I have friends doing a section of the Long Trail nearby so I decided to hike in and bring them some beers.  In the interest of getting a new side trail, I drove to the far side of Mount Mansfield to hike up the Nebraska Notch Trail.  Lotte, a Dutch Long Trail hiker who is staying with me for a few days, came along.

The trailhead was easy to find at the top of Stevensville Road.  The Nebraska Notch Trail itself was also incredibly easy.  Like it-might-as-well-be-a-sidewalk easy at the beginning, then only slightly more rocky and with a little elevation gain towards the end.

We reached the Long Trail after 1.5 miles and turned south.  This .7 mile stretch of LT is a little rocky but otherwise not too bad.  We checked out the beaver meadows on the way but still made excellent time.

We came upon Rich and John shortly before the shelter since their day coming over Mount Mansfield had taken them a little longer than expected.  When we reached Taylor Lodge, there were already three hikers there, but it’s a large shelter with plenty of room.  We all settled in to cook dinner and I pulled just enough cold beers out of the mini cooler in my pack for everyone.  Rich and his wife, Pam, fed me and a bunch of my friends one of our favorite dinners on the Appalachian Trail so I’ve just been waiting for the opportunity to do some trail magic for him.

We had some great trail talk when I interviewed all the hikers there about their thru or section hikes for GMC’s weekly radio show.  It’s always interesting to see how the trail affects different people and why they keep coming back.

Then Lotte and I said goodbye, put our headlamps on, and headed back down the way we’d come.

Another great after work hike.  I love the long daylight hours of summer.