Mount Mansfield - 11/18/11

For two consecutive Friday's I've had wild weather adventures that have produced great pictures.  Last Friday was Tongue Mountain in Lake George, NY, this Friday was Mount Mansfield, VT's highest mountain at 4393'.  The weather forecast was for partly sunny and 40 degrees.  In reality, it was overcast at first, with snow squalls, later with sun penetrating on and off through quite a dark cloud layer.

We started from Underhill State Park on the west side of the mountain.   Our ascent was on the Laura Cowles trail to the summit ridge where we proceeded north on the Long Trail to the summit (the chin).  We then descended on the Sunset Ridge Trail to the place of beginning.  

Some of our pictures are below.  More can be found on our Picasa web album for this trip.

Trip Stats:

Trailhead Elevation:  1850'

Summit Elevation:  4393'

Total Vertical Gain:  2788'

Total Hike Distance:  4.8 miles

Hike Time:  5hrs, 25 minutes

Lots of rock formations, and lots of caves...

Snow squall and fog coming in...

Limited visibility on the way up

Leesa approaching the treeline

The sun started to come out on and off, just as we reached the treeline

Rime ice and a dusting of snow

The wind chill on the summit have quite cold.  We needed to wear face masks to be able to breath and to keep our faces from freezing.  Once we got out of the wind, and especially when the sun was out, it wasn't so bad.

We had to clean off the signs to read them

Another Friday where the weather made for interesting images

We didn't take this one!

Looking to the summit (chin)

We made it!

Leesa trying to not look cold...

Mike and the ridge to the south 

More cool clouds...

Clouds blowing back in

There was a little bit of ice in the trail, but you could usually pick your way around it.  We didn't wear spikes.

The dark clouds were an amazing contrast to the snow

Google Earth elevation view of our route

View Mount Mansfield 20111118.kml in a larger map

I want to come back here and stay at the Underhill State Park campground.  They have leantos that look really nice.  All the additional pictures on Picasa.

Fishbrook Pond - 11/12/11

Fishbrook Pond, just east of Lake George, is a sizeable pond with 2 leantos located by the water's edge (one at the south end and one at the north end).  I had not been there before, so Leesa, Nick and I went to take a look on Saturday.

Our route was made easier since the 1.5 mile jeep road from Hogtown to Dacy Clearing was open.  We parked at Dacy Clearing and hiked to Sleeping Beauty Mountain, then past Bumps Pond to Fishbrook Pond.

Trip Stats:

Trailhead Elevation:  1350'

Sleeping Beauty Viewpoint Elevation:  2206'

Highest Elevation:  2272'

Hike Distance:  8.33 miles

Hike Time:  5 hours

Total Vertical:  2260'

Mike enjoying the Sleeping Beauty Mountain viewpoint

Nick stretching at Sleeping Beauty

A nice location with a fireplace at the south end of Fishbrook Pond

This would be a great place to camp if the leantos are full, or you want to be away from them. 

Looking north to the leanto at that end of the pond

Both leantos were on good condition, and both had picnic tables!  What a luxury.

The southern leanto

Both leantos were in nice locations.   The southern leanto had a nice setting in the pines.  The northern one was in the grass with full day sun on a point.

Southern leanto again

Nick contemplating something...

Looking north towards Fishbrook Pond

A nice looking pond.

The leanto at the north end

Trail signs north of Erebus Mountain

After spending some time at Fishbrook Pond, we took the loop trail around Erebus Mountain and back to Dacy Clearing.

Fireplace remains of a house or camp near west shore of Bumps Pond

On the way back to Dacy Clearing

 We started our hike at 10 AM and were done at 3 PM.   The day was nice with temps in the 40's and low 50's.



View Sleeping Beauty Mtn 20111112.kml in a larger map


 Sleeping Beauty Mountain has a spectacular view and Fishbrook Pond makes a nice camping destination.  We found it to be a nice half day loop walk.