I parked at the Barton Mines Road trailhead off Route 28. From there I skied 1.4 miles to the NE corner of the Botherathon Loop. I skied the loop clockwise, but when I got halfway around, at the Old Farm Road, I headed west on a different trail to Hour Pond. This was a trail I had not skied before. Conditions were perfect. The Hour Pond Trail provided some nice hills to get a few nice downhill runs.
I only saw 6 skiers all day. I'm sad that this will probably be my last ski day of the season, but I got in quite a few trips this winter, especially the last half of the season when we had a pretty good snow pack. With a couple 50 degree days on the horizon, the powder conditions will be over.
I'll let a pictures below tell the story of how pretty it was in the woods today.
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| Sign at Baron Mines Road parking area |
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| Blue skies all day! |
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| Great bridges with some decorative twig railings |
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| Hour Pond |
XC Ski Stats
Trip Distance: 16.3 miles
Trip Time: 5 hours, 45 minutes
Total Vertical Gain: ~ 1800'
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| The route (Click image to enlarge) |
I've snowshoed to each of the ponds in your trip report and they are all beautiful. Of course, I did them on separate days and vacations. Did you have a ski track to follow on your way to Hour pond? When I went to Hour pond four years ago, I had to break trail almost the whole way through 15 inches of snow. This was on the new trail to Hour pond. Great report as always.
ReplyDeleteThere were fresh ski tracks headed towards Hour Pond so I followed them. I ran into 2 guys at the Hour Pond leanto who had broken the trail. I thanked them for doing the hard work! It's a beautiful area.
DeleteThanks for reading.
I started my blog as a place to fantasize about winter adventure in the summer. I'm now using your blog for the same purpose too. Thanks. Sweet photos and report.
ReplyDelete