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An Interesting Trail

by Brian on August 11, 2010 in Vermont

Shannon scales Sterling Pond Trail

That’s all it took. Shannon noticed an interesting-looking trail, and moments later we had parked the car and were scrambling up rocky steps to who knew what.

We actually had no intention of hiking that afternoon. Our plans only included a scenic drive through Smuggler’s Notch on our way back from a short stop in Stowe, Vermont. The Notch is a winding 2,16- foot crag cleaved in Sterling Mountain. Breathtaking views of rocky cliff walls and mountain waterfalls can be seen while threading your car through the bolder-strewn switch backs of what is now Route 108. But if you’re lucky enough to have an eagle-eyed girl in the passenger seat, you can also see the trail head to Sterling Pond leading up the mountainside.

Sterling Pond trail ended up being more of a climb than a hike, with a 1,500-foot elevation gain over the 1.1 mile path. That’s basically like walking a flight of stairs from 14^th Street in New York City to the top of the Empire State Building on 34th Street, plus a couple hundred feet. We felt surprisingly good on the ascent, though. Maybe these hikes are starting to undo the years of entropy that had turned us into large bags of jelly. One can only hope.

The actual hike was the most interesting we’ve been on during this trip. Much of the trail is a shallow brook that bubbled around rocks and over our feet as we made our way up the mountain. Countless tiny waterfalls sprang from nearby rocks and cascaded across our path. At the top, a large flat rock at the tip of Sterling Pond offered a welcome place to take in the stunning views and catch some sun–and our breath.

It’s Not a Fetish, Really

by Brian on August 6, 2010 in Vermont

A casual glance at this blog might give the impression that we have some kind of obsession with waterfalls. They have been a recurring theme lately, to be sure. That is really a function of two things: we like hiking but we also want there to be a payoff. Certainly wandering in the woods is better than a day in the office, but just seeing this isn’t usually enough reason to get us to go. Instead, we look for interesting destinations that we can’t drive to. In this part of the country, more often that not, that tends to be waterfalls. We’ve traversed ice caves and trekked to gorgeous vistas, and we hope to discover more unusual things in our travels. We gladly explore what an area has to offer. I imagine when we get out west, we will bore you with endless pictures of dry, red rocks. But until then, you’ll probably continue to see things like this . . .

Moss Glen Falls, in Stowe, Vermont, is a 125-foot waterfall that emerges from a gorge cut in the schist by Moss Glen Brook. The trail winds through spooky woods to the top of the gorge for a look at the falls from above. The hike is simple enough, but can be treacherous as slippery rocks and branches have the potential to send a careless hiker to the bottom of the gorge. Luckily, we survived the excursion and look forward to tempting fate again another day.

Although pictures are said to be worth one thousand words, even photographs are sometimes rendered speechless when trying to describe something as awesome as a powerful waterfall. In those instances, video helps, but still pales in comparison.

Chasing Waterfalls

by Brian on August 2, 2010 in Vermont

Friday morning we spent chasing waterfalls. More specifically; Lye Brook Falls in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Getting here requires a five mile round-trip hike over modestly rugged terrain, but the payoff is well worth it. Thanks to a recent storm, the falls were livelier than we expected. This must be spectacular in the spring.

Money Brook Falls

by Brian on July 26, 2010 in Massachusetts

Money Brook Falls is a 70-foot, cascading waterfall found on the Northern slope of Mount Greylock. While not as spectacular as Kaaterskill Falls in New York (possibly because we missed Money Brook’s peak runoff, which occurs in late spring), it is still well worth the effort. And it is somewhat of an effort. The hike is categorized as “strenuous” by the Massachusetts DCR because of its 200-foot altitude gain over it’s three-quarter-mile length. But the trail is only seven-tenths of a mile so tough guys like us can still hack it.

If ever we wonder why we’re doing what we’re doing, it’s because of days like these when we have the opportunity to go on great hikes in the afternoon, and then attend the symphony at night.

Conquering Moby Dick

by Brian on July 20, 2010 in Massachusetts

View from Stony Ledge

“All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby-Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.”

– Herman Melville, Moby Dick

My, oh-my, Melville must have hated Mount Greylock to have written such vitriol.* For it is rumored that the snow-covered profile of this gently sloping mountain peak provided the inspiration for his leviathan, Moby Dick. From a distance, and with enough psychotropics, you can definitely imagine the mountain as the hump of a great whale breaching the surrounding granite waves. But our objective today wasn’t to view it from a distance, it was to summit Massachusetts’ tallest peak.

Mt. Greylock as seen from Herman Melville's house

That certainly sounds impressive, and it might have been, if only we had taken the nine or so hours needed to hike the entirety of it. But we were short on time and ambition today so we packed a lunch and drove to the 3,491 foot peak. From the summit you can see several mountain ranges (the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Green Mountains) depending on which direction you look.

Stony Ledge Trail

While Greylock’s vista is admirable, the better view, in our opinion, is from the lower summit of Stony Ledge. Some 900 feet beneath its larger sister, Stony Ledge gives an excellent view of Greylock, as well as the undeveloped valley on its western slope. The hike to the ledge would have been fairly easy, but the wide trail just begged to be tackled via mountain bike, which proved to be harder than we expected. The entire trip is a hill, halfway up, and halfway down. Going down is loads of fun, but biking a mile or so straight up kicked the asses of a couple of fatties like us. Good thing we got back early enough for a nap.

(* This will wind Shannon up good, because Melville loved Mount Greylock. Heh, heh, heh, heh.)