Dugan
New member
The plan: Traverse from Arlington West Wardsboro Road (aka Kelley Stand road aka Arlington Stratton road, hereinafter referred to as AWW) south to route 9 via AT/LT.
The usual suspects: Jade, Lattinhill, Rocksnrolls, with a cameo appearance by Abster
As we all know, the best laid plans often fall to the wayside in the face of reality. Sunday was one such day.
Revised plan: a southern VT pond loop - AWW > Stratton Pond Trail to Stratton Pond > AT/LT north to Prospect Rock > AT/LT south to Branch Pond Trail to Bourne Pond to Branch Pond > AWW to road walk to car.
This is a loop I've done several times. A favorite, one might say. For me, it was bittersweet. I haven't done a loop with these three ponds since hiking with my dog, Blizzard, whom I have since lost. It was interesting to see the numerous changes in the area since '00 or '02 - which is around when I would've last seen them.
Stratton Pond Trail was its usual wet self. I had some trouble here many, many years ago, where I fell face down across a puncheon, with my pack over my head pressing my neck on the puncheon, unable to breathe. Obviously, I somehow got out of that and lived to hike another day. Today had an approximation of that when I shows Rocksnrolls how to skate down a puncheon on one foot, then do a classic "banana peel" fall to land flat on my back with a resounding thud that Jade felt from 1/10 of a mile away. As I picked myself up - thankfully I landed on the puncheon rather than in the muck, Rocksnrolls pointed out that I'd broken the puncheon in two places. I know I've gotten out of shape but I didn't think I'd gotten that heavy!
Next, we reached the jeep road the Catamount Ski Trail follows to AWW. Jade & Rocksnrolls recognized this from our outing on Stratton Mountain this winter. We reached the side trail to the new shelter - okay, not so new anymore as it was built several years ago to replace Bigelow and Vondell which were on Stratton Pond. With only a little convincing, I talked everyone in to going to see it. It is a very nice shelter with a porch, bunks, and sleeping loft. It appears that the GMC caretaker is currently bedding down in the shelter. We saw a young man who was out for a few days. His companion shocked Jade, who hadn't heard the second voice, by dropping out of the loft.
The pair said that blow downs remain on the Lye Brook Trail between Stratton Pond & Branch Pond Trail. I believe this section was considered closed two years ago due to severe blow down damage. They said most had been cleared, and the remaining weren't too bad to get around.
We continued to the pond, where Abster decided to turn back. I hope it wasn't the humor! Rocksnrolls loaned her his map, which left us mapless. The group agreed to trust my memory of the area for the remainder of the hike. The breeze coming east off the pond chilled us. Though pretty, we were glad to climb up and away from it.
There was some fresh trail work from here through Branch Pond Trail. I hate to complain, but the person doing it seemed fairly inexperienced. We cleared some of the many cut branches left in the trail. It was also noted that several cuts left potentially dangerous ends of branches waiting to impale the unwary. I know that hiking is a risk, and that sticks happen in the trail, but this was some of the most truly sloppy trail work I've seen. An A for effort, but needs some experience.
We crossed some pretty streams, then reached the Branch Pond Trail. Again, I used my powers of persuasion to convince the crew to take a few further steps to reach Prospect Rock. The jeep road has seen some major work since I was last here, and a gate has been added closer to the Rock end. We lunched at the Rock, admiring the view, while Jade grew goose bumps in the chill. We returned to Branch Pond Trail and headed off down to the Billy D. (William B. Douglas Shelter). This stretch too has some new trail work - more slippery puncheons that we were quite glad to see since they kept our feet out of the muck. What happened to "wilderness area", and "no trail maintenance"? The shelter changed a lot too. A sign said that it was rebuilt in 2005. It's been jacked up, has a floor, a new sleeping platform, and I'd like to think the new roof doesn't leak.
We continued along, eventually reaching the small grown over orchard. I was glad to see the damage due to ATV's is growing out. Perhaps the gate on the jeep road prevents their access? We next reached a bend in Lye Brook, a place where I used to stop and snack with Bliz, often giving him hard boiled eggs. We stopped instead to bandage a decent wound that Rocksnrolls managed to get while stepping over a log. I cringed when I saw it because I've done the same thing in the past. It was one of those where you didn't lift a leg quite high enough when stepping over a branch and get a good dig across the shin. Ouch! Rocksnrolls, who is relatively new to the game, said this is his best hiking wound yet, and it was a good one. We cleaned him up, used gauze over the inches of missing skin, then Vetrap to hold the gauze in place, while Jade spritzed us all with mosquito repellent. Where did they come from?! Until then, it'd been a largely bug free day.
