Long
Trail 1998 -- the summer of rain
In the summer of 1998, Alex
and I hiked the length of the Long Trail, which traverses the
state of Vermont from Massachusetts to Quebec. The Long Trail
is the oldest long distance hiking trail in the United States,
and was completed in 1930. We planned to hike the trail with my
AT hiking friend Slick and his friend Ben, but it didn't quite
work out. Along the way, we ran into an AT hiking friend from
1994 named Motrin Along and another hiker named Jesse. We lost
Slick and Ben somewhere, and I don't exactly know where or why.
I don't know if they ever finished. However, Jesse finished before
we did. It took us three attempts, but we finally reached the
Canadian Border on September 14, 1998. We experienced rain (and
lots of really deep, nasty mud) almost every day. Please read
the journal
that I kept during my hike
(complete with pictures). You will need the Adobe
Acrobat Reader to
view this file.
Here are some pictures that
I took along the way:
Alex and I are at
the Massachusetts border. See how happy we are? We have absolutely
no idea what we've gotten ourselves into. Oh yeah, see the sunshine?
Don't get too used to it!
Here is the sign
that we saw at the Massachusetts border. (It's the one behind
the sign in the picture above.)
The Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail share the same treadway
for the next 100 miles.
Here's a picture
of Jesse, Slick and Ben (left to right) making dinner at the Peru
Peak shelter.
At Maine Junction,
the Appalachian Trail and Long Trail part ways. Unfortunately,
Slick, Ben and I did the same shortly thereafter (sort of). Actually,
Alex and I got about a day or so ahead of them because of the
rain, so I don't really know where they got off of the trail.
That's a real shame, because I really liked Slick, and Ben was
OK, too.
The view as we approach
the summit of Camels Hump. Yes, it rained on this day as well.
Here's a picture
of Alex at the Canadian border. The mountains in the background
all lie in Quebec. Wait a minute, it finally stopped raining!
Here is the sign
that we saw at the Canadian border.
The GMC officially
acknowledges our hike. We should have recieved a special medal
for putting up with all the rain.
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