VT quick suggestions PLEASE!

[sleeping bear]

Okay- looking for a hike
Under 6 miles
Preferably to waterfalls, but mountains will work too
Within an hour and a half drive of Ascutney State Park-
Or, your favorite hike at Ascutney

For, um, tomorrow

Any suggestions?

 

[Toe Cozy]

I posted this before on an earlier thread.

After this kind of rain, I'm a fan of a hike along the easy path of an old railroad next to the west river in Jamaica, VT. Then turning up the trail to Hamilton Falls . There are rock ledges that jut out from the side of the hill where you can feel like you're hanging right out in the air above the falls. The whole walk is filled with the unending sound of rushing, surging water. So much so that by the time you're nearing the car you can't wait for the silence that comes after getting in and shutting the door. Sort of like getting out of the wind after being in it all day.

Also, I bet that Lye Brook Falls would be pretty great after all this rain. It was good in the early spring this year. You can do this as part of a backpack jaunt to the Stratton Pond Shelter on the LT.

Guess, what? It's still pouring!!!!

Ascutney is about 1/2 hour from my house. It's not my favorite mountain. Actually I sort of like cheating and driving to the top, taking a picnic and following the trail from the summit parking lot to the hang glider launch and swinging my legs over the edge while eating. Or you can head out to the Brownsville rock from the top and have nice views too. But with the weather the way it is I'd go for the waterfalls.

 

[blacknblue]

There's always the Quechee Gorge if you want something short and sweet (but without a wilderness feel).

 

[jn316]

If you can get out tomorrow morning, perhaps before any T-storms show up, and if Ascutney is out of the clouds, a great short hike can be reached by driving up the road, then doing a tour of the summit area: slot or slab trail to near summit, then to brownsville rock, then to summit, then weathersfield trail to launch site, then to west peak, then the hang glider trail back to the parking lot...nice ferny birch forest and cool spruce/fir forest with nice ledge lookouts.

 

[sleeping bear]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[snoshoovt]

Ascutney

The Weathersfield Trail has a great watefall spot just a short hike up the trail, maybe a half hour or so or less. Continue to the summit with a detour to the left to the hangliding takeoff it you wish. The area of the waterfall, and before it, it very interesting and geologically significant, and if you go down the steep path to the northwest of the waterfall you'll view the exposed wall of an upthrust that is pretty unique, a section of an amazing cylinder that popped up out of the earth's crust a few years ago. Happy hiking! -John