We reached the old rail road grade portion which I remembered was an indication that we were getting close to Bourne Pond. Somewhere before this was a tricky brook crossing that I'd remembered being south of Bourne Pond. It's fine in low water, and we managed with shoes on, but it's been a "boots off" wade for me a few times in the past. Lattinhill too had some memories of Bourne Pond, but didn't actually remember the pond. Here I saw another change - the shelter at Bourne Pond has been removed. It appears to have been razed. We stopped for yet more food and waved to a couple of fisherman hiking away with inner tube fishing floats strapped to their backs. I presented the options to the rest of the group - Lye Brook to Stratton Pond then back out on SPT or continue Branch Pond to AWW. I was glad everyone opted to continue on Branch Pond Trail, which is what I'd hoped for.
Lattinhill took a good fall somewhere in here, the 2nd butt plant of day for the group. I continued pointing out various things I remembered, including the portion that was reloed up and away from a beaver swamp several years ago. We wondered if it was really any drier than the old trail, after 5 days of rain! I also pointed out the remnants of some white blazes. Does anyone know when the AT/LT was last in this area? I'm guessing it must've been prior to the 80's, when it was with Stratton Pond Trail. We reached Branch Pond, where Rocksnrolls and I branched away to look at the pond, and I had yet more memories of hiking with Bliz. After regaining Branch Pond Trail, we hurried to catch Jade & Lattinhill. This was the driest, and prettiest, portion of trail of the day. I'd forgotten too about the little meadow. We finally caught up with them at AWW, glad they hadn't mistakenly taken the side trail to forest road 70. Jade informed us that she too had fallen, so the (non-denominational) trail deities got all of us today! A quick road walk back to the car finished the day.
All the trails were easily passable, with the usual southern Vermont mud. Only one or two blowdowns, easily gotten around/over. All bridges in good shape.
The usual suspects: Jade, Lattinhill, Rocksnrolls, with a cameo appearance by Abster
As we all know, the best laid plans often fall to the wayside in the face of reality. Sunday was one such day.
Revised plan: a southern VT pond loop - AWW > Stratton Pond Trail to Stratton Pond > AT/LT north to Prospect Rock > AT/LT south to Branch Pond Trail to Bourne Pond to Branch Pond > AWW to road walk to car.
This is a loop I've done several times. A favorite, one might say. For me, it was bittersweet. I haven't done a loop with these three ponds since hiking with my dog, Blizzard, whom I have since lost. It was interesting to see the numerous changes in the area since '00 or '02 - which is around when I would've last seen them.
Stratton Pond Trail was its usual wet self. I had some trouble here many, many years ago, where I fell face down across a puncheon, with my pack over my head pressing my neck on the puncheon, unable to breathe. Obviously, I somehow got out of that and lived to hike another day. Today had an approximation of that when I shows Rocksnrolls how to skate down a puncheon on one foot, then do a classic "banana peel" fall to land flat on my back with a resounding thud that Jade felt from 1/10 of a mile away. As I picked myself up - thankfully I landed on the puncheon rather than in the muck, Rocksnrolls pointed out that I'd broken the puncheon in two places. I know I've gotten out of shape but I didn't think I'd gotten that heavy!
Next, we reached the jeep road the Catamount Ski Trail follows to AWW. Jade & Rocksnrolls recognized this from our outing on Stratton Mountain this winter. We reached the side trail to the new shelter - okay, not so new anymore as it was built several years ago to replace Bigelow and Vondell which were on Stratton Pond. With only a little convincing, I talked everyone in to going to see it. It is a very nice shelter with a porch, bunks, and sleeping loft. It appears that the GMC caretaker is currently bedding down in the shelter. We saw a young man who was out for a few days. His companion shocked Jade, who hadn't heard the second voice, by dropping out of the loft.
