Over the weekend, I hiked Mount Aeolus (in Doret, Vermont) from the west, via the Owls Head Trail, and found en route that the trail description in the DHG was not as descriptive as it could have been. Here are my additional comments:
For hiking the Owls Head Trail, park on Kelly Road in Dorset (a right parenthese-shaped road off of Route 30), which is 1.3 miles south of the Dorset Inn and right next to the old quarry that is currently a popular swimming spot. Start walking down Black Rock Lane (which is very drivable, but it goes through a private neighborhood with no place to park). At 0.3 miles you'll reach Long View Lane, which you ignore. At 0.4 miles you'll come to Dorset View Road, which you also ignore as you bear to the right. The road then climbs a bit, and as the book says, you'll pass by two houses, and in front of the second one is an old logging road. It says you turn down this, but it's actually a little overgrown, and just past it is a much newer gravel road. Since both shortly merge in together, I preferred the better road. The gravel road doesn't go very far before it reaches a shallow culvert and becomes a jeep trail. Continuing on this, you'll come to a small overgrown field. I think this is where the old camp used to stand that's described in the book, but it's gone now. Anyway, once you reach this clearing, turn to the left, and once you reach that side of the clearing, you'll see two old logging roads that fork off. You want the one on the left. Early on you might see a bit of yellow tape, but the trail is minimally marked along this stretch. But, by continuing straight ahead on the main trail, you won't have a problem reaching the old Gettysburg Quarry. From there, it's a straightforward walk over to the Gilbert Outlook on the side of Owls Head. But, after this point, the trail didn't appear to be actively maintained, and had some blowdowns and overgrown branches, which made for slower going. The trail passes by another outlook that looks west, then drops into the col before Aeolus. Where it hits the old logging road in the col is where I lost the trail. After much searching, I found where it was supposed to pick up again (the spot is marked by some yellow flagging tape and is after the woods road starts to descend to the north). But from there, I was unable to find where it continued onward up to Aeolus. At least the woods are open there, and the best route is to get on the ridge and follow it the 0.89 miles up to the Aeolus summit. It wasn't until I was close to the top that I found the trail again, and in following it on the way back, despite my best efforts I lost it again after a cliffy section. For hiking Aeolus itself it's probably preferrable to go up the Aeolus Trail, but for those who want to take in the views from Gilbert Lookout, the Owls Head Trail is worth a visit.
For hiking the Owls Head Trail, park on Kelly Road in Dorset (a right parenthese-shaped road off of Route 30), which is 1.3 miles south of the Dorset Inn and right next to the old quarry that is currently a popular swimming spot. Start walking down Black Rock Lane (which is very drivable, but it goes through a private neighborhood with no place to park). At 0.3 miles you'll reach Long View Lane, which you ignore. At 0.4 miles you'll come to Dorset View Road, which you also ignore as you bear to the right. The road then climbs a bit, and as the book says, you'll pass by two houses, and in front of the second one is an old logging road. It says you turn down this, but it's actually a little overgrown, and just past it is a much newer gravel road. Since both shortly merge in together, I preferred the better road. The gravel road doesn't go very far before it reaches a shallow culvert and becomes a jeep trail. Continuing on this, you'll come to a small overgrown field. I think this is where the old camp used to stand that's described in the book, but it's gone now. Anyway, once you reach this clearing, turn to the left, and once you reach that side of the clearing, you'll see two old logging roads that fork off. You want the one on the left. Early on you might see a bit of yellow tape, but the trail is minimally marked along this stretch. But, by continuing straight ahead on the main trail, you won't have a problem reaching the old Gettysburg Quarry. From there, it's a straightforward walk over to the Gilbert Outlook on the side of Owls Head. But, after this point, the trail didn't appear to be actively maintained, and had some blowdowns and overgrown branches, which made for slower going. The trail passes by another outlook that looks west, then drops into the col before Aeolus. Where it hits the old logging road in the col is where I lost the trail. After much searching, I found where it was supposed to pick up again (the spot is marked by some yellow flagging tape and is after the woods road starts to descend to the north). But from there, I was unable to find where it continued onward up to Aeolus. At least the woods are open there, and the best route is to get on the ridge and follow it the 0.89 miles up to the Aeolus summit. It wasn't until I was close to the top that I found the trail again, and in following it on the way back, despite my best efforts I lost it again after a cliffy section. For hiking Aeolus itself it's probably preferrable to go up the Aeolus Trail, but for those who want to take in the views from Gilbert Lookout, the Owls Head Trail is worth a visit.
