CrazySage
New member
Date of Hike: 5/3/14
Trails: Blueberry Ledge, Rollins and Dicey’s Mill Trails
Conditions: The Blueberry Ledge Trails started off bone-dry, but snow started appearing around the upper staircases in patches and soon became monorail. Most of the tricky climbing spots are clear of snow. The Rollins Trails was almost solid snow, with thin, rotten monorail for the most part, with a few rather deepish sections, especially around the blowdown patch. Dicey’s Mill to the P’way summit was a monorail, and the monorail continued down through most of the stairs but eventually petered out and was snow-free for the rest of the way.
Special Equipment Required: We put on our microspikes pretty soon after the snow started. We noticed that we were the only group (of 3) carrying snowshoes the whole day - I guess people have decided winter is over. However I switched over to my snowshoes and liked the little extra float that it gave me, after postholing multiple times in the blowdown patch on the Rollins Trail. My companions, as well as almost everyone we passed, used microspikes for the monorail sections. I postholed up to my mid-thigh at one point (off trail) which is why I switched over to my ‘shoes. I would recommend still carrying snowshoes but others may say it’s fine with just microspikes.
Comments: The log over the streamcrossing on Dicey’s Mill is still going strong. We paused for a brief break immediately after and noticed bits of cast iron off to the left in the woods (only about 20 feet in the woods). We went up and poked and prodded (leaving everything where we found it, thank you very much) and it looked like bits and pieces of a stove. I’ve hiked this trail a handful of times and never seen this before because they were covered in snow or greenery or fallen leaves. This is an advantage of the bare ground of Spring: the snow is melted but the greenery hasn’t started sprouting yet.
Jen English
jenglish one at worcester dot edu
174/576
Trails: Blueberry Ledge, Rollins and Dicey’s Mill Trails
Conditions: The Blueberry Ledge Trails started off bone-dry, but snow started appearing around the upper staircases in patches and soon became monorail. Most of the tricky climbing spots are clear of snow. The Rollins Trails was almost solid snow, with thin, rotten monorail for the most part, with a few rather deepish sections, especially around the blowdown patch. Dicey’s Mill to the P’way summit was a monorail, and the monorail continued down through most of the stairs but eventually petered out and was snow-free for the rest of the way.
Special Equipment Required: We put on our microspikes pretty soon after the snow started. We noticed that we were the only group (of 3) carrying snowshoes the whole day - I guess people have decided winter is over. However I switched over to my snowshoes and liked the little extra float that it gave me, after postholing multiple times in the blowdown patch on the Rollins Trail. My companions, as well as almost everyone we passed, used microspikes for the monorail sections. I postholed up to my mid-thigh at one point (off trail) which is why I switched over to my ‘shoes. I would recommend still carrying snowshoes but others may say it’s fine with just microspikes.
Comments: The log over the streamcrossing on Dicey’s Mill is still going strong. We paused for a brief break immediately after and noticed bits of cast iron off to the left in the woods (only about 20 feet in the woods). We went up and poked and prodded (leaving everything where we found it, thank you very much) and it looked like bits and pieces of a stove. I’ve hiked this trail a handful of times and never seen this before because they were covered in snow or greenery or fallen leaves. This is an advantage of the bare ground of Spring: the snow is melted but the greenery hasn’t started sprouting yet.
Jen English
jenglish one at worcester dot edu
174/576
