Aside from the 2 "Jay Peak" mountains in northern Vermont I climbed last October, I did "Bread Loaf Mtn", "Mount Wilson" and "Pico Peak" earlier this month, leaving 4 other unclimbed mountains in Vermont:
Wendy gave me permission to do 3 days/2 nights in Vermont to hike the remaining 4 mountains: Stratton, Equinox, Dorset and Mendon (and see The Marshall Tucker Band playing at Stratton Mountain Ski Area on Saturday!) So I'm going to do Stratton today:
At a dinner in Boston last week, I heard John Koch, Executive Director of the Barbara C. Harris Camp & Conference Center speak about the Camp. Since I was going to be driving to Southern Vermont, I emailed him about visiting, and he invited me for lunch! Tonight I will be camping at "Camping on the Battenkill" in Arlington, VT, which equals 184 miles driving - 4 hours 24 minutes:
It is supposed to take just under two hours to get to the Camp, so I did my Step Class at the MAC, and left a little after 10 - and got there at 11:59 for NOON LUNCH!! The dining center was busy with counselors getting ready for camp-opening:
There was a nice cross in their meeting building:
and Otter Lake was beautiful:
At some point in Vermont, you take a left off of VT-30 North onto VT-100 South, and cross a bridge over a beautiful river (the West River):
looking upstream:
looking downstream:
I missed taking pictures of two very funky/cool old Post Offices back in New Hampshire, so when I saw this one in West Wardsboro, Vermont, I just had to stop:
7 miles later on "Stratton-Arlington Road" (closed in winter), I got to the trailhead:
This 7.63 miles (round-trip) hike (2 hours 59 minutes, 43 seconds) is on a trail that serves both the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail, so it is about as good/well-maintained as any trail in Vermont:
It was pretty walking through the woods, but is was pretty wet (we just had thunder storms come through yesterday):
At the summit of Stratton is a fire tower:
WHICH YOU CAN CLIMB!!
If you want VIEWS, this is the place to be:
looking south (at Somerset Reservoir):
looking west (across the Valley of Vermont and on into New York State):
looking north (Stratton ski peak near, Bromley ski trails far):
Looking east (looking down on Forester Pond):
Two hours later I was down at my campsite in Arlington:
I was over at site 1A:
A nice space just waiting for my tent.
I had a steak dinner at the restaurant just over the bridge, and into my sleeping bag as it got dark. - Thank you God for these wonderful adventures!!
Today's driving music started with a new cd I just learned about (and bought):
various artists - On the Mountain Six, 2000 compliation album from Seattle radio station The Mountain 103.7 FM
It includes a live version of Counting Crows doing "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby"
Then, of course, I wanted to hear the whole album:
Counting Crows - This Desert Life, 1999
Time to get ready for tomorrow's concert:
The Marshall Tucker Band - Anthology: The First 30 Years, 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment