Mad Tom Notch to Vt 140 - Stage Four

If asked prior to this hike I would have stated that there are four key elements that determine the difficulty of a Long Trail hike; roots, rocks, ascents, and descents. This hike added a fifth element to that list - MUD! Having rained each day for the past week, I postponed my fourth overnight hike on the trail until Tuesday the 24th of June. I arrive at my starting point (Mad Tom Notch, 2,446 ft) at 10:30 am. The sky is overcast and it looks as though some rain may move in today as well. As my wife helps me into my pack four women emerge from the brush heading in the same direction I will be going. They see me (I don't think they saw Kim) and immediately start calling out and saying hello. I turn to my wife and she gives me the evil eye - forget the rain - my trip came close to being canceled right there from "circumstances beyond my control". Luckily, Kim realizes the meeting must be circumstantial and I am released to begin my hike.

As I head north from the notch I enter the Peru Peak Wilderness and the White Rock National Recreation Area. I immediately begin a 1.6 mile steady climb to Styles Peak (3,394 ft.). I hit my first batch of mud as I climb. The roots and rocks are wet and slippery so it is not safe to step on them if I can avoid it. The mud is messy and, in parts, deep. This makes the hike more of a slog than a stroll and slows everything down. In continuously muddy spots the Trail caretakers often put eight foot long boards in place for hikers to walk on to protect the trail. I can usually bounce up on them and pick up my pace. When I hit my third length of planking, however, both feet slip out from under me and I land flat on my back. The planks are like walking on ice - wet and covered with slime. I work my way back to a standing position - my backpack cushions the fall but makes it a challenge to get up and make a mental note to walk very slowly on the planks. Over the course of this hike I will slip, but not fall, 8-10 times, and once I will slip on a plank and have to jump off it to avoid falling. In doing so I land in a bog that I sink in about 18 inches. Amazingly, my shoes, North Face hikers, do not leak at all and my feet stay dry.

From Styles Peak I drop down a couple of hundred feet and then climb to Peru Peak (3,429 ft). Both peaks are wooded and the view is limited. I begin the climb down Peru Peak and, at 4.0 miles, thunder begins to roll in, I pick up the pace in an effort to make it to Peru Peak Shelter (built 2005, sleeps about 10, 2,550 ft). The shelter is at 4.6 miles and I arrive just as the first raindrops hit. I stretch out in the shelter (the nicest one yet) and wait for the storm to move through. After 30 minutes another hiker arrives. He is an English teacher from MA. He says he passed the four women about a mile behind him so they are making slow progress and probably nervous about the storm. In another 30 minutes a hiker arrives from the north. He is also a teacher and has his hound dog, Charlie, with him. I'm not sure why I remember pet names better than people names...maybe they impress me more? Charlie has his own backpack that he carries on the trail.

I quickly decide that three is too many and that I am on the Trail, in part for the isolation of it, so I load up and push off. It is a good decision because the thunder abates within ten minutes and the sun comes out for a while.

The one hour rest has done wonders for my energy, complemented with a banana, and I push on feeling good.
I cross a nice unnamed Brook close enough to the shelter to hear it rippling as I rested.
Over the next half mile I cross two more bridges over brooks and arrive at the South end of Griffith Lake. This is the same lake that I hiked to last week when I hiked Old Job Trail.

I come to Old Job Trail at the north end of the lake and begin the climb up Baker Peak (2,850 ft.). Last day hike, I got turned around and hiked this section of trail from the north. This time, instead of scrambling up the rocks to the peak, I take the inclement weather route that is no less steep but avoids the slippery rocks. I miss the view but the weather isn't promising a good view anyway.

I descend from Baker Peak and, at 9.1 miles, come to the point where I intersected the LT on my last hike. From here it is a short 0.2 miles to where Lost Pond Shelter used to be. It burned down in November of 2006 (the second one at this sight in six years to burn???) and is now just a camping area. Shortly after leaving this sight I hear the magical sound of Big Branch, a large stream the flows wildly down the ravine. At 10.9 miles I cross the Big Branch Suspension Bridge (pictured at top of this entry). It is about 100 feet long and is suspended by cables. The entry sign warns that only one person should cross at a time, but I find it quite solid. At 11 miles I arrive at Big Branch Shelter (Built 1963, sleeps eight, 1,470 ft.). This was my original goal for the day and I stop to eat a great dinner consisting of a can of chunked white chicken, some crackers, and a second banana.
I also use this stop to pump some fresh water from the stream pictured here.

