“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
John Muir

Mt. Mansfield

(4200)

Trail: The Long Trail (North to South)
Date: September 17’th and 18’th
Attending: Simone, & John Chicoine
Miles: 1.7 to Taft Lodge, ,6 to summit Time: 3Hrs
huts, / shelters / camping site: Taft Lodge

Weather: Wonderful cool clear New England fall hiking,It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

It was the best of times: It had been a long time since Simone and I packed an overnight pack up a 4000 footer, but with new ultra-light packs, and new 5-degree bags we were of the highest of spirits and excited to be on this new adventure. Our packs weighed in at just around 20lbs. each and we were feeling no pressure to hike beyond our comfort level. Just 1.75 miles to our first night’s destination (Taft Lodge); clear cool weather scheduled for the next several days, and plenty of time to enjoy the hike up. The trail guide said that the Mt. Mansfield north section of the Long Trail was the most challenging section of the Long Trail and the book was dead on. The trail quickly begins its relentlessly steep assent right from the trail head, and but for three short 100ft. (or less) flat sections, it never gives a hiker a break. The trail up to the Taft Lodge is well maintained and not particularly challenging other than the constant relentless steady climb.

Taft Lodge is a wonderful lodge from which to watch the early morning sun rise come in through the front windows. I must say,,, we were especially blessed with the brisk cool air of the clearest Vermont fall night with a spectacular full moon. The lodge sits above the town of Stow Vermont; at night the town is all lit up in the valley below. It really was a picture perfect day, evening, night. One of the first noticeable oddities of the lodge is the unusually short door. It was constructed that way intentionally to help keep the body heat of the winter campers in the shelter. (There is no other heat in the lodge.) The top of my head is testimony of the short door, AND! if you miss the door,,, the low roof is waiting. (Between the two of them, I hit my head three times during the two days.) I don’t relish my regular 4am morning bathroom call to the outhouse on cold overnight backpacking trips but on this night, I just couldn’t bring myself to go back into the lodge without sitting for some short while just enjoying the most memorable star filled sky.

Taft Lodge officially sleeps 24, but could be pushed into service for at least 30 close friends. The care takers were very pleasant, and only other room-mate for us was a young, (early 30 something Long Trail Through Hiker.). He was quite pleased to be in a warm dry enclosed lodge after several nights in cold damp (Rainy) Adirondack lean-tos. We never did cook up the usual Raman Noodle dinner we had planned on, (We packed up the un-eaten halves of our SubWay Grinders we had for lunch). We did enjoy an evening tea before tucking in for the night. The Lodge warmed up quickly on Wednesday morning from the sun coming in through the long row of windows. We took our time in the morning just enjoying being where we were and cooked up some oatmeal and tea for breakfast. The plan was to leave the full packs at the lodge and just carry enough clothes and water to make the run up to the summit.

The first 3tenths of a mile from the lodge to the summit was more of the same as the first section up to the lodge, (aside from the occasional views of the ledges leading up to the summit). The last 3tenths of the climb up to the summit challenges even the seasoned hiker, (of which we thought we were.). The trail is quite steep with only sparse krummholz to provide any emotional support for the many, many rock scrambles over ledges and up chimneys. I can’t remember any hike with so many scrambles out in open sky, above the tree line on top of the world.

It was the worst of times:

By the time Simone and I had reached the last ledge before the last 30ft. push up onto the summit, we were not in good shape. We were beyond our comfort zone, and my vertigo was making me real uncomfortable. (I don’t often, almost never experience vertigo on a summit, it’s not wicked freaky or anything,,, but truth be told,,, I’m not the bravest of souls when it comes to peering out over the edge of 4000 ft. ledges, and once vertigo sets in,,, it’s hard to reason yourself out of it.) We know “lots” of people complete this hike. We knew we were equipped to be where we were, we knew that we should just push on over that last scramble, but our psyche just said STOP! We sat on the ledge for a while trying to gather our nerve but we couldn’t get past the reality that we were sitting 3tenths of a mile above a lot of rock scrambling just to get back to where we were comfortable. The last push up to the summit requires you to swing your right leg out onto a steep summit knob with no ledge below you for as far as you can see. There are several small divots, (Just enough to put a toe into.) and scramble on your hands and knees for a good 10 feet. Once you manage to get over that scramble there is no relief for the climber, (just a slight crevasse to grab onto for security.) There’s no real place to anchor your-self into, no place to turn your eyes that won’t let you know your dam high. From there, there is another 10 to 15 feet of the same type of scrambling before you round the top of the summit knob. (And then you have to get back down!) (God bless the man that trusts his boots and stands up and just walks right up the side of the ledge.) I’ve walked up a hundred ledges just like that one,,, ( but not out in the open 4200 feet up and no bottom below me.) After about 5 minutes of trying to compose ourselves, I took one last close look at that last scramble to see if we could convince ourselves to push on… Simone looked at me and said,,, “Don’t make me do that.” That was just the words I wanted / needed to hear. We weren’t going for it. The issue was resolved, (As well as we could resolve failing to officially summit just 30 feet away.) We gathered our wits and began to get the hell off that ledge. We did an awful lot of scooting down the ledges and back down into the trees. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be, (Or maybe we were just glad to be going down). We consoled ourselves with hanging out on the Adams Apple for a little while before heading back down to cook up lunch at Taft Lodge before the long trek down to the car. (It didn’t help much.) (It didn’t help at all.) (We were bummed.)

Interesting observation. Even though the hiking trips are always the best times of our lives,,, there just isn’t anything like the wonderful feeling one gets the instant you see the sun glimmering off the windshields of the cars in the parking lot at the end of a long slog.

Our legs were getting rubbery, we were glad to be back at the car.

“If I try and fail,,, I can live with that.
………….It’s failing to try that I can’t live with.” John Chicoine…