~*~ Long Trail Journal ~*~

“Trail Legs Are Kicking Back In…”

8-11-06 Mad Tom Notch to Little Rock Pond

8-12-06 Little Rock Pond to Clarendon Gorge

8-13-06 Clarendon Gorge to Inn at Long Trail

8-14-06 & 8-15-06 Inn at Long Trail

8-16-06 Inn at Long Trail to Green Road

8-17-06 Green Road to Great Cliffs

8/11/06

Mad Tom Notch to

campsite after Little Rock Pond Today’s miles: 15

Holy crap it was cold last night! I was slightly chilled but poor Fire Monger was freezing his ass off. Thank God for hot water and Nalgene’s or he probably would have had an even more miserable night.

Our first climb up Styles Peak did a number on my thigh (old kickball injury…long & embarrassing story). It was sore for the rest of the day. Not much in the way of views so we kept on truckin’ to Peru Peak Shelter for a snack and break. Had it been a little bit warmer, we would have taken a swim in the stream. There were entries in the shelter register about the Peru Peak moose in the area, so we were both hoping that at some point before the end of the day, we’d actually see a moose.

The trail to Griffith Lake and around it morphed into a trail of bog bridges (puncheons). It seemed as though we were on them for miles – though it was probably only about ½ mile. At least we weren’t tromping through wetlands and mud.

From Griffith Lake we had a pretty gradual ascent up Baker Peak. The top 1/10 mile was a steep rock slab and I’m not a huge fan of the slab. We were rewarded with sunny weather, blue skies & a beautiful view of Danby and Otter Creek as well as a long distance peek of the High Peaks in the ADK’s. A group of three guys were out for the evening and hogging a lot of the prime real estate on the summit so we found a nice corner to kick back in.

After descending Baker, we stopped for a privy break at Lost Pond Shelter. As I was exiting the privy, I heard FM yell “Hey Cornbread!” And lo’ and behold! Here was an AT NOBO that we first met at Neel’s Gap, GA and hadn’t seen since Trail Days. He looked great (skinny and bearded, of course) and is doing well on his journey to Momma K. I don’t know how FM recognized him beneath the beard. We caught up with him, wished him Happy Trails and went on our merry way. It was really great to see a familiar face on the trail, someone we’d virtually started our adventure with.

We enjoyed a late lunch on the rocks of Big Branch River, soaking our feet & basking in the sun. What a day.

Upon reaching a parking lot and old forest road, we found a cooler. YAY! It was empty. WA-AH! There will be no trail magic for us on this day. It is hard to explain the excitement of seeing a cooler on the trail, and the disappointment to discover it is empty or filled with melted ice. Woe is the trekker that would do anything for a cold drink or a Snicker’s bar and finds none. L

Two miles up the trail, we arrived at Little Rock Pond, only to find the tent sites were loaded with Boy Scouts. Reason enough to move on up the trail. The GMC caretaker told us of some flat spots coming up for stealth purposes. We found a decent place in close proximity to water and settled in for the evening. My feet were hurting and I was definitely ready to relax. Tomorrow we venture to the Clarendon Gorge vicinity.

8/12/06

Campsite after Little Rock to

Clarendon Gorge Today’s miles: 11.8

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I got up relatively early and was ready and raring to go but FM was out cold until 10:20am. He’s been sleeping cold at night and consequently, not sleeping well. He’s having a hard time getting going in the morning, especially since that with the morning sun comes the warmth that he can finally be comfortable in. I built a little fire to sit by and catch up on my journal while I waited for FM to arise from the dead. Wakey wakey sunshine!

It was nearly noon before we set out. Within 15 minutes we passed the illustrious Boy Scout troop that had swiped our tentsites last night. Little buggers! Though they had barely been a mile, a few of them looked as though they were ready to die, laying on the bridge with humongous packs trying desperately to avoid walking. I felt bad knowing that there was a decent ascent in their very near future.

We had a nice steady climb up White Rocks Mountain where we ran into the Winewalkers, a couple from Holland that we had met in Manchester Center. They were taking a smoke break at a big boulder that was covered with rock cairns (for no apparent reason). After leaving them, we found the Blair Witch grounds. Rock cairns everywhere! There were hundreds of them scattered all over the ground, on branches, on signs, on other cairns. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I am curious has to how it started and why it hasn’t stopped! I tried my best to impersonate one and blend in but I don’t think it worked out to well.

