Seven of us met at the Mt. Philo State Park parking lot at 3:45 PM. Three people
carpooled to the hike from the Starbucks parking lot on Route 7 Shelburne Road. It was
a reasonable 30 degrees Fahrenheit when we started. We went up the House Rock
Trail to the summit of Mt. Philo. We all wore spikes, as the trail was icy and slippery due
to the hard snow pack. Kirsten separated from the group midway through the hike to
take the road and met us later at the top. We arrived at the summit just as the sun was
setting. We drank warm tea and hot chocolate and ate toffee-flavored Oreos as we
watched the sun set below the Adirondacks across the lake. The sunset was gorgeous
and as we descended along the paved road we had a nice view of the almost full moon.
We ended the hike in darkness after turning off our headlamps at 5:45 PM. 2.4 miles
hiked, 740 ft elevation gain, and 15 Oreos eaten. Participants: Bonnie (first GMC hike),
Kirsten, Dave, Melina, Kristen, Nancy, and Michael (trip leader).