The Lesser Known Presi Traverse

[Toe Cozy]

All this talk about Presi Traversin' made me a little envious. So I went on my own Presidential Traverse. Friday at work I checked the weather for this coming week and saw that Monday and Tues (Summer Solstice-best holiday of the year) were guaranteed (ha!) to be gorgeous. I couldn't bear the thought of spending the longest day of the year indoors with good weather predicted.

So I looked at my schedule for Tuesday and cancelled all my clients and started to plan my Presi Traverse. Over the weekend however, I decided to leave work early on Monday and head to the hills so that I could sleep outside for the first time in too long.(more cancelling of afternoon clients when I got to work on Monday morning was involved). I coerced my husband to meet me at my ending point so I could leave my car and have him drive me to my starting point. I was seizing the day(s) as best I could, responsibility be damned! All my plans came together and this is how my hike went:

Headed up the Emily Proctor Trail at 5:15 p.m. and hiked through lovely forest and between two babbling brooks and got to the shelter at about 7pm. There were two very quiet and amiable Harvard Med Students there already, so I wouldn't be spending my first night alone in the woods. I had been kind of excited to do a solo overnight. Even if you're hiking by yourself it doesn't count as a solo overnight if other people are at the shelter. The bugs were kept away by my handy head net and I wrote in my journal until I couldn't see without my headlamp anymore and that was about 9:20pm.

In the morning I left the shelter by 7:20 and headed out on my Lesser Known Presi Traverse in Vermont's Green Mountains. My route included such celebrated heads of state as: Wilson, Roosevelt, Cleveland and Grant with a finish at Lincoln Gap. It was a delightful 10 mile hike with some decent views here and there and one sighting right on the trail of a bull & cow moose. That was really cool. This section is through the Breadloaf Wilderness and is not heavily travelled. In many places the trail is quite narrow and the plants reach well into your personal space and make for lots of brushes with Nature! (my shins would have been happier with my gaiters on) I saw a dad and two little boys at about 8:00 a.m. and I saw a couple who looked to be in their late 60s during the last mile. I didn't see anyone else all day. I finished at 2:00 p.m. It was a very enjoyable section of the LT and I thought of Seema a lot during the day. It was just before the Emily Proctor Shelter and this section of the trail where I threw in the towel last year. She headed north to Canada and I headed home. It was a bummer. But she was with me in spirit on my hike and will be each time I'm out there ticking off the miles to Canada.

To celebrate my Lesser Known Presi Traverse on a gorgeous Summer Solstice day I stopped at Ben & Jerry's (can't do that in the Whites!) for a scoop of Coffee, Coffee Bzz,bzzbzz and a scoop of coconut, almond, chocolate chunk. (wait, I have to wipe the drool off the keyboard). It was perfect first day of summer and a wonderful Presidential Traverse (vt)

Thank you for reading this silly trip report! Looks like a steamy weekend coming up. Not heading for the hills for this one, I'm heading out in the canoe for some paddlin', swimmin', loafin' and brews!

Everybody! Back to work now!

 

[alpinista]

That is a riot! Awesome post to read with my mornin' coffee!

 

[Waumbek]

Great report! Thanks. I did the same hike one Labor Day weekend and had Emily Proctor shelter all to my lonesome to my complete surprise. I shall now think about it as a Lincoln-to-Roosevelt Presi Traverse after reading your post.

 

[sli74]

Wonderful trip report Miss Toe Cozy . . . I am glad you had a great trip !!!
That night at Emily Proctor was one of the toughest for me emotionally and mentally on the trail last year. We had a HUGE thunder and lightening storm that helped break the intense heat that broke so many hiker's spirits the week prior. The rain and thunder helped muffle my sad tears at having you gone. Emily Proctor Shelter was one of the best shelters on the trail, second only to Goddard and it will always remind me of you.

Thanks for the great read !!!

sli74

 

[SherpaKroto]

Toe Cozy: I figured that trail would be calling you back, and I suspect reading Seema's trip report pushed a bit also! Nice read! Looks like you are slowly working your way north!

Breadloaf Wilderness is a beautiful area. I've not been much beyond Wilson (and then only to be sure we had found the summit), but it is high on my list of where to start another LT section.

Seema: last year's LT section with you folks didn't break our spirits - we just couldn't keep up with you! Remember to smile!

 

[sli74]

Seema: last year's LT section with you folks didn't break our spirits - we just couldn't keep up with you! Remember to smile!

Couldn't keep up with ME . . . HaHaHaHa . . . laughing so hard I am peeing my pants . . . wait a minute, peeing pants, now there's a trip report Toe Cozy should post someday

sli74

 

[HikerBob]

Great trip report Toe Cozy

Before I get back to work, I'd like to add that I cross the Coolidge Bridge twice a day. Does that count as a Presidential Traverse?

Bob

 

[Toe Cozy]

I don't know about you guys and that peeing my pants story!!!

Sherpa, that section through the Breadloaf Wilderness across Lincoln Gap, up Abraham and Ellen and down to App Gap is a really nice trip. I definitely do it in good weather so you can enjoy the views from Abraham. Hope you get out there soon. I'm aiming to do a weekend trip from App Gap to Rte 89. This goes over Camel's Hump. I'm hoping to hit this section sometime in the next few weekends. Seema, did you stay at Montclair Glen? Do you remember that shelter? Good, bad?

