Section Hiking the Long Trail, pt. 1 (rt. 4 to Gov. Clarendon Shelter)



Photo lovingly yanked from GMC's Long Trail Guide, Copyright 2010



The Inn at Long Trail is right in the middle of this shot (that's where my car is)

So one of my goals while I’m up here is to hike all of the 272 mile Long Trail, which stretches from the Massachusetts border to Canada and inspired the creation of the Appalachian trail. I’ve already hike 100 miles of the trail, where it runs along the AT, but thought a re-hike of those sections was in order to test my mettle and to really make a claim at hiking the Long Trail. So I decided to go from rt. 4 (along the Sherburne Pass Trail- the old A.T. and L.T.) to the Clarendon Shelter, 15.7 miles away and over Killington Peak, 2400’ higher than where I was starting. The first day was fairly easy: I got a late start (10:30) because I had some housekeeping before I drove to the trailhead, but still sauntered up Killington in time for lunch. I saw a few flocks of ruffed grouse in the woods, which are roughly chicken-shaped and very noisy when disturbed.


I spent the evening at the Clarendon Shelter, dispensing some unsolicited advice to SOBOs, telling NOBOs they were halfway done, etc. I also heard sobering news: that a North-bounder had drowned two months earlier near the Pierce Pond lean-to in Maine. I still remember the place vividly. The lean-to overlooks Pierce pond and is such a beautiful spot that, on my thru-hike, I stopped at that shelter after only hiking 4 miles that day. Apparently the young man went swimming out in the pond (like a lot of hikers do), swam too close to the cold-water spring that feeds the pond, and cramped up. His friends tried to save him, but didn’t make it out in time.

I found the first day easier than I expected: I clearly lacked the cardiac efficiency or the Rob Liefeld calves of my old AT self, but I also wasn’t sore.  I was thinking about hiking even further than I did (another 3.7 to the Minerva Hinchey shelter), but I’m glad I reined it in. The second day, I still wasn’t in AT shape, but now I was just as sore. What to do? I decided to take the alternate route, which thru-hikers took last year as a result of damage from Hurricane Irene, because a.) hiking the same thing twice tends to be enough for me, b.) it featured a lot of road walking, which I thought would be a little easier, and c.) views off the trail tend to be better than views on the trail. I think the alternate route was about 6 miles and added roughly 2 miles overall, but I got back on the 2012 trail before the next shelter (and in time for the climb back up Killington).

Somewhere right before Killington, I turned a corner and saw, 20 feet in front of me, what I assumed was the fattest little dog I’d ever seen. Then I thought it was a bear cub, and readied myself for a good mauling. By the time I realized that it was a porcupine, it was ambling its way through the brush. I wanted a good picture, but I remembered what happened to the Michael J. Fox dog in Homeward Bound and I was still 3 hours from a road.


Overall, it was a fun start to the Long Trail, and I was struck by the lingering effects of Hurricane 
Irene. Even though it had happened almost exactly a year earlier, bridges and roads were still gone, and a lot of the hiking around rivers and creeks was through sand, which had been deposited by high waters.

This was a road before Irene

This was a bridge before Irene



 Pictures (because I can't quite make a slideshow do what I want it to):

Part of the hike up Killington

I like foreboading signs

 

One passes through 17th and 18th century homesteads
(and fencerows, foundations, and farming implements) regularly

500 Mile (50% of the work!) mark for SoBos.

I don't remember seeing a marker last time

Garmin Connect link from Day 1:

Hike from rt. 4 to Clarendon Shelter by jamesin513 at Garmin Connect - Details

An Afternoon in Montpelier

Hey all! Plan on me dumping pictures/maps/nerd stuff from outdoor adventures on here, and the occasional vegan recipe. Maybe books reviews or other obnoxious thoughts, too! I wanted to put a test post up to see how it would look, and thought this was slightly more interesting than a list of the books/records I brought with me.


Today's Adventure: Montpelier!


 
Montpelier is an interesting place. At less than 8,000 people, it's the smallest state capital in the country, and the only one without a McDonald's. Atop the Neoclassical dome of the state building is Ceres, Roman Goddess of Agriculture (Demeter, her Greek equivalent, was always right up there with Athena in my personal pantheon of favorites). In keeping with this agricultural theme, many of the places in front of the capital steps where you would expect to see flowers have been sewn with veggies like cabbage and onions instead.




Chester A. Arthur. You know how people say Mitt Romney
"looks like a president"?  The media said that Chester
"looked like a president" when he became president
(though mean old Woodrow Wilson later called him something to the
effect of a "nonentity with sideburns").
These days, somebody with Chester A. Arthur's facial hair would
draw remarks that he a.)"looks like he can't be trusted",
or b.) "looks like the bass player in a metal band".


 Also, I learned a random fact today which I will now unload. I was wandering down the remarkably open hallway of the capital building (no metal detectors, etc.) and came across the portrait of someone who I immediately recognized as Chester A. Arthur, who I had assumed was from New York. Not so! He was actually born in Vermont and just spent most of his productive life in the Empire State. Of all of the presidents in United States history, Chester A. Arthur probably had the most unpredictable presidential career. After rising through the ranks of the New York political machine (and being famous/infamous for his loyalty to the party bosses), President Arthur completely obliterated the corrupt system 99% of political observers thought he was beholden to. Also, he visited his wife's grave ever day after she died, so there's that.