Mt. Pisgah 9/4/06

[Jonni]

Date(s) Hiked: 9/4/06

Trail(s) Hiked: Mt. Pisgah South Trail

Elevation Gain: 1,600 ft

Distance Hiked: 4 Miles Round-Trip

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Special Equipment Needed: None

After settling in my new dorm room at LSC the day before and having the need to get out after working for two weeks straight it was clearly time to get in a hike somewhere. Looking for something without much challenge as well as a quick reward, I decided on Mt. Pisgah in the Willoughby State Forest. Arriving at the trailhead around 10 I quickly fixed up my pack and set out up the trail.

Mt. Pisgah loomed off to the upper left with it's summit shrowded in clouds with little spurts of color on the trees made the hike that much more fun. The trail starts out going over a boggy area and then ascends the mountain on a well beaten and well maintained wide path for most of it's length until you get within about 0.3 to 0.2 mile from the top. Stopping at Pulpit rock it was great to be able to see how much vertical was gained on the relatively mellow trail through the woods as the roadway (VT Rte 5A) was about 700-800 ft below you off of a sheer vertical face.

The summit was cool and damp but the two northern most overlooks after passing the summit of Mt. Pisgah were a welcome place to rest and have lunch. I basically had the trail to myself until the return trip. Definitely a great short hike to satistfy one's need to get out for an afternoon.

Looking up at Mt. Pisgah from the boardwalk crossing near the beginning of the trail

The drop off while walking along the trail on the mountain's south western shoulder

View of White Caps Campground at the southern end of Lake Willoughby from Pulpit Rock

One of many stair cases along the trail

Looking toward the southern end of the lake from the first Overlook

Looking toward the northern end of the lake from the second Overlook

Looking straight down over the ledge from the second Overlook

Mt. Hor across the lake from the second Overlook

 

[MarcHowes]

Nice shots. I am a big fan of the real sharp sheer cliffs :smile:

Its neat how there is a lake wedged between the two mountains which loom 1600 feet above the water. The lake almost looks like a river cutting a nice deep canyon!

 

[ski_resort_observer]

What a beautiful place, thnks for the pics. The wife and I did it a couple of years ago. Next time could you bring a bigger lens so the nude beach is alittle easier to see...:lol:

 

[Jonni]

Unfortunately I don't have another lens for the camera to look down at the nude beach:-D , but I can try to zoom in a little more next time. It was kind of cold and raw out for anyone to be on the nude beach that day, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Mike P.]

Thanks for sharing, That area is more known to climbers than hikers, a place to go on holdiay weekends when the whites might really be crowded. I imagine the foliage is really good, especially with water in the picture too.

Jonni, what college is LSC? I have years to plan but Daddy has a vested interest in getting the kids into schools near the mountains, whether that is Plymouth, Dartmouth, LSC, some upstate NY, VT schools or maybe, just maybe a trip out west...

Thanks again

 

[Jonni]

LSC stands for Lyndon State College located in Lyndonville, VT. If you're looking for a relatively cheap and very easy school to get into in the mountains, this is the place to be. Burke is 10 minutes away with Jay about 50 minutes away. It can get boring here on the weekends, but the school does offer many incentives to stay on campus. It's very popular for meterology majors, TV majors, business majors, and recreation majors, but they also offer much more. I'm a junior this year here at LSC and I know quite a bit about what goes on on campus. PM me if you'd like any more information.

 

[Mike P.]

Thanks, I have heard of it. Thanks for the summary.