Summer Vacation!

Wait, What?!? Either this post is rather late… or I was. As it turns out the latter is true. Finally got my act together and took a little time off. As it turns out I couldn’t even get that quite right and in the end had only a handful of days to string together. I guess you take what you can get. With time short I had to keep a careful eye on the weather maps. While things looked good for a day or two here or there I was aiming for 3 or 4 days to string together so I tried to put an agenda together to maximize the sun wherever I could find it.
Snowy mountain firetower peaks out above the trees
First stop was a relatively familiar spot in the Adirondacks. One of the few firetower peaks I had yet to hike was Snowy mountain so I made a bee line for this peak on the first morning. As it turns out I got a whole variety of weather in a single hike… but it was still an enjoyable climb. The first part is relatively mellow and I enjoyed the fall colours with sun and occasional rain coming through the trees. As I got higher up the trail the rain changed to snow and the trail turned into a running stream. Snowy would live up to her namesake and before long I was climbing in wintry conditions. The snow was pretty wet though as – at +4C – it was too warm to really build up much. That said it made the trail pretty wet so I managed to have pretty wet feet. Summit time was nice though there was a pretty stiff breeze blowing so I limited my time in the tower and stuck more to the open balcony where the fire wardens cabin would have stood. Soon enough I made my descent down the soggy trail. Must say I was pretty pleased with the performance of my Salomon GA hiking boots. They got pretty wet but – as there’s not much to them – they were dry again in a few steps so wet feet wasn’t as big a problem as I’d suspect. Add to that, after several long hikes I felt no immediate need to rip them off my feet as I returned to the car… they’re just that darn comfortable!
Summit views down into the fall
From the base of the mountain, once I’d changed into dry gear and spread my wet cloths out in the car to maximize drying potential I surveyed my options. With rainy weather covering the Adirondacks I pointed myself south to Massachusetts. Spent a dry(ish) night camping in Vermont and woke to a little rain but nothing too serious. Popped across the border and started to hike up Greylock. It’s the high point in Massachusetts (~3600ft) and a nice state park. I opted to take the Appalachian trail to the summit but alas, with the grey clouds meant I would be hiking in fog for the rest of the day. The summit offered no views and I quickly turned and headed back down. As is often the case, the sun came out as I got back to the car. While this is often a bit aggravating, today it was no big deal. Once cleaned up from my hike I jumped in the car and drove back up Greylock on its parkway style road! The summit now offered beautiful evening views and – because of the cooler temps and the rainy morning I had it mostly to myself. Grabbed a few shots and checked out the summit tower more closely this time before making my way back off the mountain. Greylock Park, which surrounds the mountain, definitely has a lot of options for hiking and camping and the road to the summit looks to offer an excellent (and challenging) bike ride so I may have to come back.
Greylock summit in view
Greylock Memorial tower
Had good luck with my camping spot in Vermont so another short hop back across the border and I was set up again looking forward to a clear night. Of course clear at this time of year means big high pressure system… and that means coooold. Woke to temperatures of about -8C. Wasn’t really expecting it to be that cold and – while warm in my sleeping bag – I didn’t really use my head in getting set for the day. Ran around in all directions scrambling to get things set for the day as I shivered in light layers. Meanwhile, perfectly warm jackets and toques sat unused in my car. Brain must have been frozen as I clearly wasn’t thinking. Still, in spite of my blunderous start to the day I finally got things together and headed up Equinox mountain under blinding sunshine. The steep track certainly warmed me up and for the most part my early start meant I only had a few dog walkers near the trailhead and then saw no one else until I was almost down. The hike was nice though the summit reminded me that – unlike the Adirondacks – most normal mountains have a plethora of radio towers on the summits. There was alos a toll road up this peak but I managed to enjoy the summit buildings before the road opened and just ducked back down the trail as the first cars of the day pulled in. It was a good hike though and a beautiful day.
Fall colours on the Burr-Burton trail - the sun belies the temperature
A reminder that the toll road at Equinox summit has been here a while
Back at the car, I looked at the weather map and realized I was now hooped. Rain looked to be heading everywhere over the northeast and there was nowhere to hide for the next couple of days. To that end I took a leisurely drive up the spine of Vermont before making the drive for home. It was certainly interesting to see the after effects of hurricane Irene in another location (as opposed to the Keene valley in NY). The White river valley was also hit hard in that storm with a lot of flooding and damage to houses in the valleys as the water rose. While most of the highway structures have been replaced I was shocked to see so many houses damaged beyond repair and abandoned by their owners. Seems strange to me that more than a year later these buildings lie exactly where Irene dropped them with no efforts to demolish and remove the carcasses.
Post hurricane Irene (nearly 13 months ago!) this house still sits derilict in (what was) the river...
So, even if I didn’t get a full week on the trails, it was a nice little diversion. Summer vacation at this time of year does have its perks. No heat, no humidity and no bugs... so it's got that going for it. Perhaps there will be a few more chances to get away this fall before winter arrives in force.