Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year celebration.
What better way to start the New Year than to go for a hike? The skiing is still marginal here in the southern Adirondacks, so we elected to go for a hike. We decided to venture to Vermont and hike Equinox Mountain in Manchester.
The Equinox Preservation Trust provides a great trail map. Paper copies are also available at the trail head kiosk. Equinox, at 3840', is the 16th highest summit in Vermont, and the highest in the southern Green Mountains.
We were at the trail head early and began our hike at 8 AM. We weren't expecting any visibility, and there was none. The temperature was in the low 30's and the fog was thick. There was no snow at the base. At 2300', we began to have ice in the trail and we donned our micro spikes.
What better way to start the New Year than to go for a hike? The skiing is still marginal here in the southern Adirondacks, so we elected to go for a hike. We decided to venture to Vermont and hike Equinox Mountain in Manchester.
The Equinox Preservation Trust provides a great trail map. Paper copies are also available at the trail head kiosk. Equinox, at 3840', is the 16th highest summit in Vermont, and the highest in the southern Green Mountains.
We were at the trail head early and began our hike at 8 AM. We weren't expecting any visibility, and there was none. The temperature was in the low 30's and the fog was thick. There was no snow at the base. At 2300', we began to have ice in the trail and we donned our micro spikes.
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| A nice welcome |
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| Snow and fog at 3000' |
The snow line was at 2700'. The summit only had 2-3 inches of snow.
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| An old sign near the summit beside the radio communications tower |
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| Summit parking lot |
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| Almost a white-out... no visibility here |
From the summit we walked north to Lookout Rock. Still no visibility, but there were indications that it would be clearing.
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| Bench at Lookout Rock |
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| Not much to see.... |
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| We waited a couple minutes for more signs of clearing, but we were a little too soon |
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| Still fog above the snow line on the way down |
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| The fog had almost totally lifted as we walked out! |
Hike Stats:
Elevation at trail head: 1067'
Elevation at Summit: 3840'
Total Vertical Gain: 2922'
Hike Distance: 5.9 miles
Hike Time: 4 Hours
My GPS track of Equinox Mountain at EveryTrail
Although we claimed another peak on the New England 100 Highest list, we had no visibility to get a sense of the views from Equinox. Still a nice way to get out and get some exercise. We were back at the car at noon. We ate lunch in Manchester and then we headed north to Pawlet to climb Haystack Mountain, a short but rewarding peak.... and a separate post, coming shortly!
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