LT SOBO July 2004 report

imported
#1

I just started SOBO July 18th. I was hiking and biking several times a week leading up to this hike, and have a good background hiking. Vermont has received 2-3 weeks of straight rain and the trail is 1-2-3 feet of mud and running water on the trail. hiking is 1/2 the distance I expected and VERY WET. I jumped off the trail for a week 1/2 to 2 weeks to let it dry up some. If you head out now expect the ground (mud) to give out under your weight and every rock and tree is a hazard. There is one place where a NOBO hiker was heading down near Haystack and slid off into the woods and down a steep drop off. You can tell this place by the cleared out brush and bent hiking pole at the bottom of the drop. most NOBO hikers I talked to said they have not had dry feet in 2 weeks since they crossed rt.4 north. Very tough going right now, and the north bound sections have overgrowth and are without and real method for crossing the muddy areas except walking through it. The ground in other areas due to 2 plus weeks of constant rain has made the first 3-4 inches of “dirt” a mud layer on top of the ground like frosting on a cake and slides out under your weight. I made it from Canada to RT 58 before I bailed out. I will head NOBO in a week and 1/2. Just wanted to pass on the info.

meditation

#2

Yeppers…I just finished my last section from Rte 4 north to Lincoln Gap last Weds night to Sunday. To be blunt, it sucked. Everything you describe is completely accurate. The trail is a mudpit, I even took pictures of it. Bog logs and water bars do not appear to be part of the trail maintenance program, and neither is clipping and brushing (and I don’t just mean in the Breadloaf which gives this disclaimer). I really wondered why the frig I was out there. But it’s done and I don’t aim to repeat this trail for a long time…if ever. My personal theory is that the GMC has too many shelters to maintain and upkeep and the trail itself goes by the wayside. Celt, if you see this, you really need to explain to me why you keep hiking the LT. I honestly don’t get it.

Here’s hoping my shoes dry today for the first time in a week here at home. :bawling

Bluebearee

#3

This is not a good sign for me. I planning to do my next LT section from Clarenden Gorge to Middlebury Gap starting next Tuesday. I can’t reschedule, let’s hope for dry hot weather until then. BB, did you dislike the entire LT or just this last part, BTW, enjoy your journals.
SY

Swampyankee

#4

We are starting a sobo this saturday/sunday. Don’t really have a choice to reshedual, so we’re going to go. Hopefully it will dry out some… Mud… That sounds like fun… Don’t get much of that here in Colorado…

Gravity man

Gravity Man

#5

Thanks for your input SY. I have to say that overall the LT was a disappointment to me. Last Fall we had a lot of rain too which slowed our progress immensely. It was tiring. This stretch was just an exercise in keeping your sanity in the wet. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I doubt in the next 3-5 days these stretches will dry enough to become real trail again. The trail isn’t clipped back enough to let sunlight in. The trail work done around Middlebury Ski Bowl will be helpful, but too late for me. Gravity Man, perhaps the conditions will be a welcome change to high and dry CO. I just got tired of wet feet and socks for 6 days (I finished by spending two days hiking north of Manchester with my journal-er little chicken) and constant looking at the ground (when I could see it through the thickets). Amazingly enough I never fell. There were a few high points, but all together I’m not a fan. Good luck to all.

Bluebearee

#6

BB- I hiked in drier years. Even my 2002 spring hike was on dry trail except for the snowy sections. In 2001 the springs were drying up as I hiked north, lots of water talk in the registers that year. That year seemed pretty bad to some hikers I met that year but nothing compared to what I’m hearing about this year. I’d like to be cliche and say when life gives you lemons you make lemonade but what good are mud pies to a hiker? Sometimes hiking just bites.

As for the undergrowth, there were some memorable areas between Rte 4 and Middlebury Gap where the stinging nettles dominated the treadway but otherwise nothing so bad as you described. I hope better hikes are in your future (maybe even on the LT).

Celt

#7

Sounds like most of the AT LAST year - overgrown, weedy, wet, slick and over-your-shoes-muddy! That makes it a real endurance trial, not the enjoyable nature walk one envisions when planning the venture at home.

I remember those LT nettles! And long, snatchy, snaggy raspberry canes dangling across the track. Even in a drought year ('02), they were rampant in stretches.

Still, like childbirth, the “pain” and misery fade and somehow, we just want to do it again. I liked both trails, have fond memories despite the wildly disparate conditions -but I won’t repeat them, for awhile anyway, at least not in one whack. So many trails, so little time…
:wink:

Jan LiteShoe

#8

Actually, now I curious especially beyond RT 4. It’s facinating how we all view the trails and experiences differently. I have completed the first 93+ miles, which I truly enjoyed. plan to get to Middlebury in 4-5 days from Clarenden so we’re only needing to do 10-12 per day. I will give you a report when I back.

Swampyankee

Swampyankee

#9

Well, I just have to step in and defend our Long Trail, which I believe is an outstanding hike…

I am section hiking south to north, and hiked the section from just above Rt. 4 to Middlebury Gap one week before Memorial Day. Then I went back and hiked the whole of Monroe Skyline from Middlebury Gap to the mighty Winooski one week after Memorial Day. Both trips were great.

