Twig Adventures

Sun Sept 27th, 2020, 0600-1800Taft Lodge to Gleason Brook, SOBO LT mile 89.423.5 miles, 6350 gain, 9300 loss (highest & lowest points on the trail, in the same day!) I sleep surprisingly well in the lodge, despite the comings and goings of my fellow occupants throughout the night. The ancient door latch gave everyone a fit, making a lot of unnecessary noise. We should have set an alarm for everyone to go pee at once. Several got up at 5 am, including myself, all hopeful to see a sunrise from the highest point in Vermont. I set off in the dark up the steep, rocky flanks of Mt. Mansfield. My headlamp beam was distorted by fog and I struggled to[…]

Sat Sept 26th, 2020, 0545-1730Waterman Brook to Taft Lodge, SOBO LT mile 6611.2 miles, plus about 2 miles walking around town, 5900 gain, 4500 loss I was ready to go early but didn’t feel as well as the day before. It’s called a ‘Hiking Hangover,’ most often experienced after a previous big day. Of course, the rugged terrain from day 2 was also back. Whoa Nelly! was the climb to Whiteface Mountain steep! I was scrambling over slimy rock faces while grabbing onto roots and limbs…a lot of that in the light of my headlamp. I got to the top for a nice view of the sunrise through the valley haze. It was very humid but there was probably also[…]

Fri Sept 25th, 2020, 0600-1630Spruce Ledge Camp to Waterman Brook, SOBO LT mile 54.724.0 miles, 7200 gain, 6500 loss I slept perfectly overnight, despite some nearby anonymous snoring (earplugs do wonders!). My shirt and skirt were still wet in the morning…recall my pond excursion the afternoon before? I optimistically hung them to dry overnight, but nothing dries at night on the east coast. I hated putting on wet clothes to start the day but at least it wasn’t cold. I woke feeling pretty great, like Tony the Tiger grrrrreat! Perhaps I’d finally found my hiker groove. I hit the trail very early, having to use my headlamp for the first 15 minutes. I already felt productive, despite an in-your-face steep[…]

Thu Sept 24th, 2020, 0700-1630 Hazen’s Notch Camp to Spruce Ledge Camp, SOBO LT mile 30.6 14.0 miles 4600 gain, 5100 loss I didn’t set my alarm and slept until 6 am. Usually I started packing by 5 or 5:30 am, but clearly I needed the rest. I was very sore when I started moving and almost 30 minutes delayed by the time I hit the trail. I already felt pretty demoralized but shouldn’t have been so hard on myself. This was the problem with having other thru-hikes under my belt: I set too high of expectations. My experiences allowed me to hit the ground running but I couldn’t expect to pick up exactly where I left off. The going[…]

Wed, Sept 23, 2020 , 0645-1800 Journey’s End Trailhead to Hazen’s Notch Camp, SOBO LT mile 17 18.6 miles 7100 gain, 6400 loss We had to be out the door and on our way to the Canadian border by 0530 am. This wasn’t just for our benefit, our hosts had very busy and productive lives and needed to attend a zoom work meeting at 0830 am. Luckily the 1.5 hr drive to the border went well and we were ready to start at the trailhead before 7 am. It was still a bit dark, this being my earliest first day start since 2017 on the Colorado Trail. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep the previous 2 nights and felt[…]

2020 was a bust for many thru-hiking plans, including my own for the Appalachian Trail. By late summer, I reasoned that if I couldn’t hike the whole AT, 100 miles of it was better than nothing. This is the part it shares with the Long Trail (LT). The LT is 273 miles, running the length of the Green Mountains from the Canadian border to Massachusetts. It was the first long distance, continuous footpath that was purposely designed. Built by the Green Mountain Club between 1910 – 1930, it later became the inspiration for the AT. In following, the AT incorporated 100 miles of the LT as it was routed through Vermont (much like how the CDT and CT ‘share’ sections[…]