Field Trip to Mt. Mansfield

This past Saturday I went on a trip to Mt. Mansfield for my Ecosystem Ecology class. It is the tallest mountain in VT and is the mountain that Stowe is on. We left at 9:00 and made are way to Stowe and drove up the toll road. I have to say driving a huge van up to the top was a little scary at times but we made it. Once we got to the top of the mountain we hiked about three miles round trip going from near the "nose" to the "chin" and back (the mountain looks like a face). Professor Hope made sure to stop along the way to tell us all about the plant species that we were passing. We also measured striations in the rocks to find out how the glaciers moved over the mountains. Using compasses we recorded the direction of the lines and made sure to take note of the elevation and longitude and latitude using the GPS. After a nice lunch we continued our trip to the chin but at a much quicker pace since Professor Hope took up the rear so we were no longer constantly stoping.
The nose is on the left and the chin on the right. If you look
 closely you can see some of the trail for Stowe.
Before long we made it to our destination, took a group picture and made our way back to the vans. On the way home we drove right past the Cold Hollow cider mil so of course we had to stop and get some free cider samples. I also had to get some cider donuts, three of which were gone before I got back in the van. Even though I wasn't too pumped to wake up early on the weekend I have to say I really enjoyed the trip. There are only twelve of us in the class and we all bonded a lot on the trip which was nice since I didn't know everyone before hand. I'm going to Mt. Philo for the class on Wednesday which is another place with great views so I can't wait for that.

The Fall 2013 Ecosystem Ecology class at the chin

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