Vermont in All Her Glory – Long Trail Edition Part 5
Awaken the Passion
I wake up in a cozy bed in an air conditioned room. Today is the summit of Mount Abe. Cool Trail Mom is back in and ready to hike today with us. The proposition of many views is alluring to her and myself alike. The morning starts nice and slow. I’m not in a rush. I eat a blueberry muffin made personally by our host Ryan. I also enjoy a nice hot cup of fresh brewed coffee to start this slow moving morning. After an intentional slow start to the morning Ryan takes us back to trail. It’s time to climb Mount Abe.
Abraham, Abraham, Where are you?
It is a beautiful sunny day and the initial climb up Mount Abe isn’t hurting me like I’d imagined. The trail shortly changes from dirt and mud into a scramble. I’m having a good old time climbing up the rocks towards the summit. I’m there! No wait, it still goes up. Lets go! The wind is brushing against my body as I’m above the treeline. It’s summiting time. Wait a second, not yet. Looks like the trail continues to wrap around. Huh? Where are you summit of Abraham? After a few more juke outs and near summit moments I make it. Vermont you trick me yet again. I see a trail sign and I know for certain, I’m here. The strange thing about false summits is there are two mentalities to deal with this. For me I would look ahead, up the trail, and say to myself I’m so close. When I got to that next point and the summit wasn’t there I would do the same thing. I’d repeat this sometimes only a couple times, but other climbs dozens. For some reason this mindset always propelled me forward. Other people preferred thinking they were nowhere near the summit and when it appeared in front of them they made it. Now back to the views. Oh my god! 360 degree views on top of Mount Abe. The wind is actually making the summit kinda chilly in late July. I take in the surrounding mountains and enjoy a poptart while I wait for my friends. Storm clouds are passing by from the direction I come from. I’m not too worried though, the forecast looks great ahead.
The Gang Gets Views
Murph & Cool Trail Mom make it to the summit. Our spirits are higher than ever taking in the views from Mount Abe. We take a look at FarOut and to our benefit we have several viewpoints today. Legit viewpoints! Not Vermont views that are heavily wooded. That nonsense is out today. Today we are getting some real views. We all are laughing at this realization. We call it the day of views. Before long we are on to the next viewpoint. Before hitting Lincoln Peak we come across a wooden platform that we can walk up to. We get on top and see there are benches to sit along the perimeter of the platform. Upon getting up to the top I take one look out into the distance and scream with pure joy. This is what I’m talking about I think to myself. This is why I love hiking so much. I snap some pictures of the gang and we continue towards SugarBush.
Conspiracies & Chairlifts
Promptly upon reaching Sugarbush Resort we meet a new friend. He is Murph’s long lost brother. For some reason he was just hanging out in Vermont. We enter the ski patrol hut and there he is. He is not as tall as I expected given Murph’s height. Oddly enough he looks ready to ski. I think he forgot what season we’re in. The last super strange part about this dude is he’s a moose.
We joke about the odds of this moose being named Murphy and push on to the chairlifts. We decide this is the spot to have lunch. Murph is sprawled out on the chairlift resting and watching the clouds. Cool Trail Mom is hanging on a rock making her fancy tortilla lunch and I decide it’s time to stir the pot. “You know the government made these clouds & birds aren’t real.” What ensues is a 15-20 minute conversation of pure laughs and entertainment. We talked about flat Earth, life, and laughed at this crazy Vermont world we are living in. Off in the distance as our lunch and conversation concludes I can make out the next big challenge that awaits us on trail. Camel’s Hump comes into view. The way it rises above the other mountain peaks is utterly marvelous. The rocky peak ascends above the other peaks and slants down giving off a jagged look for the onlooker in the distance.
Stark’s Nest
With tons of lovely views the rest of the day we make it to Stark’s Nest. Our home for the night. I am playing on the single person chairlift and taking pleasure in swinging back and forth on it. Murph is sitting on the balcony of the ski hut. I snap pictures of both him and I as we enjoy the sunny skies of the afternoon. This ski hut is huge! I think it’s the nicest shelter we’ve been to so far and by a significant margin. Murph, Cool Trail Mom, and I go inside and checkout the layout. There are a few tables and a fireplace. The inside has a couple bulletin boards, probably for the ski season, and a clock that isn’t working. We make room for our pads and begin to set up for the night. As we finish setting up we hear a lot of noise outside the shelter. It sounds like several people talking. Who could it be?
