The Long Trail: The Journey Begins
I’m officially hiking The Long Trail! It means so much to me to be tackling this 273-mile trail, which traverses my home state of Vermont, from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border.
I’m already familiar with some of the trail, having summited Mount Mansfield and Camel’s Hump years ago, but I haven’t hiked the rest. It’s a rough and rugged trail that follows the ridge line of the Green Mountains. For 100 miles it merges with The Appalachian Trail (oddly enough, the trail it inspired), but then it breaks off and heads north to the Canadian border.
I started the hike on Monday morning and the weather was already warm. The funny thing is that the Long Trail actually starts in the middle of the woods on the Vermont border. To get to the beginning of this epic 273 mile trail requires a 3 mile hike. By the time I reached the trailhead I was already hot and sweaty.
Vermont is usually very wet. It’s famous for its Ver-mud on the trail, but this year has been drier than usual. As I hiked on in the 80 degree heat, my water stores were diminishing. I was grateful that I had planned my first day on the trail as a shorter day to get my legs used to the task at hand. As I neared the end of my hike I ran into another hiker, who had been on the Appalachian Trail since March, and had completely run out of water.
One of the best parts of hiking a trail that is part of so many people’s bucket lists is the sense of camaraderie and empathy hikers have for one another. The fact that so many people complete the Appalachian Trail every year is a testament to this wonderful, caring community. My trail angel was able to pick me up at the end of my hike with plenty of water to help Prophet, a parched AT hiker, refill his stores so he could continue on. Paying it forward in hopes that if I need something later on the trail I can depend on my trailmates.
It’s a good reminder that we are not in this alone. It’s important to ask for help if we need it.
On my second day I took on 11.2 miles of the trail (which turned into more like 11.4 miles, thanks to a wrong turn). It was a glorious morning. I got an early start and the weather was cool as I moved along the rolling hills on this second section.
Just before the end of my hike for the day, I summited Harmon Hill for a breathtaking view of Bennington, Vermont in the valley below. I was tired, but still felt relatively good and I had less than 2 miles to go.
That’s when everything changed.
The last mile of the 11+ mile hike was a sharp descent down to Vermont Route 9 from the top of Harmon Hill. It was brutally steep and dangerously rocky. I don’t love hiking down hill on the best of days, but stepping from rock to rock challenged not only my balance and coordination, but forced me to really trust in my body and my training.
With each step I had to remind myself to trust the rock, trust my foot. That became my mantra as I navigated my way down the mountain.
Today I’ll take on a shorter section, to give my legs a break and a little time to recover, before I take on another long section on Thursday.
From time to time I will be partnering with my long-time sponsor Eating Recovery Center to produce trailside live videos. The first one was posted on Monday, announcing the start of the trail. If you don’t want to miss a thing, you’ll want to follow them on Instagram, too.