning against the sign, hiding it. B&B would have stayed on the main Branch Pond Trail and would have precipitated a whole new drama when we went to get them with the car. I can't believe that I caused us all to be separated and potentially benighted. In reality the Kelley Stand Rd (aka Arlington-Stratton or Arlington-West Wardsboro) is well traveled and we'd have gotten out soon enough, but I was concocting amazing scenarios as I tried to catch Pat, calling his name, but losing my voice and having it come out like a pathetic bleat, "PAA-AA-AT!"
Major Moral of the story: NEVER let Pat out of your sight;
Minor moral: never overestimate the abilities of your nonhiker friends and never underestimate a trail you've never been on.
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