albee
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I spent a lovely Easter Sunday hiking part of the Long Trail just to the south of Brandon Gap (Rt 73) in Vermont. The forecast was for a 60% chance of flurries, and I would say that was just about what I got... flurries for 60% of my hike! I started at 11:00 AM after leaving my friends' house just up the road in Granville, and I was surprised to see 4 other cars in the parking lot. Apparently this is a popular area!
As I was getting geared up, a pair of XC skiers came gliding down off the trail, and that's when I realized why this trail was popular. The gentle grades and perfect skiing conditions were a paradise for people getting in some late season skiing on the 12" of fresh, puffy powder snow that had fallen in the last few days.
I passed one pair of hikers that were admiring the stunning views of the Mt Horrid cliffs on the far side of the gap. Another pair of hikers were on their way to visit Sunrise Shelter, which was my first destination as well. We all stepped out of the way as another XC skier came gliding by with a huge grin on his face... as I would see later, this area is very popular with backcountry skiers that live nearby. At the hut, I left my temporary companions behind without explaining my destination. They watched with quizzical grins as I took my compass out and headed straight up the hill behind the shelter.
After winding around and through some small patches of birch saplings and thorn bushes for the first hundred yards or so, the going opened up wonderously and I didn't need to even use my hands for the rest of the bushwhack to Goshen Mtn. It was about a 700' climb up through mixed open forest. I was surprised at how little I needed my compass. I took an initial bearing, headed in that direction, put the compass away and followed a direct line diagonnally upslope to the left at first, then through a clearing, then straight up to the open summit area. There were awesome views of the Long Trail's route north, as well as the mountains to the southeast. Without all that snow, it looked like there would be bare rock all around the summit area, with one particularly large boulder that you could stand on to get a better view. This was easily the best view I have ever had on a bushwhack, and it was enhanced by the fact that the weather had cleared and the snow had taken a time-out. The cannister was easily found on the summit tree, but I didn't recognize any of the names as it was mostly locals and only dated back to December 05.
The trip uphill had taken me 40 minutes, trudging through the foot of unbroken powder on top of a slippery crust. I "snowshoe skiied" back down to the hut in 13 minutes flat. Those downhills are always more enjoyable after the hard work of going up. I took a break at the hut and looked over the tattered remains of the logbook. I had thru-hiked the long trail in 2004, and I was curious as to how far back this one went. I actually stayed in this hut on my trip, and I had fond memories of a quiet night and sharing some friendly conversations with a lonely southbounder that I crossed paths with there. Unfortunately, the logbook was in ruins. It had been chewed by mice and pages had been torn out from the end working backwards to December 06. Since this was not an appropriate fate for a book that contains so many memories from End-to-Enders, I packed up the logbook in my pack and will resolve to send it in to the GMC for proper archiving. If you are planning to hike to this shelter in the near future, please replace the logbook with any simple spiral-bound notebook.
I followed the Long Trail a little over 2 miles south from the shelter. It had started to snow again, and huge flakes drifted down on me for the rest of the hike. There were dozens of tracks in the snow from where eager skiers had bushwhacked uphill and taken advantage of the open woods to go backcountry glade skiing. The powder was perfect and I really couldn't believe how many tracks there were, and the skill these skiers must have to be whizzing between trees and branches, essentialy bushwhacking downhill at a full-on run. The woods were perfect for it, though. After the trail junction for the Chittenden Brook trail, all signs of traffic stopped. The Long Trail was completely unbroken and not blazed at all. I had remembered this section from my through-hike as the most poorly maintained section that I encountered, especially further on in Bloodroot Gap. I remembered reading that the local trail maintainer was reportedly "old fashioned", and wanted hikers to experience the route in the same way that early thru-hikers found it. I had to jump over four streams that had cut deeply across the trail. At least the trail was brushed fairly well. I turned to my right and started bushwhacking up to the ridge on Farr Mtn earlier than I had planned, since the woods weren't any worse than the unbroken trail. I hadn't seen my snowshoes in over 20 minutes because the snow was so deep!
After a steep climb for 15 minutes, I gained the ridge and followed it south through the open woods. After winding around some spruce trees near the summit, I happily found the cannister and signed in. This one actually had more of a register to it, dating back 20 years with entries from the Crispos, Romanos, Gwynnes, McHughs, and more. I always feel honored to add my name to theirs, although I have a long way to go before I can call myself a 3000'er.
