The Crawling Highpoint
[Summit team: Targo (Katrin attempted but turned back)]
We visited Mt. Mansfield on September 8th, 2004. Four different trails lead up
to the summit but there are certain problems with all of them if you want to get
to the summit and back early in the day (which was our plan).
1. Driving up the toll road and taking the trail from there. However, the road
opens at 9am
2. Trail (I don't know what it is called) from the gondola (skylift). This
requires taking the gondola first, which opens at 10am
3. Long Trail. As the name says, it is long :-) Supposedly a 5 hour roundtrip
(note the that trailhead has changed from where it is on the USGS map - see my
trails map below)
4. Hell's brook trail. Well, this one is simply nasty.
We ended up taking the gondola, for its romantic value :-) Unfortunately, the
weather was somewhat cloudy and the views could have been better. The trail is
pretty steep and rugged (see pictures below), but the hard part is fortunately
quite short.
Map
of trails (click to enlarge)
Here are the driving instructions from I-89:
1. Take Vermont exit 10 towards SR-100 / Stowe
2. Head north (towards Stowe) on SR-100 Go 9.8 miles
3. Turn left onto SR-108, go 5.8 miles
4a. On your left should be the entrance to the toll road. It takes you up about
4.6 miles to the Mount Mansfields Nose. Take a trail to get to the right summit
- Chin.
4b. It you keep going on the SR-108, you will shortly pass the skylift on your
right. The skylift takes you to the other trailhead to the summit. It's shorter,
but steep. See pictures :)
4c. If you still keep going on the SR-108, you should spot two other
trailheads after couple of miles. The Long trail (marked white) crosses the
SR-108 farther than it used to. The Hell's brook trail is a shortcut to the Long
trail, but is steeper. It is marked blue.
4d. If you miss the trailheads you will notice an information area on your left.
If you have time, it is a good idea to take a look anyway. There is some
information about the trails to the summit.