Newb
10-16-2006, 11:16
This article also mentions the AT, so don't flame me :p
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061013/NEWS/610130306/1014/FEATURES11
From the Rutland Herald:
Vermont's Long Trail lures 200,000 hikers each year
October 13, 2006
By PAUL POST Herald Correspondent
http://rhimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=RH&Date=20061013&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=610130306&Ref=AR&Profile=1014&maxw=200&maxh=230 http://www.rutlandherald.com/graphics/spacer.gif
http://www.rutlandherald.com/graphics/enlarge_image_horiz.gif (http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061013/NEWS/610130306/1014/FEATURES11#) Chef Parick Boandl works in the kitchen of the Inn at Long Trail.
Photo: ALBERT J. MARRO / RUTLAND HERALD James P. Taylor had no idea when he looked out across the Green Mountains and envisioned a trail linking Vermont's most beautiful peaks, exactly what he'd be starting.
Ninety-six years later, 200,000 hikers per year share his appreciation for the great outdoors by trekking portions of the Long Trail that runs the length of Vermont from Massachusetts to the Canadian border.
In southern Vermont, the trail covers the same ground as the more famous Appalachian Trail, which breaks off to the east just north of Route 4 in Killington. Here, hikers quite often get their first taste of civilization in several days at a popular stopping point, the Inn at Long Trail.
"Sometimes they smell a little bit and you get the bottle of Fabreze out and give them a little spray," chef Patrick Boandl said, laughing. "But we definitely take care of the hikers. People think that hikers only want health foods, but they come in and they want cheeseburgers because they've been eating all this instant food on the trail.
"Sometimes they'll have two or three breakfasts or have breakfast and stay for lunch."
Last year, 125 people hiked the 270-mile Long Trail from end to end. From southern to central Vermont, hikers find themselves mingling with like-minded people from all over the country, because the AT goes from Maine to Georgia.
"They really like Vermont," Boandl said. "A lot of them finish the Appalachian Trail, then come back and finish the Long Trail from here to the Canadian border, 170 miles."
Taylor, a Saxtons River school teacher, founded the Green Mountain Club in 1910 with the purpose of building the trail, completed in the early 1930s. The Inn's forerunner, the Long Trail Lodge, was the Green Mountain Club's first clubhouse, built directly across the road in 1923 by Mortimer Proctor of Vermont Marble Co. fame. The lodge burned in 1968, but the Long Trail still goes right through the Inn's parking lot.
It's a popular starting point for day or overnight treks, with Killington Peak just to the south.
"Everybody's got their favorite section," said Susan Shea, who spent 14-1/2 years as the club's land protection director. "Twenty years ago, the club embarked on a program to counter development threats. Efforts were concentrated on private lands north of Green Mountain National Forest's boundary on Mount Ellen.
"When we started the program, there were about 70 miles of trail on private land with no legal protection, just handshake agreements," she said. "There was a lot of timber land for sale in northern Vermont and there were also a couple of developments on the trail in the late-'80s, a radio tower on Robbins Mountain in the Winooski Valley and a house in Jonesville, both on private land.
"We couldn't just use the handshake agreements any more. We really had to take some action to secure the future of the trail."
Following extensive fund-raising, the club either purchased land outright or obtained 10-foot wide conservation easements over private land — a total of 83 separate protection projects.
Now only about 3 percent of the entire system — the Long Trail and its 175 miles of side trails — is on private land with no legal protection.
For many miles, the trail goes through Green Mountain National Forest and much of the land acquired by the club has been added to existing state forest. In one case, a new state forest was created, Long Trail State Forest that stretches from Route 15 in Johnson to Route 242 in Jay.
One of Shea's favorite hikes is just south of Eden on Route 118, covering a portion of Long Trail and the side Babcock Trail.
"It's a nice hike during foliage season," she said. "There's a lot of variety and it's not real difficult. You go by two ponds, Ritterbush and Big Muddy ponds, and there's a fern-filled ravine called Devil's Gulch."
