Day 10
Sunday, October 17, 2021
There was only one thing on tap for the day, tackling Mount Mansfield. There are three ways to do it. The hardest way to bag the peak is via a 3.5 mile trail from Underhill State Park. This route involves climbing a few rock walls. I’ve done that in Death Valley. But, when multiple bloggers comment on the lack of hand and footholds, it raises a few red flags. Toss in a few leaps over chasms and I know it’s not for me, even if they’re small enough you could probably step over them.
The second route is through the ski resort. The gondola lifts still run off season and will cut the hike down some. The third is the drive up the auto road. This take you to a parking lot on top of the mountain, leaving only a .6 mile hike to the high point. The road up doesn't open until 9:30A. With absolutely no reason to stick around the Hill Top Inn, I started looking for other options.
When I found out the town of Northfield Falls had not one but four covered bridges, the first stop was obvious. A short drive down Hwy 12 brought me to Northfield. Slaughterhouse Road brought me to the Slaughterhouse Covered Bridge. Yes, there used to be a huge slaughterhouse towards the other end of the road.
From the other side of the bridge, I stopped to shoot the Dog River below. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Just off the center of town, and up Cox Brook Road, you'll find three more, one right after the other.
First up, the Dog River Bridge...
Followed by the Lower Cox Brook Bridge...
And the Upper Cox Brook Bridge...
Following this road would eventually get me where I was headed. When you take these roads, you really don't know what you'll find...
Eventually, I worked my way back out to Hwy 2 and Hwy 100 north into Stowe. It was still too early for the drive up the mountain. There's a short, relatively easy hike on the edge of town to Moss Glen Falls. It seemed the perfect way to kill some time.
While I was shooting the waterfall, a young woman with a camera like mine came down the hill. I asked if it was worth the hike up to the top of the falls. She said, “Not really.” So, I didn’t go.
It was about that time. I started working my way through the streets of Stowe, towards the road up Mount Mansfield. The closer I got, the bigger the police presence. I passed a half dozen vehicles parked, their blue lights flashing.
Suddenly everything stopped. Six cars ahead, a police SUV had blocked the intersection, and an officer started motioning everyone to turn around. Only when I got to the front of the line did I see the runners. A half marathon was blocking my access. The only other way in was a very long detour around. Who knew if that would be open. In the end, it was my own fault for not looking. I might have been able to get across earlier, and simply waited for the road to open.
Plan B: In a random parking lot, I pulled out the Vermont Hiking Guidebook and started looking for other trails in the area.
The round trip to The Pinnacles seemed just about right. There are two ways to get there. One involves driving up the Pinnacles Meadow Road. Imagine a residential road, but up a fairly steep incline. Now imagine regular speed humps. Then, imagine a trough equal to each speed hump. It wasn’t a bad ride, just a little bumpy.
The trail begins easily enough with a wide, steady climb up the hill.
Of course, that didn’t last. Eventually, there were the inevitable rocks to scramble over. Toss in some standing water and larger boulders, and you have a challenging climb. But, worth it in the end.
The view from the Stowe Pinnacles...
I wasn’t there very long when I started feeling the spatter of rain. Quite a few decided that was the right time to head back down. Ten minutes later, the feeling of rain ended. The rest of the trip down was fairly uneventful.
Back at the car, I decided it was time to leave Stowe. Burlington is less that an hour west, but I prefer getting to my motels in the daylight. My route would take me by Ben and Jerry’s. I did stop in and check out the cemetery of discontinued flavors. I never knew there was a Monty Python themed flavor.
There was a line to get inside the facility. The sign estimated an hour wait from where I was standing. Sorry, but no ice cream is worth an hour wait.
My home for the night was the Colchester Days Inn. Just before the motel’s exit, I crossed a bridge. I have a habit of glancing off to see what’s below. What I saw was an old bridge and a waterfall. After getting everything inside, a quick google search told be it was the Winooski Gorge. There was even a trail. It begins at Winooski Falls.
The trail took me down a decent path along the old canal to the interstate underpasses. Considering the easy access, I shouldn’t have been surprised at the amount of graffiti.
Eventually, I did find what I wanted…
My last stops of the day were in neighboring Burlington. I was a bit disappointed with the World's Biggest...Filing Cabinet.
With the light starting to fade, I worked my way through a few construction detours to a parking lot by the waterfront. Not much color, but worth the stop.
Considering how long it had been since I had eaten, I was more than ready for some dinner. What better place than the Vermont Pub and Brewery. Dinner was a chicken and mushroom sandwich that was quite good, and something called Irish Burly Ale.
I've been working the night shift through the duration of Covid. Zane does the same job on the day side. Our paths haven't crossed in quite a while. We found it humorous that we were both in New England at the same time and compared notes.
He texted me and said he had made it to Burlington and was settling in at the Church Street Tavern to watch the Braves/Dodgers game. We wound up closing the place down. Okay, it was 9P, but we were the last ones there. It was fun catching up and telling some stories.
Coming Up,
Denied Again at Mount Mansfield
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