[at-l] Trip report: The Coolidge Range, Vermont - June 26, 2003

[papabear.nyc at verizon.net (Papa Bear)]

On Thursday June 26, I spent my second day in the mountains of Southern Vermont doing some hiking "off the beaten path".  Last year I had hiked the Long Trail (the AT)  through this area, and just two weeks ago I had bushwhacked to Mendon Peak near Killington on a rainy and foggy day.  I wanted to spend this sunny day exploring the Killington area a bit more.

The Coolidge Range consists of the peaks of the Green Mountains roughly between Vermont Route 140 and US Route 4.  The main peaks (from north to south) are Pico Peak, Killington, Little Killington, Mendon and Shrewsbury.  Since I also wanted to hike on trails other than the LT, I chose a route starting at the Inn at the Long Trail on Route 4, following the old route of the LT (now renamed the Sherburne Pass Trail) up over Pico, then along the LT past Killington and finally onto the Shrewsbury Peak Trail over that peak and down to a road in the town of Shrewsbury.  This route also goes close to Little Killington and about a mile from Mendon, so I left open the option that I would bushwhack to those two peaks as well.

A second goal was to see if I could find the several places where the LT used to go along the east side of Mount Snowdon (a minor peak between Killington and Pico).  The trail had been moved to the west of that peak some years ago to avoid the ski trails on the east side of the range. I would also document and photograph the spot where the Mendon logging road (a steep trail at that point) intersected the LT just south of Killington.  Hopefully this might be of some help to future peak baggers who attempted Mendon from this direction.

I had stayed over at Mrs. Gorp's house and after breakfast we got an early start.  She would not be hiking today but offered to shuttle me to the start and finish.  She decided to save time (and to allow her to hang out at her pool all afternoon) by spotting her Jeep at the end of the trek, and then drop me at the start on Route 4.  So off we went, she in her Volvo, me in her Jeep through back roads to the old CCC road in the town of Shrewsbury to drop the Jeep.  We found the parking lot which seemed to be the trailhead, and there was a trail there, but there were no blazes.  Well, how far away could the real trail be if this wasn't it?  Surely I would find the Jeep quickly if I ended up a short distance up or down this dirt road.  I was a bit skeptical of this plan, but since this was the only place that looked like a trailhead, we left the Jeep and circled around to the east of the mountains and took Route 100 up to Route 4, and thence to the Sherburne Pass trailhead by the Inn at the Long Trail.  This turned out to be much shorter and quicker than driving back up the west side of the mountains through Rutland.

Pico Peak

And so after taking a few pictures, I got started up the trail at about 10 minutes before 8.  The temperatures were already in the high 70s at this point (even here at around 2200') so I could expect a hot day ahead of me.  The trail is initially fairly easy through mixed hardwoods gradually changing to the usual boreal forest of spruce and fir.  After about a mile, I reached Sink Hole Brook which the book described as "a permanent stream which disappears into a sink hole".  Well, it was not that permanent, since the hole was obvious but there was practically no flow of water.  I continued on and passed a ski trail which headed up to Pico Peak as the trail skirted to the east of the peak.  The trail was steep in sections but was generally very nice.  I reached the old Pico Camp shelter just before 9:00 AM so I had made good time: 2.5 miles and 1330' of elevation in an hour and 10 minutes.  

The shelter is an old one which sees much less use than formerly since the LT was rerouted away from this route several years ago.  It is enclosed, having windows and a door, but was not in the greatest of condition.  I dropped my pack here and after a brief rest, headed up to the peak via the spur trail.  I had just hiked this peak 2 weeks ago but I was looking forward to much better views today.  This is quite a steep trail, rising almost 500' in a little more that .3 miles.  The spur trail crosses a pipeline cut which affords good views of Snowdon and Killington to the south .

Upon reaching the summit area, you cross a ski trail, a maintenance road and then come upon the warming hut and the chair lift terminus building.  These structures, together with the  myriad of pipes they use for snow making were more than a little bit jarring.  The spur trail actually goes right over the porch of the warming hut and the actual summit is a pile of rocks right next to some ugly water pipes sticking out of the ground.  The view today was quite a contrast to the fog and rain I experienced on my last visit here, but the bugs started swarming as soon as I stopped, so I took a few pictures but did not tarry.

