Town high points

 Next up was some town high points with Albee. Al was heading back from NY and stopped by camp on Tuesday night. We were up at 5 a.m. and on the road to visit the highest point in a few Vermont towns. I have run in all cities/towns in MA, NH, RI, VT, and CT and now I’m working on visiting the highest point in each town. With about 1,200 in those states, I’ve got plenty of adventures ahead of me. We started the day in light rain near the high point of Isle La Motte. This one was a bit tricky as much of the area is posted “no trespassing”. We did some easy running as we were along the edge of some fields (and even activated a game camera) and wanted to get into the woods as daylight was coming. The woods were very open if we could avoid some old, barbed wire fences. We found the high point and the benchmark (a steel disc mounted on a small concrete post) nearby. We headed out via some carriage roads and found our way past a B&B which probably would have been a safe place to park and enter the woods. Next up were a couple of high points that involved very short hikes (200 meters) zipping in and out of the woods along the property line. At that point we were in Alburgh VT and I had located a rail trail that looked promising. Al was up for a run so we hit the trail for a 4 mile stretch of the legs. The trail was dirt/grass but in good condition. I’d like to go back some time and explore more of it, it appears to be about 4 miles from end to end over the former Rutland-Canadian division/Island Line railroad. Then it was back to bagging as the sun broke out and it got windy. We headed to St Alban City for an interesting climb up a ski slope followed by a trail hike and a short bushwhack. The park was HUGE with trails seemingly everywhere. They also had disc golf on the slopes and in the woods. Our next high point was a change of pace with over 2 miles of “whacking” in a mix of open woods, ferns, and overgrown ATV trails. The 2 mile hike took us a little over an hour and featured a spooky looking hunters shack on the 1,111’ summit. It was getting a bit drizzly as we made our way up the terrible road to a solar farm near the top of St Albans (the town, not the city!). The true high point was within the fence at the FAA facility, so we made our way around the fenceline and did not test the security although near the high point the outer fence had been knocked down by a tree and there wasn’t any signage on the fence. Our final high point was Sheldon which could be easily accessed if the property owner allowed. Al checked in with the owner who was aware that the property sat on the high point and not only allowed us access but also suggested we park higher up on the grassy path he maintained. The hike was an easy 160’ climb over a quarter mile of mostly ATV paths. The woods were strewn with tubing between the trees as it is an active maple sugaring location. In all we visited 7 town high points before Al hit the road and I headed back to a rainy campground. I was glad to have chosen a lean-two or it would have been an extra-soggy trip.