hikerfast
Active member
tuesday I tried Sandwich, but turned around before noon peak due to a sheet of ice and no axe. The axe is in the mail, I also bought full crampons instead of my 6 pointers. I headed over to try my luck in Vermont, where i havent been in years. Wednesday I went up equinox..funny..I have no memory of hiking any of these at all. I was up there after labor day of 1989. The equinox trail is annoying to find. The hardest part is finding that old seminary. The trail follows an old road for a long ways. I had to put the 6 pointers on after maybe 3/4 of a mile, total sheet of ice with a dusting of snow on it. The trail swings left slabbing the head of a ravine in the woods. I'm glad I had the points or I would have turned around. There are trees but if you slipped you'd sail a ways on that ice without an axe. The trail crests the top of the ravine and swings right. There were blowdowns but really not a lot after that huge reputed wind. I went another half hour or so and summited. Quite a nice hike. Headed down eventfully and had some chow and camped out. Thursday I tried to stop in my cousins in Williamstown Mass but no one was home. I went over to Dorset, and headed up late. No one on the trail. Another dirt road covered with a sheet of ice to hike up for 2 miles. Then in the col you head right up another dirt road or snowmobile trail or whatever. Then there was a right and a ways up I summited. It was just about dark. Snow on the trees was real pretty. I headed down with my headlamp in the dark and camped out again. Today I drove over towards stratton, and that Kelley Stand Road had a couple guys who claimed to be part time officers of the law advising me not to go on it due to some 4 wheeling hot doggers who had crashed on the icy road. I went over to the ski area and booted it up the slopes, then went over to the real summit. It was snowing until about 2 pm, but by the time I got there, it had stopped. Drove home, roads were nasty for awhile, and here I am. The landlord called, I hoped it was my axe, but some teenagers had vandalized my canoes that are tied to the trees in the backyard. oh well, I should be able to scrub the offensive stains off or repaint. Tomorrow tecumseh. Vermont was real nice, it was fun to go there again. I only have a few peaks to do over there in the winter. Trails are wooded but surprisingly steep in places, real pretty in that state.
