January 2, 2022
Start/End: Cooley Glen/Emily Proctor trailhead
Miles: 8.73
Elevation gain: 2569′
After driving to the trailhead last night, I hunkered down and slept in my car. Overnight, the rain turned into freezing rain, coating everything in ice. The snow had a crust with moving water underneath most of it. When I started out in the morning, I followed the more obvious and signed trail; I discovered 30 minutes later that I’d gone the wrong way, heading up a different side trail that feeds into the Long Trail. So I turned around and slogged back to where I started.
The trail hadn’t been traveled since the last snowfall and there were a few larger water crossings. I made good time on my hike up to the intersection with the Long Trail and was glad for the LT shelter at the T. It gave me somewhere to rest out of the rain, and somewhere to drop my backpack so I didn’t have to carry it to the two summits. By the time I finished both summits, it had gotten colder and switched to moderately heavy snow. I quickly headed back towards the trailhead, where I had to chisel my truck out of 1/4 inch of ice and 2 inches of snow.
Transcending Mountains 