VFTT Gathering 8.0 Trip reports

[Tom Rankin]

I'll try to keep this brief.

Thursday, Laurie and I drove up and stopped to do Abraham on the way. A little rainy, no views, cleared up later. We skipped Ellen due to conditions. Met a few people Thursday night at the Gathering.

Friday, we did the Jays. Uneventful. Misty, foggy, a few drops of rain. Limited views. Dinner at the Shed, not bad. Good beer.

Saturday, back to Ellen. Came in from Appalachian Gap and walked up and down, and up and down, and up and down, and .... to get to Ellen! Then back we went, down and up, down and up... (You get the idea) to the car. A little rain, limited views, and a bolt of lightning real close as we walked back! Skipped the gathering, missed Neil! Dang!

Sunday, we decided to swing by the gathering on the way home, but were talked into Mendon by Double Bow. I think there are enough trip reports on Mendon, so I'll just add a few tidbits. Once you cross the stream the first time, turn left on the road. At the '3rd cairn', there is a large mud puddle, about 6-8 feet across, this is where we started the whack. (If the road starts going down, you missed it). There are faint herd paths, that seem to come and go. We ended up going over some blow down and came on the 'good' herd path after that. (Following that back down lead us to a steep section, where we side-hilled for a while. Amazingly, as I went sideways, I saw the road *ABOVE* me! I guess we had missed one of the switchbacks). At the first summit, cross over the downed tree and you will see the herd path to the 2nd (true) summit. The path soon forks. Turn left for the view point, and go right for the true summit. The Canister is up there, but it took several minutes to find. It's not at the true top, but not far away. The discovery is left as an exercise for the hiker!

MichaelJ, did you see the '2 holer' out there?

Overall a good weekend, but soggy. All done with Vermont's Hundred Highest.

 

[MichaelJ]

I don't remember one in particular - in fact the only privy I recall was one next to the house just a short way up the start of the road.

Shame on me!

 

[Double Bow]

Tom, thanks for coming along for Mendon and for giving me "a taste of what a 46er is like"! It was great to see you and Laurie again!

Just to add a touch, we did not see the cabin that is mentioned in numerous trip reports. On the way back down, we did see an old refridgerator and other parts of things at a place where we thought the cabin might have been but, we saw no signs of the cabin itself.

Also, DO NOT try going from the viewpoint to the true summit by whacking. Take the herd path back down and then over. I tried decending the lookout and then passing through some thick spruce only to get turned back and have to do some dicey scrambling/rock climbing to get back up to the lookout !

Over all, this was a pretty easy bushwhack, or as I like to call it, a "cakewhack"! I was suprised to see some entries at the cannister from folks who said they had a hard time. I guess they didn't go the way we went.

 

[poison ivy]

Just to add a touch, we did not see the cabin that is mentioned in numerous trip reports.

We also managed to miss the cabin somehow.

- Ivy

 

[Tom Rankin]

I don't remember one in particular - in fact the only privy I recall was one next to the house just a short way up the start of the road.
Shame on me!

That's the one I was referring to, I can send you a pic if you want! It has 'his' and 'hers' doors.

 

[MichaelJ]

Turns out I already have a picture of "Brad's Two-Holer" right here if you zoom in.

 

[bigmoose]

Worcester Range, Friday

Pat, Audrey and I set out Friday morning for a traverse of the Worcester Range which, in better weather, is visible from Stowe and our campground, lying just to the east. In fact, the views from the various peaks there rival or exceed those of Camel's Hump, Mansfield, or the other Green Mountain summits (because you can see THOSE peaks from there). But not this day.
We car-spotted on the opposite, east side of the ridge after a long 30 mile end-around via Morrisville.
The Middlesex Trail took us up Mt. Hunger, the southernmost 3k. The trail was pleasant, well-engineered and maintained. We concur the GMC does a fabulous job with their trail maintenance. They even supplied a long knotted rope for pulling up a long slab of Vermont schist. I wish I had video of Pat grappling with that!
Near the top, wide veins of quartz striped the schist...very interesting geology here. The sun was struggling to emerge, and I had my hopes up...but, reaching the top we found no VFTT...only fog. So we didn't dally. We headed north in the cool and clammy fog and passing numerous "vista" signs pointing east or west up short spur paths. The view was the same at each: white. At one point along the trail I noticed the largest moose hoofprints I'd ever seen. The only big moose around, though, was yours truly.
Up and down the trail went. Pat and Audrey, having done long stretches of the Long Trail, agreed it was quite similar. We reached the Putnam High Point at 3600' or so...another checkmark for my Northeast 2,000 prominence list. Then Mount Hogback, and 2 miles later another bonafide 3k, which, evidently, has no name. This was one Audrey needed; she'd bagged the other three on this ridge previously, but missed this one.
All along the trail was a delight; a nice assortment of mushrooms, (Audrey knows 'em all) dew-specked spider's webs, mosses, ferns, lichens, and the kind of verdancy that inspired the name for this state and its mountains. We gobbled some chocolate-covered coffee beans for an infusion of energy (Prino, they DO work!!) and kept a brisk pace.
Our luck ran out by the time we reached Mt. Worcester, however. The rain began, then became steady. Mt. Worcester is the rockiest of these peaks, and those schist slabs that seemed so coarse before turned slick. We picked our way down slowly and carefully, slipping here and there, but no egregious falls, finally reaching the woods. The rain was light enough that we enjoyed this trail, too, although my car was a welcome sight, still where we'd left it 9 hours previous.
In all, it was a 14 mile trip with 3,000 vertical, but certainly more than that with all the uncharted ups and downs. Views would have been nice, but no doubt we'd have spent a lot longer on the top and needed headlamps on the descent.
As it was, after another 30 miles, driving around the south end of the ridge via Montpelier, we hit the campgrounds and made it to The Shed in time to join the smallish group of VFTTrs for chow.
If the opportunity comes again, I'm headin' back up that ridge and get that VFTT!!

-JT