Volume 66, Number 1 Killington Section, Green Mountain Club March 2013

Transcription

1 Volume 66, Number 1 Killington Section, Green Mountain Club March 2013 The Belden Falls bridge at the head of Otter Creek Gorge on the Trails Around Middlebury. Sue Thomas, Allison Henry and Viv Bebee, January 26. Shadows below the bridge The Great 2013 Wiener Roast, Half Moon Pond. Clockwise Jeremy a friend of Larry s, Viv, Roma, Sue, Steve and Barbara and Roma s son Steve. His wife Cathy is standing behind, February 10.

2 Killington Section Directors: Term expiration 2013 Vivian Bebee Tom Copps Steve Williams Term expiration 2014 Dave Coppock Allison Henry* Sue Thomas* Term expiration 2015 Hilary Coolidge Barry Griffith Gerry Martin* *Second consecutive 3-year term. Not eligible for re-election. Killington Section Officers: Steve Williams President Barry Griffith Vice President Allison Henry Secretary Gerry Martin Treasurer Committee Chairs: Bob Perkins Sue Thomas Herb Ogden Wayne Krevetski History Outings Trails & Shelters Trails & Shelters Bald Mountain, Mendon, December 29 Chris Bragg and Larry Walter shoeing through 18 inches of fresh snow Bald Mountain, North Vista Delegates to GMC Board: Allison Henry Director Hilary Coolidge Alternate Smoke & Blazes: Vivian Bebee Larry Walter Tom Copps Web Site: Deborah Waggett Editor Assistant Editor Photo Editor Web Master Contact Information Web Site Vivian Bebee 14 Belmont Avenue, Rutland, VT 05701, , Hilary Coolidge PO Box 705, Proctor, VT 05765, , Dave Coppock 21 Engrem Avenue, Rutland, VT 05701, , Tom Copps 78 North Main Street, #Apt. 3, Rutland, VT 05701, , Barry Griffith 68 Griffith Road, Shrewsbury, VT 05738, , Allison Henry 19 Hillside Road, Rutland, VT 05701, , Wayne Krevetski 22 Roberts Avenue, Rutland, VT 05701, , Gerry Martin 998 Lincoln Hill Road, Shrewsbury, VT 05738, , Herbert Ogden 214 South End Road, Mount Tabor, VT , , Bob Perkins 6 Rachel Drive, Rutland, VT 05701, 773-0l84, RobertPerkins@alumni.UVM.edu Sue Thomas 27 Clinton Avenue, Rutland, VT 05701, Deborah Waggett 21 Academy Street, Fair Haven, VT 05743, , vtrocks@gmail.com Steve Williams 682 VT Route 30, West Pawlet, VT 05775, , voorburg00@comcast.net 2

