Mt. Mansfield

Vermont has mountains. I don't have to go to the Adirondacks for a challenging hike. I decided to hike Mt. Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont.

I hiked up this trail. It did, indeed, contain quite a bit of vertical hauling and scrambling. Enough that I knew I did NOT want to go back down it.

The summit cone from the top of Hell Brook, called the "chin." It looks so impressive, right?






I got tantalizingly close to the highest point in Vermont. Then I came to this rock. After the first big step it was just a walk up, really. It was way easier than a lot of what I had hauled myself up already.

BUT

There was nothing but empty air RIGHT behind me!

I couldn't do it. Not alone.





Some uber-fit guy (not so much younger than me) came along and blew past me while making a comment about how this spot was The Crux and how he didn't like to come this way in the winter and blah-blah-blah. In a flash he was up and out of sight.

WAIT!
GIVE ME A HAND!
SELFLESSNESS LOOKS GOOD ON YOUR KARMIC RESUME, BUDDY!

Oh well. Maybe next time.

This is the view from as far as I got.

That bare rock is the "adam's apple" at the far northern end of the ridge. The Hell Brook trail comes up on the other side of that.

I went back down the chin, hiked down the Long Trail, and met a nice fellow named Hiker Ed at the parking area who gave me a ride back to my car at the Hell Brook trail head.

What a great day.