Mt. Ascutney via Futures Trail & Mt. Ascutney Parkway (Mt. Ascutney State Park)
Hike Type: Figure-8-ish Loop
Distance: 10.38 miles
Elevation: 3,051 feet
My Time: 4 hours, 40 minutes (4 hours, 33 minutes moving)
Book Time: 6 hours, 42 minutes
Parking: Parking after first building on right of campground loop (turn left before Mt. Ascutney Parkway and then turn right to start one-way loop, sign for parking on grass, limited parking, $5 fee).
Hiking Challenges: Mt. Ascutney State Park, Operation Alaska Benchmark Challenge, New England 50 Finest
Hiking Challenges: Mt. Ascutney State Park, Operation Alaska Benchmark Challenge, New England 50 Finest
The Hike
Juneteenth Weekend! I was heading up to Emma's to help her move and do a bucket list hike of mine - hiking from VT-242, over Jay Peak, and all the way to the Canadian Border at Journey's End! Naturally, I planned to sneak a hike in on the way up. I had a late Thursday night followed by an EARLY Friday morning. I had a fever dream of making it to Pitcher Mountain in NH to see the sunrise, but that simply did not work out. My alarm went off at 2:45am and I ended up snoozing until around 3:20am and I was out the door at 3:40am.
The extra little sleep was beneficial to me - my drive to Hooksett was delightfully not-too-sleepy (minus the last 10 minutes). I apparenly hadn't been to the Hooksett Northbound rest area in a while, because they finished renovating! It looks great and is much more open, now. The bathrooms were closed for cleaning, leaving only the single-stall family restroom open and a line of people. I had to pee, but was going to try to wait. I got gas, started to leave, and turned right around, NEEDING to use the bathroom. Naturally, as I left the bathroom, the main bathrooms opened on up!
My drive along I-89 was mostly on auto-pilot, causing me to miss my exit... twice! I made it to Mt. Ascutney State Park at 6:20am, but spent around 10 minutes trying to understand the parking situation. When you enter the state park and pay your fee, turn left at the Mt. Ascutney Parkway (the auto road). You'll come to the start of a one-way loop, turn right. There will be a building on your right and a small parking sign, park just after the building on the grass. At least that's what I ended up doing and didn't get in trouble (also don't tell them but I only had $2 to throw into the Iron Ranger).
[6:36am - Start of Hike]
My hike began on the gravel loop road around the campsites. Many folks were waking up and doing their morning camp chores. I happily walked along the road, turning right when the loop turned left. There were a couple of signs for "Futures Trail" that guided me along with my AllTrails. It was beautiful out! It was partly cloudy and just 60 degrees. I continued walking toward a "Dead End" sign, enjoying the smell of morning campfires, and soon came to the actual trailhead of the Futures Trail at the end of the gravel road.
[6:38am - Futures Trail]
I began to follow the Futures Trail, which was blazed with blue rectangles with red dots underneath at first. The trail entered the woods and scooted back behind a couple campsities and passed an old, collapsed chimney before turning away from the campground and pivoting to only blue rectangle blazes.
I worked my way along the trail, which had easy grades, over a few blowdowns and past a rather unhappy turkey. There were a few stone walls covered in moss. I was super proud of myself because I had finally fixed the hip belt on my 32-liter pack, but naturally I put the new buckle on the wrong end of the strap, so now it kept slipping.
The Futures Trail crossed a logging road and a formerly cleared area on the left with deer prints underneath. There was some sun beginning to poke through the clouds and the tiniest little grey bird with a unique call/sound/song, but I didn't get a photo clear enough to identify it - oh well! The trail crossed another stone wall followed by a swithback that appeared to turn off of an older route. Mentally, I was thinking of this hike as a Pumpelly day on Monadnock - same mountain I've done before, but a longer route and I should focus on the journey.
I hiked past a BIG deer higher up in the woods on the left. It wasn't alerted, but it was watching me intently. The trailbed was delightfully soft and the footing narrowed slightly, but it was nowhere near as bad as Fahenstock (which will be my new comparison point for a while). There was another swtichback at 0.55 miles and then the trail began to steepen with leafy tree views outward that would be nice in winter!
