Bombadil
Active member
1-12-13
No problem parking in the Bucklin trailhead. Trail heavily used by skiiers but due to wet, consolidating snow we needed snowshoes the whole day as expected. Around 3500 ft or so the trees began to POUR on us with all the melting snow. We quickly lost the LT heading towards Pico and found ourselves on the perimeter of the ski area and followed the ski trails to Snowden Peak where we were able to refind the trail. 2 of us broke trail to Pico and returned the same way. We started the bushwhack just before Little Killington and got a bit sucked into the west side of the fall-line on the ridge to Mendon. We hit some thick stuff trying to push our way back over the fall line and found the herd path a couple hundred feet below the summit. Some spruce traps but at least you had a good idea when you were going to walk into a field and win the lottery so to speak. Rutland lights nice in the dark from the cannister. Smooth sailing down as we found some sign of some old tracks. Big day with 2 of us trailbreaking for the better part of the day in very soft snow. That wasn't nearly as bad as the wetness--have been much more dry hiking in the pouring rain than today.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
No problem parking in the Bucklin trailhead. Trail heavily used by skiiers but due to wet, consolidating snow we needed snowshoes the whole day as expected. Around 3500 ft or so the trees began to POUR on us with all the melting snow. We quickly lost the LT heading towards Pico and found ourselves on the perimeter of the ski area and followed the ski trails to Snowden Peak where we were able to refind the trail. 2 of us broke trail to Pico and returned the same way. We started the bushwhack just before Little Killington and got a bit sucked into the west side of the fall-line on the ridge to Mendon. We hit some thick stuff trying to push our way back over the fall line and found the herd path a couple hundred feet below the summit. Some spruce traps but at least you had a good idea when you were going to walk into a field and win the lottery so to speak. Rutland lights nice in the dark from the cannister. Smooth sailing down as we found some sign of some old tracks. Big day with 2 of us trailbreaking for the better part of the day in very soft snow. That wasn't nearly as bad as the wetness--have been much more dry hiking in the pouring rain than today.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
