Sunday picnic on Camels Hump & rough Boot camp Vermont hiking

As opposed to my most pleasant laid back stroll on Camels Hump on 6th Aug. with wife, kids, friends & their kids, last wkd’s Vermont hiking was very tiring, much too so to my liking. Though I accomplished a lot in terms of peak bagging, I came home physically & mentally exhausted. Battle fatigue I guess. Must now take a break, or at least slow down the rhythm. No hiking for me this coming wkd.

Friday 11th Aug.

Equinox: Left off via Burr & Burton Tr. around 16h00. Took me 3½ hrs to get back to my car, which is slow for me. My legs felt heavier than usual. Was it the long car drive from Montréal, the extra hrs at work covering for colleagues on vacation, the farewell party the night before with a bit too much wine, the lack of sleep or most likely a combination of all the above. Then drove off to car camp on dirt rd for Dorset, next morning’s objective.

Sat. 12th Aug.

Dorset: Off at 04h45 by headlamp. Tired…not enough salutary sleep. Don’t take left branch of loop as suggested by Bob & Geri (½ m. of tr. now blowdown infested) despite much steeper grade up for right branch; but after all you just can’t have it all easy.

Mendon/Killington/Pico: Long 16 m. 9 hrs loop. Bushwhack up Mendon easy, thank God. Passed by right turn-off after cottage, such that I ended up following left bank of Eddy Brook instead of right one. This proved to be a good choice since I was 50-60’ higher up on ridge, thus having intermittent views of Mendon through the trees (but the real reason is that I didn’t want to turn back). At approx. 2500’ there is a right turn-off on ATV trail downhill 60’ joining parallel tr. along right bank of brook shortly before the 3rd brook crossing. Just before going downhill you have a very nice unobstructed view of Mendon due south. Superb clear views on summits though somewhat cool temps for mid-Aug. with 20-25 mph winds on top of Killington. NEHH #97 now reached. Pico summit is horrible. Had it not been for 2 workers repainting buildings, I would have cursed out loudly “Tha-bar-nack”. Indecent French swearing.

Sun. 13th Aug.

Ascutney: Again off by headlamp at 05h10 via Weathersfield tr. Felt somewhat better this morning, though still not my 100% usual self. Chilly, but again nice views on summit. Totally solitary 3 hrs hike.

Signal/Butterfield: 2 straight forward bwks as per Papa Bear’s suggested approaches. No bugs. Register log books on both pks now all filled up. Next hikers going up these 3K pks, please bring new log books. Also note that there is no sign for Gore Road. Instead watch out for post “Groton State Forest – Butterfield Mountain Block”.

Gore: Left off at 17h46. Signed log book in old cabin at 19h20 & was back to car at 20h25, barely 10 min. before total darkness. I thus covered 7.6 m. with 1970’ of ascension in 2h39. Now that’s fast, even for me. But I really pushed it. Forced marching all the way up with full pack equipped to spend night out if necessary. Slow jogging all the way down except for the last 10 min. when it became too dark to jog safely. No way was I going to let darkness catch up to me on this trail, which is not the easiest to moonshine (numerous high grassy stretches not well travelled, many open forest sections, trail not well blazed, all making for very slow pace by headlamp, definitely not a beginners trail & I didn’t want to come out at midnight). Lost a few lbs on this one. Met no one all day.

Pierre

Note to self: bring rollerskates when you hike with Oncoman. Enjoy your well-earned rest.

Pierre, thank you for the trip report. I summitted Butterfield and Signal over the weekend, and I too found them to be relatively easy bushwhacks. When driving in from Route 302, I'd forgotten that in your description you'd mentioned the Groton State Forest sign marking the road. Thankfully, when I was there the gate was open, and the road was completely dry the whole way up. Once making this turn onto the dirt road, it immediately passes by a large sandy area that might serve as a parking lot, and then shortly passes by a woods road on the right. At the next intersection, one wants to turn right and head up hill, even though this is the rougher of the two options at that fork. This subsequent road doesn't seem to be intended for car use, since it's on the narrow side and has tall grass growing down the center of it. Thankfully this grass doesn't obscure any large, jagged rocks, as the road in general is bumpy in places, but not rocky. There are a few spots where small washouts are starting to form, but nothing that requires more than slowing down. One of these spots was located on a relatively steep up hill. Having slowed down for the washout, once I'd cleared it, the road was a little too soft and sandy to continue up hill at my current speed. Instead the car tires just dug into the road surface a bit. Reversing back down just past the washout, I tried again with greater velocity, and then was able to clear the soft spot. I'm sure the ruts my car made will be there until the next major rain storm. This proved to be the only tricky spot as I proceeded to the road's high point at the base of Butterfield.

I know Papa Bear's trip report recommends heading into the woods from the bridge just beyond this height of land, but when in the field, it made more sense to start from the pull out. The woods proved to be fairly open, and I didn't encounter any gullies as I made my way up to the ridge top. Once there, much of the rest of the way proved to be a fernwhack. The register was fairly easy to find, and it was interesting to read the entries from all the locals who had wandered up there. In descending back to the road, I followed the herd paths down the ridge as much as I could, but when they petered out, I could still see Signal through the trees often enough that I was able to obsnav my way back to the road. Overall, Butterfield proved to be the easiest and most enjoyable bushwhack of the day, even though it was the longest.

For Signal, I drove down and across the bridge, then followed the road up to it's highest point on Signal. I know Papa Bear's trip report mentions two gravel pits along the road in that stretch, but when I was there they both just looked like regular pullouts (especially the first, which was overgrown enough that it didn't seem particularly sandy). Leaving the car at the first pullout, I then headed into the woods. En route to the register on Signal, I found the woods to be more overgrown than Butterfield's, with some minor blowdown patches to contend with, as well as some steep sections. Nevertheless, I was on the summit of Signal soon enough, and like Butterfield, someone was kind enough to place more paper in canister last autumn. My descent proved to be equally uneventful, and the drive back to asphalt was much more uneventful than the out trip.

Final comment, in the Butterfield and Signal registers, I noted how people wrote how they were also climbing Burnt Mountain. Considering this peak doesn't have 200' of prominence, does that mean the locals were drawn there because it has some decent outlooks, or because they have more generous col standards when determining what they're hiking?

Quick update regarding Gore: I was up there this past weekend, and I think they have done some additional blazing since Papa Bear and Oncoman hiked this mountain. Even though the path itself is so little used that it has the appearance of an abandoned trail (which actually adds to its charm), I found it to be blazed the whole way, so I never had any doubt about whether I was still on the trail or not.

Once up on the summit, I expected to find the jar lying on the old mattress inside the ramshackle caretaker's cabin, as described in Papa Bear's report. I ended up looking all around for the thing, but without much success. I was even about to plant one of my own, when I noticed the register lying in the cupboard closest to the door. It was a notebook provided by the organization that maintains the trail, and it was large enough that it couldn't fit in a jar, and instead was kept in a large Ziploc bag. In the bag were also the pages from the previous registers.

Having read the older entries left by previous visitors, I was really glad that I didn't have to bushwhack the whole way up like they did.