gooly
New member
On thursday afternoon, JJ and myself met up with Mookie at the LT parking lot on lincoln gap road to spot my car. Our plan is to do an overnight on the monroe skyline to knock off a pair of 4k's in VT.
After loading up my gear and Jackson in Mook's car, we headed north to the Beane trail, where we would begin our journey. The sky was gloomy once again and the forecast called for a "chance of a shower" but that didn't hinder our plans. At the crack of 2pm, we shouldered our much heavier than normal packs and headed up the trail that would connect us to the LT.
The trail led us through lush forests that brought us passed the birch glen shelter just before the junction with the long trail. Here is where we noticed the sky darkening quickly. We made it to Molly Stark's Balcony and had a quick break and took in some limited views. As we moved on, the rain began.
The downpour soaked the trail making the downhill walk to the appalachian gap treacherous. I cursed under my breath and out loud as i slipped down the slabby trail. After crossing the road, the rain sputtered out, and the trail became steeper. JJ had no problem scrambling up and around the rock faces where there were ladders for people to climb. The rocks remained slick as we made our way passed the Theron Dean shelter, where two hikers and BoBo the dog were hunkered down for the night. Only a few more miles to get to our destination for the night-Glen Ellen Lodge.
We arrived at the lodge at about 6:30 pm to find two lt thru hikers and a foreign couple. We introduced ourselves then cooked up some grub. We hung our wet gear to dry, and cashed in for the night.
We awoke early to a spectacular view! The sun had just come up and glistened through the water droplets on the trees. The sky was intensely blue and reflected off of the undercast in the valleys. Yup, today was gonna kick ass! Mookie was packed and ready to go, so i told him i'd catch up after i finished breakfast. I packed up my things and wished the thru hiker dude goodluck on his adventure and headed out. It was about 6:30 am.
The trail was still wet and slick from the previous day's rain fall. The section of trail from glen ellen lodge to mt. ellen is very narrow with overgrowth and soon enough i was soaked again. I finally caught up with mookie on the summit of ellen where i was greeted with warm sunshine and fantastic views. I took a few photos and we moved on. The sun shined brightly as we passed quickly through the woods. Before long we approached lincoln peak where we decided to take a break on the viewing platform. Here we dried out some of our wet clothes, had a snack, thought out the rest of the days' plans, and talked about how bad the foreign guy sounded like a buzzsaw the night before. With drier clothes, food in our guts and only.8 mile to get to the top of abraham, we left our vantage point. Twenty minutes later, we were on and off of abraham. A few miles back to my car and we were off to killington.
After not seeing a soul on the ridge, the hike down abraham was loaded with people. We ran ainto a few strange individuals along the way. Jean shorts dudes i think were my favorites though. They had asked us if they were near the top because they "have probably hiked like 2...no...1.8 miles already" and that "it is only 2.6 mi to the peak, it said so on the board". They were in for a long day because they may have only been .8 miles from the trailhead and they looked spent, Hope they made it....whackos! Reached the parking lot at 11:30 am, grabbed mook's car and sped off to our next destination.
We stopped to refuel on our way to killington. Sandwiches, gatorade and ice cream did the trick. Did a quick repack at the trailhead and headed out again. Geared for another possible overnight, we followed the Bucklin Trail which ran along the Brewers brook. The trail starts super mellow for a long way, a nice stroll really, but we figured it would get steep eventually, and it did. The blue blazed trail bangs a right away from the brook at about two miles or so and just heads right on uphill. Although steep, the path is soft and almost cushy with barely a break in pitch. What an ass kicker! We trucked it until we reached the Cooper Lodge where we found it empty. After stashing our gear on choice bunks, we climbed the .2 mi to the top. Sunshine showered the peak that was littered with gondola riding "hikers" that looked really cute in their backpacks and shiney hikin boots. JJ took a likin' to a nice lookin' husky and proceeded to make a specticle of himself...i'm sure someone up there got some great pics!
We headed back down to the lodge, and weighed our options. We could spend the night in the lodge or head out to catch up with some ol' friends. Being it was only around 5pm, we figured to get bored waiting for darkness and sleep. We opted to bail and do the catching up with ol' friends thing. Motivated by cold beer and food and a shower, we did the last 3.5 miles of our trip in a little over an hour! An excellent trip all around, 24.5 miles to finish the ever so extensive 4k list in vt, totally worth it. Great times Mookie!