The Campers
A man who looks about 19-20 approaches us. He introduces himself as Ben. As he is talking to us I see at least 8 teenagers come out from behind the shelter. That is a big group! We hang outside with them for a little bit. The teenagers we learn are all going to a camp based in Maine. This specific group is the oldest group they have in the adventure camp. They are currently doing a 13 day backpacking trip. Totally in the woods. No hotels, no towns, just camping and hiking. The teenagers we learn are around 15 years old across the board. They have two counselors, Ben & Ryan. These guys are both in their 20’s. The campers are pretty quiet around us, but Ben is very curious about what we are up to. We talk to Ben for some time about thruhiking and then decide to call it for the night. It’s awesome these kids are out here doing this in summer camp. Murph & I agree it’s a badass camp. At the same time we are thinking shit now we gotta share this space with 10 extra people. There was plenty of space, thankfully, and the boys were so respectful and kind. I get up because Cool Trail Mom thinks Ben is attractive and she has a trail crush. Now a trail crush is a very innocent thing. It’s simply someone who you find attractive on the trail. There is no intention to pursue anything, it’s merely someone you find hot. I proceed to go to the window and inconspicuously take a picture of Ben. I pretend I’m on a facetime call with my mom. Oh yeah we got service here, this is actually believable. I talk to my “mom” and snap a picture. Shoutout to Ben. We love you!
The Stench
I turn around after snapping a picture of Ben and see Murph snuggled up in his sleeping bag. Then I see his pleasantly comfortable face twitch and quickly turn into one of disgust and astonishment. Then it hits me. Oh my god. What am I smelling? Murph is frozen in shock and I’m laughing now. I turn around and we all see that one of the campers hung his sleeping bag in front of us by the window. It has to be the bag. After much deliberation and reluctance to voice this disgusting smell to our new friends Cool Trail Mom steps up. “One of you guys have gotta take that sleeping bag down, it smells disgusting.” The boy apologizes and comes over and smells it. Oh my god he goes. Wow. That is potent. The smell we were engulfed in was a mix of sweat and damp moldy material. The boy felt bad and we all laughed as a group at how bad it smelled, campers included. The boy told us they did a canoeing trip before this for 13 days. On that trip his sleeping bag got soaking wet. Well, unfortunately for him it didn’t dry, and now it smells putrid. The sleeping bag comes down and we call it a night. This is the best night on trail so far I think to myself as I fall asleep. I love this thruhiking thing. Then without a moment’s notice I’m asleep. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
The Tale of Ethan Allen
I wake up and say goodbye to our new camper friends. I pack up my gear and head towards the door to exit the shelter. As I open the door and step outside I’m greeted to a cloud. The ground is wet and visibility is low. I can only see about 15-20 feet ahead of me this morning. I’m full of excitement, probably due to the epic day we had yesterday. The trail this morning is very slick. As a group we are singing, laughing, falling, and cursing our way down the slick trail. Today includes metal rungs and a little cave that is off the trail. Due to my curiosity and excitement I go and explore the cave. I pop out and return to trail catching up to Murph and Cool Trail Mom right before we hit another ski resort shelter. The warming hut, “cmon guys lets check it out!”
Wine & Dine
All three of us are excited to head to the warming hut for a little break from the misty morning. We are walking over cheering. All of us are shouting warming hut as we approach closer to the door. I head up on the deck first and peer inside the window. At first I can’t see much, but then I’m hit with a surprise. I see a counter and on the counter is a bottle of wine that was open. Then from behind the counter a man proceeds to stand up. He has no shirt on and I don’t wanna know what’s going on with his lower half. I am shocked and before I can think of what to do I see another person lying down behind the counter. I make eye contact with the man and we both are looking like two deer caught in the headlights. I quickly turn away and tell Cool Trail Mom & Murph not to come up. “There is a man, potentially a woman, potentially both naked, and a half drunk bottle of wine.” We all quiet down and approach the trail. When we get back all we can talk about is how we were shouting on the way over. That poor man knew we were coming and those 10 seconds between the trail and the warming hut must have felt like an eternity to him. Oh the ridiculous moments we have on trail.
