With extremely nice weather in the forecast and the tail end of the foliage season rapidly approaching, I departed Hanover early this morning (0800) with high hopes for a great hike on the Long Trail in Vermont. I first used I-89 to reach Sharon/Bethel. It was foggy and in the 30s as I next drove west through the foothills of the Green Mountains but the sun was shining brightly in the bluebird sky. I used VT-100 to make my way through the pretty Mad River Valley before heading further west to the ridges above the Champlain Valley. By the time I arrived at my trailhead target near Lincoln Gap (0930), it was a balmy 45 F. I’d hoped to get right on the trail but the road had already been closed for the season - this meant I would have to do a road walk for 3/4 of a mile. Just as I was about to start, another hiker arrived and took one of the last parking spots. She and I exchanged pleasantries and ultimately decided to join up for a hike to the summit of Mount Abraham. This was a welcome surprise, since I usually end up solo on such trail adventures. Even more of a bonus, Rebecca (from New Zealand) was an experienced hiker, mountaineer and wilderness guide - the size of her backpack and extensive hiking section planning were also reassuring… Starting at 0950, we walked the leaf strewn pavement to the Long Trail - after that, we made our way uphill through rocks, roots and painted trees. Since she’d been on holiday in the States for several weeks, she had lots of stories of hikes, scenery and transportations - this kept us entertained for a few hours. I was feeling a bit rusty during the first few miles but kept on going and this paid dividends as the mountain scenery grew more spectacular. We encountered a Outing Club group from UVM during our climb and also met several other hikers as we climbed. Reaching the summit (4000+ feet), we were treated to expansive views of peaks in all directions (I actually spotted Whiteface in the ADKs). Wow! We ate lunch in the wide open alpine zone - I’ll admit that the wind made it feel a bit chilly. Apparently, though, there was over a foot of snow there one week ago so I can’t complain. There were some remnants of the wintry precipitation but nothing, fortunately, that required microspikes. Rebecca’s backpack held lots of goodies that she generously shared. The UVM group joined us for a bit and mentioned that there was aircraft wreckage quite close by - this intrigued me so we headed over there. Seeing the stricken fuselage, I marveled at the news the pilot had survived… Since the weather was still good, we decided to continue north to the summit of Mount Lincoln. This required less than a mile of walking, although there was more mud along the way than we’d seen earlier. After getting another great view, we started our backtrack towards our cars. Rebecca and I shared stories of hiking adventures at home and abroad and the return leg seemed to go much more quickly. There were some spots where the exposed granite was tricky but we navigated those without incident. At one point, we caught up to a local man who decided that he wanted to talk about politics with us. That was not my cup of tea (and definitely not something I like to bring with me into the woods) so I soon found myself walking faster... Fortunately, we’d nearly reached the pavement by then and were able to say farewell soon afterwards. The last mile or so included some images of foliage out of a Robert Frost poem and I realized what a really special day in the mountains I’d just had. At our cars (after roughly 10 miles of walking) by 1620, we agreed that we deserved a beer for our efforts and convoyed north on VT-100 to Waterbury for brews and dinner at Prohibition Pig. We arrived at 1715 and enjoyed drinks, dinner and more fun conversations. Reluctantly, we both agreed to end our day at 1900. After exchanging social media information, we said goodbye and I got on I-89. I was home at 2015 after a really great day away from Hanover. Happy I got to be a part of Rebecca’s US vacation and that I was able to spend such a quality day in the mountains of Vermont! Long Trail Today = 3.3 miles / Grand Total LT = 134.4 miles
