Welcome to my Blog

This is the first time I have ever blogged so mistakes will likely be the order of the day! This past winter I committed myself to hiking the Vermont Long Trail (LT) in a series of day and overnight hikes over the course of hopefully no more than two summers. I have decided to create a blog to document my adventures and to provide a chance for any photos I take to be viewed by anyone interested in hiking in general or the LT specifically. I am a novice hiker whose prior experience basically consists of earning the hiking merit badge as a 12 year old. My father and I took five 10-mile hikes and one 20-mile hike as a part of earning the badge in 1974. Since that time I have hiked occasionally but never seriously. I was a long distance runner for many years and am in better than typical shape though in recent years my focus has been on weight lifting more than on endurance activity. I expect the trek to be challenging but manageable.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Stage 19 - LT Hike from VT. 58 to VT. 242



On Tuesday, May 4, 2010 I am able to get away for a day hike on the Trail. i decide to skip the Belvidere Mountain section and give it another week for snow to melt. Over the weekend, 10 inches of snow fell in northern VT so I suspect there is still plenty of snow up on Belvidere. The section I'm doing today is north of Belvidere but is not at such a high elevation and I believe i should be free of most snow.

My wife, Kim, drops me off at the trailhead at 10:30 am on an overcast day that calls for scattered thunderstorms. I cross my fingers and take off. I enter the LT going north into Hazen's Notch (1,780 ft above sea level). The Notch is named for General Moses Hazen who built a military road from Peachem, VT to this point. The road was intended to reach Canada but was not completed. After just seven minutes on the hike I reach out to grab a small tree I must work around and I grab a spot with a broken branch that takes the skin off of the piece of meat between my thumb and forefinger of my right hand. It bleeds like a stuck pig for the next 10 minutes and makes it tough to grip my hiking staff for the rest of the hike. Over the next 1.4 miles I travel level ground and then ascend steadily over Sugarloaf Mountain. I then descend a short distance to a 0.1 spur leading west to Hazen's Notch Camp.

From Hazen's Notch Camp (sleeps 8, built 1948, 2,040 ft) I return to the LT and head north. I ascend steadily to a skyline view at Bruce Peak (2,900 ft.). From there I begin a down, then up, cycle taking me to the summit of Buchanan Mountain (2,940), Chet's Lookout (2,900 ft., see picture at right) and Domeys Dome (2,880 ft). Finally, I ascend Gilpin Mountain (2,940 ft) and begin the 0.8 mile descent to VT 242 (2,220 Ft.).

Along the way the sky threatens to dump a storm on me constantly, but the most I ever get is a 10 minute light sprinkle. I arrive at the car at about 2:30 pm having covered about 7.2 miles in four hours. I feel good at how strong I felt during the hike and about my prospects of finishing the LT before I leave for Florida.
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