Somerset Reservoir west side (Vermont)

[John P]

There's an official trail down the east side of Somerset Reservoir in southern Vermont, called the Catamount Trail. It's a cross-country ski trail in winter, and a hiking path in summer, and we walked it last month. But the maps show a confusing network of trails on the west side, and Dan D and Dan K felt challenged to try and make the equivalent walk northbound from the dam to Grout Pond, one day after the fall equinox. We weren't at all confident that the trails would all exist as shown on the map, but we thought that with phones equipped with GPS features, we'd be able to figure out a route. This is the area we were in:
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=43.01039,-72.94011&z=13&b=t

The pictures are all thumbnails.

	I arrived at our group campsite on Grout Pond at 1:30am and walked in with a headlamp. Here's Dan K moving around while I'm still in my tent, not surprising given the time I came in.		Dan and Dan walking up the trail to the parking lot.		Here Dan K is taking a picture of the official map at Somerset Reservoir dam. We're planning to walk north and finish up at Grout Pond again.
	At first the trail was an old road, wide and only slightly overgrown. We made good time.		But after a mile or so the trail deviated off to the west and it looked as if we'd need to head into the woods.		It was a serious enough decision that we consulted the paper map (which was exactly the same as the map we each had on our phones, but of course we trusted it more).
	The decision was made, and off into the woods we went.		We got onto a little-used but walkable trail marked with yellow dots.		And then another old road, but not as good as the first one.
	There was some interesting fungus to be seen.		After another stint of bushwhacking, we reached the shore of the lake and had a much-desired swim and an equally desired lunch.		The rocky shore made clambering out of the water awkward.
	After lunch and a swim, there was time to relax. But hiking at the Equinox means that the shadows creep up early.		As we got near to the northern end of the lake, we found ourselves on a trail that had been maintained at some time in the past.		If there had ever been a bridge here, it was gone.
	I took most of the pictures, but Dan D did this one showing Dan K and me.		And here we all are together taken with the self-timer, with the camera on the ground.		At just after 4pm we got back to Grout Pond, and there were so few people around that Dan and Dan walked through the campground unwrapped. Trip done!

                     

[eyesup]

When I was a kid, I used to hike in the woods near my home in East Texas. These photos remind me of that. Hiking in the desert has it’s benefits and appeals. I can remember walking as a kid in a shadowy environment and then into a bright sunlit opening in the canopy, from cool to warmth. Always a wonderful transition.

Out here using a topo is certainly easier. You can see the horizon and the land features. There, all is covered by the forest and you have to search for a vantage point to see the horizon. I can see why you stopped to verify your direction and path.

I found the lake on Google Earth and between that and CalTopo didn’t see the Catamount Trail marked. You started at the pond and ended at the pond. Did you camp 1st at Grout Pond, drive south to the dam and hike north? Or, did you walk a circuit of the lake. From Grout Pond south on the east side then back up north on the west side.

Either way, I can see why you took a cool dip in the lake. Great photos and report. Thanks.

Duane

[jbeegoode]

Wow, water! Any water that big is filled with fishermen, or powerboats, around here. We both sat here and thought how we would like to revisit New England. DF just got back from GA., but I haven't been east since sometime in the 1980's. Yup, very inviting. The kinds of places that I grew up in, playing war games up in the trees, being fascinated by reptiles and skippin' rocks, exploring to our hearts content.
Jbee

[nuduke]

Interesting behaviour of the photos and text, JohnP,

The article started out with small size pics and the text and pics were laid out in a sort of grid.  As I looked at each photo and returned to the page the photo remained on the page at the clicked size (i.e. big!).  After about 4 clicks the text was quite jumbled so it was hard to read.  What method did you use for posting, JohnP

Having said that, the post itself was great.  What a splendid outing and in such perfect woods and lakes.

John

[John P]

All right, all right. I admit that the report wasn't in a good format, and I knew it all along but I was being lazy and didn't fix it. I'll post an explanation in the "BBCode for clickable thumbnails" thread on the Suggestions page, if anyone wants to read it there. Meanwhile I've fixed up my initial posting here, except that I left the last picture deliberately as an example of what was wrong.

Edited to say that I just noticed that if you click on any of the pictures that's in vertical format, it changes to a smaller size for a fraction of a second, then keeps that size when you return to the page. I don't understand that but it seems harmless.

There ought to be a "Computer nerd naturism" discussion board somewhere.

[nuduke]

John