Mansfield from Stowe Pinnacle

Stowe Pinnacle (2651 feet)


Saturday, November 21, 2015

It is unclear to me if this mountain should be on the official Vermont 100 highest list. It may not satisfy the criterion of being at least 200 feet higher than the saddle between it and a higher neighbor (Hogback Mountain in this case). I'll need to take a closer look at the relevant topographic map to be sure.

In any case, the hike up Stowe Pinnacle is a very popular one. Although I climbed in November, well away from tourist season, the trail had a lot of traffic. Also the trail was very well worn... probably overly worn in places.

From the official trail head the trail climbed moderately through open forest. It was muddy today, and a bit icy in places, but the climbing was straight forward. Eventually the trail reached a junction with an alternate route back to the road. From there the trail climbed steeply for a short distance and then wrapped around the north side of the summit to approach the top from the east. From what I could see the south and west sides of the summit were quite steep and rocky.

Just before making the final ascent over rocky, but not especially steep terrain, a side trail connected on the left that headed up Hogback Mountain toward the Skyline Trail. It might be interesting to explore that route another time.

The summit itself was mostly clear with good views, especially to the south and west, of Camel's Hump in the distance and Mansfield more closely at hand. The view to the east was dominated by the Worchester Range and, especially, Hogback Mountain.

In addition to the picture above, I took a few other pictures from the summit. The first picture below is a view of Whiteface Mountain (on the right) and the range of mountains to the northeast of Smuggler's Notch. The second picture is a view of the northern Worchester range.

View from Stowe Pinnacle

View from Stowe Pinnacle

Return to the Vermont 100 highest list.


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Last Revised: October 17, 2020