3 This n That EDITOR S NOTE: IF YOU WOULD RATHER RECEIVE SMOKE & BLAZES BY , PLEASE CONTACT ME at vlb@sover.net. THANKS April 6, Spring Forum for Volunteers, GMC, Waterbury Center (see Long Trail News for details. Lunch will be provided, so RSVP Mari Zagarins at mzagarins@greenmountainclub.org or (802) by March 29. April 13, 6:00 p.m., Killington Section annual meeting at Godnick Center, Deer Street in Rutland City (pot luck supper, bring dish to share) May 3 and 4, Eastern Mountain Sports Club Day Sale June 7 and 8, GMC s 103 rd annual meeting, Stratton Mountain Resort, Stratton (see Long Trail News or GMC website at for details of scheduled events) PUZZLE QUESTION: The December 2012 issue of Smoke & Blazes contained a picture error. Can you find it? The first person to contact the editor with the correct answer will be noted in the next issue, along with the correct answer. Dogs on the Trail: Guidelines for Safety of Dogs and Humans on Group Hikes, by Arya! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Arya (trail name: Bigfoot) and I am a four-year-old, 99 pound Leonberger. I have been on several Killington Section hikes in years past. I have also hiked with other groups of family and friends, and I have even section-hiked most of the Long Trail from Kelley Stand Road through Route 4 with my human, Sneakers (aka Amanda S.) and friend Landshark (aka Allison Henry). I am an extremely well-mannered, very gorgeous therapy dog, and from other hikers' reactions, I know most folks love me. However, even a superior being such as myself can recognize a few guidelines that our humans need to follow on Killington Section hikes and group outings, in general, for everyone's enjoyment, comfort and, above all, safety. Call the leader first! Make sure I am welcome (some areas don't even allow dogs). Make an educated decision about whether or not a particular hike is safe for me. Will the weather be very hot or very cold? Deep snow? Crust that will hurt my paws? Will there be a road walk near traffic? Are there ledges or cliffs? Can I handle the hike distance? Will there be partially frozen ponds, lakes or rivers just off the trail that I might mistake for solidly frozen areas? Keep me under control at all times. I remember having fun chasing a weird animal with quills--i don't know why that was a bad idea! At snack and lunch breaks especially, I need to be leashed and stay with my human so no one will accuse me of begging or theft of food. When on snowshoe or ski trips, I should walk with my human also. Some dogs like to step on people's skis or snowshoes, which is a safety hazard as it can cause someone to fall. I might need my own car when carpooling for hikes. I love to climb all over vehicles and rub my fur on everything, but not everyone appreciates it when I do this. It might be better to leave me home if the hike leaders plan on car spotting this is a good thing to ask about when calling the leader for details about the hike. At the very least, my human's car should be left at the END of the hike, so I can be shuttled in someone else's car before the hike, when I am probably a little less muddy and wet. This is also important because I have trained my human to have treats for me in her car! Allison keeps poking me with her nose as I type this she wants me to add something. She says that more information about hiking with dogs can be found at the Green Mountain Club's website, Their main guidelines include: be considerate and leash your dog near crowds, on summits and at campsites, or anytime on request; and remove dog waste from the trail. They even have several videos on Youtube about this topic. Personally, I have found Youtube to be overrun with cat videos. 3

