Aside from the 2 "Jay Peak" mountains in northern Vermont I climbed last October, I did "Bread Loaf Mtn" and "Mount Wilson" last week, leaving 5 other unclimbed mountains in Vermont:
The Marshall Tucker Band is playing at Stratton Mountain Ski Area on Saturday June 30, and I will be going! So I'll do two overnights in a Campground and get in Stratton, Equinox, Dorset and Mendon at that time. So I'm going to do Pico Peak today!
There is nothing on my calendar for today, so up-and-at-em - breakfast, and I left the house at 6. To get to Pico (which is on the north side of Killington), you go up 89, take Exit 1 in Vermont, and take 4 West through Woodstock. At 9:15 I was driving alongside the Ottauquechee River:
JUST BEAUTIFUL
I was hiking up Sherburne Pass Trail by 9:50:
They use blue blazes to mark this trail:
After an hour, you break out onto one of Pico's ski slopes:
but then go back into the woods pretty quickly:
15 minutes later you get to the "Pico Camp Cabin":
and head up around it to the right to get up to Pico Peak:
The top of the chairlift looks like some kind of futuristic spaceship:
and the telecommunications equipment is Very Impressive:
I figure I found the top - rubble from an old lookout tower?:
and some gorgeous views down the ski slopes:
Back down the mountain, I continued on the Sherburne Pass Trail for 0.4 miles, until I got to a clearing that marks the intersection with the Long Trail (ah, I've heard that name before):
I like the Long Trail. Fun tree-curving-over-trail:
Lovely birch trees:
in a clearing with a view to the west:
Going through a cool part of the forest, a little more than a mile from the highway:
Because I wanted to come down Long Trail, I knew I had to hike a mile back on the highway. It was ok because I got to see Pico Peak ski area from the bottom:
I was back at the car by 1:50 = 9.27 miles in 4 hours 4 minutes:
Woodstock, Vermont is only 30 minutes back down Hwy 4, so I was able to make the 3 o'clock tour at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park:
(after a quick splash in Barnard Brook right below the parking area):
Wendy and I had previously visited, but were not allowed to take pictures. But Now You ARE!! (no flash, of course)
Unfortunately it is REALLY DARK inside the house (was the sun that much brighter 150 years ago??). This is a totally edited/highlighted Thomas Cole - Niagara Falls, c. 1830
Laurance Rockefeller's study has (at least) 2 paintings by Albert Bierstadt:
The Matterhorn:
Scenery in the Grand Tetons:
and the pictures as they appear on the NPS website:
Home around 7:00 - Thank you God for these wonderful adventures!!
Today's driving music was the 1st group of the "G" songs from my big iPod. I made it through 95 songs (click here for the list of songs), beginning with:
Ronny & The Daytonas - "G.T.O." from the album Hot Rods & Custom Classics, 1999
and ending with:
The Youngbloods - "Get Together" from the album Summer of Love: The Hits of 1967, 1967
highlights include:
Rod Stewart - "Gasoline Alley" from the album Gasoline Alley, 1970
the Pat Metheny Group - "The Gathering Sky" from the album Speaking of Now, 2002
Glen Campbell - "Galveston" and "Gentle on My Mind" from the album All the Best, 2003 album, but the songs charted in 1969 and 1967, respectively
and then there are the 31 songs that begin with the word "Get", including
The Beatles - "Get Back" from the album Let It Be, 1970
The Rolling Stones - "Get Off of My Cloud" from the album December's Children (and Everybody's), 1965
The Temptations - "Get Ready" from the album The Ultimate Collection, 1997 album, 1966 single
Graham Parker - "Get Started, Start a Fire" from the album Ultimate Collection - Graham Parker, 2001
originally on the 1988 album The Mona Lisa's Sister
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