50 Shades of Brown: An Ode to the Long Trail of Vermont
Mud, mud, everywhere and not a drop to drink…
My hiking buddy Andrea and I waded through brown mud slicks with hidden roots waiting to trip us. Our shoes squished with every soggy brown step. We wove in and out of what we were sure were swamps but what was actually a trail.
Andrea turned to me and asked, “Have you read 50 Shades of Gray?”
Me: “No!…Have you?”
Andrea: “No!…but if there are 50 shades of anything out here…it’s BROWN!”
And we proceeded to list all the brown there is in Vermont while we hiked the Long Trail…
50 SHADES OF BROWN
An ode to the Long Swamp Trail
1. Mud
2. Trees
3. Roots
4. Rocks
5. Moose poop
(image courtesy of panoramio.com)
6. Moose
(image courtesy of mnzoo.org)
7. Squirrels
8. Chipmonks
9. Bears
(image courtesy of youtube.com)
10. Dirt
11. Swamps
12. People poop
13. Coffee
14. Chocolate
15. Oatmeal
(image courtesy of greenlitebites.com)
16. Maple syrup
(image courtesy of thesyrupshop.com)
17. Our shoes
18. Our socks
19. Our legs
20. Spiders
21. Ants
22. Beavers
23. Beaver dams
24. Sand
25. Dehydrated sausage crumbles
26. Birds
27. Shelters
28. Sludge
29. Mudpuddles
30. Beer
31. Cheese covered in dirt
32. Andrea after she slid down Butternut Mountain
33. The trail
34. My hair
35. Acorns
36. Branches
37. Sticks
38. Wood
39. Bark
40. Pine cones
41. Soil
42. Stumps
43. Nutella
44. Hot chocolate
45. Peanut butter
46. Sugar houses
47. Trail signs
48. Vermud
49. Vermountains
50. VERMONT!
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!
To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.
Comments 5
you are one gutsy (and too funny) young lady! have you done the AT yet? I’m prepping for it for next year…I’ll be 63 then and need one more adventure while I can do it!
Looking forward to more of your stories, thanks!
Thanks, Bob! Glad you got a kick out of it! I’ll keep ’em coming 🙂 Enjoy the LT – or whichever trail – adventure you choose…so many great options!
Wow, can I relate! Lived and hiked in VT for over 30 years. You may know the local joke: What’s the longest river in VT? The Long Trail! Gotta love it.
Ah! That’s a good one! I didn’t know the joke before, but I sure believe it…