Mansfield

October 14, 2022

This was an ACC trip organized by Bill, netting five of us (Bill, Wendy, Paul, Hugh, and myself) down to Vermont for three days to attempt some high peaks. Some major deja vu was experienced on our first hike of Mount Mansfield, starting with our arrival at Underhill State Park during an evening downpour. The campground was deserted so we settled into a lean-to instead of tents, which kept us out of the deluge. I got up at 05:30 and drank coffee for a couple hours in the cook shelter, watching the endless drench and hoping it would let up a bit so we could go hiking. At 08:00 it finally tapered to a drizzle and we decided to hike up the mountain.

After a few minutes of heading up a gentle trail which cuts off the roadway switchbacks it started raining again so we shrugged into our jackets to avoid getting too soaked. It was warm and the forecast called for a cease at 10:00 so we continued going. At least we did get a few views from beneath the cloud cover. We went up Maple Ridge towards the Forehead which has some short scrambling sections which were fun but somewhat slippery in the wet conditions. A break was taken on this summit as the rain stopped, but the fog rolled in.

Smiles in the morning drizzle

Some views along the way under the clouds

Some easy but slippery scrambles

Her ghost in the fog

Top of the forehead

Traversing the ridge we began to run into a few people as we passed the visitor center. The trail was littered with a lot of string. I think the intention of the string is to keep people from wandering off the path, but it really is a bit of an eyesore and sometimes was a tripping hazard as broken string pieces threatened to entangle the unwary foot. Since we could not see many views, we got never ending views of white cord instead. After a few kilometers of string walking, we arrived on the highest point of Vermont in the fog, where we sat down for lunch among the puddles and more string.

Passing the nose

String walking

Enjoying the view from the chin

We descended down the Sunset Ridge trail which was a little tricky with the slippery wet footing, but fortunately we did get a few views as we got below the cloud cover. More string kept us focused on staying the path and avoiding the trips. As l warmed up, I stopped at one point to put away my jacket and while I had the pack off, decided to pull out my second hiking pole. I then proceeded down the trail for a while before noticing that I was still hiking using single pole techniques. Dropping my pack, I scampered back up the trail and found it about 500 meters back, fetched it and returned to find Hugh waiting for me with a very tasty orange.

We took the brief side trail out to Cantilever Rock to check out this massively erect rock formation prior to scampering down the last bit of trail back to camp. The campground was full today so we setup our tents at our reserved spot as the sun came out gloriously to start drying things out.

Best view of the day... no further comment

Strolling back to camp

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