It was a lovely day, clear, sunny, not too hot. Our final full day in Vermont for this trip, and I once again wanted to get to the top of the observation tower on top of Mount Ascutney. Not hiking one of the base-to-summit trails of three or four miles and about 3,000 feet in elevation gain, I did the trail from the upper parking lot, 0.7 miles and about 300 feet in elevation.
Piece o’ cake, right? What, 20-30 minutes up? 15 back down? FOOL!!!
True, a lot of the trail does look like this:
But A LOT more than I remembered looks like this:
So 1:19 after leaving the parking lot, with the nice park ranger asking if I would like her to take my picture and did I need oxygen, I was there!
It was clear enough to glimpse Mount Washington, 115 miles away.
It then took me 35 minutes to get down, taking care to not shatter a leg, twist an ankle, or go ass over teakettle over the side of a ravine. I survived!
Who knows if I’ll be able to do this again in five or ten years, but on THIS day I was triumphant!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 
It was good that we got you back in shape, walking parade routes and hiking up mountains. Vermont Strong :-}
Have a safe, boring trip back to Cali.
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