Chittenden county folks met at the Richmond Park & Ride at 8:30 and carpooled to the Rumney School in Middlesex where we met the Montpelier folks around 9:15, shuttled over to drop two cars at the Worcester trailhead and back to the Middlesex trailhead. It was drizzling as we started out around 10 AM, but soon stopped, and despite a forecast for rain, we only had a few sprinkles as we started and when we reached Worcester Mountain. Carl’s 14 year old dog Ceili looked pretty stiff, but proved an able and eager hiker for the entire trip. We made great time, reaching the White Rock trail junction around 9:40.

We were surprised to find a brand new metal stairway in place but not yet secured at the point on the Middlesex Trail where the “rope assist” is. It will make that stretch a little less interesting in the future, but since it wasn’t really finished we still used the rope this time.

We reached the Mt Hunger summit around 11:45. It was overcast, but we still had good views toward Mansfield, Waterbury Reservoir, and the White Mountains. From there we headed north on the Skyline trail, stopping for lunch at 1 PM about 2/3 of the way to the Stowe Pinnacle Trail junction, which we reached around 1:40. North of the Stowe Pinnacle trail we started encountering many blowdowns requiring short detours. A lot of trail work is needed in this area!

We reached the unnamed peak around 2:30 and the Worcester summit around 3:50, then headed down to reach the cars around 5:30. Some of the group then headed for The Reservoir pub in Waterbury for a post-hike get together.

Participants: Rob Gordon, Dasha Zentrichova, Becky Grenier, Michael Valente, Carl Etnier, Céilí (dog), David Hathaway (leader).