Maggie's Farm

Yup, Vermont is a good place to start that. Only five 4000 footers in Vermont, none too difficult.

See http://www.amc4000footer.org/ for lists of mountains in New England that “peakbaggers” climb. See http://adk46er.org/ for the list of 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks of New York. There is the Northeast 111 Club for those who climb all the 4000 footers in both New England and New York. Originally the list was 111 mountains. I think the number is up to 115 or so now, with updated surveys, but they did not change the name of the club.

When I was younger and in much better shape, two friends and I completed the 111 in winter, finishing on Killington (Vermont’s second highest mountain) in March 1992. We were inspired by two other friends of ours from Burlington, Vermont, who completed the 111 in winter in 1983 and 1985, respectively. We caught the “peakbagging” bug while helping the woman who finished in 1985. She was the first woman to complete the 111 in winter, and #6 overall. We were with her when she finished on North Brother in Baxter State Park (in Maine) in March 1985, and we just kept going until we had completed the list ourselves.

My hiking adventures these days are more subdued. The Maggie's Farm Urban Hike and Mount Mansfield in summer have been just about right this year. Mrs. TSP wants to do Mount Katahdin again, so that is a goal for the near future.

Bird Dog, nice post! I was not familiar with this painting. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. The title of the painting is “The Belated Party on Mansfield Mountain.” Here’s what the Met says about it (link):


The party is at or near where the Nose (4062’) on Mount Mansfield rises up from the ridge. The painting shows the ridge north to the Chin (4393’), the highest point on the mountain. The elevation that they are at is about 3900’. The party is watching the sunset over Lake Champlain, visible in the painting to the left (west). The Adirondacks of New York are just barely visible beyond Lake Champlain.

The party probably got to very near the spot in the painting by horse, and they may even have stayed at a nearby hotel at the base of the Nose. There is currently a road on Mount Mansfield, called the Toll Road, that one can drive up to the base of the Nose. This road was constructed in the early 1850s and in 1858, the year of the painting, a hotel was built/moved to the top of the road. The hotel lasted about 100 years. The road remains open today. My source for the information in this paragraph is Mansfield: The Story of Vermont’s Loftiest Mountain, by Robert Hagerman, 1971, page 58.

Bird Dog, you can absolutely hike Mount Mansfield. It is no more difficult than the Maggie’s Farm Urban Hike. My family did it four days ago, up and down the Sunset Ridge Trail from the Underhill side. No problem. If you want to come north and hike Mount Mansfield sometime, please look us up.

One minor correction: the beautiful photo is from the Underhill side (the west side), not the Stowe side (the east side). The photo shows the Chin on the left and the Nose and Forehead on the right. They are reversed when looking at the mountain from the Stowe side. Also, ski trails would be visible in a view from the Stowe side, and there are no ski trails in this photo.