Hiking the Stowe Pinnacle Trail with Dela

 I was looking to do a bit of exploration today with my little hiking buddy (my 1.5 year old daughter.) I had heard several things about how good the view was from the Stowe Pinnacle hike, and stumbled upon the trailhead a few weeks ago, so that is where we headed.

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Dela and me are all smiles as we start out our exploratory hike at the Stowe Pinnacle Trail.

It turns out there are two starting points. We chose the Pinnacle Meadows option as it was the first that we saw signs for. A section of the forest had been cleared, high above the town of Stowe for developement, but luckily the Stowe Land Trust swooped in, bought the land, and it has stayed a beautiful meadow ever since.

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A marker recognizing all those who helped fund the purchase and preservation of this land. I'm so glad it isn't another series of condos.

The trail enters the forest past the meadow and eventually meets up with the Stowe Pinnacle Trail, coming up from the second trailhead. From here the trail starts to head up the rocky, rooty, and muddy mountainside.

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This is when I started questioning my lack of research into how difficult this trail would be. But no turning around now!

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This is just about the halfway point, and right where things start getting tough.

Persevering past the steep inclines brought us into smaller and smaller trees. Shortly after this 0.2mi signpost we entered a completely different alpine ecosystem with small stunted mountain trees. The trail changed to exposed bedrock. Luckily it wasn't too slippery and there were plenty of small trees to grab onto and help pull ourselves up the rocks.

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Someone is taking good care of this trail.

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The Top!

When we busted through the tree line we found ourselves on the fabled Stowe Pinnacle. The views were stunning. A cool breeze helped cool me down. We had the summit all to ourselves as we took it all in. What a hike!

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We gained about 1,500ft (500m) on our way up to the summit. It was a totally new view for me, as I had never been up this mountain before. It was the last big Stowe hike that I needed to check off my list...and it was a beautiful one. Highly recommended.

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