Paradox
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- May 29, 2006
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Zippy and I had some firsts today.
I checked the weather on the internet for Saturday, and it seemed that Vermont was the best bet. We were not disappointed. We drove to the Rt. 4 trailhead and started up the Sherburne Pass Trail in a dense mist. The trail was muddy, but not excessively so, I expected it and the grades are slight to moderate. Water sources are flowing well and our two 1 liter water bottles would be plenty for the day. The Sherburne Pass Trail joins a Pico Peak ski trail at about 2.0 miles but soon heads back into the trees for the bypass of Pico Peak. I took the ski trails and service roads up to the summit but visibility was only about 500’ so after a quick photo of Zippy on the summit, we kept moving,.
After about ¾ of a mile of a combination of service roads and trails we came to the LT/AT/Sherburne Junction and kept moving. We encountered a lot of mud on the LT, but again we traversed it by stepping on strategically placed rocks. Some well built rock steps took us up the northwestern side of Snowden Peak and which gave us some respite from the mud.
After Snowden we were trucking along and I was paying attention to where I was stepping, when I heard a voice talking excitedly about a moose. I looked up and there was a guy coming at me wearing nothing but a backpack and boots! I’ve been hiking for 40 years and it was my first encounter with a naked hiker. I had trouble getting interested in his story about the moose, but I did gather my wits enough to ask him about how the mosquitoes and black flies affected him and what about DEET and its irritating effects (I was rambling in incomplete sentences.) He stated that bugs were no problem at all, that the minimal amount of sweat evaporated quickly, and frankly, he just didn’t get very warm. All and all, he infered that he was quite comfortable.
Link to mercifully out-of-focus photo
Well…. After that, I had trouble thinking about anything else for quite a while. I thought about how hikin’ neck-ed might be the answer to a couple of threads that have been discussed on VftT, ie. the threads on insect repellants, and the threads on controlling sweating, and even the threads on natural fibers vrs synthetic, to name but a few.
At any rate, by the time we reached the summit of Killington, the mist had dissipated and the views had improved considerably from what I had just experienced. We were having lunch amid a crowd of perhaps thirty people, some hikers and several more gondola riders, and sure enough, someone said they had heard there was a naked hiker out there somewhere. It seems I was the only one who had actually seen him. We discussed him, Vermont laws, and nakedness in general for awhile.
Eventually, we moved on toward Mendon. There is a herd path that heads West from the LT/AT that is 0.2 mile South of the Killington summit side trail. The path is well defined and leads down to an old logging road/herd path/carriage road at about 3570’. This path is easy to follow, passes 2 or more good water sources, and leads to the “2nd cairn” described in a couple of trip reports. It was along this path that Zippy had her first encounter with a porcupine. She got off lucky in that she only had two small quills in her right forepaw and eight in her left forepaw. All the quills were on top of the paw and not in her pads. They were very difficult to remove with just my fingers, but I got them out without so much as a whimper from her. Gotta love Labs!
The whack up Mendon was not difficult until we got into a line of blowdowns that were very time consuming to negotiate. After we got through it, and onto an upper herd path, I eventually looked at Zippy and noticed that she had lost the pack part of her backpack. She wears a two part pack: a buckle part has the straps that buckles around her body and a satchel part for her water and biscuits that attaches with Velcro (hook+loop for trademark purists.) I won’t buy another dog pack with Velcro attachments. The views from Mendon are limited but dramatic. There is a nice view of Killington and Little Killington from a false East summit and a view to the North from the true summit. It was very buggy and we did not stay long. We found a much better way down that avoided the blowdowns by taking a herd path to the North of our ascent.
Once we reached the Killington summit side trail we headed over to the Eastern side of the ridge and took the ski trails North to Snowden. On the North side of Snowden a 200’ bushwhack put us back on the LT where we encountered Stan who was out for a day hike to get himself in shape to finish the AT. Zippy and I stayed with him until we reached the Pico service roads where we parted ways and we ascended to near the summit of Pico for some of the best photos of the day. We then headed down the ski trails and back to the car.
At the car we again encountered Stan and met his wife. Stan and I had discussed many things during the 45 minutes we had spent hiking together but somehow, I had never mentioned the naked guy. He and his wife had encountered him earlier and we talked about that for a bit, but the conversation soon turned to a pair of hikers that needed a jump start for their car. We got them started and Zippy and I headed for home.
Great day: Photos and GPS track.
