Ascent of Dorset Mountain on 2017-08-26| Other People: | Solo Ascent
| | Date: | Saturday, August 26, 2017 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Peak: | Dorset Mountain | | Location: | USA-Vermont | | Elevation: | 3760 ft / 1146 m |
Ascent Trip ReportDecided to do the solo loop described by Dave Darby's description in 2013 (thanks, Dave!) I heard this was not that spectacular and involved a lot of bushwhacking so went solo as it's harder to convince buddies to do these type. I started at 10am, ironically similar to Dave, and was therefore able to use his times to figure out how I was doing. I ended up doing the 10 miles in about 6.5 hours (30 min lunch compared to Dave's 8 min lunch ;) )
I'll spare the details as Dave's report is pretty good, but I'll share my thoughts.
Overall, this loop is pretty grueling in the summer: 4-5 miles of bushwhack without trail, 2-3 miles of hiking on nearly indiscernible old ATV trail and logging roads, and only about 2 miles of hiking on a trail. No matter if it's summer or not, wear long pants or you'll be sorry.
Dorset is on a few good lists and I was interested in exploring the area so I'm glad I went, but overall a very boring, tough hike without a single view for reward. I find most mountains in VT (minus the classics like mansfield, camel, kili etc) are like this...
Not one to bring less experienced hikers or friends hoping for a nice easy hike with views. Glad I did it, but wouldn't do it again.
Note: if you follow Dave's GPS track, which I did, I found a couple things that can make it easier. Dave commented the trail is a bit hard coming down from Netop, which it is. However, I saw that there seems to be a couple trails that you can follow, but if you choose the deeper rutted trail with more rock at the bottom and sometimes with water running down it - thats the trail. There are old orange blazes on the trees. So if you can't decide which, follow this one and you'll get to the main ATV trail quicker
I also found that, when this ATV trail ends about halfway from Netop to Tower Rd and you have to go off trail there is a nice trail. Dave shot straight through based on coordinates, but if you follow parallel to his path but just a bit north, there is a nice, clean and easy hiking path going all the way back to the road. It goes north just a bit and when there is a fork and the nice trail splits off right, go left on the grassy trail. This brings you to the end of Grouse Ln
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| Summary Total Data | | Quality: | 1 (on a subjective 1-10 scale) | | Route Conditions: | Unmaintained Trail, Bushwhack | | Weather: | Pleasant |
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