Glastenbury Mountain - The Second Leg

It is Memorial Day weekend and I'm off to complete the second overnight leg of the Long Trail(LT). The LT still follows the Appalachian Trail(AT) throughout this hike. On Friday, May 23, I am dropped off by Kim at Vt. Route 9 and the LT (where I finished my last overnight hike) at 10:20am. The day is overcast and there is a chance of scattered showers. The temperature is in the 50's.
As soon as I enter the woods, I come to the William D. MacArthur bridge built across the City Stream (picture of stream above, 1,360 ft. above sea level). I follow the stream west a short ways and then turn north to begin a steady climb to Split Rock (1,900 ft.), a 20 foot diameter boulder that has broken in half and I pass between the two halves.
After 1.6 miles I come to Melville Nauheim Shelter (Built 1977, sleeps 8, 2,300 ft.). I continue to climb as I head for Glastenbury Mountain. According to my guidebook, the first half of the hike should be the hardest.


At 3.2 miles, after a gradual descent, I come to Hell Hollow Brook Bridge (2,350 ft.), an inviting brook that does not at all live up to it's name. From the bridge, I begin another climb to Porcupine Lookout (2,815 ft.) with a pleasant view to the West. At 5.5 miles, I reach the wooded summit of Little Pond Mountain and shortly thereafter come to the Little Pond Lookout (3,060 ft.), complete with a camping area and fire pit, but I have "miles to go before I sleep".

I go west around the summit and descend gradually until I reach Glastenbury Lookout (7.8 miles, 2,920 ft.) which gives me a view of the mountain I will climb shortly. I climb an unnamed summit (3,150 ft.), continue along a ridge, and then climb steadily up to Goddard Shelter (Built 2005, sleeps 12, 3,560 ft.) with a Southern View towards Mt. Greylock. I have trekked 10.3 miles at this point which was my goal for day one and I decide to take a beak and eat dinner. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast before I left home, and have eaten a Granola Bar along the trail. Now it is time to feast. I have a container of McDonald's Hot Mustard (the ones they give with their Chicken Nuggets) and a 2 ounce tin of Tuna. I mix the two and eat it on 10 crackers. It is quite "gourmet". The wind is blowing hard up here. My guess is 30-40 miles per hour and the shelter is open to the wind. There is no way I'm sleeping up here with the temperature in the low 40's. I zip on my pant extensions - I've been wearing them as shorts all day, and put on my windbreaker as it is getting quite cold.As I rise to go pump some fresh water from a small spring just south of the shelter I spy a large Hare. It stays still as I get within about 15 feet and take a picture. The flash startles her and she hops away. I continue to rest after pumping water but after 45 minutes at the shelter I'm ready to push on and find a place to camp. I've seen several great spots on the way up and figure I'll find more on the way down the other side. I figure that every 100 feet I descend will raise the temperature by about 1 degree and help to get me out of the wind.

I climb north to the summit of Glastenbury Mountain (3,748 ft.) where there is a fire tower that reaches above the treeline. I didn't come all this way not to climb the tower so I shed my pack and start up. It is probably 60-70 feet to the top and the further I climb the harder the wind blows. At the top, I'm not sure I've made a good decision as I can feel to tower swaying in the wind. I try to take comfort in knowing that the tower has been there for years and had seen much stronger winds, but I still take a picture in each direction and get out of there as fast as I can. The guide book tells me that from this perch I can see more wild forest than from anywhere else on the trail. The first picture, to the east, shows Mt. Snow, a ski area. The next is Mt. Equinox and Stratton Mtn. (which I will climb next hike) to the north. To the west is the Taconic range, and finally, the last picture shows the Berkshires to the south. Back on the ground I notice moose poop everywhere. There is clearly a family living here on the mountaintop. Some of it is quite fresh and I must amend my earlier description. It is much darker and sweeter than the dry stuff I tried before. If I ever run out of regular food I'll be okay.

