WOW! Ascutney is a beast! Utilizing all 5 trails in one day was a unique experience.
My husband, Guy and I started our adventure at 6:49am on Friday September 18, 2020. It was a cloudy start to the morning, temps in the upper 40's.
We hiked the trails in this order:
~ Up Bicentennial Trail to Summit
~Down Weathersfield Trail (stop to look out over Hang Glider)
~Up Weathersfield Trail to Summit
~Down Futures Trail
~Up Futures Trail to Summit
~Down Windsor Trail
~Up Windsor Trail to Summit (Using our Salomon Flask filter for a quick fill up of water at the stream)
~Down Brownsville Trail
~Up Brownsville Trail to Summit
~Down Bicentennial Trail --YAY!!!
We carried all of our own water and food, mostly relying on Tailwind and Spring Energy gels and filled up in the stream with our filters on the way back up Windsor Trail. The trails were not too crowded for such a perfect day. Maybe seeing 12-15 folks in all. 3rd summit was the most busy.
I love being able to do these challenges close to home with my partner in crime. Ascutney rivals most bigger mountains in elevation. The one thing we kept saying is, this challenge is relentless, because the trails are so steep up or so steep down, not much rolling except for Futures. Not as technical, as say the White Mountains, but Ascutney makes up for it in elevation per mile.
This is an epic way to see all of Ascutney and to push yourself out of your comfort zone! Thanks Eli Burakian for setting up this FKT and inspiring us to tackle this!