Capturing the Moment

  Almost at the top of Mt. Hunger. Aerial shot from my little DJI mini 4K drone. Only weighs 249 grams! What a hike! I had never hiked up Mt. Hunger before, so I thought today would be the perfect day to check it out. I woke up early for some ideal hiking temperatures here in Vermont, but was a little dismayed by the amount of fog. The trailhead for Mt. Hunger was about 19miles away, and driving on all the back roads was a little interesting with such dense fog. I did pass some beautiful farmland on my way. When I got to the trailhead it was empty. I counted myself lucky, and set out...just as I heard another car pulling into the lot. I set a pretty torrid pace up the trail, knowing I had some space to cover. The trail is a little over 2 miles to the top, with an elevation gain around 2,300ft. Luckily, it has been very dry lately here in Vermont. If the trail would have been wet, it would have been much more difficult. There were lots of places where you had to scramble up rocks. I...

  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...