I had lots of interest in this hike even though the weather was a little questionable. A dozen of us kicked off another hiking season by hiking the Frost, Maple Ridge, Rock Garden and Butler Lodge Trails around Mt. Mansfield. We found several wildflowers in bloom including Red and Painted Trillium, Trout Lily, Spring Beauty, Clintonia, Goldthread, Dwarf Ginseng, Star Flower and Hobblebush. The weather cooperated for the most part with just a brief sprinkle for a few minutes. By the time we donned raincoats the shower was over.

Although overcast we still had a view looking out to Lake Champlain and nearby peaks. Our inner child came out as we crawled under the rocks, squeezed through some then up over more on the Rock Garden Trail.

We arrived at Butler Lodge right at lunchtime. After a relaxing lunch we headed down the Butler Lodge Trail to the cars.

Trip participants included Debbie Page, Joey Corcoran, Sue Brown, Bill Ross, Lee Wrigley, Wes Volk, Marty Holbrook, Lynda Hutchins, Anneliese Koenig, Wendy Savoie, Jan Tobias and trip leader Mary Keenan.

Pictures from Mary and Wes.