Killington Peak Hike
Sep 5th, 2008 by Jack
August 28, 2008
Spent a couple hours today atop Killington Peak, the second highest mountaintop in Vermont at 4,241 feet. There was some August humidity in the air, so the views were clear in the near-ground but the distant mountain ranges – White Mountains to the east and Green Mountains to the west – were pretty hazy and undefined. But I wasn’t complaining, I successfully made it 3.7 miles up the “easy-turns moderate-turns VERY difficult” Bucklin Trail to the Peak. The views were celebrated, let me tell you!
Although I saw only 3 other hikers on the way up – all hanging out at the junction of the Bucklin Trail with the Long Trail, about .1 mi. below the Peak – over a half dozen folks shared the Peak with me. Why hadn’t I seen or at least heard them, I wondered? Well, turns out 1 visitor from Scarsdale, New York had hiked up the wide open Killington ski trails, and a young woman had hiked in via the Long Trail as a Green Mountain Club volunteer monitoring the condition of the trail (the trail’s in good shape, she offered), but a gentleman in flip-flops and a small group of teenage girls had arrived at the Peak courtesy of the Killington Gondola! Pay your $10 at the base of the mountain and you are wisked effortlessly upwards approximately 3,000 feet to within steps of the Peak. (I think they leave people a few steps from the peak so they can claim, “I hiked up to Killington Peak”.)
As I limped slowly down from the Peak – one tired knee was rebelling – at the start of the 3.7 mi. return trip to my car, I marveled over the wonders of technology. I also gave more than a quick thought to: Would it be possible to bum a ride to get from the Gondola base back to my car?