We’re still in that lousy, wet weather pattern up here at 45°N. Just about every day is featuring rain of some kind- light showers, heavy rain and the occasional thunderstorm. So when we had an unannounced break in the precipitation last Friday, I took advantage and went up Bluff Mountain over in Island Pond.

What else would I do on a sunny day? Truth be told, I think I’ve become somewhat of an incline addict these days. I start getting antsy after four or five days off the trails- need some ups!

I rolled over to the Bluff Mountain Community Trailhead a little after lunchtime, and was the second car in the lot. There was a van wearing Quebec plates already there. The day was still sunny and approaching 80°. After downing a half liter of water, I donned the slack pack and headed up the hill.

This was my third time going up Bluff Mountain. The last time was over Labor Day weekend last year. Not much has changed, and the trail doesn’t look like it gets a lot of use. Pretty tight in places, and not a lot of erosion commonly found on some of the more popular mountains. Trail maintenance is good, and the blazes look to have been freshened up recently. There was a trail obstruction that looked to be recent.

Seeing as there’s been a lot of rain here, the trail was, shall we say, “moist”? There was some mud, and slippery bits here and there. No problem if you’re wearing proper footwear, and if you’re not you’ll have earned the experience.

On past hikes I’ve gone up to the top via the Lookout Trail, but this time I figured to take the Community Trail to the top, just to make it a little different. The Lookout Trail has a neat section where you ascend the cliff using some iron sunk into the rocks- great to go up, not as easy descending.

The incline is not severe on this trail, but does continue steadily upwards. There is a section before it joins the Ridge Trail where there are a couple of brief descents before continuing up. There’s a really well done staircase at one of these points.

After joining up with the Ridge Trail, there’s a bog to be brooked. The bridging through this wet area is in good shape. After clearing the wetlands it’s not much further to the top of the hill. Like most hills in the Northeast Kingdom, there is no view from the summit, only a sign and a US Geodetic Survey marker.

But there is a nice little view to be had 1/10th of a mile down the hill on the Lookout Trail. Through a break in the trees you can see both Island Pond and the village of the same name. This was the first time I’d seen it in clear weather. The haziness is due to smoke filtering down here from the wildfires in Quebec. We’ve been seeing quite a lot of that this year.

Just after I took the above photo, something big thrashed through the woods just to my left. I caught a glimpse of black, somewhat low to the ground, so I guess I spooked a bear. It crashed off through the woods, and soon everything was quiet again.

I retraced my steps back over the summit, returning the way I came. On the way down I met another hiker on his way up, toting a toddler in a backpack carrier. I mentioned to him that I had heard and seen something topside.

This was a quick hike, taking two hours start-to-finish. Distance was 4 miles, with an elevation gain of about 1200 feet. A quick fix for an old incline junkie.

On a hiking-related note, yesterday marked the end of service for a piece of trail gear I’ve had for 12 or 13 years. The brown boonie hat is being retired, as I *finally* found its exact replacement after months of searching. Exact, except for color. The new one is green as the brown color is no longer available, but more importantly it is 100% cotton. That was the hard spec to meet- everything out there seems to be loaded with polyester, which does not absorb sweat. This is important when you wear glasses.

My typical routine is wearing the hat on the way up. Once topside, it’s usually soaked, and gets a ride down the hill strapped to the pack. Being cotton it dries fairly quickly. That old hat went through the washing machine countless times during its service. I hope the new one fares as well.

That’ll do it for this rainy Sunday afternoon. I’m hoping for a dry day this week to make a full-kit climb of Camel’s Hump, but right now the forecast isn’t promising. We will see.

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