go hike a mountain

Nearly a month has elapsed since we’ve reported a new high point. Mt. Greylock was the last on August 5 and we’re proud that this last weekend allowed us to check two major New England mountains off of our list of high points.

We left our cozy apartment at about 4AM Saturday for the 5 hour drive to Stowe, Vermont. Our plan was to get there early enough to be able to hike the 6.6 mile round-trip Sunset Ridge Trail to Mt. Mansfield’s chin and still have time to drive the 2.5 hours to the Adirondacks in New York to camp before our big hike the next morning. The drive went well. We stopped at a rest area just inside Vermont that had this neat War Veteran’s Memorial and made our way into Stowe.

Shortly after arriving in Stowe I realized the first of many mistakes we made throughout this trip.

The original plan for Labor Day Weekend was to hike Mansfield, in Vermont, and camp in the area and to perhaps hike Monadnock, a familiar mountain in New Hampshire, on the way back home. When glancing at our road map on the return from New York City the previous weekend, I had noticed that Vermont’s and New York’s high points were within less than a hundred miles of each other. Jesse and I deliberated for a while about whether we thought we could do both in the weekend with only 2.5 solid days to drive up, hike both, and drive back. I took the Saturday off to give us an early start. Throwing this extra mountain into our plans, however, gave me less time to research either one before the trip would actually begin.

I was the first that had to admit I was a big dummy this weekend by confusing directions to two different trailheads and leading us to Stowe, which was on the wrong side of the mountain. We had picked up this book called High Point Adventures, which is great, except that it suggests you always take the easiest route to the top. We were a bit disappointed because we’re not just trying to do what’s easiest. I know highpointing itself is meant to be a challenge, but we want to make each individual high point a challenge in itself.

From Stowe, it said to take the $12 toll road (which actually turned out to be $21) to the Nose of Mansfield (the mountain’s profile is said to look like the profile of a face) and hike along the Long Trail which sort of guided you along the ridge to the Chin, which was the highest point. The hike would be 2.3 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 650 ft. We didn’t find this to seem very challenging, but decided we’d go up to the visitor’s center at the Nose to ask about alternate routes.

After paying the toll, we began making our way up the steep gravel road and Jesse looked at the gas gauge and noticed it was looking like we were going to be empty soon. After almost turning around twice, we decided to continue on because we would at least be able to just coast down the mountain if we really ran out of gas at or near the top.

We made it to the parking lot at the visitor’s center and the lot had only two other cars in it. We turned the car off and opened the doors. It was freezing cold! The temperature difference from the bottom to the top of the mountain was at least 15 degrees. It was also windy and there was a large cloud sitting on the mountain making it appear as though we were just enshrouded with fog.

This is when Jesse realized he had made a big mistake: he didn’t bring any clothes to keep himself warm. I had packed several long sleeve shirts, a fleece, and a windbreaker/rain jacket and all he had was some short sleeve shirts, a sweat-wicking (but very thin) long-sleeved shirt and a zip-up sweater. We walked up to the visitor’s center to ask about the hikes and to test just how cold it really was and after going back and forth about what to do, we made our way back into Stowe to buy some extra gear and get gas. Our biggest problem with leaving the top to grab gear was that the lot would only allow 36 cars, and we passed many cars heading up as we were heading down.

We didn’t spend as much money as I was afraid we would shopping in Stowe and the parking lot was almost (but not) full when we got back to the top. We packed our stuff and took off on the Cliff Trail. This trail was supposed to be a Class 2/Class 3 hike and would descend down Mansfield’s cheek and then join the white-blazed Long Trail to climb up to the chin. And although the cloud had lifted from the summit, it was still a bit chilly so I got to use my new hat.

We had not been on the trail long before we realized why the books would consider this one a Class 3. There were some areas that were so steep they had to install ladders.

The air was refreshing and the sky was clearing up. We got our first really nice look at the summit.

And here is a panoramic image comprised from about 8 photos. It is a view southeast from the cheek.

About half way into the hike, the trail began leading us through some tight squeezes in the mountain. Some of the passes were so narrow that Jesse had to remove his pack and turn sideways to make it through.

Jesse also strapped on a headlamp and crawled around in some little caves alongside the trail.

After a break for some delicious organic apples,

we hit a part of the trail that is called ‘Wall Street’. The pass is roughly 100 ft long and 50 ft tall. It is also about 4 ft wide at it’s widest point. We still had to climb up and down over a jumble of rocks, with drops of about 6 ft in some places. We took our time picking our way through because we were trying to take everything in.

After passing a few more small caves and having to squat to waddle along the path in some areas, the summit began to open up. We had nice views of the valley floor and some views of rock formations near the summit. The path had also changed from being a dirt path with several rocks to an entirely rock face.

The Cliff Trail joined up with the Long Trail and for the first time, also joined up with lots of people. Our hike up to this point had been relatively quiet and we had passed only a total of 5 people. This was also where a lift deposited people that wanted to take just the remaining 1/4 mile to the top. We made it to the summit and had lunch and relaxed for a half hour.

Just before leaving the top, Jesse had asked one of the girls we recognized from the visitor’s center if she could point out Mt. Marcy in New York, which is the mountain we were to climb the next morning.

After taking in some alpine air and plenty of photographs, we took off for the car on the Long Trail. Here’s a photograph I wanted to share, just because I was so impressed. I’ll remind you that it was cold when we left the car. And we had taken off some layers during our ascent, but had to put them back on when we reached the summit. Check out the woman on the right. Yes, she’s barefoot. And from what we could make out, she was hiking barefoot and paused here to wait for some family members to catch up, one of whom was also barefoot.

The Long Trail back to the car made for a short sweet exit because walking along the ridge did provide some magnificent views of both sides of the mountain. When we got back to the car, we had a little something to eat and left for New York. Our hike on this trip was roughly 3 miles round trip with an elevation gain of at least 1000 ft and took us 4 hours, including that half hour break on top. Mansfield is 4393 ft. and was our 6th high point!