There was a hiking guide at the house, so we flipped through it and picked something that looked easy enough.

The hike we picked was anything but easy.

All the other hikes had elevation and difficulty ratings. This one simply said there was a lake and it would take about 2 hours.

There was a lake, but that was about it that was true to the description.

The hike started from a small parking lot within the geographic feature known as Smuggler's Notch. Literally it's a tight and twisty gap that notches it's way through Mt. Mansfield . The trail from the road, as you can see, went straight up.

Ah. Nothing like good ole hiking in New England.

Gretchen waiting again . 

Hey! The Lake!

After 1.1 miles of what felt like straight up we came to Sterling Pond.

From here the trail appeared to go around the pond and head over to something called the Elephant's Head. It didn't look far and the pond didn't look big, so we headed on. 

The size of the pond was deceiving .

It kept going and going .

And going .

Finally the trail turned away from the side of the pond and headed off in another direction.

By this time Jen had pointed out many times that we were without water (I left it in the car), snacks and were way over our two hour expected trip time. This was certainly a mistake. In addition to not having any food or water, we only had the clothes we were wearing and a storm was headed our way. Getting hungry, tired and cold was a problem.

So we gave up the pursuit of the Elephant's Head (we weren't the only ones) and headed back.

Self portrait of our recovery.

Jen wasn't happy. She was thirsty, hungry and tired. I was hoping (nearly praying) a little rest on the tent platform would recoup some strength to finish and descend.