# St. Johnsbury area recommendations?



## IskiBumps (May 10, 2006)

Anyone know any good trails to hike in the St. Johnsbury area? We are camping on nearby Harvey's Lake and were trying to find 2 good day hikes in the area. Any help will be greatly appreciated.


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## skibum9995 (May 10, 2006)

Not sure how far you want to drive but Mt. Pisgah on the shores of Lake Willoughby is a nice climb. It's pretty easy, about 4 miles round trip, with good views of the lake from the top. There is a dirt parking lot on the right side of 5A, heading north, just south of the lake.


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## riverc0il (May 10, 2006)

Lake Willoughby area and Burke Mountain would be your two primary areas of focus.  Mount Pisgah, Mount Hor, Wheeler Mountain, Haystack Mountain, and Bald Mountain are all easily accessable and short hikes from Lake Willoughby which is ~30-40 minutes north of St. Johnsbury. Burke Moutain will give you 2000 vertical feet if you start at the Sherburne Lodge.  Red and Blue trails are off the CCC Road on the western side of the mountain off Willoughby. I can not remember if these trails begin at the base lodge or not, I always up hike the ski trails to the CCC road, but I enjoy hiking Ski Trails during the non-snowy months.

About the same distance as Lake Willoughby from St. Johnsbury are the north eastern White Mountains including Franconia Notch at about 40-45 minutes.  Bald Rock is a nice quicky, Franconia Ridge is a classic, or at an hour you could do a ton of hiking in Crawford Notch.  Mount Martha/Cherry is a nice hike as well and one of my favorite places to catch a Sunset are the Sugarloafs off Zealand Road.

Cheers!
:beeer:


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## thetrailboss (May 10, 2006)

Burke Area.  
Willoughby Area (Bald, Pisgah, Hor, etc).  
Jay Peak
Island Pond--trails at the state park and a day hike to Bluff Mountain.  
Northern Whites (seriously!)

PM me for more specs, or refer to the GMC's "Dayhikers Guide to VT"


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## knuckledragger (May 10, 2006)

Peacham bog in groton state park well worth the trip


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## nelsapbm (May 10, 2006)

There are some short & easy hikes in Groton State Forest as well. Owls Head comes to mind.


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## IskiBumps (May 11, 2006)

From what I hear the Willoughby stuff is great...I'm doing the franconia area later in the summer, so I'd rather save that for then...some more info on the Groton Forest stuff would be awesome. there seems to be a lack of it elsewhere online.


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## Mike P. (May 11, 2006)

Willoughby area is one of the better climbing areas so veiws from peaks with a view should be quite dramatic,  next closest area for climbing with cliffs, is Cannon & Franconia Notch.

I have limited surfing ability at work but I'd suggest checking to see if VT has any state park sites or anything from the GMC.


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## IskiBumps (May 11, 2006)

Suprisingly, the VT state park site is really pretty bad. Unlike MA, CT, and NH state park sites (the only other ones I've been on) they offer no trail maps. They really don't offer any valuable information whatsoever. Maybe I will have to drive into NH after all...


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## nelsapbm (May 11, 2006)

You're right about the State Parks page....try this for info: http://www.outdoorplaces.com/Destination/stateparks/vermont/groton/groton_state_forest.html


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## ski_resort_observer (May 11, 2006)

Groton State Forest is a real nice place but Owl's Head is not much of a hike but the views are awesome. Spruce and Signal Mts just SE of Groton have been on my list.

The wife and I did the hike up Mt Pisgah and it was pretty nice. The directions we got were that the trailhead is across RT 5A from the "el natural beach".  :lol:

A great reference for hiking and travel in general would be the Vermont Gazetteer by DeLorme. About 20 bucks at any bookstore.


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## riverc0il (May 11, 2006)

hikers guide to mountains of vermont by gange and the GMC's day hikers guide are your best bets for information. compared to the WMNF, with exception of the higher peaks, VT is certainly lacking any proliferation  of general hiking information.


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## knuckledragger (May 12, 2006)

I agree with spruce mtn. went there about 20 years ago.


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## thetrailboss (May 13, 2006)

Iski:  PM sent

Spruce Mountain:  well worth the hike.  Nice views over Central VT.  A bit closer to Harvey's Lake than the Willougby Area.


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