Rik
11-02-2005, 04:37 PM
Ok, so it was a paid personal day but that's not exactly what I meant. Read on.
Today Charlene and I took Dali the dog out for a hike. After spending Tuesday evening throwing darts at maps I chose a Vermont peak. It really was between Vermont and the Catskills but the shorter drive was the clincher. Only about 50 miles from home we drove over rolling hills and farmland to the Dorset area. We've done a few other peaks in the area but not since last year. Today's peak was called Mother Myrick. It is a little over 3300 feet. We started from Nichols Hill road parking at the end of the pavement and continuing on woods roads. I new we could get close to the top using woods roads shown on the map but didn't realize how many woods roads are in the area. After passing a hunting camp with a memorial for two young guys (33 and 29) we followed the road as it climbed and head north. Away from our mountain! The woods were open and most of the leaves were already on the ground. We encountered patchy snow near the summit. The road climbs to a ridge and switches back toward our goal. Once near a false peak to the west of the summit many roads came in from every direction. We just stuck to the ones that seemed to go where we wanted. The woods were open enough so we could see our mountain about 75% of the time. We climbed the false peak and while watching my footing I notice a little U.S. currency on the ground! A twenty! Twenty bucks and it isn't even hunting season! On the map the path ends at the false summit but in real life the road continues toward the main peak. There were several small signs indicating that the Nature Conservancy owns some of the land up there. At a junction there were arrows that read "Sandgate and Beartown" on one and "Airplane Trail" on the other. Since the Airplane trail was going in our direction we followed it and it's markers right to the summit. There was a nice view of Dorset and it's twin mountains. A quick search in the woods and I found the 3K cannister (jar) which had been replaced in 2002. The most recent visitor and only other person signed in this year was William Shaffer in September. As I'm writing in the register Charlene notices another jar about 15 feet in a tree right at the overlook. Well anyone that knows me knows that I'm really just a 12 year old boy in an almost adult body so no surprise that I was up that tree in about 10 seconds retrieving the jar. This one was filled with stuff. A spark plug, a dollar, baseball cards, matchbox car, highlighter, several business cards, and a register explaining that it was a geocache. It said I should take something and leave something so I left a note and a business card since I didn't have anything else. Then I found a shell from a 9mm and stuck that in there as well! After returning both jars and eating some lunch I followed the trail which continued off the mountain to see if there were other views. I found a nice one of Equinox but I also found the reason it is called the Airplane trail. A part of a plane was wedged into a tree along the trail. I looked around for the rest and couldn't find it so under the assumption that someone had marked the spot with the piece of debris I set off at that point off the trail. Soon enough I found another piece and then the wreckage. Small plane, maybe a Cesna? It was mangled and snow covered but I didn manage a few photos. Anyone know anything about it? I will probably do some computer searches later on to see what shows up. We returned the same way we came. Nice day to be outside. Wasn't sure where to file this trip report? Tim, could we have a Vermont highest hundred section? :twisted: I nominate PB to moderate. :twisted: :twisted:
Today Charlene and I took Dali the dog out for a hike. After spending Tuesday evening throwing darts at maps I chose a Vermont peak. It really was between Vermont and the Catskills but the shorter drive was the clincher. Only about 50 miles from home we drove over rolling hills and farmland to the Dorset area. We've done a few other peaks in the area but not since last year. Today's peak was called Mother Myrick. It is a little over 3300 feet. We started from Nichols Hill road parking at the end of the pavement and continuing on woods roads. I new we could get close to the top using woods roads shown on the map but didn't realize how many woods roads are in the area. After passing a hunting camp with a memorial for two young guys (33 and 29) we followed the road as it climbed and head north. Away from our mountain! The woods were open and most of the leaves were already on the ground. We encountered patchy snow near the summit. The road climbs to a ridge and switches back toward our goal. Once near a false peak to the west of the summit many roads came in from every direction. We just stuck to the ones that seemed to go where we wanted. The woods were open enough so we could see our mountain about 75% of the time. We climbed the false peak and while watching my footing I notice a little U.S. currency on the ground! A twenty! Twenty bucks and it isn't even hunting season! On the map the path ends at the false summit but in real life the road continues toward the main peak. There were several small signs indicating that the Nature Conservancy owns some of the land up there. At a junction there were arrows that read "Sandgate and Beartown" on one and "Airplane Trail" on the other. Since the Airplane trail was going in our direction we followed it and it's markers right to the summit. There was a nice view of Dorset and it's twin mountains. A quick search in the woods and I found the 3K cannister (jar) which had been replaced in 2002. The most recent visitor and only other person signed in this year was William Shaffer in September. As I'm writing in the register Charlene notices another jar about 15 feet in a tree right at the overlook. Well anyone that knows me knows that I'm really just a 12 year old boy in an almost adult body so no surprise that I was up that tree in about 10 seconds retrieving the jar. This one was filled with stuff. A spark plug, a dollar, baseball cards, matchbox car, highlighter, several business cards, and a register explaining that it was a geocache. It said I should take something and leave something so I left a note and a business card since I didn't have anything else. Then I found a shell from a 9mm and stuck that in there as well! After returning both jars and eating some lunch I followed the trail which continued off the mountain to see if there were other views. I found a nice one of Equinox but I also found the reason it is called the Airplane trail. A part of a plane was wedged into a tree along the trail. I looked around for the rest and couldn't find it so under the assumption that someone had marked the spot with the piece of debris I set off at that point off the trail. Soon enough I found another piece and then the wreckage. Small plane, maybe a Cesna? It was mangled and snow covered but I didn manage a few photos. Anyone know anything about it? I will probably do some computer searches later on to see what shows up. We returned the same way we came. Nice day to be outside. Wasn't sure where to file this trip report? Tim, could we have a Vermont highest hundred section? :twisted: I nominate PB to moderate. :twisted: :twisted: