Due to the impending winter-like predictions for the original date of this outing (day before) I decided to postpone until Sunday, and what do you know, Saturday ended up being not the snowy, sleety, rainy day we were expecting. Oh well, the only bummer is two GMC members, Jim Pease and Mark Blanchard, could not make the “new” date due to previous commitments.

So six of us headed to the trailhead. Quite a few cars in the lot (it was assumed they were hunters taking advantage of the last day of muzzle loader season) and hey, a brand spanking new sign. Very nice and welcoming! The first two-thirds of this ascent quite frankly is not the most exciting. Old logging road, very flat, very wooded, nothing to view. The big advantage, though, is you travel more so as a group, being tighter where everyone is pretty much walking at approx. the same pace, making for many opportunities for group conversations. Justin was the “newby” of the group as the rest of us have either known each other for a while in one capacity or another. He has hiked in the Greens before and wanted to explore being with a group as opposed to solo. I told him from the start he could run at any point, but being the trooper he was, he stuck with us!

The day was predicted to be sunny but truth be told, if you did not hit it “just right”, the views were less than spectacular, as it was quite foggy and cloudy. Of course that did not dampen the spirits of the trekkers!! Stopped at the shelter for a bit, then headed to the summit, at first thinking we were headed in the wrong direction so went to Plan B, a loop rather than up and down. Moments later we figured we really were on the right course, wadda ya know! Hit the summit and if you stepped just a bit off it on a little outcropping, you could catch brief glimpses of Mansfield between the fast moving clouds. Back to the shelter we went, then made an “executive decision” to truly make it an out and back and not attempt a loop over Morse, etc. More eats and a bit of movie quotes trivia with Andes mints as prizes to the winners! Yeh!

Thanks for adjusting your plans, folks, from one day to the other and Jim and Mark, we’ll catch you another time.

Trip Leader: Robynn Albert Photo Credit: Robynn Albert and Ted Albers

Hikers: Phil Hazen, Justin Siegel, Lynda Hutchins, Ted Albers, Bill Moore