Green Mountain House Hostel

On Friday (7-15) I had heard of a great hostel in Manchester Center, VT called the Green Mountain House Hostel.  We had to hike only 2.8 miles up the trail to get to the road leading into town.  By chance, Jeff Taussig, the owner, had just dropped hikers off who had stayed at his hostel the night before.  He drove us to downtown Manchester Center and we had a great breakfast.  After stopping at an outfitter and the grocery store, we called Jeff and he picked us up and took us back to his hostel.  The hostel is a very nice two-story house with three bedrooms.  Jeff lives next door in a smaller house from early summer through mid September.  Then he returns to his hometown of Richfield, OH.  He has hiked the AT as well as other trails.  He is retired from the paper and printing business.  I asked if he was related to the Taussig family whose name adorns the Taussig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.  He said he dad died from cancer and his family donated money to the clinic, thus the Taussig Cancer Institute began!  This hostel is one of the best hostels on the AT and a sure one not to miss if you are hiking along the trail in VT.  Here is our picture from our stay.  Pilgrim is next to me in the tan shirt and shorts.

Jeff's family likes to ski so during the winter they come from OH for excellent VT skiing.  After breakfast on Saturday (7-16) Jeff took us back to the AT.  We started our day at 7:20 AM on a gorgeous day.  We had climbs of 1,400 feet and 1,000 feet.  We went up a fire tower at Bromley Mountain for a beautiful view in all directions.  After lunch at Peru Peak Shelter, we crossed wetlands on boardwalks for quite awhile.  In a few places the boardwalk was under several inches of water.  We very carefully maneuvered over the wet areas and I managed to keep the inside of my Gortex boots dry--no easy task!  In the late afternoon, Pilgrim fell on a descent when he stepped on a tree root.  He tumbled and then fell on a rock.  It stunned him and he was most afraid of a serious injury.  He did have a cut on his forehead but otherwise, he was OK.  We reached Lost Pond Shelter Campsite at 3:45 PM.  We set up our tents and got water out of a stream.  After treating the water, we both napped for an hour.  We hiked 14.8 miles.  Our day on Sunday (7-17) began at 6:40 AM on another very nice day.  Pilgrim stumbled again on a rocky descent but his backpack took the brunt of the fall.  We ate lunch at the Greenwall Shelter and then had a 1,000 foot climb.  We finished early again so we treated ourselves to a nap.  We hiked 14.9 miles for the day.  It began to rain overnight and continued until 6 AM on Monday (7-18).  We packed our backpacks inside our tents and then took our tents down.  We left camp at 7:20 AM and hiked 2.7 miles to VT 103 where Sue Brown, a friend of Pilgram's, picked us up.  She and her husband, Kim, live most of the year in Greenville, SC where Pilgrim lives.  They spend their summers at a lovely home they own on Lake George in the Adirondacks.  After taking us to a supermarket, we arrived at the Brown home at 11 AM.  We dried out our gear, enjoyed lunch and dinner at the Brown's and took a scenic boat ride on Lake George.  It made for a refreshing and relaxing day.  After 17 weeks (119 days) I've hiked 1,673 miles for an average of 14.1 miles.