South Mtn. Ludlow, VT 20 years in a tiny notebook

This wasn't any epic trip that I want to report about. South Mtn. Is a pretty easy short bushwack. But I really enjoyed seeing the date of May 2, 1987 when the current register was placed at the top of this hill. And the book is not even near full. Not a frequently visited place. But a hunter named Art Scales had signed in to the register on an almost yearly basis. I think it was an entry in 2000 that said something about 'this climb gets harder every year.' I didn't notice if there were other entries from him after this date.

I wonder if he's still around and if he is, will he get to the top of South Mtn. again this year. And I wonder if he felt a sort of comfort when he'd get to the top and sign in for another year.

Until today I never really had much care one way or the other about jars/canisters at the tops of peaks. It just didn't really matter to me. And I know there is lots of disagreement about whether they should or shouldn't be out there. But I liked looking at that little piece of history in a tiny blue notebook that probably has room for another 20 years of infrequent visits left in it's pages.

heart warming thought : )

Nice. I will have to go and check it out when I retire to Vermont in seven years. Will there be an annual Jen entry?

I saw some odd entries in VT registers this weekend. One person wrote "I need to go pee pee!" in one register, then the same person wrote "I did number one on Carmel and number 2 on Bloodroot!" Yuck! I'm not going to say Sponge who would write such Bob things.

Another interesting note said, "This mountain should be for logging and hunting only, and now those "queers" had to go and build the Long Trail and ruin it for the rest of us." I was pretty shocked by that one, and not surprisingly the author didn't leave his name.

By the way, you left your camouflage head net on Bloodroot, Jen. You should go back and get it sometime!

albee said:

By the way, you left your camouflage head net on Bloodroot, Jen. You should go back and get it sometime!

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Dude, you saw my headnet? I knew I lost it on that whack someplace. I got that thing for christmas from my mother in law. Luckily, my husband got one too, so now I just use his. I'm surprised you could see it up there, it being camouflage and all. Darn, you should have retrieved it for me.

Glad you had a good 'whackin' weekend.

Toe Cozy said:

But I really enjoyed seeing the date of May 2, 1987 when the current register was placed at the top of this hill.

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Many suffer from weather or vandalism, but somebody reported finding one in NH left from the 70s, nearly every NH 3k finisher had signed in. It really should be photographed for posterity.

I sometimes see my name from 20 years ago around here, but the oldest I've found was in Colo. On a wooded peak we found a rusty coffee can which when opened had a register with the newest entry from the 30s, or 50 years before we were there.

Very cool - I love seeing old rarely signed registers.

Just got an e-mail from a guy who climbed a ME peak just 1/4 mile off the AT, which is on both the New England 500 Highest and Maine 50 Most Prominent lists. The register was placed in 1997 with no entries since then. Once off the popular lists, there still aren't a lot of peakbaggers out there.