Last week a couple of my friends and I took a trip up to the Stowe area of Vermont to visit another friend of ours from college. None of us had been up north in a few years, so we were excited to get away from the city and get out to the mountains for some hiking and golf.

We left Rhode Island on Wednesday morning and started our journey up to Vermont. We had planned to stop at Quechee Gorge in Hartford, Vermont, on the trip up to explore and eat lunch, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Pouring rain forced us to skip exploring the gorge and leave it for the ride back at the end of the trip.

Thankfully, the rain moved out that afternoon, and we were able to get out to play golf the next morning at West Bolton Golf Club. The course is right in the middle of the Green Mountains, so we were treated to awesome mountain views on every hole.

On day three of the trip, we decided to go out for a hike and decided we would climb Mount Mansfield in Stowe, the tallest mountain in Vermont. We drove out to Stowe and up the mountain toll road to the parking lot. From there, it was about a 90 minute hike to the top of the mountain.

  • Entrance to the Visitors Center
  • Start of the trail to the summit from the toll road
  • Looking North towards the Chin
Panorama from the summit of Mount Mansfield looking East over Stowe
  • Looking South down the ridge line from the summit
  • Telephoto views looking South down the ridge over the toll road parking lot.

We ended up with perfect weather for hiking, with clear skies and temperatures in the fifties. From the top of Mount Mansfield, we could see Burlington on the Lake Champlain waterfront, the Adirondack Mountains in New York State, Montreal to the north across Saint Lawrence River, and the White Mountains (including the peak of Mount Washington) to the east.

Looking West from the summit of Mount Mansfield towards Burlington, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Mountains.

Like any vacation, this trip flew by way too fast. The next morning, we we packed up the car and started our journey back to Rhode Island. We made a couple stops in Stowe (cider donuts and Heady Topper!) before stopping at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury for lunch (delicious!).

Before we left Vermont, we went back by Quechee Gorge, and this time the weather cooperated. We took a walk out on to the old Quechee Gorge Bridge, 165 feet above the Ottauquechee River, and then walked the trail down to the river level to see the bridge from below. This was a cool spot that was well worth the stop, and I’m sure it would look awesome in the fall.

  • North over Quechee Gorge from the Bridge
  • Quechee Gorge Bridge through the trees
  • Quechee Gorge Bridge from the bottom of the gorge

Overall, it was a short but successful trip, and I’m looking forward to the next trip back to Vermont.