Hey all, being that I'm an aspiring NE 115er, I was wondering if someone could give me some help with Vermont. As with many climbers, I'd like to bag as many peaks in one trip as possible. With that said, I have done some reading and see the Long Trail connects various peaks. My question is how many of the 4000 footers does it pass over? And is it feasible to do them all in a weekend? Preferably, I'm looking for people with personal experience on this trail. Thanks for the help guys. Cheers!

The VT highpoints are all terrific, Killington, Camels Hump and Mansfield offer a variety of experiences and some terrific alpine terrain. Unfortunately they aren't exactly located in proximity to each other, they are really all separate moderate day hikes.

If you are stretched for time, definitely hit Camels Hump which offers terrific views as it is farily isolated and offers some nice scrambling above treeline. I suppose if you pushed it you could drive between Camels Hump and Mansfield and hike them both in a day. Getting to all 5 in a weekend would be quite a feat to be honest, I'm rooting for you though.

Hiking in the Northeast in particular is a lot of fun, humidity aside...no one ever heard of switchbacks when cutting these trails.

GreenMountainBoy wrote:Hiking in the Northeast in particular is a lot of fun, humidity aside...no one ever heard of switchbacks when cutting these trails.

I never really found any trail steep enough to need switchbacks in VT. I think the Long Trail may keep you from experiencing the mountains by different routes that may be enjoyable and fun. For example there looks like lots of off trail fun to be had on Camels Hump as you approach the summit block.

You could cheat on Mansfield and drive the pay road to within a mile and probably 500 ft or so below the summit; essentially the road brings you to the other end of the ridge. I wouldn't recommend this, per se, since you'll be missing out on a good hike and all, but figure it still merits a mention.

Not in direct response to the OP, but I really think it's a shame that two of Vermont's three highest mountains have ski areas on them. Especially Mansfield, which is quite a beautiful and unique mountain in many respects.

beaudittl wrote: I have done some reading and see the Long Trail connects various peaks. My question is how many of the 4000 footers does it pass over? And is it feasible to do them all in a weekend?

The Long Trail passes over all the Vermont 4000 footers; however, it's 65 miles from Killington to Mansfield as the crow flies and quite a bit longer by via the Long Trail.

You're looking at 3 half day hikes (Killington, Camel's Hump and Mansfield) and one almost full day for Ellen and Abraham together. The best hikes on Mansfield aren't the shortest ones to the summit though.

Some good info on hiking the Vermont 4000 footers here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/vt-4000-footer.html