The Never Ending Climb
We made our way down to the App Gap at this point. Still in a cloud I cross the road and begin to feel weird. Everything feels tilted at a 45 degree angle. Am I experiencing vertigo? No, this road is curving and winding around the mountain. That paired with the low visibility might be making this feel worse. I cross the street quickly as I am struggling to see any vehicles and continue up towards Burnt Rock mountain. Murph, Cool Trail Mom, and I have all fallen an absurd amount of times for one day. Who is cursing, crying, or laughing is a toss up at this point. Murph and I come to a rock outcropping that leads the hiker in between the two mammoth sized rocks along a narrow trail. Murph had the idea for us to hide on top of one of them and make the Chewbacca call at Cool Trail Mom when she passes. I’m in! We hear Cool Trail Mom talking to herself in the distance. Annoyed about the slickness and mud we’ve all had to deal with this morning. When she approaches we come out of hiding and make the sound. We didn’t surprise her although I hoped we would.
We’d been climbing for what feels like forever and still haven’t made it to Burnt Rock Mountain summit. Where is this summit? All of us are frustrated at how long it has taken us to get to the summit of this mountain. As we continue up the mountain the slick mud we’ve been slipping on takes me out. I am descending on a patch of needles and mud when my trail runners lose traction. I slide down 5 feet and fall over on my left forearm. My entire arm is covered in mud. I scream as this is going down and then shortly after burst into laughter. Everyone comes over to me shortly after the incident and I show them the fall. No one was enthused. Eventually we started scrambling and walking on rock. It felt like hours on this rocky bit of trail. It did not feel like we were getting any closer to the summit still. Due to the slickness of the rock I was focused in and getting tired. Eventually we made the summit and it offered us beautiful views! We cursed out the trail and then realized this isn’t the summit. What is happening?! Finally after a bit more time we made it and running low on water planned our next summit of Ethan Allen. Oh Ethan Allen.
The Terrifying Ladder Ravine
As we plan the climb up Ethan Allen we notice the ladder ravine prior. FarOut has some comments that are making us a bit concerned given our current weather conditions. We push on cautiously expecting multiple ladder climbs and one that consists of a 30 foot climb down a rock face. I am so excited for this section! Climbing ladders during a hike? I love the odd additions on a trail. The metal rungs were awesome, I’m sure the ladders will be too. After loads of slipping and sliding we make it. We are at the ladder ravine. It is 1 single ladder. It goes down about 10 feet. That is all. What a let down! We all can’t believe that was all it was. Now came time to do the most memorable climb of the trip. We will never forget you, dear old Ethan Allen.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Up we go and then down. Up again, are we getting close I wonder. No back down. This continued for hours. Where are you Ethan Allen? Myself, Cool Trail Mom, and Murph are all exhausted at this point and running low on water. All the water sources we’ve seen are corrupted by tannen. We can drink tannen water in the worst case scenario, but none of us want to. We are hopeful that some water will show up, but first are we ever going to finish this climb? It all starts with Murph. I hear him start to sing a song that resembles the Red Hot Chili Peppers. “How long, how long can you climb Ethan Allen’s spine.” Before long we all hopped on Murph’s train of singing our anger out at Ethan Allen. “F**k you Ethan Allen you never end. All I want is some water without more ascent.” That last one was to the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. We all started singing our own songs for at least 30 minutes before we finally made it to the summit. Through Murph’s song I made it through Ethan Allen. I was exhausted and lacking water. I had enough to get by, but I was conserving until we hit a clean source. The amount of laughing we all did on the rest of this dreadful climb pales in comparison to the easier more objectively enjoyable parts of trail. There is something special about suffering together. Going back to part 3 maybe Highwayman is onto something with suffering. Then out of nowhere on our descent Murph finds some moss that is filtering the tannen out of the water. I fill up here and am so grateful for clean water. We make our way down to the lodge for the night. Montclair lodge, a night we will never forget.
