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[at-l] Pittsburgh in New England #4...



The last time I spoke with you, Skyline and I were moving our base of
operation to North Clarendon VT.  We stayed for eight days at the Country
Squire Motel.  It had no phone lines in the room, hence the reason I have
not emailed recently.  During this time Skyline hiked seven days from Kelley
Stand Road to Chateauguay (Shat-a-gay) Road.  I hiked with Skyline three of
those days...

Last Friday, Skyline hiked northbound from Kelley Stand Road to Old
Rootville Road.  Old Rootville is a wonderful alternative route for hiking
into Manchester.  It is 1.5 miles down Old Rootville Road from Prospect Rock
to a parking area, then another 0.6 to VT Route 11/30, then a short hitch or
walk into town.  This would be an especially good route for people that do
not wish to hitch...

Saturday, Skyline and I hiked southbound from Mad Tom Notch (USFS21) to Old
Rootville Road.  The 2.5 mile ascent of Bromley Mountain is gentle to
moderate.  The last few tenths are steep and overgrown.  The top of Bromley
is an open bald with ski lifts.  A raised observation deck offers
spectacular 360 degree views.  There is an unlocked warming hut at the base
of the deck.  The deck and the hut are available for spending the night.
Pitching a tent is also a possibility.  The trail descends down the center
of a ski slope.  It is very easy to have no idea where the trail goes
because there are no blazes.  The trail finally enters the woods, but the
lack of blazes continues, and the treadway is very rutted.  This is a very
poor situation, especially since this a very highly traveled touristy
section of the trail.  After passing VT Route 11/30, the scenario changes.
There is more proper blazing, and the treadway returns to normal.  We
stopped at Spruce Peak shelter, one of the finest I have seen anywhere along
the trail.  It is four-sided with a sliding door.  Inside is a wood burning
stove.  This is a place to be on a chilly night.  We ended our hike at Old
Rootville Road...

Sunday, Skyline hiked northbound from Mad Tom Notch to Danby-Landgrove Road
(USFS10).  I intended on hiking also, but had a tire go flat on my van as we
arrived at our start point.  I dropped off Skyline, changed the tire, and
headed for Rutland to get things fixed.  Unfortunately, nothing is open in
Rutland on Sunday...

Monday, Skyline and I hiked northbound from Danby-Landgrove Road to VT Route
140.  Our day began with a stop at Mrs. Gorp's house for a wonderful
breakfast and some good conversation.  Our late start hiking was well
rewarded with some great trail.  The whole day was mostly gentle to moderate
ascents and descents.  Much of the hike was through a wonderful pine forest.
The worst part of the day was the mosquitoes - the pesky black flies have
not been bothering us much this week.  We hiked a new relo at the end of
this hike - mostly a steep descent on a washed out treadway.  We left this
hike wondering why this relo exists...

Tuesday, Skyline hiked northbound from VT Route 140 to Cold River Road.  I
spent the day buying tires, etc...

Wednesday, Skyline and I hiked southbound from US Route 4 to Cold River
Road.  The first part of this hike is a new relo to the top of Pico.  A
maintainer explained to us that this relo was created to keep the trail on
the side of the mountain that was not going to be over developed.  The relo
is longer than the old trail, but has been lovingly created.  Skyline and I
stopped at Cooper Lodge near the top of Killington.  I don't know what I
expected, but this "Lodge" is nothing of the type.  It is merely a crappy
enclosed shelter.  We spent a little bit of time there eating lunch.  As we
continued south, the trail is very inconsistent.  There are two or three
more relos that were nicely created.  In between is some dangerous
treadway - narrow, rocks, roots, mud, drops, jumps, hand-over-hand.  We
stopped at Governor Clement shelter for a break.  This is a local party
spot, and it shows.  The last three miles were relatively level.  At one
point I forded a stream at a sedate section thinking I was being smart.  A
sign had been posted indicating that the stream was way up and fording may
be difficult.  Well, I forded the wrong stream and had to re-ford, then ford
the proper stream - three fords in one...

Thursday, Skyline hiked southbound from Chateauguay Road to US Route 4.  I
had been told that Chateauguay Road was open only to within 0.6 from the
trail.  Much to my surprise, I was able to drive right to the trail.   I did
not hike today.  After dropping off Skyline, I spent the day doing basically
nothing at all...

Friday (today), Skyline and I took a day off, moving our base of operation
to White River Junction and the Maple Leaf Motel.  This motel has a phone
line in the room, so you will be burdened with more frequent trip reports...

pittsburgh

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