News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-08-17
MT, MANSFIELD.
TRIP To THE SUMMIT AND WHAT II
REVEALS.
[Cor. of the St. Johnsbury RennhIican.l

REVEALS.
[Cor. of the st. Johnsbury Republican,
STOWE, Vt, July %, 1898.
The thought occurs to me that
perhaps an off-hand sketch of views
from Mount Mansfield, m h
strengthen the purpose of some read
er to enjoy tour of observation
from the summit.
Fine views of Mansfield are obtain
ed from Stowe, Jacksonville, Cam
bridge-boro and other contiguous
points. Six miles from Stowe on an
excellent carriage road, only the last
half mile of which is ascending, brings
you to Harlow's farm house, near
the foot of the mountain. Here We
put up the team, being DESTROYS of
obtaining a little exercise.
We were expecting to encounter
steep grades, but were agreeably dis
appointed to find a good carriage
road, with an easy incline. For fully
three miles the road was spiral
archway, curtained by dense can
opy of foliage, but from an OCCASION
al turn one could obtain a momen-
tary glimpse of the blue domes of
Worcester mountains, and the pleas
ant valleys of Stowe, in the nearer
foreground.
AS the summit is neared the trees
become smaller, the view more open,
and the ascent easier, until finally
the whole glorious eastern panorama
bursts upon the enraptured vision.
A lively swing of an hour and twenty
minutes had covered the four and q
half miles of ascent, and brought US
to the summit house, and more eX-
hilarating tramp | never enjoyed.
By an easy exercise of the imagi-
nation the rocky profile of the noun
tain top is likenen to grand human
face, gazing skyward, and facing
| toward the north. The two most
prominent features are the "NOse"
and "Chin," giant rock spurs a mile
and half apart.
The Summit House stands just in
front and to the north of the "Nose, j"
and it's eastern balcony commands a
view not easily forgotten. By nat
ural staircase not many rods in
length, but at some points quite pre-
cipitous, the top of the "NOse" is
reached.
From it's eastern crest, a sheer prec-
ipice of hundreds of feet, frOwning
over an abyss of splintered and
craggy rocks, greet the dazed and
startled vision. The eastern flank of
the mountain is here in full view,
and on its northeast verge is 'Smug-
gler's Notch" a dark and threaten
ing mountain gorge blocked with
immense boulders. Tradition says
this pass was once used by smugglers
to carry on their illegal trade. The
TANKS of the adjacent mountains are
still covered by a growth of primeval
forest that would gladden. the eye OF
a lumberman.
The echoing dinner bell, welcome
sound. announces most excellent
and substantial dinner, which is fur
nished for the very modest price of
half a dollar. Walk up the mountain,
and you will enjoy the dinner if not
the walk.
A half hours pleasant chat with
our genial and intelligent host, Mr..
w. F. Churchill, and we are off for
the "Nose, accompanied by a noun
taineer guide.
A mile and a half of rock shelf,
somewhat irregular and gently as
cending, and we have traversed the
lips. They are marked with glacial
lines, the handwriting on the wall OF
giant boulders of drift rock borne
down from the north, and here depos-
tied during the glacial period.
Off to the right is the Crock of Ter
ror," an immense rock resting on a
narrow shelf; from it's top a sheer
declivity of hundreds of feet yawns
above the broken rocks, dislodged by
elemental forces.
Further on is the "Ice Cave" an
- IsGss