Hiking up Mt Mansfield: Long Trail up and Cliff Trail down, in 3 hours.
The beauty of a clear day ontop of the ridgeline of Mount Mansfield, Vermont. You could see for miles today! I sent my drone up to get this picture of me hiking at the top...see if you can find me with my blue backpack. What a day! My legs are going to feel this one. Over 2,500 vertical feet ascending, up the Long Trail, to the top of Mount Mansfield, and then all the way back down on the cliff trail and gondolier. This was a bit of an impromptu hike that took me about three hours. The morning weather had low clouds, socking in the summit, but that all clear in the afternoon. So the hike was on, although I still didn't have a finalized plan until after I parked. I parked at the Stowe Mountain Resort, here in the Green Mountains of Vermont. I started up the ski slopes, passing a beautiful waterfall, before deciding to veer off through the forest and try to connect to the Long Trail. The Long Trail spans the entire north to south distance of the state of Vermont. This is the part o...