Mount Mansfield, Adam's Apple, Chin, Nose

9/19/2008 - Mount Mansfield, including The Adam's Apple, The Chin, The Nose, and all the little whiskers and pimples along the way. Up via Long Trail, across to The Nose, down via Auto Road, Nosedive and Hazelton Trail. 7+ miles, 3200+ feet.

Well I guess I am continuing on to the NE67. I'm 49/67 of the way done after one trip! And I'm 20% of the way through the VT 4Ks. I labored with the decision over where to go today. The weather was fantastic, I had a day I could afford to take off from work, and with soccer games both days, hiking wouldn't happen this weekend. Amanda begged me to take her along, even offering to miss a day of school. I guess she got bit good on Jackson. Too bad

Unlike NH trailheads, the Long Trail is not marked. The parking "lot" is a pull-off 150' past the actual trail, which is about 1/8 past the Stowe Ski Area Gondola. If you get to the town line with Cambridge, or the double yellow line vanishes (or you end up driving where you feel you should be hiking) you've gone too far. The Long Trail goes up quickly, with two flatter sections which show as switchbacks on the map. There are long stretches of ledge from the half-way point on up, and from these sections occasional glimpses back towards Smuggler's Notch and forward to The Chin and the The Adam's Apple. At 3650' sits Taft Lodge, at the junction of The Long Trail, Hellgate Brook Cutoff, and Profanity (the least exposed route.) I continued up The Long Trail to Eagle Pass where I left my pack and ran the 0.1 miles to the summit of The Adam's Apple. Hikers were visible climbing The Chin and I watched for a few minutes before dropping back to the col, grabbing my pack, and attacking The Chin.



The Chin ascends from Eagle Pass beginning with a chimney, and then following the edge of the ridge. While not unsafe or even unnerving, there isn't a lot of margin for error in some spots. Amanda would have loved this section as she really enjoys the scrambling part of hiking. I stopped a few times to enjoy the views and was correct in my assumption that The Adam's Apple wouldn't be visible from the summit of The Chin. After gaining most of the final 350' or so in the first 0.15 miles, the last 0.15 miles are much-less steep. I could see quite a crowd on the summit. When I arrived I found myself among a fifth-and-sixth grade field trip. I don't remember going any place fun in elementary school, and certainly not to any mountains.



After eating my lunch, in peace and quiet (the kids all left just in time), I decided to cross the ridge to The Nose and come down across the ski area. It was crisp, cool, sunny, with almost no wind (and no bugs!) While descending, I turned around and figured out where the school trip had disappeared to -- down Sunset Ridge. I could see people spread out pretty much the entire length of the ridge where it was above treeline. Looking ahead again, a cliff-like bump sits right in the trail. OK, the trail goes to the west side (right in the photo) but I rock-hopped up to the top and found a benchmark. Turns out there were 5 or so along the ridge today.



I should mention that while on top of Vermont's highest point, I could see west to the Adirondacks (left, 55 miles+ away) which contain Mount Marcy, New York State's high point, and to the east the Whites (right, 75 miles+ away) which of course is home to New Hampshire's highest point on Mount Washington. Despite very clear blue skies above, there was still some moisture close to the ground preventing ultra-clear views. Not that I am complaining, far from it, I was glad to be enjoying myself someplace completely new.



The towers got closer and closer until finally I came to the auto road and the Mount Mansfield Visitor's Center. From here I continued on the Long Trail until it joined the maintenance road up to the array of communications equipment on The Nose. Around the far side, I found a few tiny cairns and some faint blue blazes which lead up over the top of The Nose, including the remains of another benchmark. The faint blue blazes continue down the steep cliff face and back to the visitor center. From here, I turned right down the auto road until it comes to the first ski trail on the left, called (appropriately) Nosedive. Following Nosedive to the Hazleton Trail was as easy as following the obvious footpath through the freshly-mowed grass. Ski season is coming!

The Hazleton Trail cuts across a few more ski trails and a dozen or so very small brooks, or trickles. It's steep, rocky, rooty and eroded up high, but towards the bottom it is perhaps over-maintained. I say this because there are two three-step rock steps along a nearly flat section in the last quarter mile, along with half a dozen high-end water bars. The Hazelton Trail dumps you out where the ski trails all converge before reaching the gondola. A 10-minute road walk from the gondola out to route 108 and back to the trail head and I'm back at the car.




All photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/567213189PxijVy

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

From here I continued on the Long Trail until it joined the maintenance road up to the array of communications equipment on The Nose. Around the far side, I found a few tiny cairns and some faint blue blazes which lead up over the top of The Nose, including the remains of another benchmark.

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When I was up there two years ago, the top of the nose was closed due to radiation warnings (from the towers)...I take it they've removed those signs?

Well, like I said, I went around and up the maintenance road which had no obstructions. The bottom of the "trail" down (blue blazes) from the nose was filled in with brush, and a semi-destroyed sign, lying face-down. It probably wasn't the best thing to go up there, but there weren't any stern health warnings, or physical barriers. There were a few pickup trucks and workers in the area and they didn't say a word. I hung around just long enough to take a quick photo and boogied down as fast as I could.

I was actually looking for an old and now-closed trail that showed on TOPO 4.5. The woman at the visitor center told me that that trail was closed years ago -- it went around the back of the nose to the top of the ski lift and came down across the auto road from Nosedive. When I got to that spot, looking up the hill you could see a "closed - revegetation area" sign, presumably the other end of the trail I was looking for.

Tim

Your report provided a lot of nice details and sort of gave me the sense of “being there”, which I appreciate! It’s one of those places that’s been on my list . . . it’s now been bumped up a notch!!

Great report . . . nice photos!

Any of you ADK folks care to tell me what the most prominent peak is there? Giant?

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

Any of you ADK folks care to tell me what the most prominent peak is there? Giant?

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That should be Whiteface with Esther to its right. There should have been a fairly sizable gap to its left/south before you would see Marcy in a cluster of other 46er high peaks. I do recall seeing Mansfield from Marcy. I have never had a really clear view of Mansfield from Whiteface, but there should be a good view - nearly straight across the big pond.

I am a 46er, but I am more of a Catskill hiker. So I will defer to my northern cousins if they will chime in on the identification.

Nice report and photo, Tim. I have yet to climb Mansfield and take in those views. I will need to reserve the opportunity for a stellar day like you had.

I'll buy Whiteface. There is a very faint slide / white patch near the top, not really visible in the photo(s). After drawing a line between Mansfield and Whiteface on Google Earth, the bearing is almost spot on. About 275 degrees magnetic. TOPO shows it to be 257 degrees true so that pretty much confirms it. Thanks.

Tim

I love climbing mansfield. It is hard to tell from someone else's picture, but I am not convinced that is whiteface. You are using a zoom lens right? way more zoom then I would get off my camera and too much detail on the ridge for what you see with your bare eye from a summit in Vermont. There is too much lake champlain and not enough lower hills in Jericho for it not to be zoomed.

So my guess is that is Hurricane. Hurricane looks very much like that: a sharp conical peak at the end of a ridge. Whiteface stands alone (so no northern ridge to it) and is usually over and behind a foothill in the foreground before it. I have a picture from camel's hump last winter that shows hurricane and whiteface (maybe) and your mountain looks just like hurricane. Hurricane is the front line of the high peaks, so is visible from Vt when the higher higher peaks are lost in clouds or haze, which is what I think is happening here.

Yes, that was a zoom shot from the ridge between The Chin and The Nose. Here is a wide-angle view including West Chin:



Hurricane is on the same general vector, with Giant behind it, which was my original thought.

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

I'll buy Whiteface. There is a very faint slide / white patch near the top, not really visible in the photo(s). After drawing a line between Mansfield and Whiteface on Google Earth, the bearing is almost spot on. About 275 degrees magnetic. TOPO shows it to be 257 degrees true so that pretty much confirms it. Thanks.

Tim

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You should be able to make out the observatory on the summit of Whiteface? (by eye, not by that pic! )

We have to get him over to the Adirondacks -- seems he likes looking at Slides.

I couldn't see a tower, but I didn't know to look for one, nor did I bring my binoculars. The problem with the ADKs is they aren't a day trip for me. It's tough enough on the family to make long day trips -- this one at least wasn't any longer than a day at work. I have the same problem with Baxter, which beckons even louder!

