Hunger via Skyline trail

Overview: Hunger Mt is a Stowe/Waterbury Favorite, but have you ever accessed it from neighboring Putnam Mt and therefore Hogback? In a fashion slightly similar to some of the more 'trailless' peaks in the Adirondacks, the narrow, lightly used but marked trail winds its way along the top of the Worcester Range, sometimes dramatically. If you are looking for solitude, this is a great trail.

Views

I hiked this one on a cloudy day and loved it, but it can really be a treat on a sunny day. Most of the hike is protected by trees, but there are occasional social paths leading to delicious views of Camel's Hump, to the Sterling range and more. You can even see Lake Champlain and into the 'Dacks on a good day. Just before ending at Hunger, the North summit offers better on-trail eastern views than Hunger.

Conditions:

There is a bit of scrambling involved (climbing on rocks, but not rock climbing), if that is not something you adore, you might not want to bother with this one. If it has been even remotely damp, don't even think of wearing light trail runners, I love mine, but there is just too much mud on this trail for them to work. This is a big, waterproof boot kind of walk. I may be young and fit, but after years of running down mountains and skiing, my knees have made me a believer in 'sissy sticks, (collapsable ski poles) which are often handy on this hike regardless of conditions.

Starting at the lower Pinnacle parking lot or at the Pinnacle Meadows parking lot, it's steep but simple walk up to the first junction below Pinnacle. After the Hogback/Pinnacle junction, it gets slightly more tricky: 700' in well under a mile. Once atop Hogback, there is a half mile or so of treed summit area walking to the Skyline trail. Here may be the first place you encounter mud; it will not be the last.

Tips: Trail notes:

After the Skyline trail junction, (you turn right here if you are coming from Stowe) is where it gets interesting, there is more tight and steep stuff similar in fashion to heading up Hogback except that you're already on the ridge. Occaisional western views are a nice reward, as is the sensation of ridgewalking, at times the trail is a foot wide with not too much on either side.

This lasts for a mile or so, then you start heading down to a col before heading up Putnam, not my favorite bit of trail, but still more fun than its heavily traffiked neighbors Pinnacle and Hunger. Once atop Putnam, there is a bit of scrambling similar to that on Pinnacle, and it is about 15 minutes between Putnam and Hunger. Eventually you get to Hunger, and it is pretty fabulous as usual, but this time, the hike is pretty fabulous too.