Pico - 7/9/6 - Oh! That trail!

[Tom Rankin]

Ok, this is a minor rant, so you can stop reading any time.

We started up this lovely trail from Sherburne Pass, (with the promise of beer waiting for us right across the street! ), and walked up a moderately graded trail that goes thru a lovely forest for quite some time. Once in a while there is the faintest hint of mud, and some of the stream crossings even dive under the trail in sinkhole affairs!

So, we get to the ski slope, and we pop out in the sun, and I'm expecting to cross the slope and continue in the woods. Well, the trail jumps right back in the woods on the same side and starts dropping! It slabs around the mountain for probably half a mile, up and down, up and down. Laurie is comical, she's walking on the up side of the trail in order to avoid further elevation loss!

Finally, we come to a spring, and soon after to a shelter. But! This is no longer the LT, this trail is still marked with the blue blazes. Now, straight up we go back to the ski slope!!! What up?!

I realize this is the old LT and it makes sense to get to the shelter and water, but for those who are not seeking water or shelter, here is my advice:

When you get to the first ski slope, follow the herd path straight up the slope, (it even has faint blue blazes on a few rocks!), until you come to a "T". Turn left, go up a ways, then down just a few feet. Here you will find the Blue trail continuing its journey to the summit.

The summit is choked with ski lifts, comm towers and buildings. The old shack has been attacked by a ravenous horde of porcupines and the stairs and floor boards look like they will collpase at any second! The views are ok up here, but some are of other ski slopes, and the flies were abominable! Even in a moderate breeze, we had to keep moving.

Going back down, we talked to several people about going straight up the ski slope. We also stopped over at the alpine slide, and watched people roll down a cement incline back to the base of the lift. I'm not sure it was fun or not, it seemed to be going pretty slow.

Back at the bottom, we downed a few brews, and watched France surrender to the Italians in the world cup finals!

 

[Rik]

Tom the route of the trail makes more sense if you bypass Pico to go to Killington and view Pico as a side trip.

 

[SteveHiker]

The alpine slide is fun, especially for kids. The one on Bromley is better (because it's longer). I've often wondered what it would be like to hike up and then ride the slide down. I'm not sure if they let you do that or not. It would be more rewarding then riding up the chairlift.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Rik: Yes, that's the thru hiker mentality, but I'm a peak bagger!

Steve: Everyone getting on had a ticket on their shirt, and there was a man supervising the ride. I assume he would have denied us access...

 

[chomp]

Back when that trail was the official AT (was back in 1999) they let thru-hikers do this for free. Actually, they would hold your packs at the top, let you ride down, and then take the chairlift back up so you could continue your hike. When I told the operator at the top (after having already gone down) that we were staying at the Inn at Long Trail that night, she suggested that we take another ride down and that she would send our packs down on the chairlift. So, on that day, we Alpine Slide Blazed a portion of the AT...

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Tom -

Both the 'old LT' and the 'new LT' trails are maintained in that area. I suspect that's in part due to the totally boring nature of the 'new LT' and the loss of seeing that sinking brook. IRRC, if you'd continued toward Killington there's a nice wooden sign showing the loop.

I've always regarded Pico as a spur climb off the LT, not actually 'on' the LT, in much the same way as Killington is a spur. Sometimes the LT goes over the tops of major peaks, like Abe, Camels Hump, Mansfield, Jay, etc, but not always.