Oncoman
Active member
Last July I had bagged Grass Mtn in southern Vermont via Shaftsbury Hollow Rd and at the Subaru wrecked car had taken a 310° mag. bearing to summit high point identified by flat rock at south-west end of plateau. There was no canister there but a 5’ tall vertical stick stuck in ground with small rocks attached by strings to stick. No labelling however. An original way to identify a summit I had thought. Thereafter I read on VFTT that a canister existed & a trip report of last July from Nate confirmed this; so yesterday I decided to revisit Grass Mtn.
Took the same route as before, but had to leave my car about ¼ mi. before reaching hunting camp due to very muddy road conditions. 50 min. later was at Subaru car. BTW there are a few forks in ATV trail up to col between Grass/Spruce Pk. As I recall for the 1st three, it was left-right-right. But as a rule always take the fork following the closest the brook and you will never go wrong. There are 5 or 6 brook crossings since the trail keeps zigzagging across the brook, but only the 1st three will necessitate you getting your feet wet. But then we had quite a lot of rain recently. In summer months you shouldn’t have this annoyance. Higher up as you approach the col, water flows on the trail for 2 short sections making for slippery conditions but no ice yet.
At Subaru car just went uphill and just kept going up until I reached 25 min. later summit high point described above. Being familiar with area didn’t bother to take my compass out. Actually didn’t use compass all day. At high point calibrated my Suunto watch altimeter at 3110’. Then decided to search flat plateau for potential higher points where canister was located. With all the leaves on the ground & no spruce trees this turned out to be extremely easy. Took me no more than 2 min. to find register. There is barely 50 yards between the 2 high points in a NE-SW line. The register is attached to tree just alongside of an ATV trail. There’s some red surveyor tape on tree trunk fallen in middle of trail at its highest point on summit. BTW you can’t see glass register from trail. It’s hidden behind tree.
Register high point read 3100/3110’ on my altimeter. So went back to other high point which visually seemed to be about 3’ higher. Again my altimeter read 3110’. Repeated experience with register Pk with same results. Conclusion: very very close call, but I’ll admit that my watch altimeter was not enough precise to settle the issue conclusively.
Then decided to look at register & sign in. Register was placed there April 2004. BTW Nate only one entry since your note of 30th July 2006.
Inside glass jar found 1$ bill with butane lighter. Was I supposed to burn the bill? But then upon reading some of the entries found a note from Steve saying that Jack got lost and that Matt & himself were going to search for him. He was leaving the 1$ bill since he doubted that he would ever make it out to use it! As a Québecer I thought to myself that American sarcasm and humour was truly intriguing.
And this other one from Post’rboy dated 6th Nov. 2005: “ASS, GAS or GRASS no one rides for free!” In Québec, Grass (foin in French) means bread, dough i.e. money. Is it the same in English? It also means for us hippy peace & love 1960 generation “Joint”. Maybe that was the purpose of the lighter?
Then decided to follow ATV trail going downhill in north-east direction for ¼ mi. or so before hitting the woods & looping back to Subaru car. Then decided to explore ATV trail past Subaru car & see if it connected with other ATV trail coming down Grass summit. Well it does! From car it gradually loops 180° over 1 mi. distance to bring you directly to register. Just keep taking left branches whenever you encounter forks in trail. Near summit one portion of trail is slightly steep, about 20°, but nothing difficult or strenuous.
Came back to car same way & then went uphill by other trail towards Spruce Pk. After 10 min. entered open woods going uphill right up to 3’ tall cairn besides benchmark and signed glass jar register. Took me 15 min. from trail to reach canister. Came back to trail same way and then continued south-east to this point of trail before heading down 30°-45° slope to fall back on other trail at level of 3rd brook crossing 800’-900’ lower down. I estimate that this saved me 20 min. of trail walk. Was back to my car 4h10 after leaving it, with 4½ hrs of car drive awaiting me before getting back to Montréal.
On my way home I chuckled often as I recalled Post’rboy’s note “ASS, GAS or GRASS, no one rides for free!”. Lovely!
Took the same route as before, but had to leave my car about ¼ mi. before reaching hunting camp due to very muddy road conditions. 50 min. later was at Subaru car. BTW there are a few forks in ATV trail up to col between Grass/Spruce Pk. As I recall for the 1st three, it was left-right-right. But as a rule always take the fork following the closest the brook and you will never go wrong. There are 5 or 6 brook crossings since the trail keeps zigzagging across the brook, but only the 1st three will necessitate you getting your feet wet. But then we had quite a lot of rain recently. In summer months you shouldn’t have this annoyance. Higher up as you approach the col, water flows on the trail for 2 short sections making for slippery conditions but no ice yet.
At Subaru car just went uphill and just kept going up until I reached 25 min. later summit high point described above. Being familiar with area didn’t bother to take my compass out. Actually didn’t use compass all day. At high point calibrated my Suunto watch altimeter at 3110’. Then decided to search flat plateau for potential higher points where canister was located. With all the leaves on the ground & no spruce trees this turned out to be extremely easy. Took me no more than 2 min. to find register. There is barely 50 yards between the 2 high points in a NE-SW line. The register is attached to tree just alongside of an ATV trail. There’s some red surveyor tape on tree trunk fallen in middle of trail at its highest point on summit. BTW you can’t see glass register from trail. It’s hidden behind tree.
Register high point read 3100/3110’ on my altimeter. So went back to other high point which visually seemed to be about 3’ higher. Again my altimeter read 3110’. Repeated experience with register Pk with same results. Conclusion: very very close call, but I’ll admit that my watch altimeter was not enough precise to settle the issue conclusively.
Then decided to look at register & sign in. Register was placed there April 2004. BTW Nate only one entry since your note of 30th July 2006.
Inside glass jar found 1$ bill with butane lighter. Was I supposed to burn the bill? But then upon reading some of the entries found a note from Steve saying that Jack got lost and that Matt & himself were going to search for him. He was leaving the 1$ bill since he doubted that he would ever make it out to use it! As a Québecer I thought to myself that American sarcasm and humour was truly intriguing.
And this other one from Post’rboy dated 6th Nov. 2005: “ASS, GAS or GRASS no one rides for free!” In Québec, Grass (foin in French) means bread, dough i.e. money. Is it the same in English? It also means for us hippy peace & love 1960 generation “Joint”. Maybe that was the purpose of the lighter?
Then decided to follow ATV trail going downhill in north-east direction for ¼ mi. or so before hitting the woods & looping back to Subaru car. Then decided to explore ATV trail past Subaru car & see if it connected with other ATV trail coming down Grass summit. Well it does! From car it gradually loops 180° over 1 mi. distance to bring you directly to register. Just keep taking left branches whenever you encounter forks in trail. Near summit one portion of trail is slightly steep, about 20°, but nothing difficult or strenuous.
Came back to car same way & then went uphill by other trail towards Spruce Pk. After 10 min. entered open woods going uphill right up to 3’ tall cairn besides benchmark and signed glass jar register. Took me 15 min. from trail to reach canister. Came back to trail same way and then continued south-east to this point of trail before heading down 30°-45° slope to fall back on other trail at level of 3rd brook crossing 800’-900’ lower down. I estimate that this saved me 20 min. of trail walk. Was back to my car 4h10 after leaving it, with 4½ hrs of car drive awaiting me before getting back to Montréal.
On my way home I chuckled often as I recalled Post’rboy’s note “ASS, GAS or GRASS, no one rides for free!”. Lovely!
Last edited:
