Frost, Maple Ridge, Wampahoofus, Butler Lodge Trails Day Hike

On Sunday, October 26, 2008 I had a chance to slip out for a day hike. I chose to go north this time and drove up to Mt. Mansfield, the tallest mountain in Vermont and a peak that the Long Trail passes over. I had heard that the trails leading up to the peak are rugged and steep. It rained all day yesterday so I hesitated before deciding to attempt this as I suspected wet rocks might make the going even more precarious. But it was a beautiful sunny day with no clouds and the temperature steadily rising towards 60 degrees so I decided, what the heck?

The trails I took head up the west side of the mountain towards what is known as the forehead. The entire mountain, when viewed from afar, looks like one of those Easter Island Statues that has fallen over, complete with exagerated forehead, long face, and a prounounced chin. I'll get a picture from afar some time and post it. In addition to the Long Trail there are 32 side trails heading up this mountain that I will need to cross off before I can claim to have done all of the side trails to the long trail. Many of them are very short, but I will have been all over this mountain by the time I finish them all.

I start out at 10:45 am from just east of Underhill Center, VT. on the Butler Lodge Trailhead (1,400 ft above sea level). I stroll along the fast flowing Stephensville Brook that is swollen from yesterday's rains. In short order I find I have to cross this stream. All of the stepping stones are covered by the high water and I wind up stepping onto a large boulder, planting my hiking staffs in the center of the stream and swing across using the staffs for support. I make it without getting wet - Sucess! After 0.2 tenths of a mile I arrive at the Frost Trail trailhead. I turn north and follow this trail and I immediately begin to climb steadily. About 70% of the rocks I step on are wet and slippery from last night's rain, but I am hopeful that the higher I go, the thinner the tree coverage abd the drier the trail will be due to today's sun. After a short distance I come up to a large eight foot tall boulder that catches my attention. It has an abrupt edge that makes it look like it was carved square.

As I begin to move above the treeline the rocks become drier and less slippery. The ascent is still steep hoever and ther are a few ledges that a fall from would spell trouble. I pass several vistas but take just one picture as I know I will be going higher and more views will come. I arrive at the intersection with the Maple Ridge Trail having hiked 1.2 miles in one hour and decide to descend to its trailhead. I hike down steeply for about 20 minutes covering about 0.4 miles. The going is slick and I fall once and slip several times. I actually discover that coming back up the steep trail is much faster, and safer, than descending.

The climb up Maple Ridge is the steepest I have ever done. The incline is intense and enough spots are wet and slippery that I become nervous. At one point there is a wall of rock in front of me that is about 10-12 feet high. this wall has a diagonal ridge that runs up it and provide about two inches of ledge. I scale the rock by inching my way up the ledge and then flopping myself over the lip once I have only about three feet to go. The picture to the right shows the trail, note how the blue blaze disapears over the edge, and the continuation of the trail below.

Of course the hard work pays off with some excellent views, the shot to the right is the forehead portion of Mt. Mansfield and the shot of long cliff is the southern descent from the mountain.
I am now almost two hours into the hike and realize I must wait to scale to the Forehead on another day. I'm actually relieved not to attempt the climb - I'll make sure I come back when it's been sunny for several days in a row. I'm not scared to do it...but I am anxious. I arrive at the intersection of the Maple Ridge Trail with the Wapahoofus Trail. This trail is described as a rugged trail in my guidebook and I earlier passed a hiker who told me, with yesterday's rain, that particular trail will be miserable.

Just before I get to the trail I pass three college girls and one guy. They tell me they just came up the Wampahoofus Trail and it was not that bad - so I bite. As soon as I turn south on the trail I come to a huge rock formation with a cavern that goes right through it. I can't get through with my pack on so I remove it and carry it with me. There are several spots where I must throw my hiking staffs down to the bottom of a ledge and then lower myself down to them, but in all honesty, I think the Maple Ridge trail was a greater challenge. After 0.8 miles I arrive at Butler Lodge, take a short break, and begin my descent down Butler Lodge trail to my car. On the way down, as I am precariously focusing on not slipping down the descent, a jogger - that's right, a trail runner - passes me running downhill. If that isn't a broken ankle or dental surgery waiting to happen I don't know what is. I arrive at the car at 3:05 pm so this has been a 4 hour hike and I have only covered a total of about 5.3 miles and climbed about 2,500 feet.

Epilogue - As I write this it is two days after the hike and I still have residual soreness in my shoulders, back and arms from the climbing. My legs and feet have the standard amount of soreness that I usually have after going on a hike of twice this length. Four of the thirty-two Mt. Mansfield trails have been hiked - twenty-eight to go!