The spur trail took about 15 minutes both going up and coming down. It was the kind of steep trail where you could not really gain any speed going down vs. going up.  I reached Pico Camp, picked up my pack and set off the short distance to Jungle Junction where this trail ends where it meets the (new route of the) LT.  The name comes from the fact that this area was a "jungle" of blowdowns following the famous 1938 hurricane (the Portland Gale).  In fact Earl Shafer writes that there was virtually no trail here and for some miles to the east of Sherburne Pass when he made his thru-hike in 1948, ten years after that storm!  He referred to this section as the "missing link".  Today there is no sign of this devastation.  How nature renews itself!

Killington

I was now on the "official" Long Trail (AT).  Counting today's trek, I have hiked this section twice northbound and twice southbound in the space of one year.  Ironically it feels like you are going upward whichever direction you go.  The trail skirts Snowdon Peak and the map shows the old route went along the east side of that peak from the col at around 3450' all the way to Cooper Lodge.  Well, try as I might I could find no remnant of this trail at all.  Some day I must go down from Killington to Snowdon along the ski trails and try to see what I can find.  I reached Cooper Lodge around 11.  I stopped here for a rest and to rev up my energy before climbing the steep spur trail to the top of Killington.

This spur trail rises something over 300' in about .2 miles and involves several rock scrambles. When I reached the top on this hot sunny day, I felt literally exhausted from the climb.  As you near the top the views get wider and broader, and when you reach the summit, the roof of Cooper Lodge is visible as a tiny speck below.  There are good views in all directions and this is perhaps the only spot where you can see the complete network of ski trails connecting Killington, Snowdon and Pico Peaks.  But once again the views were accompanied by a swarm of black flies, so after taking a few pictures I headed down again to Cooper Lodge.

Once I was down again at the lodge, I took another break and had my lunch.  It was around 11:30 and the day was just half done so I felt pretty good.  I was however slowing down as the day wore on - the heat was definitely having an affect on my hiking.

Little Kinnington and Mendon

My next task was to continue south on the LT and spot the Mendon logging road which comes up and intersects the LT a short distance from Cooper Lodge.  I timed my walking and in just 6 minutes I found the spot.  I would estimate it lies between .2 and .3 miles down the trail from Cooper Lodge and about 50' of elevation above the lodge, at about 3950'.   This logging road is just a trail at this point, hardly a road, and can be seen going down at about a right angle to the LT. It also continues up on the other side but is somewhat more obscure on that side.  There were several small tree limbs lying across the entrance on the downward side as if some trail maintainer had put them there to make sure no one would confuse this trail with the LT.  There were several stones on the side at this point, and I added a couple more, but it is hardly what you would call a cairn.  The tree to the north of the junction has a white blaze on it's south facing side. I took several pictures to document the spot, but to tell the truth it looks like a million other places.  But I saw no other places either before or after which resembled a trail going down, so you should find this intersection if you look carefully.

I was considering another bushwhack to Mendon today, but not by this route.  I had done the bushwhack two weeks ago from this logging road, starting from the bottom where it originates at Brewers Corner.  My route that day started about a mile further down the logging road from where I was now. Today's attempt was to be from Little Killington, which was about a mile further south along the LT.

This section of the LT has very little elevation gain or loss for more than a mile from the Cooper Lodge to Little Killington.  The trail skirts little Killington a short distance to the east and I was on the lookout for an approach to that peak that was not too thick.   As I reached the height of land, it looked very thick and the day was getting rather hot so I did not relish the thought of putting on long pants and long sleeves to do a bushwhack.  I went a little past the height-of-land and I think the best approach would be from a point a little past the high point where the trees seemed to thin out in the direction of the Little Killington peak.  The thickness of the brush together with the heat and my waning energy level convinced me to give up the idea and I went on down the trail.  It turns out this was a very sound decision.

