buckyball1
New member
Following my Tour of Vermont last week (Ivan Basso need not apply 
), I still had Dorset and Mendon to climb. (if you're interested in details on the other under 4000 NEHHs in VT, the trip report for those 7 peaks is on RoT; i try not to post the same info on multiple sites--or PM me)
After watching the daily forecast for rain/T-showers all week, I decided to take a chance and headed over to Dorset yesterday around 11AM, a grinding 7 hour drive through intermittent thundershowers. From Manchester, VT, take route 30 into Dorset, turn right on Dorset Hollow Road and then take either Upper or Lower Dorset Hollow Road until they rejoin just before the Tower Road--all these roads are good dirt/gravel at that point. Follow the Tower Road to its end right near a nice house where the road gets much rougher and heads into the woods.(this is 0.6 miles up the Tower Road and 4.0 miles from Rt 30 following the "Lower" route)You may be amazed at the $$ houses along both Dorset Hollow Roads, a marked contrast to the housing on most approach roads. I don't think it's worth trying to drive up the rougher road-it's an easy walk.
Even when well prepared for the hike, I usually like to ask for some local knowledge, but it appears the owners of many of these homes are "from away" and have little/no clue about the mountain at the end of their street. I did smile when two natives I spoke to in Dorset Village told me no one would care if i pitched a tent just up the trailhead as "you're from Maine" I got the distinct impression that hikers from NY or MA need not apply. I walked up the trail for about a mile to the "Winter Cabin" just to scope out the climb a bit. Around 8-9PM a series of heavy showers and hail convinced me to car camp.
After a night of very little sleep, I was up and on the trail around 4:40. My route was a slightly modified version of tail info from B&G and PB's sites. The hike is a straightforward "workout" with much of the climb in the middle section. The footing is good almost throughout and you can go as fast as your body/condition will allow. I followed B&G route to their points A, B, & C. The cairn at point "C" is now gone. I turned slightly to the right and sharply uphill at point "C" following PBs route. However I continued on the "snowmobile/ATV" path for about 12 minutes and did not cut up to the lower tower summit on the small path which branched off to the right. Staying on this good road/trail brings you to a 4-way intersection between the two summits. To your right is a quick jaunt up tho the old tower remains/view spot. To the left is the true summit. Straight ahead goes "downhill" to ??. The two doorknobs frequently mentioned at this intersection are now gone. A small arrow sign points to the true summit and says "North Peak". After checking out the tower, I returned to the 4-way and hustled out to the true summit--easy going, canister in plain view--topped out around 610. There is a bit of useful flagging here and there and there "was" some very misleading flagging on the ridge-you need not worry re it.
Then it was off toward Rutland and Mendon. The trailhead is very obvious, on a sharp right hand bend about 4 miles in on the Wheelerville Road (off Rt 4) with a fair amount of parking. Take the trail behind the closed gate, not the Bucklin Trail. You will pass a cabin on your left soon after the start and then come to 2 clearings about 0.75-0.85? miles in. The road/trail splits in both of these clearings; you want the straight or right fork in both places. The middle section of the hike that makes 4 brook crossings is well described in PBs notes on his site. Throughout this section, if you're not hearing Eddy Brook, you're in the wrong place. The first crossing is the most difficult and was pretty iffy due to all the recent rain. (also be careful at this first crossing on the descent as the road you're on goes straight here and it's easy to miss the brook crossing to your right onto the correct road)
After the 4th crossing (I'd guess around 3 miles and about 2750'-YMMV), the trail turns up and you soon see the first cairn on the right around 3050'. The old "second cairn" is now gone. The third cairn is very small and about 3425' (the small rusted rectangular can is there). I had my head down and went steaming way past the second cairn and about 10 minutes later realized I was around 3650 feet on the side of Little Killington. So back i went toward a spot I had picked as my fallback place to head off the trail toward Mendon and I ran into a nice couple from NY that I had talked to several times earlier in the hike. They too had missed the cairn and we all felt pretty foolish when we saw it (it is rather small).
There seems to be some discussion about whether to head pretty much west and "through a blowdown field" toward Mendon or to try to skirt this to the north or south. It doesn't appear to matter a whole lot as the blowdown area was not nearly as bad as expected; either a slightly north or south slab will also work. I'd suggest just heading "west", taking the POLR and heading "up" when the flat terrain steepens.We found a pretty good herd path about 2/3 of the way up to the lower summit and followed a good herd path to the higher summit. A few minutes on the summit, down the herd path (east) until we lost it as the terrain becomes flatter and a slight jog to the north brought us out a bit below the second cairn.
