Long Trail 3: Mount Mansfield, holy hell

Vacation week, plenty of time to hit the trail. I wanted to do Mount Mansfield (highest peak in Vermont) and wanted to get out of Champlain Valley (90 degrees) and wanted to find out how runnable the ridgeline is Mansfield's profile (not very, turns out).

Seen from the east especially, Mansfield looks like a face, and it's peaks are named accordingly:

Thanks to 1happyhiker.blogspot.com for this photo.

I started on the western side at Underhill State Park, planning to go up Halfway House Trail to the Nose, across to the Chin and down Sunset Ridge Trail. But I missed the trailhead for Halfway House, and was really close to the trailhead for Maple Ridge Trail, so I figured I would take that to the Forehead and then run the whole profile of Mansfield.

Green line up, yellow across, orange line down.

I had zero idea how challenging Maple Ridge is! There were moments of scrambling up steep, flat rock that had me wondering whether this is really meant to be hiked without ropes. There were also moment when I wondered how I would get found if I fell: by hikers or by bears?  Maybe hiking alone isn't such a great idea for me...  Just as I was getting closer to the summit, I was thrilled to encounter three hikers, retirement-age, extremely nonchalant and confident in descending the trail I had just come up. So that's a reality check.

The topo map of the Frost Trail does not look fun.

Nearing in the Forehead.

Arrived! Five people were having a picnic, "We drove up."

The ridge is somewhat runnable, but it's made difficult by a few rock scrambles and tons people -- some hikers, and many more visitors who drove up the toll road from Stowe.

Under the Nose. Is that you, VPR?

The nose hosts VPR's main antenna for 107.9 FM, along with a few TV towers. The chin is the highest point on Mansfield, poor guy has an underbite I guess.

From the Chin, looking south to the Nose and Forehead.

Beautiful cairn marks a turn in the trail on the ridgeline.

Sunset Ridge Trail, looking west on the way down.