Vermont

Another Labor Day 3-day weekend was upon us and we had several options of what to do. We finally decided on heading to Vermont with the intention of hiking the five 4,000+ foot peaks. Or at least hiking as many as we felt up to! Neither of us had been out hiking since Hurricane Mountain back in March so we weren't sure how our feet and everything else would hold up.
We left Friday after Paul got home from work. It took us a little over 5 hours to get to the parking lot for Camel's Hump. We decided we'd try to hike Camel's Hump and Mansfield on Saturday. The alarm went off Saturday morning and we both hadn't sleep very well so we were tired and I was cranky! Typical! : ) But it was a good, laughing, I'm so tired cranky...not a mean cranky. Anyway, we stayed put for a while because it had started to rain. Oh boy. We decided to take a 30 minute snooze in hopes the rain would pass. It turned out to be a good decision because it did.
We hit the trail and had a quiet hike to the top of Camel's Hump. The views from the top should be magnificent, but it was cool, misty, foggy, and white. No views for us. Boo! Oh well. We hoped we'd get views from Mansfield later.
Back down we went where we arrived to a much fuller parking lot than we'd left. Some people getting ready to head up asked how the views were. We said that we had none and they playfully invited us to go back up with them. Lucky for them the sun was out and blue sky could be seen through holes in the clouds. We kindly declined--we had another peak yet to go!
From there we headed to Waterbury where we stopped at our favorite place--Cabot. We grabbed some cheese, a yogurt for me, some pita chips, and an apple cider then headed outside to a picnic table where we feasted on lunch in the lovely sunshine. It was the perfect middle to our hiking sandwich. After lunch it was back in the car where we made a quick stop at a wood carving shop where we looked for a wood carved bear. We've been looking for a bear for several years now, but they're either too expensive or don't have the "look" that we want. The creations at this place were really nice, but cost more than we were willing to spend. We did find a bear we both liked at the Lumberjack Festival last year and we SHOULD HAVE bought it. Oh well. I guess that's how you learn!
Onward until we got through Stowe and then to Smuggler's Notch where we parked to prep for Mansfield. I had hiked Mansfield before back in 2006 with Kate. I couldn't remember where we started from though and there weren't very good signs that indicated where the trail led. We headed toward the trailhead and all the sign said was "Long Trail-South" and I remembered (from looking before we left home) that was where we needed to be.
Mansfield is the highpoint of Vermont and is a popular hike. The mountain resembles the profile of a man's face. Trails go to many parts: the forehead, nose, chin, Adam's apple...we were heading to the chin--the actual highpoint.
I remembered several things about the 2006 trip. 1. It was relentless in terms of the trail climbs nearly the whole way. 2. There was at least one exposed section/scramble toward the top that really made me nervous.
The trail didn't disappoint, as it was just how I remembered it. We made good time on the rocky ascent and soon found ourselves approaching the summit. There were quite a few people on the trail and the steep narrow parts became crowded and we usually stepped aside to let others up or down. As it turned out, there were several parts that made me nervous this time, but as always, Paul was there to lend a hand and to help me where I needed it. The older I get, the more heights tend to bother me. Maybe it's not even heights as much as it is the feeling that you can't make a mistake. "If you slip here..." kinds of thoughts aren't good to think about yet they're hard not to. Up the steep stuff and on to the windy, chilly, and very crowded summit. We each took a summit photo of the other, a nice gentleman took our photo but our camera batteries were dying so he snapped one photo as it was conking out and it turned out blurry, boo! To the west we saw our beloved Adirondacks and to our east, the lovely Whites of New Hampshire. Paul was able to squeeze a few more photos out of the dying camera and then we started back down. We both were quite chilly and needed to get moving to warm back up.
Usually descending steep scary parts makes me more nervous than going up them. The opposite was true on this trip. We took our time and very carefully descended, but I wasn't as nervous as I had been going up. We made very good time getting back to the car and we were proud of ourselves for successfully hiking both peaks.
We headed back into Stowe where we grabbed a burger at Blue Donkey burgers and got gas and stopped for beer before heading to Kate & Jeremiah's house up in Waterville.
