August 26th, 2018, Vermont
For several days now I have been hiking on the co-located Long Trail and Appalachian Trail. The Long Trail is the first trail of its kind and, at over 270 miles, links Vermont’s southern border with Canada to the north. The Long Trail was the inspiration for the Appalachian Trail which came a couple decades later.
Today the trail headed over Stratton Mountain and Glastonbury Mountain. Stratton Mountain is notable as the “cradle of the Long Trail and Appalachian Trail” and it was reportedly at this site both ideas were formed.
There was an observation tower up top with great views.
On the way down the mountain there were dozens of day hikers coming up. At the bottom of the mountain I found where they were all coming from.
Then I passed another beaver pond. This time I could see the beaver’s lodge not far from the trail.
And on the other side I marveled at the effectiveness of the dam. It may be hard to see in the photo but the water level of the pond is about three feet higher than where I’m standing below the dam. The pond is completely held back by the beaver’s work.
Glastonbury Mountain came later in the day and was uneventful. There was another observation tower but I didn’t go up. The sky had become overcast and there was a 40% chance of rain in the afternoon. I continued on from there for a few more hours. As I was getting water near a shelter I met a hiking trio called Jackrabbit, Sunrise, and Two Socks. They were finishing the AT which they started last year. Jackrabbit has gotten injured so they couldn’t finish until this year.
And I made it quite far today. I only have one more day of food so I wanted to be in range of North Adams for resupply tomorrow evening or the next morning. So it was getting dark when I arrived at my stopping point. I hurried through setting up camp and making dinner and settled down right away—exhausted from the day’s hike.