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.  

Skylift

On the trail

On the trail

View from above the gondola station

We couldn't take the kids beyond this point and had to take turns from here.

On the trail

Summit

Summit

I was the first hiker on the summit but there was a ranger who took this picture of me

Summit

Summit

On the trail again (yes, you have to cross these boulders). Katrin got scared of this part and came back

See the boulder with the red arrow? You have to actually crawl under it to get through.


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