Trails Used

Eagle's Cut Trail, Halfway House trail, CCC Road, Long Trail, Sunset Ridge Trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

It was a great day with cool temps and low humidity. The trails were wet from the recent rain, and I had a hrd time trusting my shoes' grip. Poles came in handy. Once above treeline, the trais were dry and there was a nice cool breeze from the NW. Sunset Ridge was challenging, and I'm glad we made it thru before the heat of the day. Stopped at Palmer's Maple for creemees after the hike.

Parking

Parked at Underhill Parking lot. $5 fee with a QR code to scan to pay when you get service

Water Crossings

None

Wildlife

nothing major

Trails Used

Eagle’s Cut, CCC Road, Maple Ridge Trail, Long Trail, Sunset Ridge Trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

Yesterday was a gorgeous and busy day up in the mountains! Maple Ridge trail was an excellent way to get away from the crowds (only saw two other people!), but it’s certainly not for everyone — there are a lot of rock scrambles where you need to use your hands and jumping across the gap was nerve-wracking and unavoidable. Note for the cut there is a little path to the left you can take to avoid the climbing which is what we did! Overall Maple Ridge was a great trail and well marked, I’d recommend for anyone looking to avoid the crowds and happy to use their hands on technical bits on a dry day. The rest of the hike was gorgeous with great visibility and perfect weather, but quite busy up on the ridge — a GMC volunteer counted the 200th person to summit the Chin while we were there at noon for lunch!

Parking

Easy parking, we arrived around 8:45 and got one of the last few spots in the lots before people had to start parking on the side of the road

Water Crossings

Bridges across all streams, some areas with small streams running down trail

Wildlife

Summit of Mansfield (chin) was very buggy — bring bug spray!

Trails Used

Eagles cut trail, CCC road, maple ridge trail, long trail, sunset ridge trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

Excellent day for a Mansfield traverse. No bugs and enjoyable Weather with epic sun & cloud views. Steep going up maple ridge trail but views are spectacular. Nose has 360 views…. Ridge walk was not crowded. Summit had about 20 people but everyone was spread out. Sunset ridge trail is an excellent descent. 8.63 mile loop with 2,804 total ascent. Couldn’t ask for a better day.

Parking

Underhill State Park…. $5 for day use

Water Crossings

All easy but plenty of water flowing

Wildlife

None

Trails Used

Hell Brook, Long Trail, Clara Bow Trail, Lake Mansfield Trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

Hell Brook trail was a fun scramble before the rain. Some sketchy slimy bits so watch your step. The trail was started to feel eroded in some of the steeper sections so maybe best to stay away from after heavy rain. No snow or ice remaining anywhere. Mud wasn't too bad considering the rain this weekend. The little cave and ladder on Clara Bow trail was a lot of fun, and quite fine even in the rain. Taylor Lodge was lovely. Lake Mansfield Trail out was a very easy decent.

Wildlife

hiding

Trails Used

Mountain Road, Eagles Cut Trail, Sunset Ridge Trail, Long Trail, Laura Cowles Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Solo hike of Mt. Mansfield, up Sunset, down Laura Cowles. About 4" to 5" fresh light powder fell the night before, minimally covering up new mud season features: monorail, bare ground, slab ice, frozen postholes, washout areas. Sunset has some honking-thick post-holed monorail beneath the powder at lower elevations; further up Sunset and to the summit there are knee deep fresh drifts in pockets across the entire ridge, interspersed with deep hardpack, bare slabs and ledges, and ice flows. Hikers have been having trouble staying on trail--lots of wandering off on the Sunset ledges. On Laura Cowles, below the ledges, I managed to get in a few long butt-slides in on descent before hitting bumpy hardpack, wash-out holes, ice slabs, and crevasses. Mountain Road would have been bare ground if not for the fresh snow. Skiers were getting in a few runs along the park roads today. Ran into just a few hikers--pretty windy on top, overcast. I used snowshoes the entire way--helped significantly in the fresh, loose snow and knee-deep drifts, less well on the windblown ledges, but conditions averaged out in favor of wearing them vs not wearing them.

Parking

Winter parking are on Mountain Road is plowed. Remainder of road is posted against parking. Mountain Road itself is starting to show signs of mud-season rutting (frozen hard today, but that will change).

Water Crossings

Many streams are now unfrozen.