Another pollinater with population issues.
Very few bees around here. Very few.
Another pollinater with population issues.
Very few bees around here. Very few.
I'm hiking that this weekend. Parking is on the north side of Kelly Stand Road (often called Stratton-Arlington Road), and is fairly obvious when you get there. It's right where the AT/LT crosses the road. It is 12.5 miles to Goddard from there. I'm going with a couple of friends who have never hiked that section and want to stay on Glastenbury or Goddard before we head on to Rt 9, which is another 10.1 miles, on Sunday.
I live just west of Camel's Hump and the black flies seem to fading out, but a healthy crop of deer flies will provide hours of pleasure. We have been having pretty regular rain and combined with the high snow pack melt this season water on the northern LT will not be problem in the next few weeks at least. Some pretty good deluges may have caused some trail damage in spots. Last Sunday in Ripton west of Middlebury Gap on Vt 125 they got seven inches on rain in two hours washing out some roads. The bats and bees seem to be at normal numbers this season at least in the area here. Also, most planning hikes in this area realize this, but this week it has been dropping into the high 30s at elevations on the trail, so combined with the rain being prepared is important as always.
I decided to head out for the weekend on a section of the AT/LT. Began the hike at Stratford-Arlington Road and headed SOBO toward Glastenbury Mountain. It seemed that the closer I got to Glastenbury, the more bugs there were. By the time I reached the top of the mountain 12.5 miles later I was being swarmed every time I stopped by black flies, mosquitos, and even some horse flies.
I set up the Speer and MacCat Deluxe near the top of the mountain, had supper and turned in early. It was supposed to be showers and thundershowers beginning in the morning, and fortunately it held off till I'd eaten and packed up. Shortly after heading out on the 10.5 mile hike to Rt 9 east of Bennington, a heavy thunderstorm began and never slowed up at all for over five hours.
It was a great getaway weekend despite the bugs and heavy rain. Slept great in the Speer on a cool, almost chilly, night.
I started my hike at FR71. On the AT, that's about 2 miles south of Kelly Stand Rd. In terms of driving, go about a mile west of the AT crossing on Kelly Stand Road, and you come to the parking lot for the Stratton Pond Trail. About 100 yards further west is FR71 (on your left). The AT crosses FR71 about 2/3 of a mile south from Kelly Stand Rd (it's a subtle crossing, but anyone should be able to find it). I left my car there on the side of the road for a day and a half, and it was fine.
There's an excellent site on trail access in Vermont here: http://rohland.homedns.org/at/state/...0§ionID=51
Ok, I have been on Kellystand road many, many times because i have snowmobiled up there in the winter and driven up there in summer. I'm trying to pinpoint exactly where on the road you are talking about parking. I have always picked up the road from arlington, so from there how far do i have to go down the road to pick up the trail to Glastenbury? I have snowmobiled to the top before but never hiked it.
If you ever snowmobiled from Arlington over the crest at the top of the ridge, and down (east) to the point where the road up from West Wardsboro is plowed (where the truck selling coffee and soda and burgers and such is always parked), that's the parking lot where the AT crosses the road.
Hiking north the AT/LT leaves the NE corner of the parking lot and heads up Stratton Mountain. Hiking south the trail goes up the road to the west to cross the river on the bridge, then heads into the woods on the south side of the road.
~~
Allen "Monkeywrench" Freeman
NOBO 3-18-09 - 9-27-09
blog.allenf.com
[email protected]
www.allenf.com
Excellent! I know exactly where your talking about now So is it 12.5 miles from that parking lot to the top of Glastenbury or am I mistaken? What I'm trying to do is plan an overnight hike with my girlfriend and stay on top of Glastenbury. Has anyone ever had any problems with bear's up there or anything like that? I have never doen an overnight in such a secluded area and am looking for some tips on how to prepare and what not....thanks!!
http://www.conngmc.com/trailmaint.htm
Yes, from the parking lot it is about 12 miles to Glastenbury Mtn. Goddard Shelter is a couple tenths south from the summit. You could shorten the hike by a couple of miles if you started at the road crossing of Forest Service Rd 22 (?), but it's not an obvious crossing and could be a bit hard to find if you don't know it's there.
I have spent a lot of time on the section of trail between Glastenbury and the Arlington-West Wardsboro Rd trail-head as I am a member of the CT GMC and we maintain that section of trail. I have seen signs of bear in the area -- bear scat and marked trees -- but have never actually seen a bear nor ever had any problem at any of the shelters. There is a bear hunting season there so they are quite shy of people.
~~
Allen "Monkeywrench" Freeman
NOBO 3-18-09 - 9-27-09
blog.allenf.com
[email protected]
www.allenf.com
I think I might know where that crossing is on the forest service road, I'll have to go up and do some investigation of the area though. We got lost one night on that mountain in a driving snowstorm and accidentally came down a hiking trail on the snowmobiles. When we finally realized we were way off we had to turn around and try a different route, but i remember always thinking to myself that I wanted to go and hike that trail. Do you know how far it is from the Rt.9 access to the summit?
~~
Allen "Monkeywrench" Freeman
NOBO 3-18-09 - 9-27-09
blog.allenf.com
[email protected]
www.allenf.com
From the bridge next to the parking lot off Rt 9 to the fire tower on the summit it's 10.4 miles. Summit is 0.3 past Goddard shelter.