Welcome to my Blog

This is the first time I have ever blogged so mistakes will likely be the order of the day! This past winter I committed myself to hiking the Vermont Long Trail (LT) in a series of day and overnight hikes over the course of hopefully no more than two summers. I have decided to create a blog to document my adventures and to provide a chance for any photos I take to be viewed by anyone interested in hiking in general or the LT specifically. I am a novice hiker whose prior experience basically consists of earning the hiking merit badge as a 12 year old. My father and I took five 10-mile hikes and one 20-mile hike as a part of earning the badge in 1974. Since that time I have hiked occasionally but never seriously. I was a long distance runner for many years and am in better than typical shape though in recent years my focus has been on weight lifting more than on endurance activity. I expect the trek to be challenging but manageable.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Stage 13 - Hell Brook Trail to Profanity Trail and Down Mt. Mansfield on Long Trail



On Wednesday, August 19, 2009 I took a day of vacation in order to hike what promises to be the toughest trail I'm required to complete - HELL BROOK Trail! I arrive at the trail head with some trepidation as several people have told me this is a tough one and the guide book talks about precipitous ledges and actually recommends that no one attempt to descend the trail. This is balanced by a web search I did where I found pictures of people climbing in the dead of winter so I figure I'll survive.

I arrive at the trailhead (1,803 ft) at 10:00 am and begin the 1.5 mile climb to the intersection with the long trail. At the trailhead is a warning sign - the first I have encountered in my hikes. The guide book says the trail should take 2 hours to complete, or .75 miles per hour, the slowest time in the whole book. The trail begins a ruggedly steep ascent from the very start and in no time my calves are screaming for a rest. There is practically no break in the climbing as I continue to work my way up. I find I use my hands to pull myself up by grabbing roots and rocks almost as much as I use my feet. Frequently, I must get an uncomfortable knee hold from which I pull myself up - my knees do not like this very much. On a couple of occasions I pause to consider how I am going to make a climb or traverse because one slip might mean a short fall or slide of 6-20 feet.

Frequently, I reach a brief opening in the woods that gives me a good look at the cliffs on the opposite side of VT 108. I believe this one may be Elephant's Head Cliff. After about one hour's worth of climbing wouldn't you know it starts to rain and the rocks become more slippery. Having said this, however, not once do I ever slip or come close to falling on the entire ascent. I reach the intersection with the long Trail in one hour and 59 minutes - besting the guidebook by one minute and find an interesting sign that I assume is an attempt at a warning for anyone wishing to descend the Hell Brook Trail.

From here I continue to climb on the Long Trail over an exposed and fairly technical ascent to the Chin of Mount Mansfield (4,393 ft), the highest point in Vermont. The guide book talks about the breathtaking views from up here but I am enshrouded by a mist and clouds block all views. All views that is, save for a young lady from Quebec that speaks French and looks like she just walked out of a Victoria's Secret catalog to greet me at the summit. I choose not to take a picture of her - that would be rude, wouldn't it - but I include this description just to see if my wife is really reading my blog. There are actually a lot of people up here - most of them coming up the Toll road or rinding up in a gondola.


I descend to the south from the Chin a short distance until i intersect with the Sunset Ridge Trail - a trail I hiked earlier this year (The trip that put me in the hospital). I pause at this intersection and eat a couple of cookies and drink some Gatorade. Across the way from this intersection I find the Profanity Trail - a good name for a trail located close to Hell Brook if I say so myself. It is really less of a trail and more of a gully that I descend steeply for 1/2 mile before reaching Taft Lodge.

Taft Lodge (built 1920, sleeps 24, 3,650 ft) is a great structure and just as I arrive and step inside it comes a gully washer, complete with thunder and lightning. I rest there, along with 8-10 other hikers for about 30 minutes while the storm passes through. I eat five or six Nutter Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies for my lunch and drink some more Gatorade. It was my intention to hike another loop covering about 1.1 miles and completing all of the side trails on this end of the mountain, but the rain has made everything slick and wet and I decide I'll have to come back again to complete the side trails.

I head out before any of the others are ready to descend figuring that if I slip and fall on the wet trail down someone will find me quickly and offer assistance. although the 1.7 mile descent is steep, it is not as slick as feared and I make good time down the mountain on the Long Trail.
I arrive at the intersection of the Trail with VT 108 and turn north to hike 0.75 miles up smuggler's notch to reach the car. It is 3:30 pm so I've hiked for 5 1/2 hours and covered only 4 miles. No problems with cramps at all but after I get home I discover a number of scrapes and scratches I earned while climbing Hell Brook.
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