4 Outing Reports SHAW MOUNTAIN, BENSON, December 1, 2012, Larry Walter, leader After some weather-related soul searching at the park, we decided to give this one a try. Good thing we decided to go, since Lisa and Patches were waiting for us at the trail head. Many thanks to Barry and Barb for giving the leader and others a ride to and from. We had about two inches of fresh snow on the ground. Just enough to make things pretty, but not enough to turn the hike into a slog. Someone takes pretty good care of the trail, but we noted that the bridge over the brook (and a beautiful wetland) will need some new surface planking before too long. Shortly thereafter, the trail forks onto the loop. We hung a right and followed some other footprints up to the summit where we had a quick lunch (it was a little nippy) and continued our circuit. Just a warning: Viv and I had to put up with a pretty healthy tick population at the same lunch site, a couple weeks earlier. Towards the end of the loop, we crossed the path of a brightly appointed hunter (blackpowder season). We met the same fellow at the cars and had a nice conversation before loading up all eight souls for the return trip. It would be worth looking into the possibility of leading a canoe trip into the same wetland as listed above. I ll try to remember to bring a can of blue paint to freshen up things on the trail the next time around. BUCKLIN TRAIL, MENDON, December 22, 2012, Sue Thomas, leader It was December I had not sent the last Christmas card, wrapped the first gift, or hung a single ornament... so where was I? Out in the woods, of course! New snow set a holiday mood and gave the snow tires a workout on the Wheelerville Road, where we found the Brewers Corners parking lot unplowed, but useable. There s nothing like the woods right after a fresh snowfall to make you forget chores left undone. Besides, isn t that what elves are for? So we happily headed up the trail, enjoying the trees dusted white and the ice-lined brook. One of our goals was to check out the new bridge, built in the Fall to replace the one deemed unsafe after Tropical Storm Irene. It was duly admired, but from now on the real sight to see will be the thing that isn t there namely the trail. A huge chunk of it was eaten up by Irene trees, rocks, blazes and all. It s quite dramatic. She was nothing if not thorough. So much of our route was also new, moved to higher ground in case greedy Irene comes back for seconds. We ate our lunch at the big bridge, which apparently thumbed its nose at Irene and remained intact. I was glad of that, having carried endless loads of lumber and nails all that way during its construction, not to mention entertaining the other volunteers by inadvertently nailing my work glove to the railing. Gingerbread snowflakes fit the mood nicely, and on the way back to the cars I could swear I heard sleigh bells... suddenly this fat guy in a red suit appeared... he claimed he never saw any signs when he skied off the trails at Killington... could we give him a ride back up the mountain? WRIGHT PARK TRAIL AND OTTER CREEK GORGE PRESERVE, MIDDLEBURY AND NEW HAVEN, January 26, 2013, Larry Walter and Vivian Bebee, leaders A recent warm spell had cooked off much of the snow and left near-bare trails, EXCEPT FOR THE ICE. We had never explored the Trails Around Middlebury (TAM) system before preparing for this hike. It s full of riparian habitat (near-frozen Otter Creek), hill climbing (Chipman Hill), and pasture (Morgan Horse Farm) views. I d estimate there are around 15 miles of different trails, some shared by bicyclists. It would be a great place to try some snowshoeing or skiing for future forays. Viv and I had previously explored a loop off of Chipman Hill, but ended up having to walk some city streets back to our car. It would pay to consult with the locals before trying that again, but some of the views were very nice. Our hike day yielded both leaders, plus Sandy and loyal pooch, Stella, plus woman-sporting-rabbit-eared-headgear (Allison) and our most talented, I drather-be-hiking, graphic artist (Sue). The sun was shining, but the wind was a bit nasty, so we took refuge on the lea side of the ridge for lunch. The trail organization has recently pioneered a new trail that parallels Morgan Horse Farm Road, which is not shown on the TAM map. It s much nicer than walking on the tarmac. Not all of the parking areas are plowed in the winter, so we chose to do the Wright Park loop (parking at southerly end) with an additional loop from the bridge over Belden Falls (see picture on front cover) through the 4

5 Otter Creek Gorge Preserve. A side trail through some ledges on the east bank of Otter Creek should be included with future visits. I got to cut one trail obstructing branch from the trail before my co-hikers forced me to stow my implement of destruction. MERCK FOREST, RUPERT, February 2, 2013, Steve Williams, leader The Non-Ascent of Spruce (Gallup) Peak. On the Friday preceding the planned hike, I set out, in company with Barbara O Connor, to explore a suitable route, with recognition of the prevailing conditions. We selected a route along Old Town Road to Hammond Road, with a left turn to take us along the so-called Barton Trail over Spruce Peak and then on to the Gallup Road to complete a loop back to the visitor center. With very little snow remaining from the rain the previous week, the trails were clear, but with frequent ice. The Hammond Road, new to both Barbara and myself, turned out to have good views south towards Equinox and pleasant undulations in an overall ascending direction. On taking the left turn on the Barton Trail, supposedly towards Spruce Peak, we realized from the new Merck Forest map, that Spruce Peak had now become Gallup Peak. (At the visitor center, we later were told that the Merck Forest staff had recently learned that Spruce Peak was somewhere else). No problem, nice trail, until the last three hundred feet which was a steep icy descent which required a tree to tree approach with a little backside sledding on the way. As a result we decided that on the real hike the following day, not only did we not want to lead anyone else that way, but we preferred not to go that way ourselves. So, on the next day, when four hearty souls, guided by Sue Thomas from the Rutland meeting point, arrived at the visitor center, an alternative course to the Barton Trail was selected. This route had two differences from the Barton Trail; it was flatter and much more icy. However, it was taken in great spirit by the Rutland Four (Larry Walter and Sandy and Kristie Bragg, in addition to Sue Thomas), who then decided that lunch in the warmth of the visitor center was the way to complete the hike. HALF MOON POND STATE PARK, HUBARDTON, February 10, 2013, Larry Walter and Viv Bebee, leaders This was our annual winter hot dog road and, fortunately, the day turned out to be much warmer than last year. Temps were above the single digits this time (high 20 s with sunny, blue sky). We had nine people and one dog, total participants, one of whom was Roma Pulling. Roma and her husband, Al, led many hot dog roast outings in the past. Roma also joined us on the pre-roast hike around the Pond, which included walking on the frozen Pond, then through the woods and coming out on the other side of the Pond and walking back on the Park roads by the various camp sites, which were fun to check out. I have made special mention of Roma because when I am in my 80 s, I hope I can still hike as well as she does. Larry and Jeremy built us a good, roaring fire after the hike, and we proceeded to stuff ourselves with hot dogs (some of dubious, non-critter origin), sausages, burgers, snack foods and cookies. It was so nice being in the warm sun, hence ensuring that no toes or fingers suffered from the cold while we stood around chatting and eating. See picture on front cover. Killington Section Directors Meeting Minutes of Directors Meeting February 5, 2013 By Allison Henry, Secretary (Edited by Vivian Bebee For complete transcript of these minutes, contact Allison Henry) Present: President Steve Williams, VP Barry Griffith, Secretary Allison Henry, Treasurer Gerry Martin and Directors Dave Coppock, Tom Copps, Sue Thomas and Vivian Bebee. Also present: Trails and Shelters Co- Chair Herb Ogden. Absent: Director Hilary Coolidge 5

