March 14-15, 1998
Midstate Trail Snow Hike

Ok, it wasn't planned as a hike in the snow. But, it sure ended up that way!

We had originally intended to meet Saturday morning at the Federated church, drive to the Barre dam, and hike about 6-7 miles to the beaver pond camping spot we have used several times in the past. The dam is a convenient starting point and is a cross point for the mid-state trail.

What we didn't plan on was that it started snowing in the morning, and by mid-afternoon there were 3-6 inches of the stuff on the ground. To make matters worse, the snow was covering a lot of ice so almost everyone on the hike lost their footing at one point or another.

Rather than starting at the dam, we started at the dam access road off of Rt-128 in Barre. This meant, however, that we had to bushwhack our way through the woods using common sense and compass about 2-3km to the dikes south of the dam. Since a number of our younger scouts needed compass and navigation work as an advancement requirement, they were given the task of setting a route and getting us to the dikes.

At several points while we were bushwhacking, we stopped to point out evidence of animals and other wildlife, and started teaching the scouts how to identify different types of trees.

One of the better equipped, ready to go, trekking pole equipped leaders (me!).

Once we reached the dikes we walked across the top, intersecting the mid-state trail at the southern end, and continuing on the trail into the woods. At this point in the hike the intensity of the snow was picking up and the trail was getting very slippery.

Many miles (or at least it seemed that way) later, the front group (M. Looft, T. Bauer, P. Eichholz, B. Beniot, myself, and others I can't quite identify in the picture) made their way to the Adirondak shelter on the mid-state about a half kilometer from the beaver pond. We took a brief rest from the heavy snow fall, and then bushwhacked our way due west to the pond. The final walk to the pond was very rough because there was so much water under the snow you had to be very careful where you walked. Also, the trees were bending under the weight of the snow and there were a lot of branches down and in the way. On more than a few occasions you would hit a tree, the snow would fall off (usually down your back as you were bending over to get under a bent branch) and the tree would spring up - whacking you!.

But, we made it and had a great camp fire that night. No one was cold, the sky cleared up and most folks went to bed early - exhausted. The next morning was clear, sunny and not too cold (about 25degrees).

We gathered around the fire for breakfast and around 10am broke into two groups to head back to the Rutland Long Pond parking lot where our rides were waiting for us. One group (M. and F. Looft in the lead) took off cross country. A highlight of the cross country hike was seeing the largest coyote foot print any of us had ever seen. Ted Bauer remarked that this was surely a "two cat a day" coyote! The other group left about a half hour later and walked back to the parking lot (about 2 miles) on the mid-state trail.

Developed and maintained by F. J. Looft, fjlooft@ee.wpi.edu.