Hudson River

The Northeast U.S. had another winter for the ages.  For the Hudson Valley, February was the coldest in 81 years.  It was serious.  I'm at the point now, where I won't be sad to see it go.  As I crossed the Rip Van Winkle Bridge today, I watched the cracked ice in the Hudson flowing south.  A feeling of sadness came over me.  The beauty of frozen lakes and rivers will soon be gone.  Snow covered trees and mountains will soon be gone.  In so many ways, I find winter to be the most beautiful time of year.  In that sense, I'll be sad to see it go.

Looks like astroids

Mendon Peak

Mendon Peak is located just west of Killington and a couple miles south of Pico.  It rises enough to be one of New England's One Hundred Highest.  Mendon also happens to be the most prominent peak as viewed from Rutland.

When I was in college, my roomate would always say, "there aren't many on campus that have this view."  We could see Mohonk from our window.  I would love to sit at my desk and gaze out at the stone tower that sits a top.  Until today, it was the only mountain that I climbed that I could view from my window.  Just like then, I enjoy looking out my window at the mountains.

Looking out my window

Although I love the Adirondacks (they happen to be my favorite place in the world), they have never captured a real sense of adventure like I had when I was working on the Catskill 3500 Club peaks.  While starting out this morning, I had this sense of newness.  This sense that I was entering an unknown wilderness.  Though Mendon is trailless, there are many logging roads in the area.  I brought my compass and map and I wrote down some accounts from Peakbagger.  This would ultimately prove to be enough.

It was not easy.  I followed the Catamount Trail for about a half mile before following the logging roads.  I passed a logging camp and crossed a few brooks and picked the correct forks.  Once on the mountain, the logging roads petered out.  Fortunately, the woods were quite open.  Unfortunately, the 3 to 4 inches of crusty snow rested on top of 2 feet of snow.  When the slopes became quite steep, I did not stay on top of the snow.  I fell in above my knees.  It was not easy getting out.  More than once, I crawled out.

Logging road

Tough stuff!

At this point, the going was extremely, extremely slow.  It would take me a minute to just go 10 feet.  I started to think, "this is stupid.  It's time to throw in the towel."  Still, it was early, so I also thought, "What's the point?  I might as well rough it like this for a few hours, then turn around."

This would turn out to be a great decision.  Though it was still impossibly difficult at times, the layer of crust got thicker the higher I ascended.  Eventually, my effort led me to a somewhat broken in herd path.  This made life comparatively easy.  Mendon has a false summit (its east peak) and the herd path led straight to the col, avoiding a lot of thick spruce and fir.

After barreling my way through some thick evergreen forest on the summit, I reached the highest point.  The views from here were simply amazing.  Stratton to the south.  Killington and Little Killington to the east.  Pico to the north.  Bald Mountain and Rutland to the west.  Awesome views and totally unexpected.  At just over 3,800 feet, its summit with the small and windswept trees, had the feel of a mountain significantly higher.

Pico

Killington

Little Killington

Stratton

Bald Mountain

City of Rutland

Mt Marcy and the Adirondacks

The climb up took almost three hours.  The descent only took and hour and a half.  Snowshoeing is so much more fun going downhill!

I liked watching these little balls of snow that I kicked up while snowshoeing roll across the snow

Gile Mountain

Gile Mountain is located a few miles from the village of Norwich.  Darmouth College lies just across the river in New Hampshire.  This short and sweet hike is popular among students.  I met a girl from the school while she was on her way down.

A little more than half a mile leads to some outstanding views.  From the tower, one can see the southern Whites of New Hampshire (Moosilake) and out west to Killington and Pico.  To the south, Mt Ascutney is easily recognizable.  Someday, I will come back to take some photos of Killington in the early morning sunlight.

I never saw powerlines look so good

Now there's a choice!

Old Cabin.  Now looks like it's a party place for students

An interesting depiction of Mother Earth

Dartmouth students like great beer

Gile Fire Tower

Killington and Pico

Mt Ascutney

Afterwards, I stopped at the Norwich Inn for a beer and some Venison Chili Fries.  Set in Norwich, it dates to the late 1700s.  Apparently, President Monroe stopped by.  Even 200 years ago, I'm sure it made for a great stop.

Congregational Church in Norwich

Taftsville Covered Bridge

On my way to Norwich to hike up to Gile Mountain, I stopped by this gem of a covered bridge.  At first, I blew right by it.  The bright red colors of the bridge set against the backdrop of white snow caught my eye.  So rather than speed on past, I decided to it would be worth a stop.

This would prove to be a great choice.  The bridge is located near a pretty waterfall.  With the recent warm spell we had, much of the ice had melted.  This formed a lovely emerald green like color.  A few locals I ran into, commented that they had never seen these colors before.  This made me feel even more fortunate I had stopped.

Woodstock and Mt Tom

Woodstock, VT

In My copy of Moon Handbook to New England there are a few hikes listed near Woodstock, VT.  With the change to Daylight Savings, I decided to do a couple short hikes after work.

This would turn out to be one of the best days out in a long time.  Mt Tom rises about 500 to 700 feet above the village of Woodstock.  There is a trail that leaves the village that leads to the summit.  It gives the hiker an amazing reward for his/her effort.

Congregational Church

From the center of the village, I crossed a covered bridge which leads to the trail.  I really love covered bridges.  Vermont has many.  Though walk up is quite easy, but there are numerous switchbacks.  Many have created their own paths to avoid all these switchbacks.  The climb up is not steep at all and quite easy.  When the snow and ice are gone, it would make for a nice bike ride.

Windsor County Courthouse

I loved these sculptures. Is that the Goodyear Marshmallow Man?

Center of village

Covered Bridge

Mt Tom from the village

Although I brought my Microspikes, I did not wear them.  I kind of regretted this, though they weren't really necessary.  The trail did get a bit steep near the top and there were some railings here.  It also was a bit exposed.  On the way down I had to be quite careful.

Nice broken in trail, hardly any postholing

Though not much of a climb, there are cliffs to fall hard from

The views from the top are some of the best I've seen.  Not many picturesque villages afford people with a bird's eye view, but Woodstock does.  The views from here really are postcard picture perfect!

Center of the village

Looking down Pleasant Street

A shot of the whole village

Congregational Church and Pleasant Street

A closer look

Windsor County Courthouse

Woodstock Inn

Mt Ascutney

Congregational Church with Tom in background