From the tower I begin a gradual descent in search of a place to camp. This side of the mountain faces the prevailing winds and there are downed trees everywhere. I worry that setting up camp in this area will be a gamble that a tree doesn't fall on me during the night. I keep chugging downward, taking comfort that the further down I go the warmer the night will be. My next landmark is Big Rock and every time I come to a large boulder I figure that is it. Finally I come to one that's at least 20 feet in diameter and I figure I'm there. I've come 13.9 miles and it's only 1/2 mile to Kid Gore Shelter and so far I've seen no place to set up camp. To top it off, it is starting to sprinkle and I don't want to set my tent up in the rain so I figure I'll try out a shelter tonight.


As I take the short spur to Kid Gore (Log Shelter built in 1971, sleeps 8, 2,800 ft.) the rain starts to fall harder and I step up into the shelter just as it starts to rain hard. There is a father, Bobby, and his daughter, Carter (Junior at Wesleyan, majoring in Theater) already there. They are up from New Jersey for a two-week hike around southern Vermont. They started in Williamstown, MA and will end in Rutland, VT. They have cooked cornbread for dinner and are starting to settle in for the night. They welcome me in and give me the left side of the cabin. I eat another Granola Bar before climbing into my sleeping bag to read. I have come 14.4 miles today with a full pack and am ready to rest. It is about 7:00 pm as I break out my 1880 book of grade schools poems for memorization. I'm too tired to read anything more than the 4th grade expectations, but there is one that I like. It goes:

'Tis a rule of the land that, when travelers meet,
In highway or byway, in alley or street,
On foot or in wagon, by day or by night,
Each favor the other and turn to the right.

I'm tired and drift off by 8:30 pm. The night is much more comfortable than I had thought it would be sleeping on a thin pad on a wooden bunk, and I get a reasonable amount of sleep before getting up at about 7:30 am. I eat a bagel, say goodbye to Bobby and Carter and head north at 8:00 am.

Within two minutes of leaving the shelter I come to a closed hut, Caughnawaga Shelter, built in 1931 and about to collapse. At this point I can't seem to find where the trail branches off. The LT is marked with white rectangular blazes painted on trees and rocks. When you see two blazes, one above the other, it means the trail is about to take a turn. At the entrance to the shelter is a double blaze but I can't seem to find the turn. Finally, I walk straight north into the woods about 100 ft. and turn to the east to hike a circle around the hut in the hopes of crossing the trail. It takes only 50 yards of hiking to find it and I'm on my way.

I climb gradually while I hike west around an unnamed summit (3,412 ft.) and pass a Vista to the West named Lydia's Rest (a very pleasant site most probably named after my sister). I then descend to a beaver pond and refill my water supply at one of the two branches of South Alder Brook (2,600 ft.). I actually ran out of water during this decent
but chose to pass up three or four possible refill places because the water looked a bit stagnant(picture is of the refill site). After refilling my water, I fish my trail mix out of my pack and munch on it for about 20 minutes while continuing to climb down.

After a couple more Beaver Ponds, I climb a small hill to Story Spring shelter (built in 1963, sleeps 8, 2,810 ft.). I've hiked 4.8 miles so far today and it has been a pleasant hike. The guide book warns that the next part of the trail is a "rugged climb". It should say a "rugged but short" climb as I manage to make the climb in no more than 10 minutes. The rest of the hike is a gradual descent and I come to a very well built bridge crossing Black Brook (2,220 ft.) and leaving me with less than a mile to go.
I arrive at my destination at the intersection of the Stratton-Arlington Rd. and the LT at 12:30 pm. I've covered 22.8 miles, over 4 miles further than last time. I've climbed approximately 3,578 ft. and descended about 2,618 ft.
My legs must be working themselves into shape because I feel a lot better than at the end of my last overnighter even though I covered a greater distance and climbed up and down more. Who knows, I may be able to jog this trail before it over.

Kim asked me to take a few pictures of the fauna for her to try to identify. I took three shots of small plants and I end this post with those. Let's see if anyone can identify them?