More than the trek's natural attractions, Shea feels a great deal of satisfaction knowing the site is forever wild because of her efforts to acquire the property, as land protection director.
It's almost as if the Long Trail has a common theme of one person laying the groundwork for future generations. Had it not been for Taylor, Benton McKaye might never have climbed Stratton Mountain in 1922 and dreamed of the more than 1,000-mile Appalachian Trail.
"McKaye had this vision of a larger trail, but the Long Trail was there first," Shea said. "The Long Trail was the inspiration for the Appalachian Trail. The Long Trail is the oldest long-distance trail in America."
George Roy is director of the Brattleboro section.
"You're not going to find anything on the Appalachian Trail that's more difficult than the Long Trail," he said. "In southern Vermont, there's a long stretch that's probably one of the best stretches of wilderness anywhere."
From Route 9, it goes north over Stratton Mountain past Stratton Pond to the Manchester area. "There's one road crossing in 35 miles and that's a dirt road," Roy said. "That's very atypical of the Appalachian Trail. There's probably only one or two places south of Vermont that have that, in North Carolina."
Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump, two of the state's highest peaks, are among the most heavily visited summits. "The day I did Camel's Hump, it was 106 degrees in Burlington and it probably wasn't any cooler on Camel's Hump," Chelsea's Janet Clarke said. Like many avid hikers, she has a trail nickname — "Fancy Free."
It's all part of the camaraderie and friendship people develop when passing each other along the way. "Someone might be behind you entire time," Roy said. "If you're signing registers, they'll be reading your journals. They'll know all about you and you know absolutely nothing about them. If they catch up to you, they'll say, 'Oh, you're Fancy Free!"
The Adirondacks and White Mountains might be higher, but only the Long Trail offers the full range of terrain that people enjoy from one end of Vermont to the other.
"We have a lot of historic shelters along the Long Trail," Shea said. "Some of them were built in the '30s. We've made an effort to try to save the historic character of at least with some of them, and try to restore them rather than tear them down and build new ones.
"I think the Green Mountains are unique. They have their own charm."
For more information, see the Web site at greenmountainclub.org.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061013/NEWS/610130306/1014/FEATURES11
From the Rutland Herald:
Vermont's Long Trail lures 200,000 hikers each year
October 13, 2006
By PAUL POST Herald Correspondent
http://rhimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=RH&Date=20061013&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=610130306&Ref=AR&Profile=1014&maxw=200&maxh=230 http://www.rutlandherald.com/graphics/spacer.gif
http://www.rutlandherald.com/graphics/enlarge_image_horiz.gif (http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061013/NEWS/610130306/1014/FEATURES11#) Chef Parick Boandl works in the kitchen of the Inn at Long Trail.
Photo: ALBERT J. MARRO / RUTLAND HERALD James P. Taylor had no idea when he looked out across the Green Mountains and envisioned a trail linking Vermont's most beautiful peaks, exactly what he'd be starting.
Ninety-six years later, 200,000 hikers per year share his appreciation for the great outdoors by trekking portions of the Long Trail that runs the length of Vermont from Massachusetts to the Canadian border.
In southern Vermont, the trail covers the same ground as the more famous Appalachian Trail, which breaks off to the east just north of Route 4 in Killington. Here, hikers quite often get their first taste of civilization in several days at a popular stopping point, the Inn at Long Trail.
"Sometimes they smell a little bit and you get the bottle of Fabreze out and give them a little spray," chef Patrick Boandl said, laughing. "But we definitely take care of the hikers. People think that hikers only want health foods, but they come in and they want cheeseburgers because they've been eating all this instant food on the trail.
"Sometimes they'll have two or three breakfasts or have breakfast and stay for lunch."
Last year, 125 people hiked the 270-mile Long Trail from end to end. From southern to central Vermont, hikers find themselves mingling with like-minded people from all over the country, because the AT goes from Maine to Georgia.
"They really like Vermont," Boandl said. "A lot of them finish the Appalachian Trail, then come back and finish the Long Trail from here to the Canadian border, 170 miles."
