Late Summer Hiking in Vermont
Unsurprisingly I am still stressed and scattered so this will be a short post. While this weekend was not what we planned, we still managed to get out into the woods and go for a few nice hikes. In Vermont, there are five peaks over four thousand feet.
Mount Mansfield at 4,393 feet and the tallest in Vermont, is an iconic mountain with many ways up and around. One of my favorite routes is the sunset ridge trail where you stay above treeline for over a mile of the hike. The shortest route is around 6 miles I believe, though there are many add-ons or loops you can do to make it longer.
Killington Peak is 4235 feet tall and one of the routes we did this weekend. It’s around a 7 mile hike on the commonly used Bucklin trail. More gradual at the beginning, the trail steepens into what my friend called “hiking stairmaster” near the top. We found a bunch of fun mushrooms en route included some fun coral fungi and chanterelles.
Mount Ellen comes in next at 4083 feet and is the longest hike of the five as its around 10 miles round trip to make it up to the peak and back. This one has some great ridgeline views and a nice gradual beginning as well.
Camel‘s Hump is the second most popular hike after Mount Mansfield, as the shapely 4083 foot mountain is a symbol of the state. There are two main routes people take up, the shorter route from Huntington and the longer way via the Duxbury trailhead. I like both and find the longer route is nicer for winter hiking and snow shoeing.
Last but not least is Mount Abraham or Mt. Abe, which comes in just barely at 4006 feet and has multiple routes as well. This weekend we went up the Lincoln Gap side and continued past the top to Lincoln Peak (Not to be confused with Lincoln Mountain) for a nice 6 mile out and back.
There are lots of other fun hikes in Vermont, many of which I still need to do, including Pico and Stratton Pond. Some of my favorite shorter (in elevation) routes are up to Molly Starks Balcony, Hunger Mountain, Snake Mountain, Mount Pisgah, Mount Philo, Pease Mountain, and many more.
Here’s a little gallery of some photos from this weekend and hopefully there will be many more fun hikes across Vermont and surrounding areas this fall. (And hopefully I’ll finally get my schedule figured out and have time to write some more robust blog posts).
See you in the woods—an adventurous aquarius.
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