A nice spur trail led to White Rocks Cliff and an absolutely amazing view! Wow! Way off in the northwest, the Daks were waving at us. I called my mom to wish her a Happy Birthday, glad to have a cell signal and a charge at the same time. These cliffs were amazing. As we were eating a snack, a couple came up from the face, having just climbed up the steepest part – I have to imagine it was incredibly steep and difficult in places. White Rocks Cliff would be a great place to camp. Behind the cliff was a perfect camping area with a fire ring situated up against the large rocks. We figured that a winter trip there would be great – and the warmth from the fire radiating off the rocks would be great. We made a note to come back sometime for a nice winter hike.

We made a decision to have some fun and bushwhack down the mountain. Yee haw! Besides the damn nettles stinging up my legs, it was great. There were some sketchy areas of steep rocks and unstable ground. Rotted logs and heavy undergrowth made the footing dangerous so we took our time going down. At the base of the descent were some beautiful cascades so we filled up with water knowing we had a climb coming up. I should mention that as we came barreling out of the woods at full force onto the trail, we scared the hell out of a thru-hiker fixing her bandana who thought a moose was coming for her. She later told us that she knew it wasn’t a moose when she saw FM’s red shirt…but she couldn’t imagine what it was.

Bear Mountain has to be the only mountain in VT with honest to God switchbacks. Either that or we transected the Twilight Zone. I’m not entirely sure. I really have nothing to say about it other than I’m stunned, simply stunned.

We stopped briefly at Minerva Hinchey Shelter where some volunteers were hard at word LIFTING the shelter and replacing rotten wood. It was crazy as the shelter was suspended on cables. The Winewalkers were there as well as “42”, an AT hiker whose name I’ve admired since Springer, and who we just previously scared as we finished our bushwhack. J It was a pleasure to finally meet her. A few miles after the shelter is Airport Lookout, which is ironically, a lookout where the main focus is the Rutland Airport. As we left, we heard something scurrying along on the ground. When we finally discovered the source, we noticed a fat little porcupine trying to get up a tree and out of our way. Wildlife, at last! He was a cute little thing and though we kept our distance, we snapped a bunch of photos of him as he peered at us from the safety of 10’ above.

We pressed on to Clarendon Gorge for the night. About ½ mile down the road is Whistle Stop Café so we said “What the hell…let’s go have dinner!” Yum. Bacon cheeseburger and the biggest plate of fries I’ve ever seen. It’s size rivaled the mountain we just came over. No room for ice cream from the caboose though. Whistle Stop Café is definitely a must-stop kind of place. Even while we ate dinner, we contemplated coming back for breakfast in the morning.

We chatted with Jersey (AT NOBO we had originally met in the Delaware Water Gap with Dubs) briefly. He had slacked from Killington. We gave him a message for Dubs should he ever run into her and headed back to the Gorge. Beautiful place to stay – nice MAYP site for future reference. Plenty of camping, fire rings, water and right next to the road with good dayhiking possibilities to White Rock Cliff.

We started a fire with a Ruffles potato chip and it worked magnificently! It was based on watching Survivorman and seeing him start a fire with just a Frito. Good to know since we often times pick up a bag of chips for the trail. I enjoyed the fire but it is time to sleep. Tomorrow…Killington! Yay! The second highest peak in VT…and Guinness awaits us at the Inn at Long Trail. My “no town food” challenge is long gone. Bring on the beer and the burgers!!!

8/13/06

Clarendon Gorge to

Inn at the Long Trail, Rt. 4 Today’s miles: 16.7

This morning seems like ages ago. We packed up our gear and decided to check out Clarendon Gorge before leaving, including Old Naked Guy bathing in the river. FM tried to get a picture but ONG was just too crafty and hid behind a bunch of rocks. At 10:30am we crossed VT103 and saw the Winewalkers, Now or Never and 10 Days returning from breakfast at the Whistle Stop Café. They taunted us with their talks of pancakes, eggs and sausage and laughed at how we probably had oatmeal for breakfast. They’d be sad to know that we didn’t eat breakfast, we rarely do.

To stretch our legs, we immediately ascended 700 feet up through a rock ravine. Now THAT’S a Vermont mile! It leveled out a bit with just a gradual climb to Governor Clement Shelter. At the junction for the “Secret Shelter”, we met up with 42 and She-Bear. They had just downed a couple of beers and were a bit on the giggly side. The Dr. Thunder we guzzled (thank you Hiking Hobbit & Outhouse Repairman!) gave us a sugar high but no buzz. Damn!

Lunch at Gov. Clement Shelter was nice on a hot & sunny day. We left a register there that I doubt we will ever see again. It’s a bit of a party shelter, more apparent by the fact that some assholes had ripped apart the bottom bunk area to use it as firewood. Thankfully the structure is mostly stone, reminiscent of the shelters in the Smokies. If it was made of wood, I’m certain that it would have been completely burned down by down. I hate seeing destruction like that and it makes me sad to know that most hikers will pass by that shelter because of the mess – it has such potential to be truly beautiful and wide open.