I hit a third and fourth switchback that continued to steepen - this was calf-steep, and in fairness it was more of a wiggle up than a proper series of switchbacks. I did eventually hit a grassy area that was nice a flat before rising again and then crossing another grassy patch that WAS up to my thigh, but nowhere near as dense as Fahnestock.
I conitnued to alternate between moderate climbs and flat grassy spots. I did eventually put bug spray on just out of caution. The trail slowly got a little rocky and then a little slabby, which I didn't fully trust due to it being just a little wet. At the height-of-land, a spur to the Bare Rock Vista turned left!
[7:08am - Bare Rock Vista]
The spur trail was short and pretty, and the vista was... grown in! I could see out to the valley below through a few trees, and from the right angle I could make out the south and main peaks of Mt. Ascutney, both of which looked far away! I snapped a few photos and then turned around to return to the Futures Trail.
[7:11am - Futures Trail]
While long, I appreciated how the Futures Trail was broken up nicely in different segments. A sign once back on the trail told me that the road crossing was in 1.1 miles, the Steam Donkey was in 2.4, and the Windsor Trail in 3.1 - wonderful pacing if you ask me! From here, the trail descended back into the woods, and descended, and then steeply, and descended... I could hear a train blaring it's horn somewhere not-too-far away, and later a breeze graced my presence and felt absolutely divine.
I had bought two breakfast sandwiches at Hooksett, had one in the car and was going to bring the other one on the hike with me, but I had just realized that I left it in the car! It was literally fine - I also had eaten a loaded hash brown and a TON of cheerios this morning, but I was still a little bummed! I hopped over some deer poop and another blowdown before descending via more switchbacks. The footing continued to be wonderfully soft as I entered a really pretty flat, mossy area.
The trail began to rise again, passing two sharp pointed rocks. It could have been just two coincidentally placed rocks, or maybe a town line? It looks like the Futures Trail comes near the Windsor/Weathersfield town line in spots? Who knows! I continued to ramble through more easy forest with soft dirt, roots, and rocks, passing singing birds and squirrels doing their morning chores. The trail got a little wet once near a stream, and then the bugs started to act up, too! I passed an eft, and then another! I noticed through the woods I was nearing some form of clearing, maybe the road?
I worked my way around some more wet, mossy rocks, and then confirmed that it was not the road, but a power cut! I came up to a stream, which bordered the power cut, and then climbed alongside both of them. In the process, I spooked two baby ruffed grouses (I saw them fly away and heard their "chirping," which was unfortunately a familiar sound to me. Then, I saw the mother, fully puffed up, charging at me, and hissing! I SCREAMED at it and ran, hopping across the stream and the surrounding wet area, entering the power cut, but soon coming to another screeching hault...
[7:40am - Futures Trail/Power Cut]
...because there was a porcupine right in the middle of the trail! Thankfully, the grouse had ceased it's attack and the porcupine could have not been more unbothered. It munched away at some undergrowth for a minute, and only started to move when I went off-trail to get around it. It casually scooted up a nearby tree - it was a joy to watch! After a few minutes I thanked him for his time and continued on my way.
A sign at the upper parking lot read:
"PORCUPINES IN THE PARK
The North American porcupine is abundant in Mt. Ascutney State Park. Porcupines are rodents, and their hollow quills are modified hairs. They can't throw their quills, but they can lose a few (so be sure to keep your dog safe by following park rules and using a leash at all times). Porcupines eat a large variety of types (and parts) of plants and some insects. You may come across them at night or during the day. We love our porcupines. Please enjoy watching them from a distance." from Trailhead Kiosk
[7:45am - Futures Trail/Parking Area]
Soon after my wildlife debacle, I came to what I thought was the road - not yet! The Futures Trail skirted the edge of a gravel parking area for a picnic area. It passed some sort of shed (maybe a pump house for the water fountain and bathroom across the street?) and then reentered the woods, passing a single pink flower. The clouds had fully rolled in by this point, but it still wasn't supposed to rain. The trail back in the woods was wet, but dried up once I began to climb again.