6 Meeting was called to order at 6:13 by President Williams. Minutes from 9/25/13 were approved. (Martin/Copps). Treasurer's Report from Treasurer Gerry Martin: Main activity in account: Clarendon Shelter's roof. Gerry recommends that we move some money from the Kirk Fund CD into the Kirk checking account at the maturity of the CD in April. Otherwise Kirk checking is getting low. Question: Do other sections have something like our Kirk Fund? Report accepted. (Griffith/Coppock) Report from Allison Henry, Director to Main Club. (Contact Allison directly for more details) Main highlights include: Main Club has at least an $80,000 budget deficit. Sadly, two staff positions have been cut as a result. Another wind project near the Long Trail has been proposed, this time, several miles to the east of Camel's Hump and directly along the spine of the Green Mountains. The Club has not taken an official position of any sort, yet. The Main Club is still working on the management of two lodges in the Bolton Valley area, in conjunction with other parties. Funding will be provided by the State. The Main Club's annual meeting will be the weekend of June 8 at Stratton. Outing Schedule Report from Sue Thomas: Annual meeting will be either March 23 or April 13 at the Godnick Center [Note from Allison: date of 4/13/13 was confirmed several days after our Meeting.] June 1 is National Trails Day, so our higher elevation work party will be that day. Another work party day will be held in May. Smoke and Blazes Report from Vivian Bebee, Editor: Any changes, suggestions, or hike reports, please contact the editor! We also discussed the List of Directors, offices held, and the dates our terms are up. At several meetings some of us have questioned the accuracy of the List (which is posted on Page 2 of each Smoke & Blazes). Allison volunteered to go through old minutes and records to check accuracy. [Another note from Allison: Names and dates on the List were confirmed as accurate by Allison via record review on 2/10/13, and this was communicated to the Board via .] Trails and Shelters Report from Herb Ogden, Co-Chair: For the record: Herb Ogden wrote a letter to the City of Rutland about posting signs re: protecting the watershed at and around Churchill Scott Shelter, including proposed signage, and this was sent August We still have not received any response. Trails and shelters maintenance updates: A minor change to the newly fixed AT/LT in Gould Brook area has been suggested to Dave Hardy. Churchill Scott has a new adopter. No schedule yet for replacing Tucker Johnson. The arsonist has had to pay restitution. There will probably be a lot of blowdowns to take care of due to windstorms in the fall and winter, especially between Bear Mt and Minerva Hinchey. Still looking at options for bridge replacements in Governor Clement area, particularly Sargent Brook. Should we do a trail adjustment on the Sherburne Pass Trail, where it leaves the woods and comes out onto the Ski Trail before heading back into the woods toward Pico Camp? It goes straight up and is very eroded. One option would be to adjust the trail so that it goes through the woods with a giant switchback. We will scout the area. Folks, including Dave Hardy, will be going to look at an adjustment/relo near Lottery Rd on April 1. VTrans has not yet decided on a course of action for the beacon near the AT. Other Business: Website: Following our discussion of the website at our June 2012 Directors' meeting, Hilary has taken the initiative to research website options. She drafted a site design via the platform Weebly, and suggested it to the Directors via . Both Hilary and Steve have been in touch with current webmaster, Deb Waggett, about the feasibility of overhauling the website and possibly making it a group effort should Deb not want to take on such a project herself. Steve informed us via and at the present meeting that Deb would be most comfortable passing along the responsibilities back to the Directors. Steve will communicate with Deb 6

