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View Full Version : Trail Relocation north of Winooski River



iTrod
04-09-2015, 11:40
I am interested in knowing the trail route between Duxbury Road and Buchanan Shelter once the Winooski Bridge is open this June.

Does anyone know the route or distance between Duxbury Road and Buchanan Shelter? I suspect the Long Trail will have a new E2E distance this year.

Hike Strong!

tower2
04-15-2015, 01:57
I am interested in knowing the trail route between Duxbury Road and Buchanan Shelter once the Winooski Bridge is open this June.

Does anyone know the route or distance between Duxbury Road and Buchanan Shelter? I suspect the Long Trail will have a new E2E distance this year.

Hike Strong!
I only found the map of the reroute which will have an official opening of the bridge on mid-June as per the Green Mountain Club.

https://www.greenmountainclub.org/images/Image/2013/bolton%20and%20winooski%20river/Winooski%20Relo%20Map%20from%20Appeal.jpg
I hope this helps. I think the bridge is being used now, but I'm not sure of it. The reroute will have white blazes and the old LT will have blue blazes.

iTrod
05-07-2015, 20:41
Thanks! This is very helpful.

Collin
08-25-2015, 13:52
Oddly enough, even with the many miles behind me at this point, this section kicked my butt. The uphill from the river is A LOT. The trail conditions are great though- it is just an aggressive gradient. Also, be very careful with water. Once you leave the road walk there is a short walk to a fair stream crossing. FILL UP! There was no water from there to Buchanan and I believe it is a ridge walk anyway.

rafe
08-25-2015, 14:50
The LT just keeps getting more gnarly the further north you go.

I knew the new bridge had been finished (from GMC's website) but I hadn't heard about the relo that went with it -- ie. whether the relo had been completed.

Rough
08-26-2015, 10:04
In June 2015 the Long Trail was relocated from Duxbury Road to Jonesville to cross the Winooski River over a new suspension footbridge. The trail now follows Duxbury Road west for 1 mile and then follows a path along the river and the edge of farm fields before rejoining the road 2-tenths of a mile from the bridge. New trail climbs Stimson Mountain and rejoins the existing footpath south of the Buchanan Shelter junction. Duck Brook Shelter is now on a GMC-maintained side trail. According to the GMC: "Distance between Bamforth Ridge Shelter and Buchanan Shelter on new Long Trail is approximately 12 miles." In 2016, a further relocation is planned on Bamforth Ridge north of the Bamforth Ridge Shelter to eliminate the 1-mile road walk. Calculated distances that cross the Duxbury parking lot are effected by the 2015 relocation. The Long Trail Distances Calculator at http://www.longtrailpodcast.com/ltdist_calc.php will be adjusted once all of the new distances are published. See the Green Mountain Club info page at http://www.greenmountainclub.org/news.php?id=380 for more information.

A couple of days ago Tumble and I hiked a portion of the relocated trail. There is a small LT parking lot and trailhead sign one mile west of the Bamforth Ridge parking lot on the north side of Duxbury Road. This is where the trail begins the river/farm field section. Once you cross the bridge, you follow the path to cross a set of railroad tracks, and then cross Route 2 where there is a larger parking lot. The trail parallels Route 2 west for a quarter mile to Bolton Notch Road. Hikers pass thru a tunnel under Interstate 89 and hike uphill on Bolton Notch Road for another quarter mile where the Long Trail turns right and enters the woods for the climb up Stimson Mountain. Yes, the section from the bridge to Stimson is saturated with road noise from Route 2 and I-89, however the new bridge is spectacular and the Green Mountain has done a great job of eliminating the 3-mile road walk through Jonesville.

StubbleJumper
08-26-2015, 21:26
Oddly enough, even with the many miles behind me at this point, this section kicked my butt. The uphill from the river is A LOT. The trail conditions are great though- it is just an aggressive gradient. Also, be very careful with water. Once you leave the road walk there is a short walk to a fair stream crossing. FILL UP! There was no water from there to Buchanan and I believe it is a ridge walk anyway.


I've never climbed the new Stimson Mountain trail, but I can attest to the fact that the old trail from Duck Brook to Puffer was a long, steady, annoying climb. From memory, it was about 7 or 8 miles from Jonesville to Puffer, climbing steadily all the way. That's probably 4 to 5 hours of nearly continuous climbing. Given the elevation change, I can't imagine that the new route would be much different. It truly is a butt-kicker.

rafe
08-26-2015, 21:34
Yes, it's a long slow uphill slog, and as I recall with a moderate drop in the middle of it. (Talking about the old path, from Jonesville.) Pretty much what I expected from the profile. It's basically the approach trail to Mansfield. On the plus side, the view from Puffer shelter was very nice.