Saturday, August 17, 2019
I left Glen Ellen Shelter at 7:50 a.m. It rained during the night so it was a wet trail that morning.
The mountains were socked in with clouds and fog. This was unfortunate because I had to climb two, 4,000-footers, Mt. Ellen and Mt. Abraham. The former is the home of Sugarbush Ski Resort. The latter normally has 360-degree views of the surrounding countryside. But not on this day.
The hiking wasn't bad, even with the weather. This section is up on a ridge so even though I was tackling a couple of the highest peaks in Vermont, there was only about 500-600 feet of elevation gain. Compare that to the slightly shorter Whiteface Mountain further north, which required climbing over 3,200 feet.
I took a break from the intermittent rain in the ski lift control booth. You couldn’t see squat but it was kind of cool being in the clouds.
I got up and over Mt. Abe and had lunch at the Battel Shelter. I descended into Lincoln Gap and started up Mt. Grant. Gaps suck, by the way. They usually have a steep descent to some roadway and then a steep climb out. Not fun on 52-year-old knees! I was able to get a few views of the surrounding area at the end of the day.
After climbing Mt. Grant, my last mountain of the day, I was smoked. I rolled into Cooley Glen Shelter around 4:45 p.m. and found a good camp site, or so I thought. It rained yet again and I ended up with a moat of water around my tent. Fortunately, none of it came in for a visit, but it made for a messy breakdown of camp the next morning.