Back with more hiking (VT Rt. 140 to USFS 10)

(Copyright 2010, Green Mountain Club)

 

 

 

Hi guys! I guess it's been a while, but I got a little busy, and wanted to post sections up in proper order. So what happened is this: I did section 4 real quick after class one day (Constitution day, actually), remembered the section and decided to save the other half of it (Section 7) for a few weeks until my girlfriend made it up. Then we would hike the 13 miles together during peak leaf season. Both hikes start at a road, go to Little Rock Pond, take the loop around the pond, and then go back to my car.

The first section, which was only 5 miles out and back, was  very easy. See for yourself on the map. Almost table-flat. It was a really pretty hike, though, particularly the lake, so I knew that I had to save the connecting hike for 2 weeks.

 

Fast forward two weeks...my girlfriend is up to visit and leaf-peep. We got kind of a late start on the hike (I think we started around 11), packing sandwiches and GORP for an even later lunch. We also started at a parking lot that cut off .4 miles. Having done it before, I'm fine with this. So up White Rock Mountain we went. We got to the White Rocks, a creepy place where people have built hundreds of cairns.

 

 

 

We then did something completely foreign to me- we hiked .2 miles off the trail (and back downhill) to a vista. It was probably worth it. We had pretty good weather all day, and avoided the rain we had a chance of getting. It had rained the night before, though, so a lot of the trail was pond-like after we got out of the high spruce/fir forests.

 

We finally go to the Pond around 2:30, scrambled up a rock that had some great views, and tucked into some grilled avocado sandwiches. It was a pretty good way to spend an afternoon. We kind of had to rush back on the 2nd half to beat sundown, but overall it was an amazing hike.




One thing I particularly enjoyed about the hike (besides the girlfriend) was seeing what a difference 2 weeks makes on a trail. The idea of being in the same place two different times is kind of foreign to thru-hikers, at least, and I don't remember what the air smelled like or how the breeze felt 4 years ago when I was doing that section.

More Pictures:

 

(compare/constrast:)

Pictures of the same spots from the AT 4 years ago:

I don't have my journal from the AT with me, but what I remember about this section was being creeped out by the White Rocks, and asking the caretaker at the Little Rock Pond shelter where I stayed one night what she thought of Joe Biden (she was from Delaware and it was election season 2008).

 

GPS Routes:

Rt. 140 to Little Rock Pond
USFS to Little Rock Pond