A View of Mt Mansfield from Tooley Pond Mountain

There's a little pamphlet available in the Star Lake-Cranberry Lake area with 10 favorite hikes in the Clifton-Fine area. It includes Rainbow Falls and and Copper Falls. There's a third hike on that road that's listed in the pamphlet: Tooley Pond "Mountain". It says that you can see the mountains of Vermont from the top. I read that last year and didn't believe it. After all, I'd climbed that "mountain" as a Cub Scout, and didn't remember seeing Vermont. OK, that's not exactly proof that it's not visible. So I went one not-too-hazy day last summer and saw some mountains to the east which were too far north to be the 'dacks. I jotted down a compass bearing for what appeared to be the highest peak of the range I was looking at. The next time on the computer I called up Topo! and traced that bearing. It came within a very few degrees of Mt. Mansfield! I was amazed! Tooley Pond Mtn. is not much of a mountain. The ascent may be about 400', but with nothing higher nearby on the east, it gets the view. Those of you doing the fire tower peaks can still climb the Tooley Pd. Mtn. tower, but you'll have to climb it in Wanakena.
Mark Lowell