Thursday: Okemo via the Healdville Trail. Nice soft trail, well maintained. Hazy view from the fire tower, but still a good breeze to cool off with. About 3 miles each way and 2000' of elevation give or take a few.
Friday: Burke via the 'Red Trail' (from the NW). Again a very nice well maintained trail. Another 6 miler with about 1800' of ascent. We actually met a bunch of kids who were doing trail work, way to go guys! Again the summit was hazy, but the fire tower offered some breeze. Nice to have Kerry along for this one. Also, there is a false summit. When you get to the 2nd lean-to you still have .25 miles to go. Beware of the ridiculous maze of trails at the 2nd summit. If you bail out to the road, the approach is much easier. Actually the tower is not the summit, it is yet another 100' to the true top.
Saturday: late b'fast and Vermont Brew fest. Not bad for free beer!
Some really good stuff, check out Lawsons, and hopefully coming soon, Pioneer in Massachusetts! Sunday: Ascutney. This time we were joined by Whichway, our 'local' guide. We went up the Weathersfield trail. One more time with the 6 mile / 2000' theme! The falls were almost dry, but at least there was no mud. 3rd fire tower of the weekend. Best views yet. NH, NY clearly visible along with a ton of VT peaks. Again numerous false summits. This time the fire tower rules. We saw people getting ready to hang glide, but they hadn't taken off yet. Those guys are monsters, the glider weighs 65 pounds and they have 35 pounds of other gear they were carrying!
Of note: Hundreds of Dragon Flies on all 3 summits. That was a new sight for me. Anyone know why?
