Elevation: 2,393 ft. (overall) 2,691 ft. (total)
Time: 3:00 (Summit) 4:57 (Total)
Trails: Bucklin Trail, Long Trail, Killington Spur
For peak #57 within a year, it was time to head back to Vermont to hike Killington Peak. My plan was to climb the Bucklin Trail from the western side of the mountain. I got to the trail head early in the morning and was the first car in the parking lot. After gearing up, I headed out the trail which starts off quite wide and nearly flat. A good way to get warmed up on a cool morning. There is a nice bridge a short distance up the trail for the first crossing of Brewers Brook. After this, the trail stays on an old woods road before going uphill on the left for a while to avoid some washed out banks of the brook. Things stay easy while you eventually work back down to the woods road and then do the second crossing of the brook on another nice bridge.
Following an old woods road
After this, the trail stays gentle and on old woods roads. There are a few wet spots along the trail with some very small brooks that you can mostly just step over. Getting further up into the valley, the trail eventually turns off to the right and leaves the woods road at a hump of dirt to help indicate the turn. From here, the climb is pretty steady all the way up to the Long Trail. To start, you work along a side hill while climbing. Eventually the trail levels out some before turning to the right and going mostly straight up to the ridge. Even going straight to the ridge, the trail doesn't get too steep and keeps good footing. Being the first person up the trail this morning after some fresh snow, I was able to see all the fresh animal tracks. This included some from a small rodent the wandered through the snow making a maze of paths along the trail.
Climbing up towards the Long Trail
Once up to the Long Trail, it's a relatively short and easy hike to Cooper Lodge. There was some ice along the route, but it was easy to go over. I checked out Cooper Lodge while there. It has a few bunks and a table inside of it. Windows along the front are open, but not much snow had blown in yet.
Cooper Lodge
The Killington Spur to the summit is just past the lodge and goes to the left from the trail. The spur gets steep pretty quickly and is easily the rockiest part of this hike. The rocks all provided good footing and it wasn't that hard to climb up. This is probably helped by how short it is. The hardest part today was the last push as I came out of the trees. There was more snow that had accumulated here, which made finding your footing more important.
Killington Spur
The summit has a small open area on some exposed rocks. Just beyond that is also some radio towers and small buildings. I went towards these and found a place out of the wind that allowed me to get dry layers on. Around the towers is a small open area which provides nice views to the east that are blocked by the trees on the actual summit. On the summit you get nice views in almost all directions. It was a bit windy today, but with good gear it was still quite nice. The wind was averaging 11 mph and gusting to 17 mph. This made the 11 degree summit temperature actually feel like -4 degrees. I was surprised at how many people were using the ski area today as trails had just opened and not all of them were in use yet. But I guess the skiers were just anxious to start off another season.
Summit View of Mendon Peak
Summit View of Pico Peak
Summit View to the east
One of the towers at the summit
I hiked down the same route that I came up. Just after leaving the summit I saw my first hiker of the day. I will admit, it's always nice having the summit to yourself. As I continued down, I ran into more hikers. Probably around 15-20 for the day total. One group also had a few dogs that were quite friendly. The hike down and back to the car went quick and easy. Once back down onto the old woods roads I took off my microspikes as the footing wasn't slippery any more. I was back to the car and changed early enough that I could take a longer drive home using a more scenic route also with a stop in Rutland.
Brewers Brook crossing
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
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