Out and Back - The other way to Ice Gulch

Today was a beautiful sunny day on the Appalachian Trail.  Temps were cold in the teens when I left home and headed north to Sheffield, MA and had risen into the low 20's when I reached the trail head.  I hiked to Tom Leonard shelter again, only this time I came in from the other direction.  It is about 4 miles from Home Rd. to the shelter, hiking north.  From the road the trail climbs through hardwood forest with exposed granite spread around.  There are some nice views looking south and west over the Housatonic River valley and the Teconics.  Mount Everett is the prominent peak from these lookouts.

 Once at the top, the trail meanders along the edge of the mountains.  It is fairly flat going with some small ups and downs.  There were some Turkey Vultures soaring around, both above and below me as I looked out over the valley.

The snow was hard with just a dusting of fresh snow from yesterday.  I was able to bare boot today though I did use my microspikes for most of the morning.  I was pretty lucky that I was able to stay on top of the snow, as it is still about 18" deep in most places.  I did post hole a few times on the way out, which gets pretty tiring.  It was the way back that it got worse.  The snow was getting pretty soft, and some sections I was sinking in every other step.  Not fun!  

I reached the shelter in just under 2 hours and sat and ate a quick lunch.  I didn't sit long as I knew the snow would be getting soft and I wanted to get back before it got too bad.  The hike back was uneventful other then the post holing.  I met two couples out hiking today, one heading the same direction as me, and their friends meeting them at Tom Leonard from the north.  

View from the picnic table, snow pile is almost as tall as the table

 I stopped for a water break at the lookout before descending down to the road and took a few minutes to enjoy the view.  I couldn't have asked for a nicer spring day to hike.  I was back to the car soon after, having done 8 miles in 4 hours.