As mentioned in my previous post, I have been ready to end traction usage for the season. However, with mud season restrictions well underway in Vermont, we didn't hesitate to travel east for a mellow and well-draining hike.
After fueling up on the world's most expensive mid-nachos in Burlington, VT on Friday night, Max and I got a reasonable start to the day and embarked on Route 2. Similar to our last hike, which was forecasted as sunny but ended up raining, we began in a light rain out of the small parking pull-off on Route 116.
The Coppermine Trail begins with a 0.6-mile dirt road walk through an open forest with occasional intersecting cross-country trails. While the intersecting trails are all signed and not the main trail, the Coppermine trail is semi-frequently blazed in yellow.
Once the trail starts, a sign notes 2.5 miles to Bridal Veil Falls and 2.3 to Coppermine Shelter. Though the footpath narrows slightly, it generally allows for side-by-side walking the entire time. The only deep mud was just past the trail sign, which Max trudged through far more gracefully than I did- as my shoes looked the part.
As the trail began to parallel the brook, we gained steadily with no significant steep spots. There was a handful of small tributary crossings, but nothing high or of note. Despite this, we still made a challenge with our step ratio to cross the streams. Max tended to do them in one while I usually took closer to five. Just 5'4 things.
The roar of the water grew louder as we rounded the corner and crossed the bridge, which appeared to have undergone recent repairs. Some occasional soft ice carpeted the trail as we neared the shelter and fell, but in my opinion, it did not warrant any sort of traction.
The shelter, which was relatively the same as my last visit two years ago provided a great place to enjoy hiker charcuterie and watch the sun come back out! Coppermine Shelter is a 3-walled lean-to that fits 4-6 people- when we were there around noon there were already two groups preparing to spend the night!
Bridal Veil Falls was roaring from all the snow melt from the Kinsman Col atop the drainage, the lack of sun at the time unfortunately prevented the sometimes-green appearance of the lower pool but it was still gorgeous.
After hitting our quota of photos and saying, "Wow I can see why they call it Bridal Veil," we headed back to the car, getting there in about an hour.
With the sun out, I opted to take Max through all the Franconia Notch attractions as it was his first time visiting the White Mountains then we enjoyed an always wonderful dinner at Littleton Freehouse after shopping around downtown.
As far as this time of year goes, Coppermine Trail is a perfect low-elevation trail that stands up to mud season quite well.
Final stats:
5.21 miles
1,023 feet
1 red squirrel
1 summer sausage consumed
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