Some pics from across the lake, VT Long Trail, 2006

[lumberzac]

Back in August my cousin and myself did a section hike on the Vermont Long Trail over 9 days. I finally got around to getting my pictures uploaded. This was by far the most demanding backpacking trip I’ve done to date. The trail is nothing but ups and downs and then there’s the mud, one the wondrous boot sucking mud. Mother nature also had some nastiness up her sleeve as well. She decided to give us rain for the better part of 3 days, which brought in fog that blocked any view we could get from both Camel’s Hump and Mount Mansfield. The day we went over the Hump, she also threw 100MPH wind gusts at us as we broke treeline, which literally knocked us off our feet. I ended up crawling the final 100 yards or so over the summit.
Here are the stats of our trip itinerary. (all mileages are from the GMC Vermont Long Trail Guide, elevations were calculated using NG Topo!)
Day 0 - August 25, Lincoln Gap to Battell Shelter: 1.7miles, 941’ gain, 143’ loss
Day 1 - August 26, Battell Shelter to Birch Glen Camp: 12.4miles, 2944’ gain, 4130’ loss
Day 2 - August 27, Birch Glen Camp to Bamforth Ridge Shelter: 13.4miles, 4313’ gain, 4388’ loss
Day 3 - August 28, Bamforth Ridge Shelter to Puffer Shelter: 17.4miles, 5164’ gain, 4280’ loss
Day 4 - August 29, Puffer Shelter to Sterling Pond Shelter: 15.7miles, 6026’gain, 5863’ loss
Day 5 - August 30, Sterling Pond Shelter to Round Top Shelter: 14.6miles, 3231’ gain, 4923’ loss
Day 6 - August 31, Round Top Shelter to Spruce Ledge Camp: 14.7miles, 4548’ gain, 4747’ loss
Day 7 - September 1, Spruce Ledge Camp to Hazens Notch Camp: 14.5miles, 5077’ gain, 4172’ loss
Day 8 - September 2, Hazens Notch Camp to Shooting Star Shelter: 12.8miles, 4678’ gain, 4472’ loss
Day 9 - Shooting Star Shelter to Journeys End Road: 5.7miles, 1013’ gain, 1906’ loss

 

[UNFROZENCAVEMAN]

Looks like you manged some good weather in there between the rain, and 100mph winds must have been fun no? A little?

You got some great shots, I especially like #2, "Southern view from Mount Abe."

 

[lumberzac]

Looks like you manged some good weather in there between the rain, and 100mph winds must have been fun no? A little?

You got some great shots, I especially like #2, "Southern view from Mount Abe."

That had to have been one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen on a mountaintop that morning. The pictures don’t come even close to what the view looked like. To the east of the ridgeline was a sea of white as we looked over the clouds to the horizon. The western side was open skies. The clouds were shooting through Lincoln Gap to the western side.
Given the chance, I would most definitely do this trip again. I've got to go back anyway. I need to see what I missed on Camel's Hump and Mansfield.

 

[UNFROZENCAVEMAN]

You know, with the amount of hiking that I've done I've yet to knock out all of VT - those peaks included and I'm a native VT'er too....sad. I'll get there though, and from what I understand there are some great views, I'm sure it'll be worth the "re-hike"!