Mt Mansfield is the tallest mountain in Vermont and is covered with many great trails, in addition to the Long Trail, the first national scenic trail created in the United States. I’ve been on a quest to hike all of the trails on the peak since last year, as part of the Long Trail Side-to-Side List of 88 trails leading to the Long Trail from the east and west. It’s the equivalent of hiking all the blue-blazed side trails along the Appalachian Trail, but there are far fewer of them, since the Long Trail is only 272 miles in length.

The Side-to-Side List has been a wonderful hiking endeavor for me on so many fronts. The trails themselves are fun to locate and hike. Many are quite beautiful and/or challenging, but one thing I’ve relished about this quest is the effort required to locate the trails scattered throughout Vermont. Armed with a Delorme (now Garmin) Gazetteer and several GPS apps, I’ve driven down numerous dirt roads in search of obscure trailheads to seldom-hiked trails.

I finished hiking about 80% of the Side-to-Side trails last year, but I had a late-season injury in October and didn’t get to finish before winter conditions descended on Vermont. Several of these trails: The Subway, The Canyon, Canyon North, Canyon Extension, and the Lake Trail, require squirming through caves and crevices and climbing up or down ladders perched on precarious rock faces and were best left for the return of warmer weather.

Sunset Ridge – one of many routes to the summit ridge

The Green Mountain Trail System, which includes the Long Trail and its side trails, is closed during the month of May to prevent trail erosion when the snow pack melts in spring. It’s not physically closed, but most people adhere to the hiking ban and wait until after Memorial Day before they start to hike the trails again. The Green Mountain Club is a small club with only about 10,000 members and doesn’t have the resources or funds to perform an extensive amount of trail reconstruction each year.

So when a weather window opened up during the first week of June, when it had finally stopped raining, I blew off work and planned to go hiking. I got up very early to drive to the trailhead to give myself as much daylight as I needed, even though I only needed to hike about 9 miles with 3,000 feet of elevation gain. I wanted the extra time buffer in case the trails I needed to hike were as difficult as their counterparts on other parts of the mountain. That turned out to be a prudent planning decision.

My route for this hike. This is a loop.

1. Eagle Cut Trail
2. CCC Road
3. Laura Cowles Trail* (*new trails, never hiked previously)
4. Long Trail South
5. The Subway*
6. Long Trail South
7. Canyon North Trail Extension*
8. Long Trail South
9. Canyon North Trail*
10. Halfway House (up)
11. Long Trail South
12. Access Rd South
13. The Lake View Trail*
14. Canyon Trail*
15. The Halfway House Trail (down)
16. CCC Road

I parked at the Underhill State Park lot and hiked up to the Laura Cowles trailhead, where the real climbing starts. This is a very steep trail that gains 2410 feet in 2.5 miles. The upper reaches are all rock with water running down the middle, so I was glad I’d had the foresight to wear La Sportiva Wildcat Trail Runners on this hike. Being a climbing shoe company, La Sportiva makes shoes with soft rubber soles that conform well to irregular surfaces. They proved to be perfect for this trail and all the scrambling I’d have to do later on in this hike.

Bottom portion of the Laura Cowles Trail.

When I got to the end of the trail, I sat down for a quick sandwich break and to admire the view. I was out in the open just a few hundred feet below the summit. But when I sat down, I was swarmed by black flies. June is black fly season in Vermont. Luckily, I’d stuffed a head net into my pack on the way out the door that morning, which I broke out and put on. But that didn’t deter the little buggers from attacking me so I took off toward The Subway Trail with my swiss cheese sandwich in hand.

I’d read a few descriptions of the trails I intended to hike, and they all had rock features, including caves, ladders, and narrow passages to contend with. These aren’t my favorite types of hikes, to be honest, as I’m scared of the creatures that might be lurking in them. But I do want to finish the side-to-side list, so I girded myself for the experience. Once I squirmed through the first cave, I got less nervous.

Light at the end of the tunnel

The Subway was a good starting point and the easiest of the trails to follow, being just 0.2 miles long. This trail, the three Canyon Trails, and the Lake View Trail dip down below Mansfield’s summit ridge about 200 feet on the west side of the mountain facing Lake Champlain. Getting onto them and through them requires a lot of rock hopping along cliffs with precarious footing. I wouldn’t recommend them for small children or people who aren’t confident scrambling across open cliffs. Shorter people may also experience some difficulties. They’re pretty difficult trails. For example, it took me over two and a half hours to complete the first two trails in this series, which are just 0.2 and 0.3 miles long.

Before starting The Subway trail, I took the precaution of emptying the side pockets of my pack, including my water bottles, and stuffed them into my pack’s main compartment where they wouldn’t fall out. Long ago, I dropped a water bottle into a crevice when scrambling through Mahoosuc Notch in Maine. It was funny at the time because my hiking partner, Ken, held my legs while I climbed into the hole to retrieve the bottle. But I was alone on this hike and needed to be cautious.

There was still ice in the cave behind this ladder

I won’t bore you with the details of each trail, but each one required some squirming acrobatics and butt sliding to get down rocks that were to high to jump down from: a lot of butt sliding. The Canyon Trail had the most involved obstacles, including a cave you had to crawl through (pushing your pack ahead of you) and two narrow passages where I also had to take my pack off to get through. Each trail also had blowdowns blocking the trail, which I had to scramble over or around.

Having now hiked 31 of the 32 trails on Mansfield, I have to say that these side-trails are the highlight of the peak. They’re not crowded on busy days when the summit ridge is mobbed, and while they are challenging to hike, they’re also a lot of fun. While this route was challenging, I can’t wait to take my friends through these side trails.

What’s the last trail I need to hike on Mt Mansfield? The Cantilever Rock Trail, of course

More Mt Mansfield Trip Reports

• Climbing Mt Mansfield in January
• Backpacking Mansfield’s Forehead
• Hiking a Hell Brook – Haselton Loop on Mt Mansfield

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