 

[sli74]

MontClair Glen was a little dark and closed in but a nice shelter in general because its setting is beautiful. I think JohnS and Meri and doing that App Gap to Jonesville section sometime soon, give them a ring and see if you can't join them. I LOVE that section . . . I had 45 minutes on the summit of Camel's Hump all to myself when I was there last. Let me know when you are doing it. I have July 16-17 free right now if you wanna plan a trip together. TTYL,

sli74

 

[Toe Cozy]

I got a question re: any pictures to post. I didn't take a camera with me. It's always a guarantee that cool things will happen or be seen if you leave the camera at home. I've got so many hiking pictures that I'm starting to not take so many. I'm starting to feel it's better to ask my heart and mind to remember the hike instead of relying on pictures. The pictures all start to look the same after a while but my memories of how I felt on each hike are so vivid and individual, I'd rather remember them that way. We'll see, it's a new philosophy I'm trying out!

 

[dr_wu002]

I got a question re: any pictures to post. I didn't take a camera with me. It's always a guarantee that cool things will happen or be seen if you leave the camera at home. I've got so many hiking pictures that I'm starting to not take so many. I'm starting to feel it's better to ask my heart and mind to remember the hike instead of relying on pictures. The pictures all start to look the same after a while but my memories of how I felt on each hike are so vivid and individual, I'd rather remember them that way. We'll see, it's a new philosophy I'm trying out!

I know what you're saying -- I got pretty burned out taking 1400+ pictures in Iceland and towards the end I didn't feel like photographing anymore. I find that sometimes while hiking in the NE I get a little obsessive about photographing but sometimes I'm not in the mood for it. Personally, I guess I'd rather not photograph and instead just enjoy the sites, but I do like something with which I can look back. I don't think they all look the same though because there's such a wide range of conditions the mountains are going to be in on any given day and the different perspectives are worth it too.

Do you have any pics online?

-Dr. Wu

 

[Toe Cozy]

I
Do you have any pics online?

-Dr. Wu

No, I'm pretty lacking in the technology department. No TV, no Ipod, no cell phone, no web site, no on line pictures, no Palm Pilot,

sorry.

 

[sli74]

Someday when I finish my LT thruhike trip report and post my pictures you'll get to see pictures from Toe Cozy's longest hike

I am thinking I might just post the pictures and not even try to finish that elusive trip report

sli74

 

[dr_wu002]

Someday when I finish my LT thruhike trip report and post my pictures you'll get to see pictures from Toe Cozy's longest hike

I am thinking I might just post the pictures and not even try to finish that elusive trip report

sli74

You could always have somebody Ghostwrite it for you. Just post pictures online and then start a thread asking for people to Ghostwrite a trip report based on the pictures. Then chose the one that seems most like you remember it!

-Dr. Wu

 

[sli74]

You could always have somebody Ghostwrite it for you. Just post pictures online and then start a thread asking for people to Ghostwrite a trip report based on the pictures. Then chose the one that seems most like you remember it!

-Dr. Wu

WOW !!! What a great idea, I can start the trip report and then post the pictures a section or a week at a time and then have people write a choose your own adventure

Or I could wirte the report a day at a time posting pictures and write the report with the next installment coming up . . . like a mini series

sli74

 

[dr_wu002]

Or I could wirte the report a day at a time posting pictures and write the report with the next installment coming up . . . like a mini series
sli74

That's how I'm doing the Iceland thing.

WOW !!! What a great idea, I can start the trip report and then post the pictures a section or a week at a time and then have people write a choose your own adventure
sli74

Yes, we'll chose your adventure. I'll have to ask you a few questions though: Have you ever been wanted for murder...



-Dr. Wu

 

[sli74]

Yes, we'll chose your adventure. I'll have to ask you a few questions though: Have you ever been wanted for murder...



-Dr. Wu

Only if you count laboratory mice and biting bugs
Toe Cozy, Didn't mean to hijack your thread, sorry

sli74

 

[Toe Cozy]

Toe Cozy, Didn't mean to hijack your thread, sorry
sli74

Ha! That's so funny. As I was reading these posts I mentally put my hands on my hips and said, "I do believe my thread is being hijacked!" It was a very exciting moment.

I loved choose your own adventure books.

I apologize for this pointless, non-hiking related post. It's gorgeous out and I'm going a little nuts being stuck inside! It's insanity that the whole world is not outside making precious Vitamin D!!!!!

 

[Abster]

This trip sounds great! I am excited to check out your route on the map.

 

[John S]

I think JohnS and Meri and doing that App Gap to Jonesville section sometime soon, give them a ring and see if you can't join them.

Too late,Toe Cozy. Meri and I just did App Gap to Jonesville on Thursday and Friday.

Camel’s Hump was great but it can be bit hard on the feet. Lots of walking on rock on the way out. You might consider ending at Duxbury Road, trading an end-of-day, boring road walk under a hot sun for more time on a great summit. Montclair Glen was fine. Yes, a little dark, but closed-in shelters are not a bad thing during bug season.

You’ll love that section, and do bring the camera.