CTA Sec 4 report

[Sam Bartlett]

Because, I think, the Section 4 shuttle is the longest CT
shuttle, we did another key swap today (2/23/2025). We
all met in Wilmington and took the cars from the opposite
group to our start-of-skiing. Despite the confusion this
can cause, it greatly improves your drive/ski time ratio.
Alan took a group of six to Kelley Stand Road parking lot
and skied southbound. Our group of five drove to the
parking space just south of Somerset Dam (just as the
plow finished clearing a few inches of fluff!) and skied
north.
We were breaking trail after we left the freshly groomed
snowmobile trail. Some tracks from several storms ago
sometimes appeared through the drifts. This trail is laid
out as a hiking trail, with the CTA took over. It has lots of
ups and downs as it crosses the streams that enter the
reservoir. Luckily the drifts were not as bad as I have
often seen them, but we still got bogged down in them a
few times. It is hard work skiing through or over, or
sidestepping up, the vertical face of a drift. The trail, as
always, was well maintained and marked (thanks Heidi!).
The cover was a bit thin, especially on the southern
slopes, with large rocks jutting out of the snow.
This section has a Bermuda Triangle. The guidebook says
8.4 miles. Our group got various mileages from 9.5, 9.7
to 10.7 miles. Somewhere along the reservoir is an extra
mile or so, I'm sure.
Eventually we came to some day old tracks and the going
got easier.
We met the southbound group just after their lunch
break and the going got even easier as now we had the
benefit of their trail-breaking, and they ours.
We crossed a brand new bridge put in last summer with
help from landowner Great River Hydro. As we crossed
several other bridges we saw fresh otter and/or weasel
tracks as they leaped and slid along down the
snow-covered stream. Skiers aren't the only ones who
enjoy sliding along on snow! We skied through the Grout
Pond Trails and campground and got to our road walk,
where we helped a couple get their car unstuck before we
finished the walk back to our cars which had been left
there by the southbound group. About 6.5 hours of skiing
for over nine miles, not bad for trail breaking and
enjoying the scenery along the way.

--
Robert "Sam" Bartlett Bartlett Technologies
44 Ashfield Road 413-834-0274
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370 www.bart-tech.com