The Long Trail is fundamentally different north of Rt. 4 as it loses the AT. It is a little more wild and in my opiinion a little more interesting than higher volume routes like the AT in southern VT. Going north, the LT has just been getting better and better for me.

So, maybe after a hard rain, the mud does suck (the boot right off your foot), but the Long Trail does not! Long live the Long Trail.

Tramper Al

#10

BB CONGRATS on finishing the LT! I know that last section had been nagging you. I’ll drop you a line soon.

A-Train (who came to his wits and decided to start tackling the long PATH not the Long Trail.)

A-Train

#11

Thanks buddy! You know it…wish you could have been with me for some “ain’t this trail in sorry condition” bitchin’. :bawling

Bluebearee

#12

I thought I had experienced the worst on my SOBO thru last year (Jul/Aug) in terms of extended rain, fog, mud since '78. Sounds like this year is even more dismal, sorry to be missing out. The great feature of the LT is that no matter how many times and years you hike it the conditions are very variable in all months. No doubt it’s a hard hump, but if you allow the extra time it makes for a great journey. Am curious how the four mile or so stretch north of Stratton Pond to Rootville Rd near Prospect Rock is faring this year. Last August it was an incredibly fatitiguing mudpit with blowdowns and in '02 in July it was dry and firm allowing for a 3+ mph pace. At least going south I had Stratton Pond for a good swim. At the north end of this infiltration course is the .5 mile side trail trail to Douglas shelter and I’m sure many skip this, but for those that make the stop take note of the large green lettered “Vermud” carving on the overhang rafter. It’s a historical reference of misery by those who came well before the present generation as I first noted it back in August 1979 when the AT/LT was routed from Stratton Pond to Bourn Pond and then directly north. It’s now called the Branch Pond trail and makes for an interesting hike. I am not sure if the large blow down swath from the tornado last year has been cleared between Stratton and Bourn. The USFS claimed it to be impassable.

OJ

#13

Well, I’m planning a hike north from US 4 to Journey’s End starting in late August. Hopefully it’ll dry out by then! At least the water sources should be in good shape.

Bunchberry

#14

I want to make one other point, I am going to complete the LT, this summer. I am not trying to knock the LT at all. Actually I have hiked many sactions in the past and loved everyone. I just wanted to prepare people for the current conditions.

meditation

#15

I’ll bet in September and October this section would be hard to beat. Cool days, even cooler nights, drier air, blazing fall color. Leaves were starting to turn the end of August near the Canadian end…

LiteShoe Again

#16

Well, I see there is a severe weather condition from St Johnsbury across VT to Rutland for the next 12-24 hours, up to 2" of rain, and locally heavy flooding in MT Streams. Liteshoe has a point about Sept / Oct.

SY

Swampyankee

#17

We did a NOBO from US4 to Vt17 at Appalachian Gap last week. The week started ok, Saturday through Monday, though I agree with everything said here about the brushing north of US4. Great views off the Mt Horrid cliffs. On Tuesday, the fog settled in and that was about it for the rest of the week. One nice sunny break south of Lincoln Gap on Thursday gave us a chance to dry out a bit.

The mud and the slippery rocks made for a slow going and a bit of danger. One of the kids in our group slipped going up a rock and suffered a small fracture in his arm. We had other scrapes and bumps.

Favorite shelter grafitti. Carved in the floor at Cooley Glen: “I’ll bet its raining”. Yea!

Hike safe,

digit

#18

Hi folks,
I’m not surprised regarding mud, etc. as it’s been a very wet year. I’m on the trail again the 2nd week of September, starting at Sherburne Pass and heading north.
Blessings,
rusty

rusty

#19

Im supposed to be heading out Sept 4th, although work is trying to stop me. I sure hope that waiting til then gives me better weather and trail conditions than you all are describing!

CamelJohn

#20

Hey OJ, thanks for reminding me about Douglas shelter and Bourne Pond! I loved Bourne Pond and remember Douglas shelter from my June/July’73 thru-hike. But, I don’t remember seeing the 'Vermud’carving. At times, my hike seemed more like a ‘FootBath’ in the wilderness. that mud seemed knee deep and at times possitively horrid. But then again, rain is what keeps them Green Mt’s so green!

As for the need for brushing, bog logs, water bars and so many other types of maintenance… There is no doubt that there is a constant need to install new logs, clean water bars and beat back the nettles. But all in all the GMC trail crews and volunteers do a great job every summer to make our trips more enjoyable and to protect the trail from the inevitible abuse due to its ever increasing popularity. I was a caretaker at the old Butler Lodge on Camels Hump in '79 and a ridge runner on Mansfield in '81. I remember that nearly every day I did some kind of trail maintenance (cleaning waterbars, building bridges, painting blazes, rocking up soft spots, etc). It was a constant daily job with no end (trail maintenance), but most days I got back to camp thinking I had made the trail just a little bit better for folks who were passing thru and that was truly satisfying.

Cheers to the GMC and all who volunteer their time to make sure our hikes are memorable, and make sure that the trails survive our passing!

The Band-aid Kid