Hip Hop the Caretaker is Here
We enter the lodge and are greeted by two other Long Trail hikers. We begin talking to Stitchfix & AJ (later to be known as Trash Goblin), when someone appears at the door. Rain is downpouring outside now and I’m glad to be in this shelter. We open the door and her she comes. She comes in hot, with a wave and a little hippity hop. She’s pretty cute and all in rain gear. “Hi guys, I’m the caretaker here and my name is Melanie,” she says as she is hopping in place. We all introduce ourselves to Melanie and share that we are hiking the Long Trail. Then I start asking her questions and flirting a little bit. She shares that she loves caretaking and is out here 5 days and off 2 days. I tell her we are going to Waterbury for our next stop in town. Melanie excitedly replies telling me she lives in Waterbury. My I just conquered Ethan Allen confident self decides to ask Melanie to join us for dinner. “We’ll be there Friday,” I say. “That’s my day off,” Melanie responds. “No way! Do you want to join us at Prohibition Pig for dinner?” Melanie smiling says she would like that. Oh no I realize. I won’t be there Friday, we are leaving Waterbury Friday. Damn. “Melanie, I’m sorry I mixed up the dates. We won’t be there Friday we are leaving Thursday.” Melanie says she will be caretaking Thursday and I’m slightly bummed. She departs into the downpour to spend the night in her tent. Everyone looks at me after this interaction. “Melanie ooooooo ahhhhhh.” Both Murph & Cool Trail Mom are joking about how I tried flirting with the caretaker and invited her out. Melanie was now officially my trail girlfriend to them, more so Murph. I’m rolling with the jokes until Cool Trail Mom has to step outside for a cigarette. Then the Goblin appeared.
Hello Trash Goblin
“3 riddles before you may enter,” says AJ. His voice is crackly, high pitched, and includes a maniacal laugh. Cool Trail Mom is laughing outside. I jump up to the window and attempt to mimic this voice AJ just used to communicate with Cool Trail Mom. “What is your favorite color?” Cool Trail Mom responds. “CORRECT!” We both yell back. Everyone is laughing in the shelter including Cool Trail Mom outside. We proceed to ask more questions. Then without giving Cool Trail Mom time to get an answer out we both shout back, “INCORRECT!” The voice AJ created sounded like a goblin and for the rest of the night the goblin was in our shelter. The rest of the night was filled with more laughs and then eventually sleep. Until in the middle of the night we got visitors.
Caught in the Headlights
A bright light keeps flashing in and out of the shelter. I hear voices outside, but they don’t seem to get closer. I lay for about 30 minutes listening keenly to the voices and notice that they are indeed getting closer. The bright white beams of headlamps keep coming into the lodge. I toss and turn uncomfortably before finally dozing back off to sleep. I wake up after a terrible night sleep. Turns out a couple of hikers came in late last night and made a racket. They set up tents outside the shelter. I am pretty impressed by the way they snuggled their tents in between the trees and river. I walk outside to go to bathroom and it’s still dark out. I look back at the lodge and see the moon lighting up the sky. I snap a picture and begin to think of todays highlight. Today I’m climbing Camel’s Hump!
Hump, Humpity, Hump
It’s hump day! Both literally and with today’s climb up the Camel’s Hump. This is one of the big 2 climbs for me. I am beyond stoked to get going for the day. First thing I need to do is check the weather and make sure there are no thunder storm predictions for the exposed portion. I’m tired from the lack of sleep, but when I see that there are clear skies on the summit from 8-9 AM I feel ready to rock and roll. I go back in and with loads of enthusiasm tell everybody the good news. The crew doesn’t understand how I’m so awake so early. Our new friend Trash Goblin shares a lovely song that a local school’s soccer team chants. Hump humpity hump hump hump hump HARDER! We slowly approach the ascent singing the humpity hump song, cursing off Ethan Allen, and sliding on slick boulder faces. The views come into sight early on. It feels so eerie on the approach to the final summit push. I’m watching Murph and Cool Trail Mom walking up this long rock face and it looks like we are in a different world. The higher up we go the more the clouds shroud us. I hope the summit clears for us to see the views.
