Date: 2015-07-03
From: Sherburne Pass

To: Killington Peak
Miles today: 8.2
Weather: moderate rain

Today was out second assault on Killington (the highest mountain in Vermont on the AT). Not that out first effort yesterday was unsuccessful, but it provided an interesting opportunity. Here's an explanation: We're doing a thru-hike of the AT, meaning that we plan to hike all the way from Springer Mtn. in GA to Mt. Katahdin in ME in one year. But we don't care if some days we hike northbound (NoBo) and some days we hike southbound (SoBo) as long as we hike the entire trail. Yesterday, we hiked NoBo from VT 103 to Killington Peak, ate lunch at the restaurant near the summit, and then took a gondola ride down the mountain. Then today, we started at a trail crossing north of Killington and hiked SoBo to the same point on the trail (Killington Peak), stopped at the same place for lunch and then rode the gondola down the mountain again. So now we've completed two sections of the trail, and the only downside is that we had to climb up a very high mountain twice - once NoBo and then again SoBo. Sorry for the long explanation, but it can be hard to understand why we climbed the same mountain twice. In fact it would have made more sense to ride the gondola up both times and hike down the mountain twice, once to the south and once to the north. But that didn't work out with our shuttle drivers. Typically, I'm the slowest (it comes with being the oldest) hiker in our group. Sometimes we all hike together, but it's not unusual for Spartacus and Focus to move ahead, especially in the AM. Today, after we finished the initial part of our hike and started up Pico Peak, Spartacus and Focus took off up the hill and we didn't see them again until we were near the top of Killington. Focus, who lives in France half the year and hikes in the Alps, and who is a veteran marathoner and biker, apparently turned on the afterburner and literally ran up much of the mountain. Spartacus can easily outpace Princess and I, but it seems that he was no match for Focus with an open throttle. As I mentioned yesterday, the last 0.2 mile of the Killington climb is the toughest. Most of that last part is scaling some very difficult rocks. It's mostly hands and feet, poles get in the way. Certainly good practice for the upcoming White Mountains. At the top of the rock chimney is a rock plateau and the view opens up to all of the surrounding mountains. It's worth the climb. Today we could see all the way to Mt. Washington in NH. There appears to be a weather station and communication antennas at the top. From there we climbed down about 0.1 mile to the ski lodge. Lunch at the lodge (at the top of the hill) was great again, and we noticed that it was much busier than yesterday, probably due to the upcoming 4th of July weekend. Most of the people in the lodge were mountain bikers. I hadn't realized that the ski resorts have found a use for their trails in the summer months. As we rode down in the gondola, we saw that each of the cars going up were carrying 2 mountain bikes hooked in the back. And there was a line of mountain bikers queued up at the bottom to take the lift up the hill. And there were even some "mountain" Segways. Later this evening we had dinner at the Irish pub here in the Inn at Long Trail. And tonight there was music. Such a shame that hiker midnight comes so early and we retired to our rooms before 9. Perhaps I'll get a second wind and sneak down for an Irish coffee before the evening is done?