the catskills: slide mountain & hunter mountain

07 . 25 . 2020
Slide Mountain

a sleepy 11 am start at slide mountain trail after not getting up to new york late the night before. lots of little rocks on the first bit up through the woods. gradual ascent. just hot, muggy, swampy, uphill slog. a few peeking views out to the valley. big rocks on the summit were perfect for a lunch break. slow going over the ankle breakers on the way down. no one said the downhill was easy.

6.3 mi | 1800’ elev. gain

NE115: 2/115

09 . 26 . 2021
Hunter Mountain

made an extended day trip of it, starting up becker hollow trail around noon. gradual at first but grade picks up quickly. crumbling rock slide adds to the challenge. nice herd path to a fire tower with nice views. slow going back down the same way with the scree. long drive back with a stop for beer in northern nj.

4.7 mi | 2240’ elev. gain

NE115: 6/115

mount abraham & mount ellen

10 . 11 . 2020
Mount Abraham

started up the frosty long trail from lincoln gap around 6:00 am. consistently steep and climbing the whole way up, big rocks and little rocks up to the battell shelter. took a short break for breakfast, pushed up the rock scramble to a chilly but gorgeous view from the abe summit. continued on the long trail north to mount ellen a few miles away.

Mount Ellen

saw a little more frost crossing the monroe skyline to mount ellen, the top of sugarbush ski resort. got a nice view by the chairlift but was in a hurry to turn around and head back. as usual, the downhill felt infinitely slower. was passing by a lot of hikers just starting up to abraham on the way back, got to the car around 10:45 am.

11.7 mi | 3780’ elev. gain

VT5: 3+4/5

killington

09 . 04 . 2020

began hiking up the bucklin trail around 8:30 am. nice 2 mi warmup before the roots and rocks gradually start popping up. a little bit of scrambling to get to the top. windy and at least 20° cooler at the summit than at the parking lot. went down the same way, wrapped up by 1:00 pm.

7.4 mi | 2460’ elev. gain

VT5: 2/5

mount mansfield

07 . 04 . 2020
i recently found out about hiking the high peaks in new england. today i drove up to underhill, vt and started my ascent of the sunset ridge trail around 9:30 am. steep, winding trail, turned to scrambles. 45 minutes hiking above treeline before reaching the summit. basked in the sun for a bit, at least 85° and exposed. polished off my water as i started the descent. learning to trust tired legs took even longer than crawling up the mountain. risked it scooping up some runoff water but it was cold and reviving. got back to the car around 4:50 pm.

5.1 mi | 2540’ elev. gain

VT5: 1/5