New loop to Mendon (VT) - June 2, 2007

[Amicus]

Plug "Mendon" into the VFTT search engine, scroll back, and you'll get a plethora of good info on the various approaches to the one Vermont bushwhack on the NEHH. Marchowes, Docross, Poison Ivy, Michael J, Papa Bear, Bob&Geri and others have deposited a trove of useful beta.

Today was a convenient day for me to get back on the NE100 track with Mendon, and Dugan and rocksnrolls kindly joined me, despite the uncertainty of the forecast and the certainty of clouds of blackflies. Dugan especially had done a great job tracking down and collating all those reports.

I would have been on time for our rendezvous at the Inn at the Long Trail in Killington, despite wasting 10 minutes looking for a greater-Cambridge gas station open at 5 am and another 10 minutes trying to get my Navigator to accept "709 Route 4" as a legitimate destination (she's a real lady, but we're still getting to know each other, and I knew the way anyway), but for the Route 4 bridge in Woodstock being closed, starting just today no less, necessitating an interminable detour by way of Bethel (it seemed like Maine), Pittsfield and other villages that looked a lot better to me on my way home.

We followed what seems to be the most common route these days, from the trailhead on Wheelersville Road (a dirt road south from 4) at Brewers Corner (c. 1,725 feet) for the Bucklin Trail - the backdoor route to and from Killington summit. Just to the right (S) is one of many gated old logging roads, and this one leads ESE to a point .5 mile east of the Mendon summit.

Most accounts state or imply that you can't lose this logging road, which is indeed quite prominent for its age, but we did. At about .85 mile, there is a fork with a tree in the middle, blazed dark red to show a boundary, and the three of us will swear that the L fork is a tad more prominent and accords well with the map. Alas, that road kept coming to further junctions, becoming less prominent all the time, and when we found ourselves headed due north up the west flank of Killington, we conceded our mistake. A very old logging road led us due S to the real road pretty quckly, however, with the benefit of eliminating the first two crossings of Eddy Brook - the most difficult ones.

We started a little south of our compass bearing for the Mendon summit from the second (and smaller, complete with Marchowes's old can) cairn, at about 3,450 feet, having the impression that would allow us to skirt the thick spruce and blowdowns described by some. It did, sort of, but we had to edge gingerly north about half-way to the summit (which is .5 crowflight mile from the 2nd cairn). We picked up what must be the main herdpath a little east of the east peak, which is 75% of the way to the main peak, due west on that major herdpath.

We saw no one else all day and neither did the blackflies, I gather, as they swarmed us, worst of all around the summit cannister, negating any inclination we might have had to enjoy the moment. Albee was among the last to sign in, on May 13. He took a "wrong" road too, he said.

Descending, we followed the main herd path (lower parts may have been just open woods) pretty much east, making great time with no spruce or serious blowdowns. We hit the logging road about 225 feet north of (before, if you're ascending from the west, as we had) the second cairn.

We had talked of doing a traverse including the summits of Killington, Pico or both, but the bugs, the thunder, the hazy humidity and our desire to discover where we'd gone off-track (which we did), induced us to follow that prominent logging road all the way back to rocksnroll's car.

At the car, Dugan regaled us with the remaining slices of her pumpkin pecan praline cheesecake, which made its spectacular debut on a Holyoke Range hike last month, Moral: hike with Dugan. Absolutely worth washing my hands for!

I am bite-free, and consider this to have been about the optimal way to spend June 2. Thanks, Dugan and rocksnrolls!

My two summit pix are here.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

A very old logging road led us due S to the real road pretty quickly, however, with the benefit of eliminating the first two crossings of Eddy Brook - the most difficult ones.

If the water is high you can avoid the first two stream crossings by bushwhacking along the stream ... very easy in wide open woods.

 

[Dugan]

After our misguided start I was surprised with the ease of the 'whack before stumbling onto the herd path. We managed to avoid the commonly reported pitfalls of thick spruce and awful blowdowns. We saw the edge of the blowdown area a few times. Since we could see we were quite close to one side of it, we decided that ease of travel was more important than compass heading and skirted around the northern side.

For other travelers, the sign noted that the route 4 bridge was out, west of where 106 S comes in, from 6/2 to (I think) 6/28. From the south, taking 91 to 103 to 100 works nicely. From the west, Amicus tried getting on 89 at exit 3 instead of his torturous morning detour.

As others have noted, moose sign was thick and frequent. They too apparently like to skirt around the blowdown. We saw one spot with an area of long white hairs. From the hair, it appeared to be the kill site of some small critter. It was clumped in a small area, contained in a circle perhaps 1' in diameter. The hairs were almost all outer guard hairs (stiffer than cat or dog), no undercoat fur, mainly white, with grey tips, about 2-3" long. Any guesses?

 

[rocksnrolls]

Thanks for letting me tag along! While I realize this was pretty easy as bushwhacks go, it whet my appetite for more!

 

[albee]

I was up there on 5/13, according to my calendar... I'm surprised nobody has been there since! That logging road certainly is not as intuitive as you would think. You follow it on the opposite side of the brook as the peak and you start gaining elevation, but then you come to a fork where you should drop back down to the brook and start climbing the other side. Sometimes it is hard to choose to give up elevation, I continued on the high road and I went too far. I eventually found an orange-flagged route of questionable origin... too hilly to be backcountry skiiers, not wide enough for snowmobiles or skidders. Perhaps it was for snowshoers or hunters. Along the route I found an old faded red Noth-Face shell with VW car keys in it, and a bit later I found one downhill ski... someone wasn't having a good day! I followed this route over an intermediary ridge, picked up a couple smaller logging roads, and eventually found one going in the right direction that reconnected with the main logging road at the last stream crossing.

The herd paths along the summit ridge were pretty easy to follow. One of the nicest views I have found on a bushwhack was the 2nd (of 3) summit bump on Mendon. There is a beautiful rocky outcropping that would be an excellent spot for lunch or sunbathing.

Interestingly, about a half mile from the end on my way out, I met a gentleman from VT that claimed to have been on the second bump of Mendon while I was on the true summit. His name was Dave and he told me that he loves climbing mountains but he never uses trails. He is not working on any lists, doesn't have an internet connection or use a GPS, has never found a cannister, didn't even know they exist, and he hikes at least once a week. He says he hikes to try and lose weight, and that he doesn't like the crowds of people he encounters on trails. It was interesting and refreshing to meet him and get his story - he seemed like a nice guy. When we got to the trailhead, he said "That's my black truck, if you see it at any trailhead, keep an eye out for me - I'll be out there somewhere!" I thought that was a funny comment coming from a bushwhacker, as if our paths would ever cross randomly in the woods again! So, if you're going for a hike in Vermont and you see a black pick-up truck at the trailhead, don't be surprised if you come across Dave the bushwhacker out there crashing through the woods... he's an instant legend.

 

[Amicus]

I was up there on 5/13, according to my calendar... I'm surprised nobody has been there since!

I've corrected my TR. Yours was one of three entries on the last page - the other two were different groups of hikers from Quebec (no names I recognized), and I do believe the latest entry was 5/27. The blackflies were really swarming at that point so I must have scrambled the order in my memory.

I should have mentioned the views, since we had some good ones despite the haziness - (1) to the east, of Little Killington, Killington with its towers and Pico, at various points on and near the easternmost bump, and (2) a panorama south from the the top of the ledges 10 yards below the canister.

We too saw a sort of trail marked by orange tape circles around trees on our unplanned deviation from the main logging road, and it sounds like we may have covered at least some of the same ground as you.