Exploring Vermont’s BEAUTIFUL Northeast Kingdom (Mount Pisgah, Lake Willoughby, & Bald Mountain)

Over the last few days we've been exploring Vermont for the first time. We've learned about maple syrup, biked around Burlington, enjoyed fall activities in Stowe, and hiked through fog to the highest point in the state, Mount Mansfield. And for our final Vermont adventure we've driven to an area called the Northeast Kingdom to spend a day hiking near Lake Willoughby, the second deepest lake in Vermont. We are starting off our day here at Lake Willoughby by hiking the Mount Pisgah Trail. Mount Pisgah is one of the peaks that kind of towers over Lake Willoughby and there are two different ways to get up there but we're taking the South Trail which is about 4.1 miles round trip and over 1600 feet of elevation gain. When we got here this morning it was super foggy and the peak was totally covered so we're a little nervous this is going to be a total bust but I think it's clearing up a bit and we're just going to hope it's not like our last video. We made it to the first overlook on the trail which is about halfway up and check it out we've got views. The fog has kind of rolled out a little bit still a little bit lingering there but that adds a little mystical touch to it but there's some sun there's some shade you can see all the fall foliage popping through the water color heck yeah. This area gets the name Northeast Kingdom from a former U.S. Senator and Governor named George Aiken who loved this area so much and thought it should be a kingdom and I totally agree this place is so breathtaking literally and figuratively. This hike's steep. Something super interesting about this trail is that it was created in the 1850s as a bridal path for in-guests to be able to access the mountain vistas and then the 1930s the CCC came in and improved it to make it accessible for hiking but this trail is 171 years old or parts of it are wow to your right oh my look to your left oh yeah to your right oh my gosh man this is unreal. I can see why you would think kingdom because like there's those open valleys there of just you know grassland with like big stands of trees and hills and mountains and this might be my favorite place we've been to in Vermont so far yeah me too this exposed rock along the mountain mixed with the trees and the fall colors is absolutely unreal after our fail of a hike the other day I cannot wipe the smile off my face this is orange the top of that mountain is so that spot we were just at is where the all trails trail ends and we hear if you keep going to the north overlook the views get even better not sure how that's possible but we're gonna go and find out yeah this view is pretty amazing too this one's a little bit more exposed so you can see kind of more of both sides but you definitely got to check out both this one's only a minute or two walk from the other one so better makes it better and hummus makes it yummest so there are two main beaches at lake willoughby the north beach which is much bigger and it's kind of like crescent shaped tons of sand a good beach to lay out at and then there's the south beach more like a boat launch cove type area but has such a dramatic view the south beach is really close to the trail we just did so we came here to have a picnic so we made a greek salad with steak in the van and then we also made a wild zora soup and this is pumpkin because it's fall otherwise known as pumpkin season a very chilly fall day so lake willoughby was carved out by glaciers and with the cliffs surrounding it it looks like a Norwegian fjord we've never been to Norway but it's what I envisioned it would kind of look like maybe on a smaller scale and the first time I ever saw a photo of lake willoughby I just couldn't believe that this was in Vermont as we mentioned before it's the second deepest lake in Vermont second only to lake Champlain but this is over 320 feet deep in some places but it is the deepest lake that is contained entirely in Vermont we were gonna kayak but if you can't tell right now it's really windy and it's cold and the wave it's kind of choppy and that's not a good mix with the inflatable kayak so uh I think we're gonna go sit in the warm van for our final adventure of the day we are hiking the bald mountain trail it's about 4.2 miles with a little over 1400 feet of elevation gain and it takes you to a fire lookout we're a little over halfway through the trail and so far it's been pretty nice trail it's uphill basically the whole time but the terrain of the trail makes it pretty easy to move at a quick pace but we here as you get closer to the fire lookout it gets very very steep we made it to the fire tower climbing up ridiculous views oh my gosh oh my god we are up here this is the tallest fire tower we've ever been in yeah it was kind of scary getting up Kona didn't love it but the views are unreal and the fall colors are just popping off this is incredible this view that fire tower was so much fun a little bit stressful though because the stairs up to it were very steep and then to get into the I don't know what you call it vestibule up at the top though the the way into it was very tight to get up in there but man once you get up in there it was amazing views there's also a little cabin there that you can stay in and first come first serve and this family that was staying there they got there maybe a half an hour before us so we should have you always got to be prepared you got to bring a sleeping bag everything we could have stayed that would have been fun today was the best day we've had since being here in New England we've had the best views the best fall foliage it's just it it was so gorgeous and we've been just i can't even talk because it's just wow we've been smiling all day and our entire time in Vermont though has just been spectacular i knew i'd really love it here in Vermont but i didn't know i would love it this much my expectations were like blown out of the water the views were way better the towns are super cute and just quaint and the people are really nice there's tons of sweet treats lots of creamies it's just been just love it here we say this all the time that we'll be back to some a place but we really we really will i gotta come back here we will be back but we have to continue our new england road trip east and next up we are exploring the white mountains in new hampshire as i read it was called the northeast kingdom because of its splendor this is splendid is that a word splendous splendous stupendous stupendous splendiferous every time kona hears the beep of the record button she decides to make a ton of i don't know do you see it heck yeah i see it oh he's taunting me what's he doing