Mount Mansfield is Vermont's highest peak, and one of the most highly accessible peaks in the state. Those who are unable or unwilling to hike to the summit have the option of driving up the toll road or taking a gondola trip from Stowe. The mountain was named for the town of Mansfield, which has since dissolved and been replaced by Stowe (east), Underhill (west) and Cambridge (north), all of which can lay claim to at least a bit of this impressive mountain.
Mansfield got his stratigraphic start back in the Cambrian and Ordovician eras, about 500 million years ago, when the earth looked nothing like she does today, as sediments from an ancient sea slowly built their layers on the seafloor. Later, those sediments would be thrust inexorably skyward as the African plate was subducted by the American. Still later, the Taconic orogeny matamorphosed those sediments into basically the exposed rocks we see today. Approaching the summit today, there are fantastic oyster shell patterns in the stone that give evidence to the forces at play in the orogenic process. The Ancestral Appalachian mountains, of which Mansfield was only a single member, one rose far higher than the Rockies we know today. In his book Centennial, historical novelist James Michener presents a lovely image of these ancient mountains before they eroded to their present state, soaring thousands of feet to brush the dome of the world. Today, the Appalachians are only a small fragment of what they once were, their sediments constantly moved and rearranged by the constant forces of wind, water and the occasional glacial era.
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| What I call oyster shell rocks |
These amazing and incomprehensibly slow forces have left us with a mountain whose series of four peaks are arranged roughly north-south. When viewed from the east, a lot of squinting and a little imagination resolves the profile of the mountain into the shape of a face staring up at the sky, with the Chin jutting at the northern end of the ridge. As one of Vermont's few bald summits, the Nose is cluttered with a series of communications towers that mar photos but provide the region with cell, tv and radio coverage. It's not as bad a tradeoff as some people might want to make it out to be.
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| Cantilever Rock |
There are many trails to the summits of Mount Mansfield, the including Vermont's Long Trail, which traverses the full length of the peak ridge from Smuggler's Notch to the Chin, and Sunset Ridge, approached from the Underhill side in Underhill State Park. Sunset Ridge is my favorite approach so far, as it is a moderately strenuous climb with plentiful scenic overlooks, and a spur trail to Cantilever Rock. I've done portions of this trail in the winter, and had no trouble traversing on snowshoes. Maple Ridge, on the other hand, proved a bit more difficult. That is a steeper ascent, but provides a wonderful snowshoeing trek even if you don't have the gumption to make it all the way to the peak. Starting from Underhill State Park, one can actually loop the whole summit of Mansfield, a trek of some 7.3 miles, according to my Runkeeper log.
Starting on Sunset Ridge provides a good ascent to the highest peak (the Chin, 4,395 feet - a gain of some 2,400 feet in 2.4 miles). After that, there is some up and down along the peak, but mostly down, so the last five miles of this hike can be predominantly downhill. I ran this route in just under five hours, which included several stops for pictures and one for lunch.
On the Underhill side of Mansfield, there are miles of cross-country and snowshoeing trails criss-crossing the flanks of the mountain. These are great for telemark skiing or just getting out and enjoying the winter. From the Stowe side, there are ski resorts with lifts and trails, and Route 108 is closed in winter above the ski resorts, but that too provides great skiing and snowshoeing opportunities. Thousands of people find recreation on and around Mount Mansfield throughout the year. Have you?
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