Spoiler alert: the Girl Scouts won! And so did we. The plan was to head up Mt Willard (one of those 52WAV peaks) and to check out the Crow Moon — one of the names for March’s full moon — enjoy some hot chocolate, and have a really fun adventure. Due to the visibility and precipitation forecast it was decided to err on the side of caution and head up Friday evening instead of Saturday. We were pretty sure Saturday would have been okay, but the troop leader didn’t want to take the chance. Moreover, the moon was almost full.
We decided light traction would be adequate to keep everyone on their feet without slipping. As it turned out we could have worn anything from bare boots to snowshoes as the ground conditions were firm but not at all icy (though we do recommend traction for this hike). The girls and their adult leaders had a great time and made really good time up the mountain. One step and a time, the ascent took considerably less than an hour. Being it was a large group, and large groups can be uncoordinated at times, made this even more of an awesome feat.
The views up there were stunning. Down below we could see some light traffic on Route 302, and further up the west side of the notch we could clearly see the railroad tracks as we sipped our hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows before heading down. The moon was bright and the biggest stars twinkled. It was a good night! Leading this trip were Redline Guides Debra McCown and Mike Cherim.
