Hiking in the White Mountains: Mount Mansfield

Date of Hikes: 1/2/17 & 1/3/17

Sunset Ridge Trail & Long Trail: 6.1 miles (2,620 feet elevation gained)

Burrow's Trail & Long Trail: 4.8 miles (2,266 feet elevation gained)

Battell Trail: 2.0 miles / Long Trail: 5.7 miles / Jerusalem Trail: 2.4 miles
10.1 miles (3,504 feet elevation gained)

Mileage and Elevation from my Garmin Forerunner 920XT GPS watch

Trip Report:
- On New Year's day Whitney and I drove to Underhill Vermont area to meet Matt and Tim for two days of hiking in the Green Mountains.
- On Monday we enjoyed a beautiful morning hiking Mount Mansfield via the Sunset Ridge Trail. This trail is my preferred route up to Mount Mansfield as half of the hike is out in the open with terrific views to the west of the Adirondacks. The grade and footing is much easier than the Long Trail approach from the east side of the mountain too, which is in the woods for most of its length.
- We used microspikes until about a third of a way up the ledges, then we put on our crampons as it was cold enough early in the morning for our light traction to not bite into the ice as well as the crampons.
- Views from the summit were incredible, to the east we could see the White Mountains and the Presidential Range rising up high above everything else. To the west we could clearly see many of the Adirondack High Peaks. There was barely any wind at the top which made the early morning summit very enjoyable. On the descent we ran into well over a dozen hikers heading up to enjoy the bluebird day.

- When we got back to the car we drove over to Camels Hump State park and started hiking up the Burrow's Trail around 12:30PM . My previous two hikes up to Camel's Hump was by the way of the Monroe Trail on the east side of the mountain. The Burrow's Trail is shorter and quicker and makes easy work of the mountain. As we ascended, dozens of hikers were descending and when we reached the top there were only a couple of hikers at the summit. Views from the summit are 360 degrees and excellent, not a bad second hike to cap off the day!

On Tuesday, the weather was going to get nasty in the afternoon up on the mountains and down below, sleet-snow-ice. However, there was a window to get a hike in and avoid having to hike and drive in these conditions. We spotted my Jeep at the Jerusalem trailhead and drove over to the Battell trailhead and started hiking at 7am. The Battell Trail is a nice steady climb up to the Long Trail, there are quite a few switchbacks over the first mile followed by a moderate climb to the ridge.
- Once we hooked onto the Long Trail, we headed north an quickly made our way over Mount Abraham's exposed and very windy summit, luckily about fifty feet past the summit the trail heads back into the woods.
- For the hike along the ridge between Abraham and Ellen we put on our snowshoes and enjoyed a great snowshoe hike for the next 3.5ish miles. The wind was whipping but it real wasn't too uncomfortable as the pine trees covered in snow blocked any direct blows from the wind gusts.
- The interesting thing about this part of the Long Trail is it passes by three chairlifts from Sugarbush Ski Area. If you are hiking the Long Trail in the winter and heading north, every time you reach a chairlift, head left and down the ski trail for a few hundred feet then head left into the woods. The trail can be confusing on where to go at the chairlifts so just pay attention.
- Unlike Mount Abraham, Mount Ellen is just a small cairn on the side of the trail so it's not really exciting. However, just a few feet past Ellen is another chairlift with a great view, although there were no views on this day for us.
- From here we had to break trail for a little bit until reaching a ski glade section where the trail became well broken out again to the Jerusalem Trail junction. Once on the Jerusalem Trail it was all downhill and an easy hike back to the Jeep, passing by a real extravagant maple syrup operation over the last mile of the trail.

We drove up Mountain Road to the gate with the hiker symbol on it. If the road is passable and you get an early start you can park off to the side of the gate, if not you have to park a mile down the hill

To start off with a short road walk of a quarter mile

We pass through Underhill State Park Campground which is where we jump on the trail

After an easy mile or so in the woods we pop up above treeline for the remainder of the ascent.

Looking up at a false summit and the real summit, the 'Chin' of Mount Mansfield

Some cool clouds come moving through as we hike up to the ridge

Zoom-in of Mount Whiteface in the Adirondacks

Last fifty feet to the Long Trail

View from the top of Vermont's highest point

The gang heads back down from the summit

Beautiful winter hiking along the ridge

The trail was buried beneath feet of snow so we just hiked on top of the snow wherever we pleased :)

Dewcending back down the Sunset Ridge Trail

The clouds were really awesome during the morning hike

If you hike Mount Mansfield, wait for a good day and hike up the Sunset Ridge Trail, definitely worth it!

Maneuvering through one last icy section

Heading back down towards treeline

The Sunset Ridge Trail has a bunch of little foot bridges over the first half mile

Here's what they look like in the summer

Signs spotted along the way

Hiking up the well packed out Burrow's Trail

Bright early afternoon sun above the Long Trail

Mount Mansfield as seen from Camel's Hump

Looking to the east towards the White Mountains

Zoom-in of the Presidential Range

Signs spotted along the way

Batell trailhead parking

Battell Shelter

Inside the shelter is a map, and Hooty, the give a hoot don't pollute Owl!

Heading up the Long Trail

Getting blasted by the wind on Mount Abraham

No views today!

