View Full Version : Long Trail E2E Traditions?
I was wondering if there are any Long Trail traditions for End-To-Enders. I know that there are a bunch of the for the AT (and there are many threads discussing it), but I haven't been able to find any mentions of traditions for the LT. Thoughts?
johnnyblisters
05-03-2010, 17:17
The main tradition is to walk from VT to Canada...:cool:
But for real, I plan on consuming lots of long trail ale when I get there!
Vermont to Canada could be a short hike depending upon where one starts. I'd suggest starting with one foot in Massachusetts and ending at Journey's End.
When temperatures climb into the 80s and beyond, I think I would be refreshed most by cold, mountain spring water, but you might want to try a Long Trail Belgian White.
I enjoyed a meal at what I believe was called China Barn in Waitsfield late in a long day many years ago and arrived at Birch Glen as darkness fell having listened to wood thrushes along the way. It may have been about as good a day as one could have and might only be improved by substituting Belgian White for Chinese beer, but I believe the restaurant closed years ago and the shelter's been replaced.
Make your own traditions. You need not order from the menu.
If you come across GMC's Long Trail Patrol (https://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=169), offer to assist them with whatever time you can spare or at least take a few moments to ask them about the work they are doing.
Learn to identify a White-throated Sparrow (http://www.naturesound.com/birds/pages/whtthrt.html) and make a point of both seeing and hearing at least one in the course of your hike.
Cookerhiker
05-04-2010, 21:49
I'm sure everyone who hikes NOBO gets a photo with one foot in VT and one in Canada.
Don't know f this is a "tradition" but it is a practice by lots of LT end-to-enders: Skip the White Blaze coming off Killington (NOBO) and hike the blue-blaze down to Sherburne Pass. Enjoy a Guinness or the brew of your choice at the Inn at the Long Trail, perhaps stay for a meal of Shepherds Pie, take in the Irish music at night. When you're ready to resume, continue taking the blue-blaze until the white blaze joins you in about a mile.
Doing a NOBO, it's customary (for guys) to stand in the USA and pee into Canada (sorry, Canada! :D).
If the weather is clear and not too windy, plan on visiting with GMC's ranger-naturalists on Camels Hump and Mount Mansfield. Listen while they tell you all they're willing about alpine vegetation and why they are there to help interpret it.
Then, see if you can stump them with a question. It will demonstate you were paying attention and may serve to make them even better at what they were put there to do.
vonfrick
05-05-2010, 17:29
i've done the LT twice and so far my only tradition has been to pick up trash left by other hikers
Don't know if it's a "tradition" but it is a practice by lots of LT end-to-enders: Skip the White Blaze coming off Killington (NOBO) and hike the blue-blaze down to Sherburne Pass, etc.
That's not a bad tradition and may have more staying power than others which may be suggested. The Long Trail might still follow that route, but it's hard to tell what the future holds and planners thinking about it wanted to be prepared.
I would like to overnight at GMC's Long Trail Lodge, but it's about 55 years too late. Can anyone remember having experienced it or post an image?
Take a rest break at Skylight Pond and enjoy the view towards Franconia Ridge. Classic New England view:
http://pmags.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=6399&g2_serialNumber=2
I would like to overnight at GMC's Long Trail Lodge, but it's about 55 years too late. Can anyone remember having experienced it or post an image?
I had seen the old Lodge, soon after it was destroyed by fire, years ago. Here's a link to some of my pictures of the old camp buildings nearby:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/501571397pfTpsd
Take a rest break at Skylight Pond and enjoy the view towards Franconia Ridge. Classic New England view:
http://pmags.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=6399&g2_serialNumber=2
I experienced a full lunar eclipse there. An owl had been hooting across the pond, and, as the moon was obscured and darkness deepened, it flew across and roosted in the top of the tree between the shelter and the pond, apparantly looking for mice in the shelter. It's a wonderful memory for me.
I'm planning a thru (did I say that already?) this September.
I experienced a full lunar eclipse there. An owl had been hooting across the pond, and, as the moon was obscured and darkness deepened, it flew across and roosted in the top of the tree between the shelter and the pond, apparantly looking for mice in the shelter. It's a wonderful memory for me.
I'm planning a thru (did I say that already?) this September.
Sweet! Thats about when I'm going to hike. As long as I can set my graduation date by then. It is going to be my graduation gift to myself :P
johnnyblisters
05-06-2010, 08:15
Same here Jofish, can't wait to start (and finish) my work season (and final internship!) then do an E2E.
joehiker22
05-16-2010, 21:16
Doing a NOBO, it's customary (for guys) to stand in the USA and pee into Canada (sorry, Canada! :D).
yep.
the first thing I did when I hit the border was take my pack off, pee into canada, eat m&ms.
I'll send at my expense anyone who has serious intentions of hiking it my copy of Green Mountain Adventure, Vermont's LONG TRAIL signed by its author and personalized in recognition of my E2E on the condition it's handled with care, read from cover to cover and passed on to someone else under the same conditions. Read it in preparation for your own E2E and when you have completed your own hike, help introduce someone else to The Long Trail's rich history.
I'd say that a photo at the border marker is a must at the completion of a NOBO E-2-E hike. (It's tricky getting a foot in each country when the camera is on a timer)
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq164/Quoddy1/The%20Long%20Trail/JourneysEnd.jpg
I can't wait to get that picture this September! :)
stranger
05-18-2010, 21:16
The only traditions I know about both involve food and beer, having a Long Trail Ale and Guiness Stew at the Inn at Long Trail, and having a Long Trail Ale and huge burger at the Long Trail Tavern.
Both are good traditions!
I agree with the earlier post about blue-blazing to walk past the Inn, when I hiked the LT, the trail went by the inn, don't know why they changed it, cause obviously the blue-blaze is still functional and open????
I would strongly recommend staying at the Inn, it's good value and one of those places you never really forget.
I think I'll have to make up a tradition and start spreading the word that its been done since 1930.
I think stops at the Long Trail Inn and the Long Trail Tavern were semi-traditional until the trail was re-routed away from the tavern.
So far my personal traditions (things I did the first two times and plan to repeat next time) are stops at the Long Trail Inn and the Whistle Stop diner. Also, swimming when I can and staying at a warming hut.
Cookerhiker
06-05-2010, 20:05
....So far my personal traditions (things I did the first two times and plan to repeat next time) are stops at the Long Trail Inn and the Whistle Stop diner. Also, swimming when I can and staying at a warming hut.
From my '07 hike (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=205059):
Stop at LT Inn - Check
Whistle Stop Diner - Check
Swim - Check (at Stratton Pond - so sweet!)
Staying at a warming hut - No, at least not overnight
Cooker - That sunset over Stratton Mountain in your journal beats the one I saw from the tower at the Bromley warming hut.
For anyone else: Cooker's link is definitely worth clicking on.
Cookerhiker
06-05-2010, 21:55
Cooker - That sunset over Stratton Mountain in your journal beats the one I saw from the tower at the Bromley warming hut.
For anyone else: Cooker's link is definitely worth clicking on.
Why thanks PedXing. That same photo made it to the latest Guidebook much to my surprise (on page 263).
From my experience being soaking wet for days on end is defiantly one.
DuctTape
07-01-2010, 19:56
Here's a tradition!
http://www.downthetrail.com/longtrailphotos/day7/LT7C.JPG