July 27, 2008
Ed Hawkins helped me out with my remaining bushwhack on the New England 100 Highest List. I was also joined by Peirce, Dave, and Alex. As a bonus, we will be climbing Killington Peak which I climbed via the Appalachian Trail 2 years ago. A few minutes after 9:00, we began on the Bucklin Trail.
Crossing Brewers Brook
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ed set a very steady pace all the way up to the top of Bucklin Trail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We headed south on the Appalachian Trail/Long Trail until we came to Cooper Lodge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ed wanted to do something a little different. Rather than head up the steep spur trail to Killington, we would loop around to the ski slope and head up from there. First a little privy humor. I had forgotten to stop at the privy when I was here two years ago, but I knew from Runtrails' journal, that there was a funny sign here. If the shelter is the Cooper Lodge it stands to reason that the near by privy would be the Cooper Pooper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
View from the ski slopes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ed and I take a seat.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I brought up the rear as we headed up this road. There were lots of bikers heading down on mountain bikes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We then changed directions, so I was now in front as we headed up the steps to the lodge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We ate lunch in the lodge where there was a cafeteria. Alex used his cellphone.
"You won't get credit for Killington, because you used a cell phone," Ed joked.
Then his cell phone rang. "Hello," said Alex.
"Oops, he just lost the other peak," added Ed.
As we passed the gondola, I was surprised to see mountain bikes hanging off the back of the passenger compartments. I thought those bikers we saw biked to the top. I guess they have it made. They rode to the top in the gondola and rode their bikes down.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A few minutes later we were on the 4235' summit of Killington.
This was a new peak for Alex. Congratulations Alex.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
View of nearby Pico, a New England 100 Highest that I climbed 2 years ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I refreshed myself on my visit to Pico by reading my journal entry from two years ago. Listen to this:
"It does qualify for the list of 100 tallest mountains in New England. Although I plan to hike the first 67 mountains on this list (4,000 footers), I probably won't hike all of the remaining 33. I plan to hit most of them but about a dozen of them do not have trails to the top."
With just 2 peaks to go on the New England 100 Highest list, I guess I will finish them all.
Mendon, one of my 2 remaining peaks, is behind me.
Here's a 180° view from the summit of Killington.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The plan was to follow the A.T./L.T. south then bushwhack over to Mendon. This would bring us very close to Little Killington so we decided to bag that peak as well. My GPS must have had some old data for the A.T., because the trail brought us much closer to the base of Little Killington than I expected. A 10 minute bushwhack brought us to the 3939' summit of Little Killington. We couldn't find a jar or cannister but we knew we were at the top. This peak isn't on any lists that I know of, but we got it done just in case.
It was just over a mile from here to Mendon as the crow flies. We started in open woods, but got into thick stuff as we reached the col. It was slow going for a while, but we finally came across a herd path the led us up to the 3850' summit of Mendon. Here I am on peak #99 on the New England Hundred Highest List.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Peirce on the summit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We headed straight down the mountain. It was steep, but the woods were mostly open. We finally came across a snowmobile trail which eventually brought us to a dirt road. We followed this for quite a while. It wasn't bringing us closer to Brewers Corner, but we weren't getting further away either. We found another trail. We took that for a few minutes before it turned east. We headed back to the dirt road which eventually came out on Wheelerville Road. We took that back to our vehicles ending about 5:00 pm. There was much debate on the distance of this hike. My GPS read 13 but it seems to run high on hikes. I put down 11 miles for today's hike. Ed said that was a good number but may also be a little high. Here's today's track.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
99 Peaks down and 1 to go. Tomorrow I finish on Equinox.
| 
