Another Fire Tower Mt

Ok so this hill is not going to offer any great challenge to anyone here. But if you are looking for a good short hike or one to try out those new snowshoes or get a feel for winter hiking this little gem is for you. Mt Olga a bit east of Wilmington VT in Molly Stark Park on Vt Rte 9. The most difficult issue with this is parking. The entrance to the state park is closed with a gate and the short road to the gate is not plowed. Rte 9? Well I wouldn't want to park on it. If you look over the guard rail on the northern edge of rte 9 you will see a narrow paved road with a circular turn out at its end. Right across from the park entrance. Sparrow road I believe it is named. the entrance is about a quarter mile west of the state park. Once parked a twenty foot climb and a jump over the guard rail puts you on rte 9 across from the park road.

Up the park road about a quarter mile, perhaps a bit less the trail sign marks the begining of your route. The trail had about 6-8 inches of hard packed snow. It was compacted well by several sets of snowshoe tracks and we were able to bare boot it all the way to the summit. 500 foot gain in about a mile presents a nice easy climb with nothing of any difficulty along the way. The bright, warm, sunny day provided a great walk through a mixed forest. The tower is in excellent condition and the cab is open. As I said for most it is an easy hike to a nice mt. Pics link below.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowseP...586_64668496509

Having visited Mount Olga once, another option for climbing it seemed to be via the old ski slopes of the now defunct Hogback Mountain. I'm not sure if the parking lot at the old lodge is plowed out very much, but it's also not that far from the pull out for the impressive outlook. Then again, the old ski area portion of the mountain might be strictly enforced private property, so hopefully another forum member will update us on this situation.

Nate said:

Having visited Mount Olga once, another option for climbing it seemed to be via the old ski slopes of the now defunct Hogback Mountain. I'm not sure if the parking lot at the old lodge is plowed out very much, but it's also not that far from the pull out for the impressive outlook. Then again, the old ski area portion of the mountain might be strictly enforced private property, so hopefully another forum member will update us on this situation.

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There are "No Trespassing" signs on the ski slopes, not that they keep people from hiking (and even driving in summer) up that way.

If you hike from the park there is a loop trail if you don't want to return the same way, you can also follow the phone line down to Rte.9, lots of possibilities here.

It looks like the way we went was the best in regard to the fact it was legal. While looking for a place to park we drove up to the Hogback lookout. The parking area for the old ski trails was not plowed. Though there was nothing visible from the road saying you could'nt go that way. It was on the way back toward the west from there that we saw the turn out below rte 9 on Sparrow road. That was ideal and worked out real well. As we left the summit we saw two people hiking up from the direction of the ski slopes but we had exited the summit area before they arrived. At least there is a way to hike the mountain and it is a nice snowshoe trip especially for anyone who is a novice and curious about winter hiking.