VERMONT
Mount Mansfield, Vermont
As I usually do, I wanted to do a hike! And coming off the heels of our Lassen trip, I felt great about doing Mount Mansfield. I had planned on doing the Long Trail -> Haselton Loop which comes out to 6.1 mi round trip, and approximately 2,793 feet of elevation gain. This gets you to the highest point in Vermont as an added bonus.
I believe if you aren’t interested in a steep death climb up the mountain you can ride the gondola up to the ride which would save you first half of this grueling hike. The extra few hundred feet of elevation gain compared to Lassen Peak were BRUTAL.
We were hiking with my friend’s dog and expected it to get pretty hot that day so we were in a bit of a rush. Also, Mount Mansfield is a 45 minute drive from Burlington and we had of course left late. So by the time we were actually starting the climb, it was noon already.
Illustrating how stupidly steep it was with my friend for reference.
Thankfully it’s decently shaded and lush with flowers, bushes and trees.
To get to the ridgeline we had to basically rock climb and push the dog up some of the steeper parts. But the views from along the ridge at the top were sublime.
We ate lunch at the top and I think were feeling very pleased with ourselves indeed. It was probably 3 PM at this point so we wanted to hurry along to get down before dark. Instead of going back down the way we came, we continued along the ridge for a mile or so, then descended on the Haselton Trail. The ridge is pretty awesome for the 360 degree view of the rolling mountains so I recommend it.
There’s also something novel about hiking down what is evidently a black diamond ski slope!
I always wondered what ski slopes would look like without all the snow…!
After this shot things were getting dicey. It was very steep getting down, and rocky and gravely. Also we were losing daylight and the trail goes down into woods again. So we kinda stopped talking and taking pictures and started focusing on really hoofing it down the hill.
It took us probably 2 more hours to descend, getting us back to our car at about 6 PM!
We had to wait about 45 minutes for dinner in Stowe at Idletime Brewing Company. We spent our time waiting getting gatorade from the nearby convenience store and hydrating in the air conditioned car. The wait was all the worth it for my beer flight and burger.
So I guess all in all I’d actually say I survived Mount Mansfield but it sure kicked my butt!
If you’re really outdoorsy, there’s a few other parks within the viscinity of Burlington that you may checkout in addition or instead of Mount Mansfield. Mount Philo State Park allows dogs (although so does Mount Mansfield as long as they’re leashed).
We also considered Camel’s Hump State Park which has the second highest point in Vermont after Mansfield.
With our limited time and having already done a 20 mile bike ride the day before, we wanted to keep it to one big hike over the weekend though.