LT Trail Work and Equinox Mountain

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Joined
Jan 15, 2013
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Location
Vernon, Conn.
Last weekend I did some trail work with the Conn. Section of the GMC. I also climbed Equinox Mtn., the seventh most prominent peak in New England, on Sunday.

I took a half day off work Friday and drove out to the secret trail leading to Kid Gore Shelter. I arrived soon after sunset, which meant that most of my hike in was by headlamp. I'd been on that trail a few times a few years before, but never alone. I did make a wrong turn at one point, but figured it out before long, and made it to Kid Gore before too late.

The Conn. Section of the GMC is responsible for the LT from Glastenbury Tower to Kelly Stand Road. There were six of us on the trail work crew this time. On Saturday some of us went south, while Kevin and I went north, mostly trimming branches and hobblebush. The weather was perfectly clear.

Kid Gore has an expansive view to the east, and both mornings I was there (Sat. and Sun.) there were beautiful views with the autumn leaves enhanced by the morning sun. Saturday evening we watched the full moon rise beneath the Belt of Venus.

We saw a few hikers on Saturday, and a pair of AT flip-flopping through hikers, Sourpatch and Strider, stopped and spent the night. They're headed for West Virginia.

On Sunday after hiking out to my car I drove up to Manchester to hike Equinox Mtn. (The western end of Kelly Stand Road, BTW, is a very beautiful drive.)

I'd hiked Equinox five years ago, after the old building had been torn down, and before the new one went up. That had been a clear day. This ascent started as a clear day, and ended as a clear day, but when I was on the summit I was in a cloud.

I climbed Equinox by the Blue Summit Trail. This goes up about 3000 feet in about 3 miles. There were a lot of other people doing the same. I met one guy, in jeans with water but no pack, who told me he was thinking of turning around because his legs were hurting. I basically encouraged him to do so; he didn't look to be doing so well, and if it rained as threatened those jeans would get heavy. I later met him back at the trailhead, and he had turned around.

The summit building was completely fogged in, and by that time it was raining. There were lots of people there who had driven up, and a few of us who had walked. The new building has some informative displays, and a hearth which is made from stone which was carved as summit graffiti in the 19th century.

I skipped the lookout spur this time, since there was nothing to see, and just hiked straight down.

Here are the pictures.

--

Cumulus

NE111 in my 50s: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2)
NE111 in my 60s: 47/115 (36/67, 11/46, 0/2)
NEFF: 50/50; Cat35: 39/39; WNH4K: 39/48; NEHH 84/100
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
 
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