Breaking out the drifted in sections of the Long Trail

Between Abraham and Ellen the Long Trail runs along the ridge passing by a few of Sugarbush's chairlifts. This one is just north of Lincoln Peak

Heading down the ski slope for a tenth of a mile before cutting back into the woods

The trail was smoothed over by skiers and borders who use it for some backwoods fun

Passing by another chairlift along the Long Trail

Our last chairlift of the day was just north of Mount Ellen

Breaking out the Long Trail

Hiking through the open woods of the Jerusalem Trail

Pretty cool maple syrup vacuum setup along the trail

Each tree is tapped with a cool maple leaf plug

Jerusalem Trailhead

Signs Spotted along the way

Date of Hikes: 7/5 & 7/6/15

Long Trail:11.7 miles (3,325 feet elevation gained)
Sunset Ridge Trail: 5.5 miles (2,540 feet elevation gained)
Monroe Trail: 6.5 miles (2,585 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- On Sunday Whitney and I packed up the Jeep and headed to Vermont for two days to hike the remaining four peaks that Whitney had left on the New England 67 highest peak list. Our goal for Sunday was an easy out and back of Abraham and Ellen. The hardest part of the day was probably the steep last few tenths of a mile drive up to Lincoln Gap to the Long Trail parking lot!
- It's a pretty short hike to Mount Abraham, under 2.5 miles and in the woods until the top. There are no steep stretches along this entire route, although there is a significant amount of mud, which is why Whitney refers to the state as Vermud!
- I was in pretty rough shape hiking wise, I was still less than forty-eight hours out from my 46 mile Hut to Hut run and my knee and hip acted up and were aching. I tried to hike as careful as possible to not injure myself.
- Abraham's summit has the best views along this section of the ridge. Unfortunately, it's a very crowded peak so we didn't stay too long on the way through. Just below the summit is a herd path that leads to a crashed cessna plane from 1973. The pilot of the plane was trying to navigate through low visibility and hit the side of the mountain, he lived but a lot of the plane is still laying there in the woods just off the Long Trail.
- From Abraham to Ellen the trail travels along the ridge in the woods with a few gradual up and downs. It passes over Sugarbush ski area and some of the tops of a few lifts. It was a very hazy day so unfortunately we couldn't see the Adirondacks to the west or the Whites to the east but still we had some decent views from the top of the ski slopes and the outlooks along the way. Mount Ellen's summit is just a small cairn in the woods but there is a ski lift just north of it where we took a break,
- From Mount Ellen we retraced our steps back over to Lincoln Gap. We took a break on a nice ledge away from the crowds on Mount Abraham before descending the final couple of mile back to the Jeep. It was an interesting last few miles back to the car, I got extremely sick and Whitney rolled her ankle, ouch squared!
- Once back at the Jeep we drove over to Underhill State Park and spent the night at a campsite. It was such a nice little spot to camp and since it was Sunday it was relatively quiet. We had a fire going and relaxed before calling it a night.
- On Monday we walked from our campsite to the Sunset Ridge Trail. Previously I had hiked Mount Mansfield from the eastern side up the Long Trail, which was pretty steep and not fun until the last scramble section between the 'Chin' and 'Apple'.
- The Sunset Ridge Trail definitely is the way yo go up to the summit, after an easy mile or so hike through the woods the trail climbs up the western exposed arm of the mountain where there are great views all the way up.
- We made it to the summit by 9am and watched the clouds come rolling in and out above and below us. It was pretty quiet on the summit, only a few other hikers around, later on the summit would be a mob scene so it was nice to be up on the summit early in the morning.
- On the descent we originally were going to take the Laura Cowles Trail, but with my knee and hip issue we descended the same way. I didn't mind missing out on the Laura Cowles Trail because it is steep and rugged with no views, where the Sunset Ridge Trail is much more enjoyable descent down the rock slab, plus you have the killer views.
- Once back in the woods we started running into dozens of hikers heading up, we were so happy we beat the crowds and were able to hike up to the summit when it was quiet and peaceful along the trails, another perfectly timed hike for us!
- Next we headed over to the Monroe Trailhead to hike Camel's Hump Mountain for Whitney's finish.
We started around noon and had a pretty easy hike up to the summit. The Monroe Trail is in the woods the whole way and like every other trail we hiked over the past day it has easy to moderate grades and decent footing. Camel's Hump is a bald summit with 360 degree views. There were other hikers up there but it wasn't too crowded and we were able to find a nice spot to sit down and relax for awhile before heading down.
- It was a great peak for Whitney to finish on and she really enjoyed it. I'm happy I got to be there for another hiking goal that she accomplished. Over the past two years I've been lucky enough to hike with here as she finished her first round of the the New Hampshire 48 on Owl's Head, her A.T. thru hike finish on Baxter Peak, and her winter finish on Wildcat A Peak. Pretty impressive hiking she's done over the past two years, you deserve all the praise that goes along with everything you've done, way to go!!!

Heading up the Long Trail from Lincoln Gap

After an easy mile and a half we pass by the Battell Shelter, which sits in a nice hard woods forest just under a mile below the summit

Mount Abraham Summit

Just past the summit of Mount Abraham is the plane crash site from 1973

Between Mount Abraham and Lincoln the Long Trail passes over Lil' Abe!

View from Mount Lincoln, north to Mount Ellen (top). South to Mont Abraham (bottom)

The long Trail passes over the top of the Sugarbush ski area. It makes for some nice views and heads through an area of many different tiny and colorful flowers