btausend
New member
Via Bucklin Trail, the Long Trail and Killington Spur
I started out at 8 am from the Bucklin trailhead on Wheelerville Road in Mendon. It was a cloudy, chilly, breezy start. The trail is covered with leaves and was wet due to recent rains. I've never hiked this trail before. The trail over the 1st 2 miles is very gentle and not much of an elevation gain. It seems like an old logging road or something like that. The new section of the trail to replace the trail damaged by Irene was muddy in places. After the 1st 2 miles the trail bears to the right off of the old logging road and begins a steady and sometimes steep climb to the peak. As you approach the Long trail the climb is not as steep. The last 2 tenths of a mile up the Killington Spur is almost all rock and very steep.
While on the Killington Spur I could really hear the wind blowing and I started to get cold so I layered up. I'm glad I did. There was ice on some of the rocks over the last tenth of a mile. There was rime ice on the trees and structures at the top. I could hear the snow making equipment and sure enough Killington was pumping out the man made snow on the ski trails below me. I didn't seen any natural snow. The wind chill on the top was quite cold. Fortunately most of the clouds cleared out and the views from the top were very nice.
The river crossings are bridged. There are a few minor water crossing that are easy to cross over. The upper parts of the Bucklin trail were wet in places. There was one blowdown about half way up the Bucklin trail that is easy to get under. The trail is well marked with blue blazes especially through the new section.
Brian
I started out at 8 am from the Bucklin trailhead on Wheelerville Road in Mendon. It was a cloudy, chilly, breezy start. The trail is covered with leaves and was wet due to recent rains. I've never hiked this trail before. The trail over the 1st 2 miles is very gentle and not much of an elevation gain. It seems like an old logging road or something like that. The new section of the trail to replace the trail damaged by Irene was muddy in places. After the 1st 2 miles the trail bears to the right off of the old logging road and begins a steady and sometimes steep climb to the peak. As you approach the Long trail the climb is not as steep. The last 2 tenths of a mile up the Killington Spur is almost all rock and very steep.
While on the Killington Spur I could really hear the wind blowing and I started to get cold so I layered up. I'm glad I did. There was ice on some of the rocks over the last tenth of a mile. There was rime ice on the trees and structures at the top. I could hear the snow making equipment and sure enough Killington was pumping out the man made snow on the ski trails below me. I didn't seen any natural snow. The wind chill on the top was quite cold. Fortunately most of the clouds cleared out and the views from the top were very nice.
The river crossings are bridged. There are a few minor water crossing that are easy to cross over. The upper parts of the Bucklin trail were wet in places. There was one blowdown about half way up the Bucklin trail that is easy to get under. The trail is well marked with blue blazes especially through the new section.
Brian