[8:00am - Futures Trail/Power Cut]
The trail steeply climbed up to cross the power cut again and then continued up for a few minutes before another walking break. This trail was good about alternating climbs with walking breaks! I crossed the power cut one more time during the walking break, catching a little view and wondered if people ski this? From the power cut, the trail easily descended on a wider trail to a wet area, and then officially crossed the paved road, the Mt. Ascutney Parkway!
[8:04am - Futures Trails/Mt. Ascutney Parkway]
Knowing the hardest part of the hike hadn't happened yet, I cautiously thought to myself "ya know this hasn't been too bad!" After crossing the Mt. Ascutney Parkway the trail remained flat for a bit as it side-hilled a ravine/bowl/cirque situation. I caught glimpses over the trees to the summit ridge, which still looked plenty high up! At this point, I decided I'd make a semi-loop of this hike and follow the road down. I passed a toat, and started to steeply climb (calf steep).
I appreciated the wide trail and consequently the lack of spider webs as I suffered my way up. I crossed a couple streams and continued to suffer uphill with some muddy footing, which made sense considering the massive amounts of rain Vermont has gotten recently (plus a tornado?!) - it could have been much worse! Even if the road was longer, it would take me significantly less time because I'd be able to cruise on down.
The Futures Trail climbed again, flattened again, and crossed some streams again in a cool little box canyon-esc spot (followed by more streams, naturally). To my delight, the Steam Donkey spur trail was just after!
[8:25am - Steam Donkey Spur]
The Steam Donkey spur path was less-traveled, but super clear and easy to follow. After just a minute, I landed at the Steam Donkey in question! A sign at the upper parking lot read:
"The STEAM DONKEY is part of our history
Mount Ascutney was logged in the early 1900s. How were the trees removed on such a steep hillside? A STEAM DONKEY is a wooden sled with a steam-enging powered winch and cable system. You can visit the remains of this one, which was abandoned here."
It was a massive piece of rusted machinery with gears and the works. You can tell it's been there for a while, too, because of the plants growing around and inside of it. It also felt very much in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure 100 years ago there were a lot more logging roads, though. Okay, back to exercising.
[8:33am - Futures Trail]
I got back onto the Futures Trail and conitnued onward. The trail was now more wet and rugged, almost feeling like people hike to the Steam Donkey and turn around, which seems silly. My legs were feeling it on this next climb! I think part of it is because my 32-liter pack fits me better than the 40 I'd been weating so the pack weight was now being correctly distributed. I followed a nice walking break and then climbed again to the junction with Futures Link.
[8:45am - Futures Trail/Futures Link]
Here, I decided to continue on the Futures Trail just to satisfy hitting the whole trail in one shot - I'll revisit Futures Link when I hike the Windsor Trail in the future. The trail after the Futures Link junction remained relatively flat, but even less traveled than before. It traversed a few areas of dense ferns, which was fun to see. I did feel myself missing the flowers of early spring, though!
The trail eventually did become more rugged as it climbed up to it's terminus. I also forgot about my new cartiladge piercing and swiped some sweat off of my ear... ouch!
[8:56am - Windsor Trail]
I soon landed on the Windsor Trail, only 0.5 from the top! This trail was MUCH wider and more traveled. The forest in this area was also super pretty with basically everything covered in moss. The Windsor Trail wiggled up the shoulder of Mt. Ascutney, passing some flowering bunchberry, soon arriving at the Castle Rock Trial junction.
[9:03am - Windsor Trail/Castle Rock Trail]
[9:03am - Windsor Trail & Brownsville Trail]
The Castle Rock Trail junction is in such a cool stretch of forest, I think I described it as "primeval" the last time I hiked here, and I maintain! Just after was the junction with the Brownsville Trail, and then the Windsor Trail and Brownsville Trail turned left to finish the climb up the mountain. There were some wonderful boards to walk over. The sky was cloudy, but the mountain was not in the clouds, which was a win!
[9:08am - Brownsville Rock Spur]
I took photos of all three discs at the stone hut remains and hiked along the very wet Brownsville Rock Spur, revealing a beautiful view. Killington and Pico were deep into a cloud, but the valley and Okemo were looking sunny and wonderful! I also found a summit bolt, kind of like the ones in the Northern Presidentials.
