Growing up in Norwich, I’ve been wanting to explore Ascutney ever since I started trail running. I saw the route on the website and figured I’d give it a shot! I had perfect weather and started at 10:40 am. It was tough to get the legs moving on the first road section knowing how much climbing I had ahead of me. I decided that if I encountered tons of mud on the upper part of Weathersfield Trail, I would turn back since I didn’t want to ruin trail conditions early in the season. To my surprise the trail was almost completely dry save a few stream crossings. Having never been up Ascutney I was confused by the dense trail network at the top, but my gpx file kept me on track. Futures is a rough descent with a few punchy uphills I didn’t expect. Starting up the auto road I started feeling good and kept up the pace until the end besides a slight bonk going up Brownsville. I finished at the Bicentennial parking lot at 3:06 pm. I went through a clif bar, a handful of gels, and some liquid calories. Having a filter bottle came in handy as I refilled water partway down Futures and partway down Bicentennial. I think this route goes much closer to 4 hrs with better route knowledge. I definitely lost time trying to find my way through those summit trails. Overall, this route is really cool. Thanks to Eli for coming up with it!