Saturday evening – Catamount trail

Nice to sit… Diane, the dogs and I just got back from an awesome  hike. We’re taking some longish hikes this weekend in early celebration of our 24th anniversary which is this Tuesday.   Today we chose to hike the catamount trail from the Huntington side over to the duxbury side. The catamount trail is a primitive cross country ski tail that spans the entire state of Vermont north to south.. We’ve always heard about folks skiing this section..but we never have.. so today we set out to do it on foot

It’s not a widely used trail.. especially when there’s no snow .. We had to explore a bit to find the trail head by hiking around the trails in the old camels hump nordic ski area.. We used to go to this place 20 years ago.. it’s no longer a comercial ski area.. but is run as a cooperative.. The trails were pretty overgrown.. but most of the trail signs… not all… were still in place..

Our five fingers are great hiking shoes.. though you pick up some ferns between your toes !

After about 45 minutes of tromping around we finally found the catamount trail .. we were just about to turn back because of the high brush when diane spotted the blue blazes..

We hiked up about an hour to the ridgeline where we crossed into the camels hum state park land..  then the trail started to descend steeply towards our side of the river.

We put a samstone near the ridge..   it’s always a nice moment when we do that..  we try and place one or two every time we hike..

As we placed the stone.. DIane noticed this great bearded  face in a nearby tree.. do you see it ?

We rambled down the beautiful trail for about 45 minutes until we came to familiar sites.. the gate on the honey hollow road.. one of our frequent hikes near our house..  

We then cut over to the catamount road by winding through the forest..the road was lined with  wild hemp.. .. or at least that’s what I think it was 🙂

The dogs were good and tired as we approached the car.. they deserved a treat !

We got down to the van, we’d dropped it there around noon, then drove home, dropped the girls.. and headed back to hunigton to get the other car.. maybe 10 miles away..

I dropped off the map at the nordic center and left another samstone for good measure..

I was thinking as I drove home how lucky i am to live in this abeutiful part of the world .. and how lucky I am to be married to Diane..

Speaking of lucky.. we’re heading out for sushi.. the end of a good day.. more tomorrow..

nite all.. nite Sam
-me