I checked the weather on the internet for Saturday, and it seemed that Vermont was the best bet. We were not disappointed. We drove to the Rt. 4 trailhead and started up the Sherburne Pass Trail in a dense mist. The trail was muddy, but not excessively so, I expected it and the grades are slight to moderate. Water sources are flowing well and our two 1 liter water bottles would be plenty for the day. The Sherburne Pass Trail joins a Pico Peak ski trail at about 2.0 miles but soon heads back into the trees for the bypass of Pico Peak. I took the ski trails and service roads up to the summit but visibility was only about 500’ so after a quick photo of Zippy on the summit, we kept moving,.
After about ¾ of a mile of a combination of service roads and trails we came to the LT/AT/Sherburne Junction and kept moving. We encountered a lot of mud on the LT, but again we traversed it by stepping on strategically placed rocks. Some well built rock steps took us up the northwestern side of Snowden Peak and which gave us some respite from the mud.
After Snowden we were trucking along and I was paying attention to where I was stepping, when I heard a voice talking excitedly about a moose. I looked up and there was a guy coming at me wearing nothing but a backpack and boots! I’ve been hiking for 40 years and it was my first encounter with a naked hiker. I had trouble getting interested in his story about the moose, but I did gather my wits enough to ask him about how the mosquitoes and black flies affected him and what about DEET and its irritating effects (I was rambling in incomplete sentences.) He stated that bugs were no problem at all, that the minimal amount of sweat evaporated quickly, and frankly, he just didn’t get very warm. All and all, he infered that he was quite comfortable.
Link to mercifully out-of-focus photo
Well…. After that, I had trouble thinking about anything else for quite a while. I thought about how hikin’ neck-ed might be the answer to a couple of threads that have been discussed on VftT, ie. the threads on insect repellants, and the threads on controlling sweating, and even the threads on natural fibers vrs synthetic, to name but a few.
At any rate, by the time we reached the summit of Killington, the mist had dissipated and the views had improved considerably from what I had just experienced. We were having lunch amid a crowd of perhaps thirty people, some hikers and several more gondola riders, and sure enough, someone said they had heard there was a naked hiker out there somewhere. It seems I was the only one who had actually seen him. We discussed him, Vermont laws, and nakedness in general for awhile.
Eventually, we moved on toward Mendon. There is a herd path that heads West from the LT/AT that is 0.2 mile South of the Killington summit side trail. The path is well defined and leads down to an old logging road/herd path/carriage road at about 3570’. This path is easy to follow, passes 2 or more good water sources, and leads to the “2nd cairn” described in a couple of trip reports. It was along this path that Zippy had her first encounter with a porcupine. She got off lucky in that she only had two small quills in her right forepaw and eight in her left forepaw. All the quills were on top of the paw and not in her pads. They were very difficult to remove with just my fingers, but I got them out without so much as a whimper from her. Gotta love Labs!
The whack up Mendon was not difficult until we got into a line of blowdowns that were very time consuming to negotiate. After we got through it, and onto an upper herd path, I eventually looked at Zippy and noticed that she had lost the pack part of her backpack. She wears a two part pack: a buckle part has the straps that buckles around her body and a satchel part for her water and biscuits that attaches with Velcro (hook+loop for trademark purists.) I won’t buy another dog pack with Velcro attachments. The views from Mendon are limited but dramatic. There is a nice view of Killington and Little Killington from a false East summit and a view to the North from the true summit. It was very buggy and we did not stay long. We found a much better way down that avoided the blowdowns by taking a herd path to the North of our ascent.
Once we reached the Killington summit side trail we headed over to the Eastern side of the ridge and took the ski trails North to Snowden. On the North side of Snowden a 200’ bushwhack put us back on the LT where we encountered Stan who was out for a day hike to get himself in shape to finish the AT. Zippy and I stayed with him until we reached the Pico service roads where we parted ways and we ascended to near the summit of Pico for some of the best photos of the day. We then headed down the ski trails and back to the car.
At the car we again encountered Stan and met his wife. Stan and I had discussed many things during the 45 minutes we had spent hiking together but somehow, I had never mentioned the naked guy. He and his wife had encountered him earlier and we talked about that for a bit, but the conversation soon turned to a pair of hikers that needed a jump start for their car. We got them started and Zippy and I headed for home.
Great day: Photos and GPS track.
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apparently the hikers in vermont a bit different as well
