bryan
New member
date: 7/13/14
trails: ski trails, access road, bushwhacks, woodward mountain trail, woods roads
conditions: we parked at the main base lodge of bolton valley ski area. we ascended on a maintenance road up to vista peak at the top of the main lift (head for the wind turbine). from there we briefly followed a ski trail north before turning onto an access road to the communcations tower on ricker mountain. the road was often wet and muddy and pretty eroded. from the communcations peak we bushwhacked east, over one false bump, to the highpoint. some scrappy going in places. once back at vista peak we picked up the woodward mountain trail, a ski/snowshoe trail, and were soon at a wooden observation platform. some of the ladder rungs and landing halfway up were a little sketchy, but some good views would be allowed from the top on a less hazy day. the woodward mountain trail was often loaded with undergrowth making footing difficult at times. once down to the south end of the woodward summit ridge we bushwhacked a short distance east up to the highpoint. we started our bushwhack to bone mountain from the same spot finding good woods down the col which was cliffy on both sides forcing us to the north a bit before continuing to the highpoint through a mixed bag of woods. descending we headed pretty much due north eventually picking up various woods road then climbed back up over the ridge running west from vista peak eventually reaching some nice ski glades before hitting the top of the timberline ski lift. from there a gentle walk down a dirt access road led down to the main base area.
equipment: nothing in particular.
comments: very cool area. had it been less cloudy and hazy there would have been some nice views from various points along the route. some good outlooks up on ricker, the tower on vista and some cliffs on the south and southeast flanks of bone all had good potential. pretty limited today though. lots of cool woods especially up on bone mountain. only got rained on a little on the way down. interesting close encounter with a family of ruffed grouse coming off ricker. a fair amount of moose sign all along the route. thanks to jeremy for a good hike.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: ski trails, access road, bushwhacks, woodward mountain trail, woods roads
conditions: we parked at the main base lodge of bolton valley ski area. we ascended on a maintenance road up to vista peak at the top of the main lift (head for the wind turbine). from there we briefly followed a ski trail north before turning onto an access road to the communcations tower on ricker mountain. the road was often wet and muddy and pretty eroded. from the communcations peak we bushwhacked east, over one false bump, to the highpoint. some scrappy going in places. once back at vista peak we picked up the woodward mountain trail, a ski/snowshoe trail, and were soon at a wooden observation platform. some of the ladder rungs and landing halfway up were a little sketchy, but some good views would be allowed from the top on a less hazy day. the woodward mountain trail was often loaded with undergrowth making footing difficult at times. once down to the south end of the woodward summit ridge we bushwhacked a short distance east up to the highpoint. we started our bushwhack to bone mountain from the same spot finding good woods down the col which was cliffy on both sides forcing us to the north a bit before continuing to the highpoint through a mixed bag of woods. descending we headed pretty much due north eventually picking up various woods road then climbed back up over the ridge running west from vista peak eventually reaching some nice ski glades before hitting the top of the timberline ski lift. from there a gentle walk down a dirt access road led down to the main base area.
equipment: nothing in particular.
comments: very cool area. had it been less cloudy and hazy there would have been some nice views from various points along the route. some good outlooks up on ricker, the tower on vista and some cliffs on the south and southeast flanks of bone all had good potential. pretty limited today though. lots of cool woods especially up on bone mountain. only got rained on a little on the way down. interesting close encounter with a family of ruffed grouse coming off ricker. a fair amount of moose sign all along the route. thanks to jeremy for a good hike.
bryan
[email protected]
