Mt. Equinox 9.27.11

[Ski Stef]

We took the Blue Summit Trail to the TOP! The whole hike is around 6.8 miles rountrip.. Definitely a challenging but rewarding hike and I couldn't believe the weather yesterday...I thought for sure we were going to get rained out but it turned out to be 80 degrees and absolutely beautiful.

Woke up yesterday morning after a wedding weekend that I was in and desperately needed to do something healthy for my body. I've hiked Mt. Equinox before because it is only 35 minutes from where I live so I called up my girlfriend Nikki and asked her to join me. We had such a great time and both remembered how challenging and rewarding this hike is.

When we finally made it to the top (it took us about 2 hours...which was our goal so yay! ) we went to go check out the old hotel at the summit and to our surprise it had been torn down and was under complete construction. I asked the workers what they were building and there should be a brand new Welcome Center up at the top by the beginning of next Spring.

We took a short walk around the summit and checked out the views from the back of Equinox and then headed back down. On our way down we heard sirens and it sounded like fire trucks and ambulances coming up the access road. We did see some other people on the trails but not many so hopefully no one was injured to badly.

Here are some pictures...enjoy! we did!! (once we got to the top)
We started off at the bottom near Burr and Burton Academy and hiked in towards Equinox Pond on our way to the Blue Trail (Here's the Z man ready to go!)

Here's Nikki still at the bottom looking strong... *this was about 5 minutes into the hike while we were still chatting and breathing normally*
















a little woolly friend

almost there!!







WE MADE IT!

All the construction being done at the top

Zeus tired at the summit

Looking out the back of Equinox

[Warp Daddy]

Great shots guys , good conditioning too for whats to come !!

[Ski Stef]

Great shots guys , good conditioning too for whats to come !!

Thanks Warp!! Yep...definitely felt the burn. c'mon snow!

[billski]

That's some serious vertical (3248'). Congrats!

[Glenn]

Very cool. Always wanted to hike to the top; never had time or weather on our side. What an amazing view from up there.

[marievdk]

That is so awesome! I love that hike! I haven't done it in a few years tho and now I live on the otherside of the country. But I am glad you were able to let me relive it!!!

[nikkiski]

such a great day! ready for round two!

[Angus]

Did this hike in early November, there was more snow on the ground then than I've seen cumulatively outside my house all winter! Oh, boy. Not sure if it was 3K climb, recall it took me a little over an hour to reach summit from the hotel. The trail is in good condition and only icey/snow covered the top 1/2 mile or so.

[bigbog]

Nice TR from you two Stef. Equinox's backside, from your pic, looks pretty available for poaching with decent cover. Back in the day...I only knew of a frontface view which was always visibly strewn with rocks/blowdowns etc...