When will mud season start in Vermont?

[Sarcasm the elf]

I'm thinking of hiking in Southern VT for couple of days in the first week of April and just wanted to check if that would be cutting it too close to mud season. I'm hoping that it will still be late winter conditions up there, and I don't want to deal with the mud or be part of erosion problem.

I would appreciate if anyone has a good idea of what conditions I should expect. Thanks in advance.

[Slo-go'en]

We had mud season for the first week of March until this cold snap and blizzard came alone. First there was a couple of subzero nights which froze the ground and then the blizzard which dumped 2-3 feet of snow on Vermont yesterday.

What will happen in the next two weeks? Hard tell'en, not know'en. It's suppose to stay cold for a while and more snow this weekend, so I'd guess there is still a good chance for late winter conditions the first week of April, but with the way the weather keeps flipping around lately, you won't know until you get there. One way or another, good chance it will be down right sloppy.

[mattjv89]

With this latest snowfall I would expect it to still be late winter trail conditions if temps remain as advertised in the long range forecast. Here in Wallingford we got about 18" yesterday and I've heard higher numbers for points south. A few days of low 40's in the forecast but mostly freezing or below on the 10 day so it's sticking around for a bit.

[imscotty]

Ha, Ha, Mud season in Vermont ends when it all freezes up again in the Fall.

Seriously though, the Green Mountain Club typically requests that visitors remain off the trails until after Memorial Day.

https://www.greenmountainclub.org/mud-season-mountains/

I imagine this can vary a bit from year-to-year. But sometime around Memorial Day sounds right to me. April will still be muddy, I think, even in Southern VT.

[tdoczi]

Ha, Ha, Mud season in Vermont ends when it all freezes up again in the Fall.

Seriously though, the Green Mountain Club typically requests that visitors remain off the trails until after Memorial Day.

https://www.greenmountainclub.org/mud-season-mountains/

I imagine this can vary a bit from year-to-year. But sometime around Memorial Day sounds right to me. April will still be muddy, I think, even in Southern VT.

the question wasnt so much if it will still be muddy, it was will it already be muddy. ie, the OP is hoping there will still be snow and ice to hike on, which precedes the mud.

[imscotty]

Aghh, thank you for that Tdoczi. Clearly my reading comprehension skills are going down the tubes. Then I guess the answer is in early April anything is possible.

[rafe]

It's only 100 miles north of where you are, Elf. And weren't you just at Greylock a week or two back? So more or less WYSIWYG, accounting for that small diff, and the altitude. Chances are you'll be picking your way through vestiges of rotten snow or possibly over monorail on well-traveled sections. And just below that will be mud.

I don't know what kind of new accumulation they got on Tuesday. Here in eastern MA we got a foot of fresh stuff which had compacted down to death-cookie glacial cr@p by yesterday evening.

[BillyGr]

I don't know what kind of new accumulation they got on Tuesday. Here in eastern MA we got a foot of fresh stuff which had compacted down to death-cookie glacial cr@p by yesterday evening.

From the Bennington Banner page: 2 Feet for Bennington, 34" for Woodford (which is closer to the area the trail passes through), 26.5" for Manchester, 18.5" for Manchester Center.

One might suspect that for much of the trail the numbers like Woodford would be closer to actual, as that's a better "high point" than the others that are a bit lower elevations...

[Slo-go'en]

From the Bennington Banner page: 2 Feet for Bennington, 34" for Woodford (which is closer to the area the trail passes through), 26.5" for Manchester, 18.5" for Manchester Center.

One might suspect that for much of the trail the numbers like Woodford would be closer to actual, as that's a better "high point" than the others that are a bit lower elevations...

And with all the drifting, it can really fill in at the higher elevations where it gets trapped by the trees.