July 26, 2008
Lynn and I came to Vermont this weekend. The plan is to hike 3 peaks in 3 days. If all goes as planned this will complete my New England Hundred Highest List. First up, Dorset Peak. After dropping off Lynn and Madison in Rutland, I headed south on Route 7 until I got to Danby. Most of the reports I read on this, hikers approached the mountain from the south at Dorset Hollow. It would save me a considerable amount of driving to approach from the north. Ed Hawkins helped give me directions on this route. I parked south of Danby Four Corners on Edmunds Road. There was an old dirt road with a gate across it. I grabbed my pack and headed down the road.
This is one of those mountains with lots and lots of hiking trails, herd paths, ATV trails, and old logging roads, most of which are all unmarked. The saying is that everyone gets to the top of Dorset eventually. About a half mile later, there was a fork in the road. I stayed south. Right choice. A minute later I came to another fork. Both continued south but the left road went a little towards Dorset Peak so I took it. Wrong choice. About 5-10 minutes later I came to a flat section. By now I knew I went the wrong way. Ed's description was that it was uphill the whole way. It was still heading in the general direction I wanted. I had plenty of time for this hike and was up for some adventure so I continued. The road turned into a path and before long petered out. I didn't want to walk all the way back and knew that I had to be near where I was supposed to be. I bushwhacked straight up the mountain bearing to the right as I went. Ten minutes later I was back on the right trail. Leave it to me to have to bushwhack part of a mountain with numerous trails on it.
Shortly after I reached the col where I saw the trail that came up from Dorset Hollow. I took a left. A few minutes later there was another split in the trail, but I knew I needed to keep going up.
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And yet again the trail split. I figured the trail to the left went to the true summit and the trail going up went to the south summit which at one point was considered the true summit. I'll hit them both in case it ever changes again. There was a small arrow on a tree marking this turn. Up I went.
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From the south summit. I got a very, very limited view into the valley below.
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There were remnants of an old firetower as well as an old barbeque grill.
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On to the north peak. Next, I found the tree that I read about with the doorknobs on it. I'm not sure what that is all about. All I can figure is this mountain is lacking in features so hikers are taking it upon themselves to makes this mountain more interesting.
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At yet another intersection I found a tiny, tiny sign pointing to the north peak. I put my hand in the picture for scale. That sign is pretty easy to miss.
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Here's another sign.
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A few minutes later I was on the summit where I met Whichway and Steve.
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Whichway took a picture of me on the 3770' summit.
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This makes #98 on my New England 100 Highest List and #26 on my New England 50 Finest List. I also found the old pitchers that I read about. Again, I'm not quite sure what that is about either.
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I returned over the same route with the exceptions of bypassing the south summit and staying on the right trail to avoid the short bushwhack I took on the way up.
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I stayed moving at a pretty good clip and completed the roundtrip hike in 3 hours.
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