Only 4 ½ miles to Cooper Lodge! Okay…so Cooper Lodge is on Killington, which means all uphill…but so what?!? It turned out to be a nice, albeit long, climb. There were lots of uprooted trees from heavy snows. Once up Little Killington, the mile to Cooper Lodge and the Cooper Pooper was easy. FM had taken off within the first mile of the climb and beat me to the Lodge by a long shot. I was a little peeved when he came bouncing back down the trail from the Lodge to “help” me. I don’t need no stinkin’ help! I can carry my own gear! Besides, I wasn’t moving slowly, I just wasn’t running up the mountain, I was enjoying the devastation the snow and ice storms had left on the trail. Cooper Lodge is beautiful – a stone structure with open windows facing Rutland and beyond. The view is spectacular but the privy was my favorite…simply because it was called…”the Cooper Pooper.” I had to use it just for that alone. We dilly-dallied at the Lodge for awhile until 42 and She-Bear showed up. I thought the day was over. Not so much. With very little effort, they managed to talk us into another 6 miles with promises of burgers and room temperature Guinness at the Inn at the Long Trail. So away we went! It was just after 6pm when we left and just after 8pm when we arrived in the parking lot.

A guy named Trail Ninja was doing Trail Magic in the lot across from the Inn so we had a beer and chatted with him for awhile. We also met Good Time Charlie, who as it turns out, knows one of my high school friends little sister. Cue “It’s a Small World” here. Trail Ninja had just finished hiking the LT and was out and about doing trail magic wherever he felt necessary. The Inn allows free camping on the grass in that parking lot, but the temptation of a warm bed and hot shower was too much. Besides, we had promised She-Bear and 42 that we would share a room, and hence the costs, with them.

We headed into the Inn for Guinness, Irish Spuds, and burgers. Well worth the aching feet. The northern part of the trail will be great! We ended up in a “family room” with 42 and She-Bear and are looking forward to a nice warm nights sleep. We are also looking forward to a yummy breakfast in the morning.

I’m a filthy mess! It is definitely time for a hot shower. Hopefully She-Bear and 42 left me some hot water and soap. Tomorrow, we get our maildrop, hit the outfitter and do some errands. Not in a hurry to leave. So we’ll probably end up doing about 2 miles tomorrow, if any. It’s all good! My feet could use the reprieve and the trail isn’t going anywhere.

Ah…42 is out of the shower. My turn!!!

8/15/06

Inn at Long Trail to

Inn at Long Trail Today’s miles: ZERO!

Ahhhhh…rest, relaxation, good beer and great food at the Inn. We ended up taking two full zero days to resupply, repack and just hang out and let our feet rest a bit. We had intended on just one day off but taking two was a pleasant and needed surprise.

We spent our first day going into Rutland, resupplying, hitting the outfitter (where FM found a great deal on a Mountain Hardwear jacket he’s been eyeing forever), and going to a photo place to have our pictures taken off the camera. One of my biggest fears on the trail is running out of battery power and/or running out of space on the memory card. I think I would cry if that were to ever happen. So, to be safe, we take the pictures off as often as possible. It has worked so far!

The food at the Inn is out of this world – everything there is made from scratch with the exception of the salmon burgers. I think my favorite is either the Pesto Pasta w/ Goat Cheese or the Cheddar Ale soup. Breakfast is equally amazing – French toast that is made with home-made Irish Soda Bread. Heavenly!!! Murray and his wife are incredibly hiker friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Inn (obviously). We ate and drank our way through three bartenders. FM was quite smitten with the fact that the Inn has the largest selection of Irish whiskey in the state. Had I not pushed to leave after two days, we may very well still be sitting there.

We met lots of hikers, both LT and AT. A few past thru-hikers were doing trail magic across the street. Thanks Trail Ninja! Now, it is time for us to get back on the trail!

8/16/06

Inn at Long Trail to

Green Road Today’s miles: 8.9

We didn’t leave the Inn until about 1pm. We had to pack up, digest breakfast (hooray for blueberry pancakes!) and have one last beer for the trail. That and one of our least favorite LT hikers was in the area and we were in no hurry to hike with him so it was best to just let him go on his merry way and we’d follow eventually.

We went up to Deer Leap Mountain and overlook – really cool rocks that people often climb or repel from. Today there were several large groups of Jewish boys from NY on a weeklong outing and doing some really neat activities. Dear Leap Mtn. was a steep climb up and over, but well worth it. At Maine Junction (the LT/AT split), we took a little break. I was again reminded that we aren’t headed for Momma K and was slightly saddened by the thought. It still breaks my heart and has made me do a lot of soul searching. The AT is important to me and I have no doubts that I will get out there again and attempt it. I have the advantage of now knowing more of what to expect and knowing that I love living on the trail. We stopped at the first shelter and noticed a surprisingly low number of people signing registers. We are definitely not on the AT anymore.

