For the third year in a row, Bird and I took to the Long Trail and continued our trek, making it past the halfway point on our way from Massachusetts to Canada.
    This year it was all about the food. After last year's run-in with Amy and Asher and their gourmet cooking, I was inspired (or shall I say, shamed) into getting a little more creative with my own meals. Before I left, I did a little research. I got some great food ideas from the book Backcountry Cooking, and I found a very helpful online forum for backcountry cooking. In the end, I ended up bringing too much food for the trip, but I did go the whole week without eating any Ramen noodles.

Day One:
Sunday June 16
1.8 miles / Sherburne Pass, Rt 4 to Tucker-Johnson Shelter

    We started where we left off last year: at Route 4, just north of Killington. We didn't get on the trail until 7pm, but since we only had a couple of miles to the first shelter we were OK. Here the Appalacian Trail turned off and headed toward Maine, while we continued north on the Long Trail toward Canada.
     We had the daylight to our advantage this time. Unlike in September, when it starts to get dark at 6, we had daylight well into the 8:00 hour. We spent our first night in the Tucker-Johnson shelter with a girl who was hiking the Long Trail end-to-end and a guy on his way to Georgia on the AT.

Day Two:
Monday June 17
11.5 miles / Tucker-Johnson Shelter to David Logan Shelter

     Our first morning waking up on the trail was to rain falling outside our shelter. It had rained all the previous week, so the trail was very muddy. This morning, the rain stopped before we got started, and we did not have any more rain until our last day, so we were very lucky with the weather.
     We were on the trail at 8:30 and came across many creatures... redback salamanders, frogs, snakes, and a fair amount of moose tracks. We spent the night at David Logan Shelter with Sean (aka. Zen). This was probably my best dinner: angelhair pasta with porcini mushrooms and a creamy herb sauce.

Day Three:
Tuesday June 18
12.9 miles / David Logan Shelter to Sucker Brook Shelter

     For breakfast I had scrambled eggs using the dehydrated eggs I got from eggstore.com, with some Bacos and instant hashbrowns . It wasn't too bad, although it was a fair amount of work. Bird just watched me juggle my pans as he stuck his spoon into his ziplock bag of dry Cocoa Krispies.
     This day on the trail was still very muddy, and we also came across a LOT of moose droppings. We never did see an actual moose. In the morning, when we went to pump our water, we had a moment of panic. The water filter failed to work. After trying for about half an hour, we resolved to drinking unfiltered water. Luckily, the next time we tried the filter we got it to work so it was just this one time that we exposed ourselves to the ravages of Giardia.
     This was a long day for us. As we headed farther north, the terrain got more challenging. We had some rough uphill climbs but were rewarded with some great views. We also came across a big ol' porcupine chewing on some tree bark right next to the trail. That night, we stayed at the Sucker Brook Shelter.

Day Four:
Wednesday June 19
9.8 miles / Sucker Brook Shelter to Skyline Lodge

     For breakfast I cooked up an instant batch of maple oat scones. They looked kind of like pancakes with icing on top. Bird had Cocoa Krispies.
     This would be a short day for us: under 10 miles. After yesterday, we needed it. We had an uphill climb to conquer first thing in the morning as we made our way up to Worth Mountain and on to the Middlebury College Snow Bowl chair lift. Today was much more muggy than before, and the blackflies were terrible. Normally hiking in the fall, we were not used to the ruthlessness of these little bugs. They fly into your ears, your mouth, your nose, and worst of all, sometimes your eyes. We tried slathering on the bug repellant, but it really didn't do much.
     Our destination for the day was the Skyline Lodge, the first shelter we stayed in this week that wasn't an open leanto. Before we got there, we came across a hidden lake and decided to go for a quick swim. Very refreshing!

Day Five:
Thursday June 20
10.6 miles / Skyline Lodge to Lincoln Gap

     This morning at the shelter we had apple cinnamon pancakes, the ultimate trail breakfast. For syrup I added water to some real maple sugar I brought with me. It turned out pretty good. We had a good day of hiking with some good views, although it was a bit hazy. The pack seems a bit lighter by this point, since I've been focusing on eating all the heaviest foods first.
     We decided to tent out this night. We've been carrying these tents on our backs all this time, we have to use them at least once. We found this great spot near Lincoln Gap, on the northern edge of the Breadloaf Wilderness. It was around the corner from a rock-covered mountaintop, in a moist area of ferns and mosses. It was much softer ground and easier to sleep than the hard wood floors of the shelters. It was a bit buggy, but we tried to hold off the mosquitos with our arsenal of citronella candles.

Day Six:
Friday June 21
10.8 miles / Lincoln Gap to Stark's Nest

     This was our last full day of hiking and the one with the steepest climbs. From Lincoln Gap and an elevation of 2410 feet, we made it rather quickly up to the top of Mt. Abraham at 4006 feet. The highest we would get this day would be Mt. Ellen at 4083 feet.
     Being Friday, we came across more dayhikers and people just out for the weekend, a lot of them making the popular trek up to the top of Mt. Abe. It was a bit foggy at the top, so the view was limited. We eventually continued north, hiking past Sugarbush and on to Mad River Glen where we stayed at the Stark's Nest, a warming hut at the top of the chairlift.
    Some kids showed up a bit later who spent the night with us at the Stark's Nest. They were hiking into Sugarbush where there was a Ben & Jerry's music festival being held the next day. We ran into some other guys doing the same thing, hiking five miles from the road up to the top of Sugarbush with a case of beer in their pack. I don't know how they did it.

Day Seven:
Saturday June 22
2.5 miles / Stark's Nest to Appalachian Gap, Rt 17

     We had remained dry until now. This morning the skies opened up and we made our 2 mile descent down to Route 17 in a constant drizzle. It was a good week, and we finished it off the same way we did last year: with a cheeseburger and a beer at the Inn at the Long Trail where we had parked our car at the start of the trip.

     We've made it more than halfway up the state, and it should take us just two more trips to complete the Long Trail. Next year will be even more challenging as we hike over Camel's Hump and Mt. Mansfield. But we've come this far so we can't stop now.

Long Trail Hike: Part 4