Well that was fun! I love the idea of going from the lowest point to the highest point in a state, and now I've actually done it for the first time. Thanks for the excellent idea, Matthew!
Husband and Mom were up for crewing/pacing and the weather forecast was perfect, so we were a "go" for a group adventure. We drove to Burlington and I started running after touching my shoe in the lake. The sidewalks were great all the way through Essex Junction, where my crew peeps started meeting me every 3-4 miles to deliver water and sustenance.
It was a busy Saturday in the middle of leaf peeping season, so there was no shortage of cars on the roads. The shoulder worked fine to route 289, then it was back to sidewalks for while. After Essex Center I was back on the road shoulder, alternating between pavement and grass as conditions warranted.
I enjoyed seeing the mill in Jericho, then we did a crew stop at Snowflake Chocolate (and Mom and John picked up some celebration treats for later!). Further along, I thought I was happy to get off of route 15, but the next few miles were actually worse. Traffic was thankfully lighter but there's no shoulder. Anytime I saw cars coming toward me I stepped well off the road to let them pass. Then I'd run (almost like interval training) as far as I could until the next car. At least I could see Mount Mansfield getting closer all the time.
Glad that stretch didn't last too terribly long. The climb up toward Underhill State Park was a nice reprieve from traffic, plus a good warm-up ascent for the upcoming steep stuff. I did a shoe change at the car and then John joined me for the last few miles while Mom drove around to the bottom of the gondola.
Wow, that Laura Cowles trail is steep and relentless! Big steps, large rocks, straight up the side of the mountain. It was nice having a direct route option and the trail was in good condition. Eventually we got up into the smaller trees - with a view of Lake Champlain, cool! Then we were in low bushes and then we were at the top ridge. It was a quick jaunt over to the top, yay! Faster than expected overall, surprisingly.
It was nice not to be in a hurry to get to the gondola, because the Cliff Trail is something else altogether. Eventually we got down, hopped on the gondola (free in that direction, nice!), and found Mom at the bottom. An excellent adventure all around.