The Summit
We hang out as a group at the summit. Trash Goblin is already hanging at the summit when we arrive. It’s chilly up here and windy. The clouds are shrouding any chance at a view, but then the sun begins to shine bright dissipating the clouds. Before long we begin to see bits of the surrounding area come into view. I am ECSTATIC. I am screaming, cheering, come on sun give us a view! I can’t tell if people love this level of excitement I’m bringing or are sick of it. Then it appears. The first view of the summit and we are all in awe! The clouds coast just below the rock face we are standing on. We look like we are above the clouds and the photos are spectacular. We do a photoshoot, but I don’t feel satisfied with what I’m seeing. Everyone decides to push on. I choose to stay back, at least for a little bit to see if it clears up any more.
Worth the Wait
I hang out for another 20 minutes. A couple of day hikers come up and sit down near me on the summit. We don’t really talk, but I overhear them saying they don’t have any more water. Then my focus is drawn to my right as the views begin to open up way better than before. I cheer, a bit self-consciously with the day hikers there and snap some shots of the beauty I’m fortunate enough to take in. I grab my photos and videos and then allow the beauty of the summit sink in. As I’m leaving I stop by the day hikers and say, “I overheard you guys say you ran out of water. I have 2 liters and I don’t need it all as I’m going to a water source in a few miles. I’m happy to give you guys some.” They both look at me confused, but then reluctantly say they would like some. I pour in about 3/4 of a liter of water and then say goodbye. They thank me and seem grateful for the gesture. Now time to catch up to the crew!
Down Down Down
What goes up must come down, right? I race down the rocks to catch up. My body is shutting down. I’m tired and sliding on mud, rock, and all of the difficult maneuvers Vermont is throwing my way. I begin to hear everyone talking after racing down, about an hour into hopping back on the trail. Then I approach a huge rock face. There are two massive narrow rocks that are about 10 feet above the ground. There is a crevasse that cuts the rock in half making it possible to fall into this giant human eating rock. I cautiously step one foot on the far right side and the other foot right behind. I slide my feet forward as the rock is wet and slippery. Then I approach the 10 foot drop. I scooch right on my tushie. I do the gooch scooch. We termed this for anytime you gotta scoot that booty down that rock. I scootch my way down to safety and proceed to make haste to the group. Before long I catch up and we are back! We climb and descend several smaller humps on our descent together. Making the hump humpity hump song ring true. As we follow a stone step path down Murph stops me and insists I take a picture. The steps are covered in mushrooms and it’s a one of a kind sight. I snap it and continue on. We are close to the road, which means close to town! We take a quick break at the Duxbury window where my favorite kind of sitting rock comes into view. A beautiful, cozy, and comfy wooden bench.
Fortunate Son
“Get down Lieutenant Dan,” I scream. We are walking in an open farm land that gives us the feeling of being in Vietnam. We are all now Forest Gump and the American soldiers deployed to Vietnam. Murph and I are going on and on about shrimp. We got boiled shrimp, grilled shrimp, baked shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp scampi. The list goes on. Then someone yells that we got airstrikes dropping. Duck for cover! We all get down. Phew, that was a close one. It’s crazy how imaginative I can become when I’m fully disconnected for so long and with great company. Even though we are exhausted we play this game for a good mile keeping our spirits high. Then before we know it we make it to the bridge. Waterbury is here! We cross the bridge and our ride is already here as Trash Goblin called the Stagecoach Inn. We hop in and with much relief know the next couple days will be easy coasting. Time for town!
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Comments 2
I am 100% sure I passed you 3 on my way up to the window with my friend!
That is awesome! If you were with a man while we were heading down a super steep section I remember talking to you both. You stopped to allow us to hike down this part prior to you guys heading up. Your friend mentioned how the moose in Vermont are dying from ticks.