7 and Hilary regarding the Directors' discussion and decision. We will still need to find out about the current domain name and cost, and we assume that Deb has been paying for it although no bill has been submitted to us. A thank-you letter will be sent to Deb from the Directors for nearly ten years of service! Dogs on Section Outings: Allison offered to write an article for an upcoming Smoke & Blazes with guidelines for participation. Some suggestions include: First and foremost, call the leader first; monitor your dog for health/safety especially in extreme weather or near roads; keep your dog on a short leash during snack/lunch breaks; clean up after your dog, of course; and be sure your dog does not trip up other hikers, especially when on snowshoes. Also, the dog owner(s) should be prepared to drive separately. We also reminded ourselves to check the Main Club's guidelines re: dogs on the Trail. They even have posted a series of videos over the past year on this topic. Publicity: Steve updated us on Hilary's progress with publicity. She continues to work on public posting of schedules, including at libraries, colleges and the co-op. Hilary has also provided Vivian (S&B editor) with addresses of new contacts. Section outing logistics: Should number of hike participants be limited? Leader should check guidelines for the area, especially if wilderness, as some places have group size limits. If a large group should show up at the meeting point, the leader could divide the group into two smaller groups or even approach the hike from two different directions. Parking lot on Route 4 where AT/LT crosses the road (1 mile W of Sherburne Pass): This parking lot was not plowed until weeks after the big snowstorm in December. Larry contacted the Forest Service to ask them to plow sooner after storms. We discussed writing an official letter from the Section to reinforce the importance of keeping it plowed. Next meeting will be at the Godnick Center during the annual meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 7:46p.m. (Martin/Griffith) View of Merck Forest & Farmland Center from top of Mt. Antone 7

8 Vivian Bebee, Editor 14 Belmont Avenue Rutland, VT KILLINGTON SECTION Your Invitation to Join Killington Section, Green Mountain Club The Killington Section, based in Rutland, VT, is a chapter of the statewide Green Mountain Club. Membership in the Section includes membership in the Club. Members receive a membership card, the Club quarterly Long Trail News, and the Section quarterly Smoke & Blazes including a schedule of outings, trail work parties, and social events. Members also receive reduced rates on items from the Club bookstore and at most overnight sites served by caretakers. Membership dues help to maintain trails and shelters in the Killington Section (Route 140 to Route 4) and the Long Trail system throughout Vermont. ANNUAL DUES: Individual...$40 Family...$50 Senior/Student/Volunteer...$22 Contact us for information on life memberships and categories for giving at a higher level. NAME: ADDRESS: PHONE: I also enclose a contribution of $ to the Kirk Trails and Shelters Fund supporting the Killington Section s maintenance and preservation of trails and shelters. I would like information on volunteering for: trail work, shelter work, sign making, publications, leading outings, publicity, education Make check payable to "GMC" and mail with this application to: Green Mountain Club, 4711 Waterbury Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677