10/22 – Hike around Mansfield
The five of us met at the Underhill State Park for hike start time of 8 am. When arrived at the closed entrance gate to the Underhill State Park at 7:35 am about 8 vehicles already present. We began our trek up to the parking lot area reviewing hike guidelines while proceeding to the trailhead, we started up Eagles Cut Pass at 8:20 am. The first mile is a mild ascent of 600 foot elevation gain to beginning of Laura Cowles Trail which has a ~2,000 foot elevation gain in 1.7 miles to intersection of the Long Trail near the summit of The Chin. We arrived at the Cowles/LT intersection at 10 am where continued on to Subway versus heading up to The Chin. Temperatures were approximately 60° F with clear skies and just the right amount of sun on this beautiful Fall day. Began trek to Subway on LT South for a short 0.2 miles beginning Subway trail at 10:20 am where crawling through the awesome rock formations between Subway(0.1), Canyon North Extension(0.3), Canyon North(0.3), Canyon(0.3) & Lakeview(0.3) Trails. Time to get through Subway was ~15 minutes as arrived at Canyon North Extension sign at 10:35 am. Arrived at Lakeview Trail section at 12:30 pm and met up with LT North at 12:50pm. Short distance hike to visitor center where we decided to head onto the Cliff Trail and lunch break on Amherst Trail near intersection with Cliff Trail. Lunch break from 1-1:30 pm. Rock formations on east side of Mansfield, Cliff Trail, were just as adventuresome and did not disappoint as entered Cave of the Winds. The Cave of the Winds won out as none of us could lean on one wall with hands and placing your feet strategically on opposite wall ledges if able to get the right leverage for moving across the space thus we had a some other creative scrambling. We arrived at LTN about 3 pm then Sunset Ridge Trail at 3:30 pm. We took a group picture break before heading onward. Arrived at intersection of LT and Cantilever Trail intersection at 4:15 pm group reconvened. We arrived at Eagles Cut Pass at 4:45 pm for final leg of hike. Returned to trailhead parking lot at 5:10 pm. Thanks for all hikers another successful hike on a glorious weather day after original date (October 8) was cancelled due to 50 mph NW winds (and Ben Frechette, Channel 5 Meteorologist for making the weather happen). Participants: Jill George, Marcus Keely, Julie Cimonetti, Robynn Albert, Dale Schmit(leader). Photos: Dale, Julie, Marcus.

10/2 – Tillotson & Belvidere
Six of us met at 8 AM at the Cambridge park & ride, carpooled up to the trailhead on Tillotson Road in Lowell, and satarted up the Frank Post Trail at 8:55. It was cool and sunny as we headed up, and we reached Tillotson Camp around 10. After some snacks we headed north on the LT toward Tillotson, reaching it around 10:40. There’s been some great new trail building to bypass to the west of some of the wet spots, but we didn’t see it on the way up. So even though the trail was generally drier than we’d expected, we still got some wet feet. But on the way down we followed the new (but incomplete) trail and stayed drier. Some really nice stone work being done there. We followed the LT south back past Tillotson Camp and Lockwood Pond, and reached the Belvidere spur trail around 1:30, and the Belvidere fire tower around 1:45. After climbing up to take in the views we headed down the Foresters Trail. Lockwood Brook was lower than expected, so the crossing was easier than usual. We reached the cars around 4. Participants: Juliet Barash, Barb Johnson, Steve Titcomb, Luis Perez, Ellen Arapakos, David Hathaway (leader).

10/1 – Colden (ADKs)
Three of us met at 3:45 AM at the Richmond Park and Ride for a very early start to ensure we could get to the Adirondack Loj in time to secure parking on an expected busy weekend. We arrived at the Loj at 5:45 AM and secured one of the few remaining spots before cars were turned away to the (very) distant overflow parking. After readying ourselves, we set out in the dark at 6:00 AM. Our first stop was Marcy Dam – about 2.5 miles in where we got our first early morning views of Mt. Colden. After some clothing changes we started to make our way to Avalanche Lake a couple miles distant. Arriving at the top of Avalanche Lake, wedged in between Mt. Colden and Avalanche Mountain, we begin the challenging scrambles across the north side of the lake over many boulders, ladders and platforms. Along the way we had excellent views into the Trap Dike. We also could see in the distance the other members of our outing whom we’d yet to catch up with (as they had overnighted at Marcy Dam and started before us). We all met up at the beginning of the major ascent up Colden where we would gain almost 2000 feet in under 1.5 miles. As expected, the path up was steep and wet with slippery, smooth rock scrambles dominating. We made it to the tree line with no major incidents and began the exposed scramble to the summit which afforded excellent, expansive views. After an early lunch (and some cake from some other generous hikers on the summit) we began the long descent to Marcy Dam where we deposited some of our group to break down their camp. The rest of us headed back to the Loj where we completed our outing just before 3:00 PM. Participants: Diane Sherman, Vikki Monroe, Lisa Morris, Kala Luczynski, Coco (canine hiker) and Chris Luczynski (leader).