Shrewsbury Peak

The Shrewsbury Peak Trail terminates at the Long Trail 1.6 miles south of Cooper Lodge, about .4 miles past the height-of-land at Little Killington.  I think the upper part of this trail was at one point an old route of the LT, but it's always difficult to look at an old map, and then try to correlate what the map shows with what's on the ground.  Once trails are rerouted, old sections seem to disappear without a trace in a very few years.  I took a left onto this trail and very soon I was in a very lovely area falling gently from the LT intersection at about 3580' and heading north for about .4 miles and then swinging south and arriving at a low point (around 3100') in another .4 miles.  It was clear from the state of the tail, and the few blowdowns that were not cleared that this was a much less traveled trail.  This was a very good thing in my opinion. I was getting rather tired and my water was running low so I took a long break here and had some energy food (M&Ms) to recharge my batteries a bit.

The trail climbs gradually through pleasant woods for another 1.4 miles ultimately reaching a height of 3720' at the peak, about 600' above the low point.  Normally this type of slope would be no problem and I would make good time, but today, with my water virtually gone it was tough going.  I have know this feeling before - in doing long training runs for marathon preparation on hot summer days, some times you just run out of steam - and this was my feeling at this point.  There is a real danger of dehydration and heat stroke and so I took it very easy and rested frequently.  At this point I knew that if I had attempted the Mendon bushwhack it would have been a disaster!  I seldom run out of water but on a hot humid day like today one must just plan for more.  I was reminded by Mrs. Gorp that night that I could have replenished my water at the warming hut on Killington, but at that point I wasn't thinking I would have a problems, and besides the bugs chased me off that peak.  Live and learn.

I arrived at the summit and was disappointed since there were no views and all you could see were some recent blowdowns around the summit area.  I continued a short distance and to my surprise there was a sign pointing down to the left to a shelter.  I didn't check if there really was a shelter there and I later learned that this was the Black Swamp Trail, an alternate route to the peak from the southeast. (According to the book, the shelter is a log lean-to called the Shrewsbury Peak Shelter, about .3 miles down from the peak.)  But just after this trail intersection, the trail started up again and there was the true summit before me, a rocky outcrop with nice views in several directions! This was more like it.  If you approach this peak from the north, remember it's the second peak that's the real one.  But the bugs knew this too, and they were there waiting to swarm as soon as I stopped.  They must like the views since they were all here, and not at the false peak, even though that peak was at nearly the same elevation.

It was all down hill from here (well, almost) so I figured I was home free.  The trail down on this side of Shrewsbury was considerably steeper that the approach I had taken from the north.  I'm glad I did this from the direction I did.  The elevation dropped about 1300' in 1.3 miles.  I reached a low point before the last obstacle - Russell Hill - a small knob rising about 150' from this low point.  I took a rest here for this little "Matahorn" and sat down on a log next to some shrubs.  When I got going again my legs itched like hell where I was sitting.  I must have sat on some kind of stinging nettle.  I was hot and sweaty, my legs itched to the point of pain and I had to climb this freaking monster of a mountain!  

I got hold of myself and plodded on up this tiny monster and was delighted to find another shelter just at the top. This had a sign identifying it as the Russell Hill Shelter.  The trail down was very short and suddenly I saw an old well and a chimney which told me I had made it.  This was the trailhead we had scouted that morning.  And blazes or no blazes, I was done and there was the Jeep.

But even this ending to the journey was not that neat and clean.  I managed to get lost twice on the back roads trying to make my way back to Wallingford, but with the help of the DeLorne Atlas, I eventually did make it and replenished myself with the carefully contrived sequence of nourishments:  water, then juice, then beer, then hot dogs.

As I write this a couple of days later, I have 3 bug bites on my legs and probably 3 on my neck, so I did not go totally unscathed.  Still I had a great couple of days of hiking in a beautiful section of Vermont.

Miles hiked: 12.0, elevation gain: 3560'.

Pictures from this hike are up in the Backcountry.net gallery: http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_coolidge 

Pb
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.hack.net/pipermail/at-l/attachments/20030629/09c20de3/attachment.htm