-a good day--White Cap/K Divide/Scar soon
jim
), I still had Dorset and Mendon to climb. (if you're interested in details on the other under 4000 NEHHs in VT, the trip report for those 7 peaks is on RoT; i try not to post the same info on multiple sites--or PM me)After watching the daily forecast for rain/T-showers all week, I decided to take a chance and headed over to Dorset yesterday around 11AM, a grinding 7 hour drive through intermittent thundershowers. From Manchester, VT, take route 30 into Dorset, turn right on Dorset Hollow Road and then take either Upper or Lower Dorset Hollow Road until they rejoin just before the Tower Road--all these roads are good dirt/gravel at that point. Follow the Tower Road to its end right near a nice house where the road gets much rougher and heads into the woods.(this is 0.6 miles up the Tower Road and 4.0 miles from Rt 30 following the "Lower" route)You may be amazed at the $$ houses along both Dorset Hollow Roads, a marked contrast to the housing on most approach roads. I don't think it's worth trying to drive up the rougher road-it's an easy walk.
Even when well prepared for the hike, I usually like to ask for some local knowledge, but it appears the owners of many of these homes are "from away" and have little/no clue about the mountain at the end of their street. I did smile when two natives I spoke to in Dorset Village told me no one would care if i pitched a tent just up the trailhead as "you're from Maine" I got the distinct impression that hikers from NY or MA need not apply. I walked up the trail for about a mile to the "Winter Cabin" just to scope out the climb a bit. Around 8-9PM a series of heavy showers and hail convinced me to car camp.
After a night of very little sleep, I was up and on the trail around 4:40. My route was a slightly modified version of tail info from B&G and PB's sites. The hike is a straightforward "workout" with much of the climb in the middle section. The footing is good almost throughout and you can go as fast as your body/condition will allow. I followed B&G route to their points A, B, & C. The cairn at point "C" is now gone. I turned slightly to the right and sharply uphill at point "C" following PBs route. However I continued on the "snowmobile/ATV" path for about 12 minutes and did not cut up to the lower tower summit on the small path which branched off to the right. Staying on this good road/trail brings you to a 4-way intersection between the two summits. To your right is a quick jaunt up tho the old tower remains/view spot. To the left is the true summit. Straight ahead goes "downhill" to ??. The two doorknobs frequently mentioned at this intersection are now gone. A small arrow sign points to the true summit and says "North Peak". After checking out the tower, I returned to the 4-way and hustled out to the true summit--easy going, canister in plain view--topped out around 610. There is a bit of useful flagging here and there and there "was" some very misleading flagging on the ridge-you need not worry re it.
Then it was off toward Rutland and Mendon. The trailhead is very obvious, on a sharp right hand bend about 4 miles in on the Wheelerville Road (off Rt 4) with a fair amount of parking. Take the trail behind the closed gate, not the Bucklin Trail. You will pass a cabin on your left soon after the start and then come to 2 clearings about 0.75-0.85? miles in. The road/trail splits in both of these clearings; you want the straight or right fork in both places. The middle section of the hike that makes 4 brook crossings is well described in PBs notes on his site. Throughout this section, if you're not hearing Eddy Brook, you're in the wrong place. The first crossing is the most difficult and was pretty iffy due to all the recent rain. (also be careful at this first crossing on the descent as the road you're on goes straight here and it's easy to miss the brook crossing to your right onto the correct road)
After the 4th crossing (I'd guess around 3 miles and about 2750'-YMMV), the trail turns up and you soon see the first cairn on the right around 3050'. The old "second cairn" is now gone. The third cairn is very small and about 3425' (the small rusted rectangular can is there). I had my head down and went steaming way past the second cairn and about 10 minutes later realized I was around 3650 feet on the side of Little Killington. So back i went toward a spot I had picked as my fallback place to head off the trail toward Mendon and I ran into a nice couple from NY that I had talked to several times earlier in the hike. They too had missed the cairn and we all felt pretty foolish when we saw it (it is rather small).
There seems to be some discussion about whether to head pretty much west and "through a blowdown field" toward Mendon or to try to skirt this to the north or south. It doesn't appear to matter a whole lot as the blowdown area was not nearly as bad as expected; either a slightly north or south slab will also work. I'd suggest just heading "west", taking the POLR and heading "up" when the flat terrain steepens.We found a pretty good herd path about 2/3 of the way up to the lower summit and followed a good herd path to the higher summit. A few minutes on the summit, down the herd path (east) until we lost it as the terrain becomes flatter and a slight jog to the north brought us out a bit below the second cairn.
-a good day--White Cap/K Divide/Scar soon
jim
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