Yesterday Mom, Buster and I hiked up Pico Peak, a full day hike. We'd been talking about hiking Pico for weeks now and it was becoming one those plans that just stays a plan rather than becomes a reality. Unfortunately these sort of plans become more daunting the more you talk about them. But we were determined to hike Pico.
It rained 6 inches on Friday. Saturday was a great day but instead mom and I washed windows, curtains and got the house a bit more winterized. We also did a bunch of outside chores too. We worked all day. We also made apple butter. At the end of the day Mom and I decided it might be a good idea to pick an alternative hike. In case we got up and had zero motivation to hike Pico. We chose our alternate, both hoping that we would feel up to hiking Pico.
On Sunday we got up ready to go! I packed a lunch of peanut butter and apple butter sandwiches, using the apple butter we had made the day before. And we got the dog ready to go and we left the house around 9:30 in the morning after having a good breakfast of eggs and toast. We started a bit later than what we planned on, but it was because we couldn't find a map that was up to our standards. We ended up just taking a slightly less than stellar topo map with us.
The hike overall was easy. The incline was quite gradual. But due to all the rain the trail was pretty wet in parts. Big puddles and the fallen wet leaves made the trail a little slippery, but nothing was too over the top.
We then got to an old cabin that had been on the Long Trail before it was moved. The cabin was well worn and cozy. If I was camping out this would be an alright place to stay. Apparently there had been previous problems with critters getting in because others didn't lock the doors. It was also possible that the cabin leaked, but it seemed dry after the big rain storm the day before. At the cabin there was a 3 way intersection, the trail coming from route 4 (the one we had taken up) a spur trail going to the Long Trail, and then the Pico Peak trail going to the summit. Mom and I took the last trail to get to the top.
Little did we know that this part of the trail was straight up. the last .4 miles of this trail were brutal. It was a bit like rock climbing. I then remembered that hiking Okemo was much like this the whole way up. I counted myself lucky that Pico wasn't like Okemo. There was a part of the trail where we could have hiked up a ski trail instead of going to the cabin, but we decided against it. Ski trails don't look so steep when skiing down them, but I hiked down Okemo once going on the ski trails and it's a lot steeper than it looks, even on the easy trails.
Once reaching the top there were great views! Much better than Okemo. Easier to hike up and better views, I vote Pico being the better of the two hikes. You could walk all over the peak. There were places that were wide open viewing all around. A ski lift and radio tower were also on the top. I know this interests some people, but I was there for the views. We ate lunch on the top of the mountain and enjoyed the fall weather. Lunch is best served after a hike.
On the way down my mom and I commented on how it was worth it and how we were glad that we took a day for ourselves and got to spend some time hiking, a thing that we both love to do. Even though we were sore and tired when we got to the car, it was a great day. Sometimes it's nice to hike solo, and other times the experience is better shared. In this particular instance it was better because I got to share it with my mom.
Overall Pico was a great hike and I highly recommend it.
Trails I've hiked this summer so far:
Pico Peak
Little Rock Pond (twice)
White Rocks
Clarendon Gorge/ Overlook
Okemo
Coolidge State Park
Others on the List:
Baker Peak
Bromley
Prospect Rock
Mount Tom
Haystack
