We got out for a hike this morning. Great Vermont summer day. Relatively low humidity, 57F this morning with a high of 81F. We hiked up to Silver Lake and back.
We parked at Minnie Baker trailhead. Hiked up Minnie Baker trail to Chandler Ridge trail then back down Leister Hollow Trail to Minnie back. A nice loop. All told about 5 hours, 12 miles and 1473 foot elevation gain.
The trail runs mostly through hardwood forest primaily Maple but also oak, beech, birch.
The trail is well marked and maintained. We only saw one other hiker. Although we did hear some of the campers in the campground on the other side of Silver Lake. Chandler Ridge runs appropriately enough along a ridge that separates Lake Dunmore and Silver Lake. Silver Lake is about 650 feet higher than Lake Dunmore and actually feeds into Lake Dunmore via Sucker brook.
SIlver Lake is about 100 acres with a 2.4 mile trail circling the lake. It is a wilderness lake meaning its hike-in access only.
I took this pano while we were taking a snack break. There was a cool breeze coming off the lake and the mountain air was refreshing.
Chandler Ridge trail reaches the west side of the lake then you hike around the lake and pick up Leicester Hollow trail.
Leicester Hollow trail follows a brook down and eventually meets up with Minnie Baker.
Back in the 1800s, there was a grand 3 story hotel on Silver Lake. Leicester Hollow trail follows a carriage road that took vacationers up to the lake. The trail was upgraded recently with a few bridges and opened up to mountain bicycles. We were watching for mushrooms on the hike. I do those finds in another post.
