Pico Peak
Pico Peak rises to 1,206 m in Vermont. Killington Peak stands 1,293 m to the south-southeast, 2.5 miles off. The nearest named place is Little Pico, a peak 0.9 miles away. Crossroad of Vermont Byway passes 1.7 miles off.
The story
Pico Peak is a mountain in the Green Mountains in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. Pico Peak is flanked to the south by Ramshead Peak. To the north, it faces Deer Leap Mountain across Sherburne Pass. Seen from the pass, the summit of Pico Peak resembles a cone. Pico Peak is the northernmost mountain of the Coolidge Range, and the second highest mountain in that range after Killington Peak. In 1927 the State Legislature named the Coolidge Range after Vermont native Calvin Coolidge. The range runs between Pico Peak and the town of Plymouth, where Coolidge grew up. The peak's name may stem from the Abenaki for "the pass/opening" or indeed from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "peak", Pico. "Pico Peak" appears on the 1869 Beers Atlas of Rutland County, Walling's 1860 Map of the State of Vermont and Chace's 1854 Map of Rutland County (albeit reversed with Killington Peak). The northeast side of Pico Peak drains into Kent Brook, thence into the Ottauquechee River, the Connecticut River, and into Long Island Sound in Connecticut. The southeast side of Pico drains into Roaring Brook, and thence into the Ottauquechee. The northwest side of Pico drains into Mendon Brook, thence into East Creek, Otter Creek, and Lake Champlain, which drains via the Saint Lawrence River into the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Quebec, Canada. The southwest side of Pico drains into Brewer's Brook, and thence into Mendon Brook. Pico Peak and 1,000 acres (4 km2) of forest were presented to Mortimer R. Proctor as a birthday present in 1910. He sold the mountain to Pico Ski Inc. in 1948. Pico Mountain ski area — part of Killington Ski Resort since December 1997 — is located on the northwest side of Pico Peak, with its base lodge on U.S. Route 4. Pico opened in 1937, and the first T-bar lift in the United States was installed there in 1940. The Appalachian Trail (AT), a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) National Scenic Trail from Georgia to Maine, once passed 0.3 mi (0.48 km) east of the summit along the 3,500-foot (1,100 m) contour, until a 1999 re-routing. The Long Trail (LT), a 272-mile (438 km) hiking trail which runs along the ridge of the Green Mountains from Massachusetts to Quebec, which coincides with the Appalachian Trail in this area, was re-routed at the same time. Both were moved west of the mountain. The old AT/LT along here is now a blue-blazed trail, named the Sherburne Pass Trail. It had previously only been known as the Long Trail. The summit is reached by the 0.4 mi (0.64 km) Pico Link Trail, a segment of the defunct Pico Loop Trail. The AT and LT formerly split 2 miles (3 km) north of Pico, on Deer Leap Mountain. Now they diverge at Long Trail Junction (the former Maine Junction), just north of U.S. Route 4.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7191017, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 1206 m
How to reach it
- 1.7 mi off the Crossroad of Vermont Byway
- 2.5 mi off the Scenic Route 100 Byway
- 20.8 mi off the Stone Valley Byway
- 22.8 mi off the Connecticut River Byway, National
Overlooks nearby
- Overlook View · 9 mi
- Lincoln Covered Bridge · 14 mi
- Mt Tom · 15 mi
- Martin's Mill Covered Bridge · 23 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Little Pico: 0.9 mi
