Double Bow
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OK, OK I'm a slug and am too lazy to write me trip reports in a timely manner... either that or I'm trying to keep the 3 people who read parts 1 and 2 in suspense. 
Anyway, here it is, the exciting conclusion!
7/21/05 A huffer and a puffer of a day! Well rested and still happy about the trail magic from the night before I set off on what was one of our shorter days milage-wise. It wasn't long before we were climbing steedly, only to lose that elevation be descending steeply and then climb gently and descent gently... hmm... after almost 200mi on the LT, I'm starting to notice a pattern...
We stopped at the crossing of Duck Brook to pump some more water since we had opted not to go back down into the ravine that morning. This was a very pleasant spot and while we were there, a couple passed us.
Shortly after that we crossed a road and climbed steeply a ridge from which there were some really nice views of Champlain and the Daks in one spot and Camel's Hump from another. A little after that, we descended a bit and reached the spur for the Buchanan Shelter and stopped for lunch. This junction was also a really nice spot. It was a good thing we rested here too because from here, we began the 1400+' climb up Bolton Mtn. Personally, I've never been much of a fan of "Adult Contemporary" music but the people of Vermont must be. Why else would they name a 3700' peak after the long-haired guy who sang "Soul Provider"?
What a peak it is too! There was a lot of up and down on the way up with most of it being pretty steep. It took us, in my opinion, much longer than it should have to get up there. Part of it definately had to do with the fact that Shamie hadn't slept nearly as well as I did. Still we pushed on and a half a mile after the summit we reached Puffer Shelter, our destination for the night.
When we got there, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to spent the night there due to the "No tenting" signs and the fact that the shelter looked full. Shamie said that she really didn't think she could make it to the next shelter. Fortunately, one person who we thought was staying in the shelter was not and so we were able to stay there although, we might have been better off if we hadn't...
There were two middle-aged guys that were doing an overnighter there and a teen couple that were southbounding. They were all pretty nice but, noone talked much. Shamie and I made a Steak Terriyaki dinner and had red wine and that made for a nice dinner. We also had a nice view of the sunset... and, unfortunately, the sunrise. I say "unfortunately" because one of the guys snored VERY loudly ALL NIGHT!!! We bearly got any sleep and the sleep that we did get wasn't very good. It was a wonder that the guys' partner was able to sleep. The teens weren't able to sleep either. The amazing thing was that the guy woke up because of the sound of the rain! He got up, moved some stuff, went back to sleep and started up again. This was the most unpleasant night I had ever spent in a shelter.
7/22/05 The trip ended with the wrong kind of a bang. Tired and unhappy we got up early taking our only comfort in the knowledge that today we would be summiting Mansfield and that we would probably be heading off the trail (we had initially thought about spending that night at another shelter about 2mi from the car). Of course, Shamie was really in rough shape after two nights of little sleep and the toil of the past six days. Still, we pushed on.
We quickly descended a little and then climb a little to the summit of Mt Mayo (near Mts Ketchup and Mustard) but the ridge walk along the side of Mt Clark seemed long and the descent down to Taylor Lodge was rough and steep which made for slow going. Shamie said that there was no way she could have done this the night before. I wasn't feeling good about how long it had taken us to get there and I definately felt like we needed to keep going but, Shamie needed the break so, we breaked. A half hour late, we were off again. About 1.5hrs later, we reached the tenting area which was where I thought the climbing of Mansfield truly began. In the next 1.2mi (the distance to the spur for Butler Lodge) you climb 800'. Not a small feat with no sleep and a heavy pack! Near there, we heard rumblings.
We had agreed to stop at The Needle's Eye, a rock formation on the trail. There, we put our pack covers on and discussed out options as more rumblings were heard and some sprinkles felt. We decided to take the Forehead By-Pass and decided that it was OK since it is still considered an LT route and with it's having less exposure, it was the safe thing to do. Along that route, I found a film canister with some "magic" trail magic in it! I had never come across THAT on the trail before!!
Anyway, the By-Pass was actually kinda cool and fun to go up so I didn't feel bad about it at all. We soon got up to the road there and went past the area where you would have accessed The Nose but, The Nose is closed due to the fact that there are dangerous levels of radio waves there!
We stopped at the Visitor Center, thinking it would be something like the one on Mt Washington and that maybe there would be snacks or at least someplace inside to sit. Totally not! We looked around at the board inside the little room they let folks in and had lunch outside the door, under the awning as the weather got worse though, at times it seemed to be getting better. After luch, we talked about what we should do. I thought that it seemed like it might be OK to continue on our planned route. Shamie asked the guy working there what he thought and he wasn't sure. Shamie thought tha we should skip the Chin and find a different way down. As we were discussing this, there was an incredibly loud BANG!!!! Followed by lightning stricking the summit! That settled it. We were not going to the summit. Instead, we went down the Haselton Trail to VT 108 and our car. I was pretty steamed. This was the third state that I've been turned back from reaching the highpoint summit on (ME & AZ being the others)!!! GRRR!!! But, in the end, I knew that we did the right thing and like they say, "The mountain will be there tomorrow."
We drove to a convienence store and bought Ben & Jerry's, soda, and potato chips before driving to the other car and continuing south to The Inn at the Long Trail where we had dinner and spent the night. Somehow, after dinner, sitting in the bar drinking Guinness and singing Irish folk songs with other hikers, the disappointment of the day melted away and I was glad for what we had been able to do.
