There was almost no new snow in Burlington, but above the Jerusalem trailhead we quickly found 8” of new wet snow, changing to a foot or more of new powder above about 2000’. Snowshoes were required for all. About half-way up the trail, we lost the blue blazes, either due to snow-plastered trees or to snow depth. So, we basically headed up, steeply at times, until we reached the ridge and found the Long Trail. One of the participants was tracking us with his GPS, so we knew we were south of the Jerusalem Trail as we climbed, but it seemed easier to go up than to look for the trail.

Once on the ridge, we just stayed on the ridge, finding a white blaze occasionally – sometimes at snow line, sometimes a foot above – and there were probably many buried under the snow. In some places the trail was ‘obvious’, but as a ‘Hobbit Trail’ about 3 feet high.

Because some of us had time constraints, and progress had been slowed by the snow, we turned around about ¾ mile short of Mount Ellen. One participant continued on, essentially jogging to the summit and back in snowshoes, and caught up with us before we started off the ridge. (Ah, to be young and very fit again!) We were out about six hours total – 3:40 to where we stopped, 20 minutes for lunch, and then 2 hours back down.

Participants – Bob Lang, Bryan C, Jenny Lynch, Marc Faucher, Peggy Faucher, Karl Riemer, Sheri Larsen, Rich Larsen