As I climb back up the rocks from the stream, Mr. MA English Teacher arrives and decides to stay there for the night. It is 7:00 pm and the next shelter is 3.0 miles ahead so I decide to push on in hopes of sleeping in a shelter by myself. I don't want to tent as thunderstorms seem quite possible tonight. At 12.1 miles I reach the junction with USFS Road 10 and continue north towards Little Rock Pond.

At 8:15 pm I arrive at Lula Tye Shelter (Built 1962, sleeps eight, 1,865 ft.).
Much of the past mile has been spent hiking alongside a babbling stream while dusk descend on the trail. I have hiked 14 miles today and take some liberty with a few lines from an old country music tune, "I never would of made it through the Vermont mud, if I hadn't been born and bred a Southern stud".

The shelter has one other occupant already there, a third teacher, this one from Virginia. He hikes 300-400 miles of Appalachian Trail each summer and this year started in Bennington, Vt with hopes of reaching Goshen, NH in short order. He has come 17 miles today, so he gets my respect as my 14.o was not a piece of cake. The night goes as well as can be expected in a open shelter, sleeping on wood floor with a thin pad, plenty of mosquitoes energized by the rains, and a shelter-mate who snores incessantly. In spite of this, I do sleep and get up at 5:45 am to cover the last eight or so miles of this hike. I break camp at 6:20 am and eat a bagel as I start today's hike.

In short order I arrive at Little Rock Pond, the prettiest pond I have seen on the trail so far, and work my way around its eastern edge. At 14.7 miles I arrive at Little Rock Pond Shelter spur and climb to the shelter
(built 1962, sleeps eight) to take a look. This shelter is empty so, had I pushed on another .8 miles, I would have at least avoided the snoring.
At 15.4 miles I pass the abandonded Aldrich Job Clearing and I take a shot of an old stone wall or foundation with various "discovered" tools displayed with it.

Back on the trail I cross Homer Stone Brook on a wooden bridge as I start to make my final ascent of the hike. I climb White Rocks Mountain (2,600 ft). As I work my way up the most beautiful pine forest unfolds in front of me. Other than the streams and brooks, this is the most refreshing spot I have seen on the trail. As I descend the other side I come to two areas where hikers have left cairns (statues of piled rocks). Even though they are not natural formations, they fit well in the landscape and remind me of something from a Lord of the Rings setting.

At 18.6 miles I reach the White Rocks Cliff Trail, a rather rugged .25 mile spur leading to a view of the valley below. I take the spur to see the view and therefore add another half mile to my hike. It was worth the extra steps, it always is. I also take this picture of a flowering plant to be named. I regret that the picture is a bit out of focus - like my lizard earlier.

At 19.6 miles I come to a .3 spur leading to Greenwall Shelter. The second day of my hikes is always a challenge, even if I only have to go a short distance and so I do not hike the extra .6 miles to see this shelter, rationalizing that, "If I've seen one shelter...".

At 20.5 miles I cross Bully Brook and leave the White Rocks National Recreation Area. I then drop beside a dramatic gulch harboring Roaring Brook and an impressive cascade. I stop their to soak my feet and pump fresh water to drink. The water is so cold I can only leave my feet submerged for about 20 seconds before they start to go numb. I do this a few times and decide to finish up the hike. I can feel leg cramps wanting to develop as I contort to put my socks and shoes back on.

At 11:00 am I reach VT 140 (1,160 ft.). I have hiked just over 21 miles, ascended about 2,700 feet, and descended about 4,000 ft. In my estimation the mud added an increased effort factor of about 20%. I do not feel as good about my stamina on this hike as I felt on the last overnighter, but I am hanging in there.