HockeyPuck
Active member
Peaks: Mendon / Killington, VT
Trails: ATV road / bushwhack / LT/AT / Bucklin trail
Wheelerville Road has a washed out bridge at the 5 mile mark and the Bucklin trailhead must be accessed from the Rt4 side.
Parked at the Bucklin trailhead with trace to minimal snow on the ground. Barebooted the gated ATV road past the 4 water crossings. The first can be bypassed the 2nd, 3rd and 4th were open water with treacherously stable ice bridges. Use caution. Barebooted until the steep section just passed the 4th water crossing then wore snowshoes the remainder of the day. Snow got deeper with 6" to 1 Ft depth at higher elevations. Bushwhacked from the height of land / col to Mendon. Mostly open woods with a few thick sections and blowdowns to avoid. Returned to the height of land and followed the ATV road along the ~3600 Ft contour towards Killington.
Bushwhacked ~.3 mile to the LT/AT and followed it to the Bucklin Trail junction near Cooper Lodge. The last 0.2 mi pitch to the Killington Summit is steep and covered in ice. On descent the steep pitch was avoided by following ski slopes down to the summit chair lift and a short bushwhack back to Cooper Lodge. Descended the Bucklin Trail. Lower section of the Bucklin trail has been rerouted due to washout. It breaks away from the river and follows the nearby ridgeline for approx .5 - .75 miles
Winter #52 / #53
Trails: ATV road / bushwhack / LT/AT / Bucklin trail
Wheelerville Road has a washed out bridge at the 5 mile mark and the Bucklin trailhead must be accessed from the Rt4 side.
Parked at the Bucklin trailhead with trace to minimal snow on the ground. Barebooted the gated ATV road past the 4 water crossings. The first can be bypassed the 2nd, 3rd and 4th were open water with treacherously stable ice bridges. Use caution. Barebooted until the steep section just passed the 4th water crossing then wore snowshoes the remainder of the day. Snow got deeper with 6" to 1 Ft depth at higher elevations. Bushwhacked from the height of land / col to Mendon. Mostly open woods with a few thick sections and blowdowns to avoid. Returned to the height of land and followed the ATV road along the ~3600 Ft contour towards Killington.
Bushwhacked ~.3 mile to the LT/AT and followed it to the Bucklin Trail junction near Cooper Lodge. The last 0.2 mi pitch to the Killington Summit is steep and covered in ice. On descent the steep pitch was avoided by following ski slopes down to the summit chair lift and a short bushwhack back to Cooper Lodge. Descended the Bucklin Trail. Lower section of the Bucklin trail has been rerouted due to washout. It breaks away from the river and follows the nearby ridgeline for approx .5 - .75 miles
Winter #52 / #53
