Long Trail Section 2014: Overview
Our big trip this summer was to make it to the Long Trail before I got too big to want to backpack. Mission accomplished. Last week, we made the journey to Vermont then down to Rte 11/30 in Manchester to pick up where we left off last year.
We were fortunate enough to have left off last year in a relatively easy to access area. It only took a few hours of driving, bus (Diamond express) into Rutland from where we left our car north of Killington mountain, a bus (Manchester connector) to Manchester, a local bus to Manchester center and a taxi ride to Rte 11/30 at the trail junction. There are some wonderful resources online for the transit systems along Rte 7. Despite the fact that there where 3 taxi services in Manchester, two were booked up and it was only by chance that the last one was between trips to Albany. Plan ahead if you want a ride. We tried to get back into town the next morning due to replace a leaking air mattress and no one was available to pick us up.
We spent 6 days out (2 of which were getting to or leaving the trail). In that time we covered 42 miles of trail, slept at 5 different shelters, saw rain and mostly clouds, encountered too many newts to count and a turtle, and ended a mountain short of our car.
Over the next few weeks, I'll post the highlights and some photos from each day. The full album can be found on my Facebook page. Here's an overview:
Mileage
Day 1 - Rte 11/30 to Bromley shelter (1.7 miles)
Day 2 - Bromley shelter to Peru shelter (8.4 miles including three 3000 footers)
Day 3 - Peru shelter to Little Rock Pond shelter (9.4 miles)
Day 4 - Little Rock Pond shelter to Minerva shelter (9.9 miles)
Day 5 - Minerva shelter to Gov. Clement shelter (9.6 miles)
Day 6 - Gov. Clement shelter to North Shrewsbury (3.8 miles mostly road walking)
Total Long Trail mileage 42 miles
Gear
As for my gear, I did everything in my power to lightened my load. My pack weighed 34 lbs with 2 liters of water in it. I opted for my husband's Big Agnes as a sleeping pad since my thermorest doesn't offer much comfort when sleeping on my side. Unfortunately, I did not check it for leaks before we left. We eventually found and patched one, but the pad still wouldn't hold air. I ended up using my pack or my husband's pack as a half pad. Most nights weren't too cold, so I only had to deal with the lack of comfort.
I sprung for a new sleeping bag (Kelty SB 35). I did make use of my liner on some of the colder nights. Over all, I'm very satisfied with this bag. It was warm and roomy.
My most important gear for this trip was a good pack cover. I had purchased a cheapy, but it fit poorly and it was threatening to be a wet trip. We lucked out with most of the rain after we arrived at the shelter. I purchased a Sea to Summit pack cover that was well worth the extra money.
Other than that, my gear list was about the same as last year's (rain pants and jacket, bug net, sleeping pillow, OR 3 season bivy, Osprey 5500 pack etc.). I probably could have done without the pillow, except that on the colder nights when I have a harder time breathing most of my spare clothes are on me instead of acting as a pillow. The bug net was handy. We even thought about looking into a drapeable bug net for two for those really warm nights. Instead we ended up fully dressed on top of our bivy's waiting for the temperature to drop enough to get comfortable.
Food
We planned pretty much the same every year with a few minor tweaks. Breakfasts consisted of our usual oatmeal mix (instant oatmeal, raisins, flax, walnuts and some maple sugar) plus a hot drink. My husband prefers coffee, I'm more of a hot chocolate drinker. Snacks were an assortment of trail mixes (sweet or salty) and Luna or Cliff bars. These bars are heavy and we might try switching them out for a sit down lunch of a rehydrated meal. Dinners were Enertia TrailFoods/Coleman dehydrated meals. We bought an assortment last year, so the selection is a little all over the place. I ended up with some dessert dinners.
Allegahny Alfredo - 5/5 sporks
Keylime pie - 4.5 sporks (rather sweet)
Teton BBQ Teriaki rice - 3.5 sporks (sweet BBQ when I wanted savory)
Rice pudding - 4 sporks (needed way more water than called for and again a little too sweet)
There was another meal in there with a cream sauce. I tend to favor those over the spicier meals.
Trail Magic
Sometimes the unexpected happens along the trail. The first instance of trail magic we encountered was a cache of Mugs Rootbeer in a cold stream. It was a welcome and refreshing treat. We got near but never visited the secret shelter. Our trail angel was a woman named Janet who saw us walking toward North Shrewsbury and offered us a ride all the way back to our car. She was a fascinating woman and a godsend since we had no cell phone reception and doubted the availability of taxis on the east side of the mountains. Some people will just surprise you with their willingness to help you out.