Taylor, a Saxtons River school teacher, founded the Green Mountain Club in 1910 with the purpose of building the trail, completed in the early 1930s. The Inn's forerunner, the Long Trail Lodge, was the Green Mountain Club's first clubhouse, built directly across the road in 1923 by Mortimer Proctor of Vermont Marble Co. fame. The lodge burned in 1968, but the Long Trail still goes right through the Inn's parking lot.
It's a popular starting point for day or overnight treks, with Killington Peak just to the south.
"Everybody's got their favorite section," said Susan Shea, who spent 14-1/2 years as the club's land protection director. "Twenty years ago, the club embarked on a program to counter development threats. Efforts were concentrated on private lands north of Green Mountain National Forest's boundary on Mount Ellen.
"When we started the program, there were about 70 miles of trail on private land with no legal protection, just handshake agreements," she said. "There was a lot of timber land for sale in northern Vermont and there were also a couple of developments on the trail in the late-'80s, a radio tower on Robbins Mountain in the Winooski Valley and a house in Jonesville, both on private land.
"We couldn't just use the handshake agreements any more. We really had to take some action to secure the future of the trail."
Following extensive fund-raising, the club either purchased land outright or obtained 10-foot wide conservation easements over private land — a total of 83 separate protection projects.
Now only about 3 percent of the entire system — the Long Trail and its 175 miles of side trails — is on private land with no legal protection.
For many miles, the trail goes through Green Mountain National Forest and much of the land acquired by the club has been added to existing state forest. In one case, a new state forest was created, Long Trail State Forest that stretches from Route 15 in Johnson to Route 242 in Jay.
One of Shea's favorite hikes is just south of Eden on Route 118, covering a portion of Long Trail and the side Babcock Trail.
"It's a nice hike during foliage season," she said. "There's a lot of variety and it's not real difficult. You go by two ponds, Ritterbush and Big Muddy ponds, and there's a fern-filled ravine called Devil's Gulch."
More than the trek's natural attractions, Shea feels a great deal of satisfaction knowing the site is forever wild because of her efforts to acquire the property, as land protection director.
It's almost as if the Long Trail has a common theme of one person laying the groundwork for future generations. Had it not been for Taylor, Benton McKaye might never have climbed Stratton Mountain in 1922 and dreamed of the more than 1,000-mile Appalachian Trail.
"McKaye had this vision of a larger trail, but the Long Trail was there first," Shea said. "The Long Trail was the inspiration for the Appalachian Trail. The Long Trail is the oldest long-distance trail in America."
George Roy is director of the Brattleboro section.
"You're not going to find anything on the Appalachian Trail that's more difficult than the Long Trail," he said. "In southern Vermont, there's a long stretch that's probably one of the best stretches of wilderness anywhere."
From Route 9, it goes north over Stratton Mountain past Stratton Pond to the Manchester area. "There's one road crossing in 35 miles and that's a dirt road," Roy said. "That's very atypical of the Appalachian Trail. There's probably only one or two places south of Vermont that have that, in North Carolina."
Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump, two of the state's highest peaks, are among the most heavily visited summits. "The day I did Camel's Hump, it was 106 degrees in Burlington and it probably wasn't any cooler on Camel's Hump," Chelsea's Janet Clarke said. Like many avid hikers, she has a trail nickname — "Fancy Free."
It's all part of the camaraderie and friendship people develop when passing each other along the way. "Someone might be behind you entire time," Roy said. "If you're signing registers, they'll be reading your journals. They'll know all about you and you know absolutely nothing about them. If they catch up to you, they'll say, 'Oh, you're Fancy Free!"
The Adirondacks and White Mountains might be higher, but only the Long Trail offers the full range of terrain that people enjoy from one end of Vermont to the other.
"We have a lot of historic shelters along the Long Trail," Shea said. "Some of them were built in the '30s. We've made an effort to try to save the historic character of at least with some of them, and try to restore them rather than tear them down and build new ones.
"I think the Green Mountains are unique. They have their own charm."
For more information, see the Web site at greenmountainclub.org.