Anyway, here it is, the exciting conclusion!7/21/05 A huffer and a puffer of a day! Well rested and still happy about the trail magic from the night before I set off on what was one of our shorter days milage-wise. It wasn't long before we were climbing steedly, only to lose that elevation be descending steeply and then climb gently and descent gently... hmm... after almost 200mi on the LT, I'm starting to notice a pattern...
We stopped at the crossing of Duck Brook to pump some more water since we had opted not to go back down into the ravine that morning. This was a very pleasant spot and while we were there, a couple passed us.
Shortly after that we crossed a road and climbed steeply a ridge from which there were some really nice views of Champlain and the Daks in one spot and Camel's Hump from another. A little after that, we descended a bit and reached the spur for the Buchanan Shelter and stopped for lunch. This junction was also a really nice spot. It was a good thing we rested here too because from here, we began the 1400+' climb up Bolton Mtn. Personally, I've never been much of a fan of "Adult Contemporary" music but the people of Vermont must be. Why else would they name a 3700' peak after the long-haired guy who sang "Soul Provider"?
What a peak it is too! There was a lot of up and down on the way up with most of it being pretty steep. It took us, in my opinion, much longer than it should have to get up there. Part of it definately had to do with the fact that Shamie hadn't slept nearly as well as I did.
Still we pushed on and a half a mile after the summit we reached Puffer Shelter, our destination for the night. When we got there, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to spent the night there due to the "No tenting" signs and the fact that the shelter looked full.
Shamie said that she really didn't think she could make it to the next shelter. Fortunately, one person who we thought was staying in the shelter was not and so we were able to stay there although, we might have been better off if we hadn't...There were two middle-aged guys that were doing an overnighter there and a teen couple that were southbounding. They were all pretty nice but, noone talked much. Shamie and I made a Steak Terriyaki dinner and had red wine and that made for a nice dinner. We also had a nice view of the sunset... and, unfortunately, the sunrise. I say "unfortunately" because one of the guys snored VERY loudly ALL NIGHT!!! We bearly got any sleep and the sleep that we did get wasn't very good. It was a wonder that the guys' partner was able to sleep. The teens weren't able to sleep either. The amazing thing was that the guy woke up because of the sound of the rain! He got up, moved some stuff, went back to sleep and started up again. This was the most unpleasant night I had ever spent in a shelter.
7/22/05 The trip ended with the wrong kind of a bang. Tired and unhappy we got up early taking our only comfort in the knowledge that today we would be summiting Mansfield and that we would probably be heading off the trail (we had initially thought about spending that night at another shelter about 2mi from the car). Of course, Shamie was really in rough shape after two nights of little sleep and the toil of the past six days. Still, we pushed on.
We quickly descended a little and then climb a little to the summit of Mt Mayo (near Mts Ketchup and Mustard) but the ridge walk along the side of Mt Clark seemed long and the descent down to Taylor Lodge was rough and steep which made for slow going. Shamie said that there was no way she could have done this the night before. I wasn't feeling good about how long it had taken us to get there and I definately felt like we needed to keep going but, Shamie needed the break so, we breaked. A half hour late, we were off again. About 1.5hrs later, we reached the tenting area which was where I thought the climbing of Mansfield truly began. In the next 1.2mi (the distance to the spur for Butler Lodge) you climb 800'. Not a small feat with no sleep and a heavy pack! Near there, we heard rumblings.
We had agreed to stop at The Needle's Eye, a rock formation on the trail. There, we put our pack covers on and discussed out options as more rumblings were heard and some sprinkles felt. We decided to take the Forehead By-Pass and decided that it was OK since it is still considered an LT route and with it's having less exposure, it was the safe thing to do. Along that route, I found a film canister with some "magic" trail magic in it!
I had never come across THAT on the trail before!!Anyway, the By-Pass was actually kinda cool and fun to go up so I didn't feel bad about it at all. We soon got up to the road there and went past the area where you would have accessed The Nose but, The Nose is closed due to the fact that there are dangerous levels of radio waves there!
We stopped at the Visitor Center, thinking it would be something like the one on Mt Washington and that maybe there would be snacks or at least someplace inside to sit. Totally not! We looked around at the board inside the little room they let folks in and had lunch outside the door, under the awning as the weather got worse though, at times it seemed to be getting better. After luch, we talked about what we should do. I thought that it seemed like it might be OK to continue on our planned route. Shamie asked the guy working there what he thought and he wasn't sure. Shamie thought tha we should skip the Chin and find a different way down. As we were discussing this, there was an incredibly loud BANG!!!!
Followed by lightning stricking the summit! That settled it. We were not going to the summit. Instead, we went down the Haselton Trail to VT 108 and our car. I was pretty steamed. This was the third state that I've been turned back from reaching the highpoint summit on (ME & AZ being the others)!!! GRRR!!! But, in the end, I knew that we did the right thing and like they say, "The mountain will be there tomorrow." We drove to a convienence store and bought Ben & Jerry's, soda, and potato chips before driving to the other car and continuing south to The Inn at the Long Trail where we had dinner and spent the night. Somehow, after dinner, sitting in the bar drinking Guinness and singing Irish folk songs with other hikers, the disappointment of the day melted away and I was glad for what we had been able to do.
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