mookie
New member
Brian B,Gillian, Jp and skimom were planning to camp in VT(Elmore SP) this weekend so Gillian choose our hike for the day. Skimom was running a bit late so she decided she would start at Long Trail from 108 and meet us.
Started from Lake Mansfield trail at about 12:00. Myself, Gillian, Brian B and Jackson (dog). This was my first time hiking Mansfiled from Nebraska Notch. Always wanted to do it, just needed someone to hike it with. The Lake Mansfield trail was a nice mellow hike, cool beaver ponds before you reach the Taylor Lodge. Great Lodge there, great views of the Nebraska Notch, there was only 4 people there resting, but it was allready afternoon at this point. I think Gillian said that she would even camp there!!
After leaving the lodge we decided to take Clara Bow trail to Long Trail. This probably was not the best route with Jackson (dog). There is a section of trail with a ladder through a cave. We knew there was no way to get the dog down there so we just made our way up and over. There was just one tough spot there for Jackson, but we got him over it (and Gillian as well!). We were on our way up finally. When we reached the Long Trail there were some folks doing some trail work. They were taking a break eating lunch and asked us there was any blow down. We had actually only encountered one giant tree a few hundred yards from where they were.
We said hi, thank you and bye then continued on and right before the climb up to the forehead Gillian remembered that there was a steep climb to the summit with ladder(s?). I think Brian thanked Gillian a couple times for choosing this route. We were unsure of how we would do with Jackson so we decided to take the Forehead bypass up to summit.
The bypass trail is pretty much just a wet slick rock. Some snow left but not a problem at all. This was a bit slow going but shortly after we reached the summit. Very cold and windy as usual. Gillian decided to call skimom from summit to find out where she was. It took us a bit longer than anticipated and skimom had gone off the summit to warm up. We knew it would be a bit longer to reach the chin so Gillian told skimom to head down and we would catch up with her at the campground. We continued on and hiked the LT over the ridge to the chin. Not as many people as we thought, I think we passed about 8 people total on summit. Great views in all directions. we spotted washington and moved along. The Long Trail down the chin is a bit steep in spots and we had to help Jackson along, thankfully we had some granola bars to motivate him. Just below the chin we hit some snow. Nothing bad at all. About 1.5 hours later we were at the car waiting for us on 108. We had to drive back to Lake Mansfield trail head to pick up my car, where the black flys were out of control. we quickly said bye and made plans for our hike on sunday.
I think it was 10.9 miles total thanks to brians fancy GPS. we walked out of the Long Trail onto 108 at about 5:30 or so.
Great day! It was a great hike that i had wanted to do and finally did thanks to Gillian!
It was just a bummer that we didnt get to hike it with skimom!!!
Started from Lake Mansfield trail at about 12:00. Myself, Gillian, Brian B and Jackson (dog). This was my first time hiking Mansfiled from Nebraska Notch. Always wanted to do it, just needed someone to hike it with. The Lake Mansfield trail was a nice mellow hike, cool beaver ponds before you reach the Taylor Lodge. Great Lodge there, great views of the Nebraska Notch, there was only 4 people there resting, but it was allready afternoon at this point. I think Gillian said that she would even camp there!!
After leaving the lodge we decided to take Clara Bow trail to Long Trail. This probably was not the best route with Jackson (dog). There is a section of trail with a ladder through a cave. We knew there was no way to get the dog down there so we just made our way up and over. There was just one tough spot there for Jackson, but we got him over it (and Gillian as well!). We were on our way up finally. When we reached the Long Trail there were some folks doing some trail work. They were taking a break eating lunch and asked us there was any blow down. We had actually only encountered one giant tree a few hundred yards from where they were.
We said hi, thank you and bye then continued on and right before the climb up to the forehead Gillian remembered that there was a steep climb to the summit with ladder(s?). I think Brian thanked Gillian a couple times for choosing this route. We were unsure of how we would do with Jackson so we decided to take the Forehead bypass up to summit.
The bypass trail is pretty much just a wet slick rock. Some snow left but not a problem at all. This was a bit slow going but shortly after we reached the summit. Very cold and windy as usual. Gillian decided to call skimom from summit to find out where she was. It took us a bit longer than anticipated and skimom had gone off the summit to warm up. We knew it would be a bit longer to reach the chin so Gillian told skimom to head down and we would catch up with her at the campground. We continued on and hiked the LT over the ridge to the chin. Not as many people as we thought, I think we passed about 8 people total on summit. Great views in all directions. we spotted washington and moved along. The Long Trail down the chin is a bit steep in spots and we had to help Jackson along, thankfully we had some granola bars to motivate him. Just below the chin we hit some snow. Nothing bad at all. About 1.5 hours later we were at the car waiting for us on 108. We had to drive back to Lake Mansfield trail head to pick up my car, where the black flys were out of control. we quickly said bye and made plans for our hike on sunday.
I think it was 10.9 miles total thanks to brians fancy GPS. we walked out of the Long Trail onto 108 at about 5:30 or so.
Great day! It was a great hike that i had wanted to do and finally did thanks to Gillian!
It was just a bummer that we didnt get to hike it with skimom!!!