- Ramshead Peak: 1.2 mi
- Deer Leap Rock: 1.8 mi
- Snowdon Peak: 1.8 mi
- Deer Leap Mountain: 2.1 mi
- Valley Park: 3.5 mi
- Rutland City Forest: 5.0 mi
- Northwood Park: 5.8 mi
- Rutland Area Robotics: 6.1 mi
- Hathaway Farm Corn Maze: 6.9 mi
- Edward Hastings Ripley: 4.6 mi
- Doug Casella: 4.7 mi
- Grave of President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Grace Coolidge: 9.3 mi
- Grave of Esther Sumner Damon, last widow of a soldier of the American Revolution.: 9.4 mi
- Wilson Castle: 9.8 mi
- Giffords Woods State Park: 2.8 mi
- Clarendon Gorge Wildlife Management Area: 9.4 mi
- Chittenden Town Forest: 9.8 mi
- Chittenden Town Forest: 9.8 mi
- Mount Carmel State Forest: 10.0 mi
- Norman Rockwell Museum: 5.6 mi
- President Calvin Coolidge Museum and Educational Center: 9.3 mi
- Vermont Marble Museum: 10.1 mi
- New England Maple Museum: 11.3 mi
- Community Historical Museum of Mount Holly: 15.6 mi
- Lower Tier: 1.7 mi
- Upper Tier: 1.8 mi
- Deer Leap: 1.8 mi
- Top Rock: 1.8 mi
- Blueberry Ledges: 9.7 mi
- Irene Falls: 1.4 mi
- Thundering Brook Falls: 3.8 mi
- Mead's Falls: 9.1 mi
- Otter Creek Falls: 10.0 mi
- Buttermilk Upper Falls: 15.0 mi
- Beast Mountain Coaster: 2.2 mi
- Pine Hill Park: 8.4 mi
- Ballard Farm: 20.9 mi
- Traditional School Site: 21.4 mi
- School Site: 22.0 mi
- Kingsley Covered Bridge: 9.6 mi
- Gorham Covered Bridge: 10.4 mi
- South Pomfret Covered Bridge: 15.0 mi
- Middle Covered Bridge: 15.8 mi
- Best's Covered Bridge: 20.5 mi
- Rutland Water Fountain: 7.5 mi
- The Leash Sculpture: 7.5 mi
- Oculus: 7.9 mi
- Civil War Memorial: 16.1 mi
- Mandala II: 17.3 mi
- Northeast Community Garden: 6.2 mi
- Southeast Community Garden: 6.7 mi
- Northwest Community Garden: 7.8 mi
- Japanese Garden: 15.6 mi
- South Royalton Community Garden: 20.1 mi
- Vermont Welcome Center - Sharon: 21.4 mi
- Vermont Welcome Center: 23.1 mi
- Robert Frost Wayside: 23.6 mi
- Rest Area I-91 (South Bound): 24.4 mi
- White River Swimming Spot: 20.3 mi
- Stoughton Pond Recreation Area: 24.7 mi
- Lions Club Picnic Area: 17.0 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 9.3 miles of Pico Peak. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killington Peak | SSE 161° | 1,293 m | 2.5 mi |
| Little Killington | S 170° | 1,194 m | 3.3 mi |
| Mendon Peak | S 189° | 1,170 m | 3.1 mi |
| Skye Peak | SE 141° | 1,158 m | 2.8 mi |
| Shrewsbury Peak | SSE 160° | 1,122 m | 4.5 mi |
| Ramshead Peak | SE 144° | 1,100 m | 1.2 mi |
| Snowdon Peak | SSE 153° | 1,095 m | 1.8 mi |
| Bear Mountain Peak | SE 141° | 994 m | 3.3 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 06:56 | 18:26 | 19:04 |
| June solstice | 05:11 | 19:53 | 20:37 |
| September equinox | 06:39 | 18:13 | 18:51 |
| December solstice | 07:22 | 15:31 | 16:18 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Sep.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 19 | 21 | 30 | 43 | 55 | 64 | 68 | 66 | 58 | 47 | 36 | 26 |
| Precip in | 2.7 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 3.0 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Rutland, 7 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikipediaWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 1461270 — Pico Peak, Rutland County, Vermont.
OpenStreetMap element node/356555193
Day trips start here
- Woodstock · 16 mi
- Quechee · 21 mi
- Brownsville · 22 mi
- Windsor · 25 mi
- Cornish · 26 mi
- White River Junction · 26 mi
Take the scenic way to Pico Peak.
Byway plans around your taste, verified places, real weather and opening hours — then opens every leg in Google Maps with one tap.