[9:13am - Windsor Trail & Brownsville Trail]
I returned to the Windsor Trail and my way slightly uphill on the comically wet trail. At the junction with the Slab/Slot Trails, there was an adorable red squirrel who was just a bit camera shy.
[9:18am - Observation Tower]
I climbed up the tower, which had some whipping winds! It felt cold on my soaked shirt. The view from the tower underwhelms me for some reason. I did enjoy seeing Monadnock (in hindsight, it was likely Kearsarge) from the top! The communication towers at the main summit sounded like airplanes from the wind!
[9:23am - Mt. Ascutney Summit]
I made my way over to the main summit, found the two discs, and poked around just in case there was anything more to see, but nope! I did see what I think was a vole scurry around, though! It moved too quickly for a photo.
[9:29am - Observation Tower/Windsor & Brownsville Trail]
Once I was satisfied (and chilly), I hiked back towards the Observation Tower and then the Windsor & Brownsville Trails, hiking past some well-tempered squirrels in the process. At the next junction, I was excited to turn right to check out a new one!
[9:31am - Slot/Slab Trail]
[9:33am - Slot Trail]
I followed the signs for the Slot/Slab Trails (blazed in yellow), which coincided for a minute over flat, wet ground. Soon, the Slot trail diverged left, which I followed (slab sounded too slippery for my liking with how wet everything was). The trail was short, but cool! It skirted the bottom of a large rock wall, almost as if I was traversing in a... slot!
[9:35am - Castle Rock Trail]
[9:39am - Castle Rock Trail/Futures Link]
This terminated at the Castle Rock Trail, with I turned right onto and descended along wet, well-constructed stone stairs. I was finally catching spider webs and the sun was starting to come out! After a few minutes, the trail continued straight while the Futures Link started on the left and the Slab Trail joined on the right. There were two people heading up the Slab Trail - I just missed them! Does this still count as a no-people hike?
[9:44am - Parking Lot Spur]
I found myself really not wanting to do the road walk, but I wanted to think about footing even less, so I continued onward, soon crossing a power cut and then turning left onto the Parking Lot Spur trail. I then crossed paths with a couple and their unleashed dog lear the parking lot.
[9:47am - Parking Lot]
There were three cars at the parking lot, which explained the people I ran into. There was a big display about bats at the parking lot kiosk:
"MOUNTAIN BATS
TRUE OR FALSE: MOST BATS DRINK BLOOD
FALSE: Only 3 out of 1,400+ species of bats drink blood, and none of them live in the US.
TRUE OR FALSE: BATS CARRY RABIES
FALSE: Less than 1% of bats carry rabies.
TRUE OR FALSE: BATS ARE BLIND
FALSE: Bats have eyesight about as good as humans do, and they can echolocate (use sound to find food).
TRUE OR FALSE: BATS MAKE NESTS
FALSE: Bats live in trees, caves, bridges, or buildings, but do not build nests.
TRUE OR FALSE: BATS HELP PROTECT WALNUTS, TOMATOES, PEPPERS, COTTON, CORN AND STRAWBERRIES FROM INSECT PESTS
TRUE: Believe it or not, many of the foods found on grocery store shelves and in kitchen pantries are protected by our bats.
BATS CAN EAT ROUGHLY 1000 MOSQUITO-SIZED INSECTS IN AN HOUR. They can fly up to 60 miles per hour, or more!
A NURSING MOTHER BAT CAN EAT UP TO 4,500 INSECTS IN A NIGHT. Bats can live 30 years!
WHY DO BATS HANG UPSIDE DOWN? Bats cannot take off from the ground, they need to drop from being flying (like a hang glider!). Hanging also helps keep them safe from predators.
THERE ARE NINE SPECIES OF BATS THAT LIVE IN VERMONY. EIGHT OF THEM LIVE ON MOUNT ASCUTNEY. Three are migratory tree bats that raise their babies in trees and migrate south in the winter. The remaining six species are cave bats that hibernate in caves during the winter. Five of these six cave bats are either threatened or endangered in Vermont and federally."