She was having a little get together with some friends and we stopped in to visit. She gave us the grand tour of the house, barn, and property. They have 20 lovely acres. We met Forrest the dog and her two pigs--Bacon and Porkchop. We enjoyed conversation, laughs, and watched Jeremiah build a quite impressive bonfire. It was getting late though and we had a fairly lengthy hike the next day, so instead of staying there for the night, we opted to hit the road to drive to the trail head to sleep. I did feel bad leaving because I don't get to see Kate often and we did have a nice visit. Still, I was thankful for the few hours we had.
It was a dark drive down to Lincoln Gap and we were happy to arrive when we did because we were fighting the sleepies. After another night of so-so sleep, we had a slow start to the morning. The weather was much different. It was much cooler, drier, and very windy. We were again trying to two peaks. The mileage was longer (~12.4) but the elevation gain was less. The trail up to Abraham was fairly straightforward early on but did get a little tricky in some spots toward the top. It was windy, misty, chilly, and overall ugly when we reached the summit. Made a brief stop for photos and pressed on our way. The trail crossed over smaller peaks Little Abe, Lincoln, Nancy Hanks, and Cutts before leading to the summit of Ellen Mountain. The traverse over was quite level with minor ascents and descents along the way. It made for very quick travel. It also included several ski areas (part of Sugarbush) which made for great open views. It was quite windy and we were chilly as a result. I even wore Paul's gloves for a while! What a change from the warm/humid weather the day before.
We caught up to a solo woman hiker before getting to Ellen. She had heard us coming and was relieved that we weren't bears! I guess you never know! : ) We stopped briefly at the rock cairn marking a summit and Paul and I weren't sure we were even on Ellen because we'd made such good time. It didn't help that there wasn't a sign. Just after the summit, is another open ski area. We talked to the woman hiker who confirmed the cairn was indeed Ellen Mountain's summit. After a brief conversation, we headed back to the cairn for photos and back toward Abraham we went.
I'd been surprised at how good I felt considering I hadn't hiked in a such a long time. I was sore, of course, but felt decent. On the traverse over though, I started feeling a little discomfort in my right knee. I've been struggling with "some" injury in my right knee ever since my ultra-marathon. I thought it was IT band syndrome and/or tendonitis and even had Brian's girlfriend Jen (who is a physical therapist) look at me and she agreed. I bought a foam roller and have been doing exercises to try to help, but it just hasn't gone away. Anyway, my knee didn't bother me at all on Saturday, but as we made our way back up Abraham and started the descent, the pain became much worse. Most of the descent was steep and very rocky--especially just off the summit. Each step strained my knee and it was increasingly painful. I just wanted to be back at the car!
The hike out was long compared to our other trips. I was much slower while being gingerly with the right leg. It was very crowded too. Many, many hikers were making their way up with kids and dogs alike.
Finally back to the car and we cleaned up and headed toward Middlebury where we couldn't wait to have a meal at The Farmer's Diner. It is said that they have some of the best pancakes in America. I couldn't wait to find out. Directions from the GPS were slightly confusing, but we made it there only to be completely disappointed to see that they randomly closed early that day. : ( I nearly cried I was so sad! As it turned out, several other options were also closed and we weren't in the mood for pizza or another burger. While driving around we saw a Dunkin' Donuts, so we figured a bagel/bagel sandwich and coffee would tide us over. Boy, I was sour though!
And, after we finished our food, we talked about what to do next. Do we head toward Killington to hike it the next day? We called my mom for a trail description since the book we had didn't give one and while we had read up on it before we left, we honestly couldn't remember some details. With that info, we discussed my knee and what we should do. I wasn't sure how I would feel the next day. I was a little nervous so we decided we'd bag it. I felt bad. We really wanted to get all five peaks, but I wasn't sure my knee would hold up. We headed home and I tried to be satisfied with the four we got, but it was a struggle.
We slept in on Monday (which felt great) and we made buttermilk biscuits for a late breakfast. We caught up on some DVR'd TV and went and looked at houses/property with an ice cream stop in the middle. It was a relaxing day and we did enjoy the slower pace.
We're already talking about our return to Vermont to hike Killington and it may come as early as the end of the month. We'll see. : )
Photos are here, but while uploading them, Webshots flipped out and wiped out all my captions AND they are not in order. : ( Boo! To be honest, I'm too lazy to fix them right now, so please excuse that! I'll try to get to it soon.


Vermont Sept 2010