Do people typically drive underneath Lake Champlain or do they take the ferry from Burlington, VT or what?

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

Do people typically drive underneath Lake Champlain or do they take the ferry from Burlington, VT or what?

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I generally take 93, 89, 4 through Rutland to Whitehall, and 22 to Ticonderoga.

Doug

bikehikeskifish said:

Do people typically drive underneath Lake Champlain or do they take the ferry from Burlington, VT or what?

Tim

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I know of no tunnels underneath Lake Champlain! People either drive the bridge by Chimney Point, VT or south of Lake Champlain if coming from the southerly areas of NE... The ferry is an option except for winter and if speed is an issue....

A bunch of us did all 5 in a 3-day weekend in VT in 2007and the Nose on Mansfield was closed and posted. We went up the Haselton, over to the Chin, and back down to the road with a short road walk back to the ski area...


Nice report, Mansfield is a really nice peak, would like to get up there in winter...
Jay

bikehikeskifish said:

Do people typically drive underneath Lake Champlain or do they take the ferry from Burlington, VT or what?

Tim

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I've always found it much quicker to go across the Crowne Point Bridge, then north a bit and then back road it due west to Rt 73 -- brings you in right where the NYS Turnpike exit for Keene Valley is, and the majority of the High Peaks Trailheads.

Options to the Crowne Point Bridge include I89 to Rt 4 past Rutland and all the way to the NY/VT border then up 22A to the Crowne Point Bridge OR take I89 a bit further north -- take Rt 125 (?) across Middlebury Gap, through Middlebury VT and west to the Crowne Point Bridge.

From the Greater Boston Area -- I either take the Pike to the NYS Thruway OR if its a holiday weekend, I take Rt 2 to Greenfield, I91 North to Rt 103 (exit for Okemo), then take Rt 103 all the way to Rutland and take Rt 4 West to 22A.

Either way you slice it, the Daks are a haul from NH or MA. Think its something like 290 miles one way for me to the Loj (or 4-4.5 hours), 345 to the Sewards (nearly a six hour drive), and about 330 to The Santas. I've done the drive home after a full day of hiking a few times, but its rough. For me, driving up the night before, catching a few zzs near the trailhead, spending saturday and sunday peakbagging, then driving back Sunday has worked in Summer when the days are long.

Fortunately for me, I completed most of the 46 driving only from VT. I had only Saddleback and Basin, Sawteeth, Cliff, Redfield, The Dixes, The Sewards, and Haystack (4 trips) left when I moved to MA.


FWIW, 22A cuts off some mileage, and avoids the slow downs and speed traps in Whitehall and Fort Ticonderoga -- just don't plan on any services because its about 25 miles of green fields, cows, and nuthin' else!

By "underneath" of course I meant heading around the southern tip. I'm near Manchester, NH, so 89 or 101 are my two westerly routes, without going too far south first.

I'm highly unlikely to pursue the ADK 46 simply because logistically it is impractical. I may make a guest appearance or two for special occasions.

I kind of wish The Nose was posted better, because I didn't see any kind of warning sign until I was on top. Following the blue blazes down (faded as they were) led me to a pile of discouraging / camouflaging brush. I.e., it was not clearly "closed". I followed the signs for the Long Trail, which came out on the access road, and while looking for the LT to leave the road, I ended up following some cairns which led to the summit. The summit, by the way, had quite a string of those Buddhist prayer flags or whatever you call them. They did not look like they had been there terribly long either.

Tim

Great shots of a great hike on a beautifully clear day. Thanks for the very descriptive and helpful report, and congrats on capturing great memories on film!

fun

Mansfield is super fun! definately able to make some great hikes as there are so many options-espeically when you have 2 vehicles. coming up from the underhill side is my favorite, especially in the winter.

Great trip report... Mansfield is a hella fun place to frolic around, lots of trail options and some pretty sweet views!!

Mark Schaefer said:

That should be Whiteface with Esther to its right.

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You're spot on. It is absolutely Whiteface with Esther to the right.

The Nose is a special place.

TEO said:

You're spot on. It is absolutely Whiteface with Esther to the right.

The Nose is a special place.

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Thank you for confirming this.

Tim