I get they're important, but no bats for me! I stopped for a Nalgene swap and a protein bar at a picnic table overlooking Kearsarge, and then began my descent!
[9:52am - South Summit road]
Just kidding! I saw the access road to the South Summit and decided "it doesn't say not to... so why not!" The road was gravel, lined with flowers, and short. The communication towers were HOWLING in the wind, just like the ones on the main summit. Soon enough, I was there!
[9:54am - Mount Ascutney South Summit]
It really felt like I wasn't supposed to be there, but there were no signs saying otherwise! The main tower was the Vermont Public Television tower, which was fun to see. I wandered around, noticing three distinct straight-line cuts radiating away from the towers, but all were grown-in and did not seem worth exploring.
[9:58am - South Summit road]
[9:59am - Mt. Ascutney Parkway]
I started my walk back to the parkway, enjoying the tree-view to Mt. Ascutney proper. Soon enough I was back on the Mt. Ascutney Parkway, and down I went! I wouldn't call the trip to the south summit a worthwhile trip, but I'm glad I did it once!
A car passed me heading up and it smelled like it was having a heck of a time. I couldn't help but wonder if people ski the road? There was a decently long flat section after the first descent that might not be too much fun, but the rest of the road seemed like it could be fun! I got catcalled by a red squirrel just before the seven mile mark. I passed time by playing Pokemon Go, which was actually made for a wonderful downhill walk, even if it got steep at times (particularly around curves).
A Porsche SUV drove up past me a while later and also had quite a smell, and a Tesla soon after, which did not have a smell (tragic). The road descended back into the land of taller, deciduous trees, crossing a bunch of small streams on culverts before crossing the Futures Trail and a larger stream just after. Two more cars drove up the road and one drove down past me as I hiked past a series of cute cabins before I landed at the gravel area from before, which was a parking area for these spooky restrooms and a cool picnic area!
[10:34am - Picnic Spur]
I first checked out the restroom area, which was unlocked but spider-webbed shut, so I peed behind the building. Just a bit further down the road was a mossy sput to a picnic area, which was absolutely lovely. There were seemingly endless CCC-style grills, a medium sized pavillion with a slightly grown-in view. There were more grills and picnic benches seemingly hidden in the woods throughout the area. I took over the Pokemon Go gym at the picnic area (my Gyrados is still there 11 days later), and made my way back to the Mt. Ascutney Parkway.
[10:39am - Mt. Ascutney Parkway]
The rest of my walk down the parkway was pretty uneventful, which was nice. Car #4 was heading upward at a glacial pace. The bugs were starting to become more annoying down low, but nothing a few swats couldn't help. I could soon hear a stream, and soon the stream was down on the right. It was super pretty!
A truck from Florida ZOOMED past me and then a large van was working it's way up. I noticed some logging on the left, and soon after was the gate! I really did enjoy the mindlessness and ease of the road walk, but my feet were barking. I turned right, and soon made it back to my car!
[11:16am - End of Hike]
After my hike I continued my drive up to Vermont and to see Emma's new place! We were supposed to go to soccer game that night, but the rain deterred us. We were planning on hiking the Long Trail from VT-242 to Canada, but it's going to rain all day tomorrow. Ugh.
Step-by-Step
- Park at campground at Mt. Ascutney State Park.
- Start hike following campground road toward Futures Trail.
- Enter woods at Futures Trail trailhead.
- At jct., turn left onto Bare Rock Vista, then turn around and continue on Futures Trail.
- At road, cross Mt. Ascutney Parkway and continue on Futures Trail.
- At jct., turn right onto Steam Donkey Spur, then turn around and continue on Futures Trail.
- At terminus, turn left onto Windsor Trail.
- Follow Windsor Trail to summit of Mt. Ascutney.
- Follow yellow blazes and Slot Trail down.
- At terminus of Slot Trail, turn right and hike to parking lot.
- Follow Mt. Ascutney Parkway Down, hiking the Picnic Spur on the way.
Map of Mt. Ascutney State Park
Photo Album
