Climbing Old Mozo, aka Mt. Mansfield

Passage 13.

This is the best hike

I’ve ever been on.

 

This is the worst hike

I’ve ever endured.

Sunset Trail rises

grabs my pounding heart.

 
Out of Burlington

and mindless Starbucks

my legs fly upward.
 
Laughing hikers pass

Scamper up hand holds

Sweat pours down my face.
 

“You are entering

The Alpine Zone.” Walk

on the path with joy.
 
Above treeline wind

blows away my fears

of not making it.
 
Planks from Nose to Chin

keep me from mountain

avens, cinquefoil,

and mountain sandwort.
 
Canada ahead.

The famous Front Four

plunge past the blowdowns.
 
Prancing, hopping down

my feet firm and fast

I wait for no one.
 
Leg is collapsing

buckling with poles

braced tentatively.

It goes on two hours

like this. Muscles fail.
 
It goes on two hours

like this. Spirits sail.

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