7/20/2019 – Cantilever Rock
We met at 8:30 at the Underhill Center park & ride, took one car up to the state park, and were on the trail a little before 9. Although the forecast was for a very hot day, and it was pretty humid, we were hiking under tree shade and were early and high enough that we stayed reasonably cool. The parking lot was close to full, but we saw few people on our way up. We reached the Cantilever Rock around 10 and hung around for a while as a couple other parties came and went, then headed down, reaching the car around 11:45. Participants: Mike Fiske, Kristin Gretkowski, David Hathaway (leader).
7/13/2019 – Mansfield via Halfway House
After meeting up at Essex Center park and ride and Underhill Historic Society Schoolhouse we drove up to Underhill State Park. The 5 of us, Mark McLane, David Hathaway, Susan Tobin, and Dale Schmit, and myself found a couple of parking spots inside the park and paid the fee. Around 8:30am we ascended the cut trail and CCC road until we arrived at the Halfway House trail. We continued up at a steady pace and 2/3 of the way up we reached the ledgy part of the trail and it was quite slick. With water wicking off on us from the evergreens covered with moisture from the downpour the night before, we carefully navigated the slippery terrain. Upon reaching the ridge we took a break and had a snack. Although the sun was out the mountain was covered with clouds and visibility was about 100ft. Upon reaching the chin we did get some views out to Stowe ski resort and to the west but it was still obscured a bit with clouds. We took a longer break and had lunch. When we descended Sunset Ridge trail the clouds broke up and we got a clear view out toward Burlington, the lake and Adirondacks in the distance. We decided to skirt off the trail to view the cantilever rock. We also spotted beautiful moss, lichen and water running down the rock ledge the cantilever rock was entombed in. Upon finishing the Sunset ridge trail we could not find the paper I logged us in on and after a couple of minutes gave up skimming through the dozens of pages of entries for the mountain. We descended back to the vehicles and said our goodbyes at about 2pm. Participants: Mark McLane, David Hathaway, Susan Tobin, and Dale Schmit, Wes Volk (leader).