After loading up my gear and Jackson in Mook's car, we headed north to the Beane trail, where we would begin our journey. The sky was gloomy once again and the forecast called for a "chance of a shower" but that didn't hinder our plans. At the crack of 2pm, we shouldered our much heavier than normal packs and headed up the trail that would connect us to the LT.
The trail led us through lush forests that brought us passed the birch glen shelter just before the junction with the long trail. Here is where we noticed the sky darkening quickly. We made it to Molly Stark's Balcony and had a quick break and took in some limited views. As we moved on, the rain began.
The downpour soaked the trail making the downhill walk to the appalachian gap treacherous. I cursed under my breath and out loud as i slipped down the slabby trail. After crossing the road, the rain sputtered out, and the trail became steeper. JJ had no problem scrambling up and around the rock faces where there were ladders for people to climb. The rocks remained slick as we made our way passed the Theron Dean shelter, where two hikers and BoBo the dog were hunkered down for the night. Only a few more miles to get to our destination for the night-Glen Ellen Lodge.
We arrived at the lodge at about 6:30 pm to find two lt thru hikers and a foreign couple. We introduced ourselves then cooked up some grub. We hung our wet gear to dry, and cashed in for the night.
We awoke early to a spectacular view! The sun had just come up and glistened through the water droplets on the trees. The sky was intensely blue and reflected off of the undercast in the valleys. Yup, today was gonna kick ass! Mookie was packed and ready to go, so i told him i'd catch up after i finished breakfast. I packed up my things and wished the thru hiker dude goodluck on his adventure and headed out. It was about 6:30 am.
The trail was still wet and slick from the previous day's rain fall. The section of trail from glen ellen lodge to mt. ellen is very narrow with overgrowth and soon enough i was soaked again. I finally caught up with mookie on the summit of ellen where i was greeted with warm sunshine and fantastic views. I took a few photos and we moved on. The sun shined brightly as we passed quickly through the woods. Before long we approached lincoln peak where we decided to take a break on the viewing platform. Here we dried out some of our wet clothes, had a snack, thought out the rest of the days' plans, and talked about how bad the foreign guy sounded like a buzzsaw the night before. With drier clothes, food in our guts and only.8 mile to get to the top of abraham, we left our vantage point. Twenty minutes later, we were on and off of abraham. A few miles back to my car and we were off to killington.
After not seeing a soul on the ridge, the hike down abraham was loaded with people. We ran ainto a few strange individuals along the way. Jean shorts dudes i think were my favorites though. They had asked us if they were near the top because they "have probably hiked like 2...no...1.8 miles already" and that "it is only 2.6 mi to the peak, it said so on the board". They were in for a long day because they may have only been .8 miles from the trailhead and they looked spent, Hope they made it....whackos! Reached the parking lot at 11:30 am, grabbed mook's car and sped off to our next destination.
We stopped to refuel on our way to killington. Sandwiches, gatorade and ice cream did the trick. Did a quick repack at the trailhead and headed out again. Geared for another possible overnight, we followed the Bucklin Trail which ran along the Brewers brook. The trail starts super mellow for a long way, a nice stroll really, but we figured it would get steep eventually, and it did. The blue blazed trail bangs a right away from the brook at about two miles or so and just heads right on uphill. Although steep, the path is soft and almost cushy with barely a break in pitch. What an ass kicker! We trucked it until we reached the Cooper Lodge where we found it empty. After stashing our gear on choice bunks, we climbed the .2 mi to the top. Sunshine showered the peak that was littered with gondola riding "hikers" that looked really cute in their backpacks and shiney hikin boots. JJ took a likin' to a nice lookin' husky and proceeded to make a specticle of himself...i'm sure someone up there got some great pics!
We headed back down to the lodge, and weighed our options. We could spend the night in the lodge or head out to catch up with some ol' friends. Being it was only around 5pm, we figured to get bored waiting for darkness and sleep. We opted to bail and do the catching up with ol' friends thing. Motivated by cold beer and food and a shower, we did the last 3.5 miles of our trip in a little over an hour! An excellent trip all around, 24.5 miles to finish the ever so extensive 4k list in vt, totally worth it. Great times Mookie!
Hope the ankle feels better Mookie....