The pair said that blow downs remain on the Lye Brook Trail between Stratton Pond & Branch Pond Trail. I believe this section was considered closed two years ago due to severe blow down damage. They said most had been cleared, and the remaining weren't too bad to get around.
We continued to the pond, where Abster decided to turn back. I hope it wasn't the humor! Rocksnrolls loaned her his map, which left us mapless. The group agreed to trust my memory of the area for the remainder of the hike. The breeze coming east off the pond chilled us. Though pretty, we were glad to climb up and away from it.
There was some fresh trail work from here through Branch Pond Trail. I hate to complain, but the person doing it seemed fairly inexperienced. We cleared some of the many cut branches left in the trail. It was also noted that several cuts left potentially dangerous ends of branches waiting to impale the unwary. I know that hiking is a risk, and that sticks happen in the trail, but this was some of the most truly sloppy trail work I've seen. An A for effort, but needs some experience.
We crossed some pretty streams, then reached the Branch Pond Trail. Again, I used my powers of persuasion to convince the crew to take a few further steps to reach Prospect Rock. The jeep road has seen some major work since I was last here, and a gate has been added closer to the Rock end. We lunched at the Rock, admiring the view, while Jade grew goose bumps in the chill. We returned to Branch Pond Trail and headed off down to the Billy D. (William B. Douglas Shelter). This stretch too has some new trail work - more slippery puncheons that we were quite glad to see since they kept our feet out of the muck. What happened to "wilderness area", and "no trail maintenance"? The shelter changed a lot too. A sign said that it was rebuilt in 2005. It's been jacked up, has a floor, a new sleeping platform, and I'd like to think the new roof doesn't leak.
We continued along, eventually reaching the small grown over orchard. I was glad to see the damage due to ATV's is growing out. Perhaps the gate on the jeep road prevents their access? We next reached a bend in Lye Brook, a place where I used to stop and snack with Bliz, often giving him hard boiled eggs. We stopped instead to bandage a decent wound that Rocksnrolls managed to get while stepping over a log. I cringed when I saw it because I've done the same thing in the past. It was one of those where you didn't lift a leg quite high enough when stepping over a branch and get a good dig across the shin. Ouch! Rocksnrolls, who is relatively new to the game, said this is his best hiking wound yet, and it was a good one. We cleaned him up, used gauze over the inches of missing skin, then Vetrap to hold the gauze in place, while Jade spritzed us all with mosquito repellent. Where did they come from?! Until then, it'd been a largely bug free day.
We reached the old rail road grade portion which I remembered was an indication that we were getting close to Bourne Pond. Somewhere before this was a tricky brook crossing that I'd remembered being south of Bourne Pond. It's fine in low water, and we managed with shoes on, but it's been a "boots off" wade for me a few times in the past. Lattinhill too had some memories of Bourne Pond, but didn't actually remember the pond. Here I saw another change - the shelter at Bourne Pond has been removed. It appears to have been razed. We stopped for yet more food and waved to a couple of fisherman hiking away with inner tube fishing floats strapped to their backs. I presented the options to the rest of the group - Lye Brook to Stratton Pond then back out on SPT or continue Branch Pond to AWW. I was glad everyone opted to continue on Branch Pond Trail, which is what I'd hoped for.
Lattinhill took a good fall somewhere in here, the 2nd butt plant of day for the group. I continued pointing out various things I remembered, including the portion that was reloed up and away from a beaver swamp several years ago. We wondered if it was really any drier than the old trail, after 5 days of rain! I also pointed out the remnants of some white blazes. Does anyone know when the AT/LT was last in this area? I'm guessing it must've been prior to the 80's, when it was with Stratton Pond Trail. We reached Branch Pond, where Rocksnrolls and I branched away to look at the pond, and I had yet more memories of hiking with Bliz. After regaining Branch Pond Trail, we hurried to catch Jade & Lattinhill. This was the driest, and prettiest, portion of trail of the day. I'd forgotten too about the little meadow. We finally caught up with them at AWW, glad they hadn't mistakenly taken the side trail to forest road 70. Jade informed us that she too had fallen, so the (non-denominational) trail deities got all of us today! A quick road walk back to the car finished the day.
All the trails were easily passable, with the usual southern Vermont mud. Only one or two blowdowns, easily gotten around/over. All bridges in good shape.
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