They’re back! Hiking Trails Up Two Top Mountain

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By Brother Luke
After several decades, we have recreated a hiking trail up to the top of Two Top Mountain, where New Skete is located. In fact, we now have two trails on Two Top. The red trail runs from the Emmaus House driveway half way up the northeast face of the mountain on the recently created logging road and then descends to the back of the monks’ monastery next to our new smoke house.  The second trail, marked with yellow arrows, begins behind the monks’ monastery, goes up the east side of the mountain, and connects to a 20-year-old logging road up to the top of the mountain.  The descent then heads back down the west side of the mountain and turns south. It connects to the red trail, so a hiker at that point can decide to continue on down to the guest house (Emmaus House) or head up the red trail and come back to the starting point behind the monks’ monastery. Mike Bodnar, a forest ranger and friend of the monastery who will be leading the hike at our upcoming Pilgrimage on Saturday, August 6, is helping us get a map that we can trace the hiking trails on, so hikers can easily find their way on these two new trails.

My dogs and I have been working on these trails for many months now, having begun to lay out the trails last fall.  We had some exciting moments last winter getting up to the top of the mountain and then running into a snow storm before we could get back down.  Most recently, as we were putting up the last of the yellow blazes on the trail, a thunder storm broke out. So we made a mad dash down the trail as the thunder rumbled and then a downpour rained down on us.  We all got soaked, but we made it back to dry territory inside the monastery without any mishaps. 

I was hoping to take some videos of the new trail, but the humidity knocked out my iPod camera, and then the storm came, so the video will have to wait for another time.  Ida faithfully puts all my videos, such as they are, on the New Skete Facebook page, so keep checking it out: scenes from Two Top will be forthcoming! Most likely they will feature German Shepherd antics. There will be no selfies of me falling down the side of the mountain!


Link to videos.


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