33 minutes uphill turned into 12 minutes downhill, and I followed my tracks back towards the start. What had taken me so much work on the way out thankfully took far less effort on the way back. I made it 3.5 miles from the summit of Farr to my car in 1:10. When I arrived at my destination, I crossed paths with the same skier that I had passed in the morning. he was a local that was on his way out for a second run of the day. Some people just can't get enough, I guess. Like me.
As I was getting geared up, a pair of XC skiers came gliding down off the trail, and that's when I realized why this trail was popular. The gentle grades and perfect skiing conditions were a paradise for people getting in some late season skiing on the 12" of fresh, puffy powder snow that had fallen in the last few days.
I passed one pair of hikers that were admiring the stunning views of the Mt Horrid cliffs on the far side of the gap. Another pair of hikers were on their way to visit Sunrise Shelter, which was my first destination as well. We all stepped out of the way as another XC skier came gliding by with a huge grin on his face... as I would see later, this area is very popular with backcountry skiers that live nearby. At the hut, I left my temporary companions behind without explaining my destination. They watched with quizzical grins as I took my compass out and headed straight up the hill behind the shelter.
After winding around and through some small patches of birch saplings and thorn bushes for the first hundred yards or so, the going opened up wonderously and I didn't need to even use my hands for the rest of the bushwhack to Goshen Mtn. It was about a 700' climb up through mixed open forest. I was surprised at how little I needed my compass. I took an initial bearing, headed in that direction, put the compass away and followed a direct line diagonnally upslope to the left at first, then through a clearing, then straight up to the open summit area. There were awesome views of the Long Trail's route north, as well as the mountains to the southeast. Without all that snow, it looked like there would be bare rock all around the summit area, with one particularly large boulder that you could stand on to get a better view. This was easily the best view I have ever had on a bushwhack, and it was enhanced by the fact that the weather had cleared and the snow had taken a time-out. The cannister was easily found on the summit tree, but I didn't recognize any of the names as it was mostly locals and only dated back to December 05.
The trip uphill had taken me 40 minutes, trudging through the foot of unbroken powder on top of a slippery crust. I "snowshoe skiied" back down to the hut in 13 minutes flat. Those downhills are always more enjoyable after the hard work of going up. I took a break at the hut and looked over the tattered remains of the logbook. I had thru-hiked the long trail in 2004, and I was curious as to how far back this one went. I actually stayed in this hut on my trip, and I had fond memories of a quiet night and sharing some friendly conversations with a lonely southbounder that I crossed paths with there. Unfortunately, the logbook was in ruins. It had been chewed by mice and pages had been torn out from the end working backwards to December 06. Since this was not an appropriate fate for a book that contains so many memories from End-to-Enders, I packed up the logbook in my pack and will resolve to send it in to the GMC for proper archiving. If you are planning to hike to this shelter in the near future, please replace the logbook with any simple spiral-bound notebook.
I followed the Long Trail a little over 2 miles south from the shelter. It had started to snow again, and huge flakes drifted down on me for the rest of the hike. There were dozens of tracks in the snow from where eager skiers had bushwhacked uphill and taken advantage of the open woods to go backcountry glade skiing. The powder was perfect and I really couldn't believe how many tracks there were, and the skill these skiers must have to be whizzing between trees and branches, essentialy bushwhacking downhill at a full-on run. The woods were perfect for it, though. After the trail junction for the Chittenden Brook trail, all signs of traffic stopped. The Long Trail was completely unbroken and not blazed at all. I had remembered this section from my through-hike as the most poorly maintained section that I encountered, especially further on in Bloodroot Gap. I remembered reading that the local trail maintainer was reportedly "old fashioned", and wanted hikers to experience the route in the same way that early thru-hikers found it. I had to jump over four streams that had cut deeply across the trail. At least the trail was brushed fairly well. I turned to my right and started bushwhacking up to the ridge on Farr Mtn earlier than I had planned, since the woods weren't any worse than the unbroken trail. I hadn't seen my snowshoes in over 20 minutes because the snow was so deep!
After a steep climb for 15 minutes, I gained the ridge and followed it south through the open woods. After winding around some spruce trees near the summit, I happily found the cannister and signed in. This one actually had more of a register to it, dating back 20 years with entries from the Crispos, Romanos, Gwynnes, McHughs, and more. I always feel honored to add my name to theirs, although I have a long way to go before I can call myself a 3000'er.
33 minutes uphill turned into 12 minutes downhill, and I followed my tracks back towards the start. What had taken me so much work on the way out thankfully took far less effort on the way back. I made it 3.5 miles from the summit of Farr to my car in 1:10. When I arrived at my destination, I crossed paths with the same skier that I had passed in the morning. he was a local that was on his way out for a second run of the day. Some people just can't get enough, I guess. Like me.
