Hike to the summit of all of the New England Hundred Highest mountains and you'll have covered an awful lot of ground, both on the trail and off. I'm trying, but it sure does take awhile. Years in fact.

But that's OK. I've got time (I hope).

A friend and I ventured over to the Green Mountain State over the 4th holiday weekend and knocked off another couple of peaks there: Mendon Peak and Mount Equinox.

Mendon has no trails on it, so bushwhacking with map and compass was the order of the day. Mount Equinox has a long and winding trail to its summit, where it meets the auto road coming up from the other side. The two peaks couldn't have provided more contrast to the very enjoyable weekend of hiking.

The two peaks represented #87 and #88 on "the list" for me, so I'm getting there. Slowly.

But I've still got a good amount of work ahead of me. In Maine, I've got East Kennebago, Elephant, North Peak of Kennebago Divide, Snow (Chain of Ponds), Snow (Little Kennebago Lake), and Redington (recently added to the Maine 4000 footer list). In New Hampshire, there's Scar Ridge, East Sleeper, Vose Spur, and North and South Weeks. And I have two left in Vermont now: Big Jay and Dorset Peak.

I'd like to think that I'll make a concerted effort to finish them all this year but...

Anyway, to Mendon. It's just south of Killington and the AT, near Rutland.

Thanks to info from the AMC Four Thousand Footer Club, some Google searches, and some beta from a friend in N.H. (thanks Ray!), we had a pretty straight forward climb of the trailless Mendon.

We followed old logging roads as high on the mountain as they went. Where the roads petered out we were still a good 1,300 feet below the top. Out came the map, and the compass, which I set to a bearing of 161 degrees. And, with a deep breath and some good thoughts for luck, off we went. Crashing through the thick brush, over rocks and roots and blowdowns, ever checking the compass bearing and looking back for landmarks.

In just about a half hour we emerged onto a herd path on the summit ridge, turned instinctively to the right, and in 50 feet, were on the top. Or what we thought was the top, since we couldn't locate the white register canister that adorns the summit of all trailless NE 100 highest peaks.

Uh oh.

So we backtracked on the herd path and made our way over to the other peak.

No register there either. Back we went.

It was going to be an awful shame to get all the way up here and not be "official" because we couldn't find the register.

We followed a few faint paths around where we'd been earlier.

And it there was, well hidden in the brush behind some trees, not fifteen feet from where we'd been a half hour before!

Whew!

We signed in, had some chow and rested up for a bit.

On the way down we reversed the compass heading and hoped we could intersect our high point on the old logging road. We came close, I know it, but missed it anyway. And were forced to bushwhack all the way down the mountain through some pretty nasty stuff.

It was tiring going. Even more so when you're not entirely sure where you are.

But I long ago learned to trust the compass reading and my gut feeling. We were on the right track, it was just going to take awhile. And it did. But dammit if we didn't break out of the woods right onto the major woods road at our secondary point of reference.

We damn near danced the 15 minutes back to the car!

Success!

The following day we hopped in the car and drove south to Manchester Center, stopping in to get some info on Mount Equinox from the local outfitter, The Mountain Goat.

With a trail to follow, this was an easier day, but not by much. The 2,900 feet of elevation gain over the course of the 2.7 mile Blue Summit Trail was no slacker of a climb. The trail rose at steady, unrelenting grade that wore my legs out.

We made the top in just over 1 1/2 hours anyway. Unfortunately we had to share it with a parking lot full of cars that had driven up the auto road. But we met some friendly folks and enjoyed a good rest on the porch of the old hotel there.

We got a tip from some hikers on the way down that maps of the Equinox Preserve were available in the village at the rather swanky Mount Equinox Hotel. We had, of course, made the trip up with no map. So we stopped by the hotel on the way home to pick up a souvenir map.

I got quite a kick out if the experience.

As soon as my dust covered Honda pulled in front of the hotel, we were rushed by a bevy of bellmen. I had barely gotten out of the car when I was approached and asked, rather suspiciously, what I needed. (Surely they knew this dirty smelly hiker couldn't possibly afford a room here!). The man then radioed inside to security and a trail map was brought out to me. I was escorted back to my car, and with a look that surely could have killed (but no words), I was asked to please drive away.

And so we did.

Approaching Mendon Peak, a trailless mountain in Vermont on the New England Hundred Highest List.

Checking the map to be sure we're on track.

Negotiating the thick brush on the upper reaches of the peak.

On the thickly wooded summit with no register canister in sight.

Ahah! The register canister well hidden just steps from the summit.

More pleasant bushwhacking on the descent.

Playing tourist on top of Mount Equinox, another of the NE 100 Highest in Vermont.

The view from Equinox north to Dorset Peak.

Butterfly on the trail up Equinox.

Wildflowers just below summit of Equinox.

Cooling down post-hike with a Stewart's Root Beer. Whoa! Who are you and what have you done with...

Post-hike swimming in the cold water of the old Dorset marble quarry.