The next 4 miles were easy going. The book says “little change in elevation”. It’s right, but fails to mention you go up 20’ and down 20’, up 20’, down 20’. A regular mini rollercoaster but the book is dead on. You start and end at the same elevation. ;) I keep waiting for the really hard stuff, knowing that north of the Maine Junction is where the LT finally gives it to you.

We forced our way through fields of those lovely stinging nettles and at the next shelter and met another LT guy, J.R. As it turns out, he is a graduate of my high schools rival. I won’t hold it against him. He had a lot of new gear and hasn’t really backpacked before. He was also having some pain in his Achilles and was hoping to rest up for a day or two and then get back out there and head on to Canada. It would be the last time we would see him.

FM & I decided to go find a campsite about 2 miles up the trail so we loaded up with water. In search of a lookout marked on the map, we went up one peak, along the ridge and down again. When we finally saw a glimpse of the Chittenden Reservoir, we thought we should be almost there. I should learn that “almost there” really means “not even close”. Over 1000 miles on the trail with FM this year and I still haven’t figured that out.

The next thing I know, we are at Telephone Gap, 5.8 miles from the shelter. Never found the mysterious lookout and decide to camp off a snowmobile trail. Oh well, we managed a 10.8 mile days with late departure. Not on purpose…but it’s all good. This site works, there’s plenty of room for tents and a small fire ring. Not to mention, there is plenty of wood, another advantage of going stealth.

The trail will get a lot more rugged now and we are both looking forward to the “good stuff”. Time for unforgiving PUDS & MUDS, a small price to pay for the scenery!

Something is sneaking around my tent…porcupine, perhaps? FM is investigating…I won’t let him out of my sight. It’s gonna be a long night if all the local critters decide to check us out tonight. Wish a moose would come and say hello though!

8/17/06

Green Road to

Great Cliffs Today’s miles: 11.7

So we were wrong yesterday. We didn’t camp near Telephone Gap, we were on Green Road – an old road leading to Chittenden. That explains how we went so fast…we didn’t. I knew it seemed strange, yet the map had me 38 shades of confused. That’s one thing about the guidebook and maps, they aren’t very detailed and at times skip 5-6 miles without mentioning a landmark. I wish they had individual maps for sections, same as with the A.T. guides. I got spoiled by those, I guess.

Most of today’s hiking was on relatively level terrain (for VT anyway). We spent most of the morning slabbing the ridge of Bloodroot Mountain. Though the first ¾ mile or so was steep, the rest was just persistent little ups and downs. We stopped at Bloodroot Gap for lunch. Since there was a fire ring, we made a quick and easy fire to ward off the pesky flying insects. I’m pretty sure we were sitting in a horsefly breeding ground. Either that or something recently died in the vicinity. After lunch we had a nice descent past Farr Peak and down to Sunrise Shelter where we took a little break. I seem to have a bit of a shooting pain in the right side of my butt. I thought my pack was cinched too tight but who knows.

Shortly after the shelter we got a nice view of Great Cliffs & Mt. Horrid (sounds real inviting, eh?) I thought “that’s gonna be a fun climb!” At least in VT, there is truth in advertising when it comes to those names.

After we crossed Brandon Gap/VT 73, where we saw a lone cyclist, we made a steep and steady ascent 750’ in ½ mile up to Great Cliffs. From June 1 to August 1, the cliffs are closed because of nesting Peregrine Falcons. Lucky for us, it’s past August 1! I was hoping to catch a sight of the falcons, but no such luck. The view is well worth the climb though I wish a cooler of cold drinks had been waiting for us. We opted to camp here for the night so FM is off trying to find the water source that appears on the map.

We did not see a single soul today. Not one person anywhere. The LT is going to be great with no crowds. The fact that we avoid shelters most of the time also enhances the feeling of solitude.

I keep wondering why I smell so bad 5 minutes after putting my pack on. I finally figured it out. My pack smells like complete ass! Man, I need to wash it. 1000 miles of sweat and stench are deeply imbedded in the straps. It makes me want to apologize to every person that we pass or get a ride from (and usually I do). We settled in for dinner and kicked back to enjoy the starry night. Far below, we could see the headlights of cars traveling the twisted and winding road. It feels great to be sleeping out on a cliff and I think of the people hurrying in their cars, totally oblivious to not only us, but the cliffs and the beauty that is so close to them. I would feel sorry for them, but I’m selfish and am happy to not have to share this private little place.

~ And then what happened in Week 3? ~

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