Miles: 8.4; Elevation gained: 2,520 ft; Mile reached: 206.7

We could see “the weather” rolling up Nebraska Notch in the morning as we were having breakfast (no bears attempted the cliff climb as far as we know), and about one mile up our ascent, it started raining. Not hard – just a steady light rain, and enough to let us know that it might be a bit gnarly up top. Rain gear and pack covers on…

We stopped at Butler Lodge at 3,000 ft to see if we could wait out the rain before the tricky ascent up the Forehead (Mansfield is lying on his back, with forehead, nose, chin, and Adam’s apple going left to right if you’re looking from Stowe, with the Chin being the summit go figger). This is one of the great LT shelters – a log cabin perched on the southern slope with views south and west – though not today. They rebuilt this in 2000, using helicopters to get the logs up there. Personal factoid: my former step-brother (hey life can be complicated), Ernest Krusch, peeled and hauled those logs. How ’bout that?

Well, the rain didn’t stop but it did ease a bit, so we headed up. There is a bad weather bypass that is less exposed than going straight up the Forehead but we decided to go for it, and it was fine going up. Once we got above tree line and over towards the summit, the wind really picked up as you can see in the vid below, which made descending the Chin a bit tricky, if not verging on foolhardy. Put it this way, there were no other thru hikers on the mountain that day. My kind and stalwart wife Marcia was waiting in a the Notch for us, so we not only lived to tell, but lived well on burritos and beer, with warm beds to boot.

One editorial note: Chris took pics too, and I was using them. Then his phone died. Hopefully he can retrieve the photos and I can use them for the remaining 5 days to the border…