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PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:09 pm
by kozman18
That's the best loop on the mountain. Nice views, some up and down. If you want to make it longer, start lower on the Forest City (there's a pullover below the main parking lot for Burrows). Hike the Forest City to the junction with the LT, etc. Take the Burrows down as planned, and then the connector down to the Forest City, and then back to the car. Adds a couple of miles to the loop.

The only other option that might lengthen the hike is to start on the other side of the mountain on the Monroe Trail. Hike it to the Alpine, then take the Alpine to the LT north (you get to see the wing of the downed airplane from the 40's), then to the summit. Come back down the LT to the intersection with the Dean, and then hang a left on the Dean to Monroe, and then down to the start. Also a nice loop, but the views aren't as good as your original route. Plus, they don't plow to the higher parking lot, so you need to schlep the road for a bit.

The snow has been great on these trails lately. Have fun.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:09 am
by jrbrenvt
The section along the brook between the lower and upper parking lots on the Huntington side is one of my favorite stretches of trail in Vermont (I like to listen to brooks). Very nice cascades where the forest city and the connector meet. Although this brook may be freezing soon.

I agree with doing the same loop from the east side. You can do from the winter parking lot up Monroe, the veer left on the Dean trail to wind gap, then take the long trail to the summit, traverse down to the clearing 0.3 miles to the north, then descend the Monroe trail. Or reverse the process. That loop is about 7.9 miles.

Another loop could be to go up Burrows to LT junction, then summit and return to the clearing 0.3 miles north of the summit. Then descend Monroe to the junction with the Dean trail. Then take the Dean trail to wind gap (reclimb ~500' vertical), then take the LT south for about a quarter mile where you find the Forest City Trail junction. Descend Forest City to you car. Ofcourse you do not get the LT south of the summit which has some of the most interesting sections of trail on Camel's hump, but its an option nonetheless.

And ofcourse there is always the option of adding Ethan Allen summit to the trip if you are at wind gap. Although in winter you likely will have to break trail, and the LT is hard to follow in winter. I tried this once it winter and aborted since it was late and I lost the trail. In summer it is a straight forward ~2 mile RT and ~1000' vertical addition to the trip.

I see I am too late to help you for Saturday, but thought I would post this stuff anyway. I hope your hike went well.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:18 pm
by kozman18
I know the exact spot where you had trouble. The trail markers are painted on the rock -- useless in the winter. If the trail isn't packed, and if you haven't been that way before, it's easy to get off-trail. You still had a bit of a trek to the summit, so you made the right choice to turn around.

Still, it beats watching TV.