Long Trail Hike After action report - 9/5 to 9/15/12

[Praha4]

I've just done a Trail Journal with some photos on my LT Section hike over at TrailJournals.com.
2012 - Long Trail: Trail Name - "Noboat"

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=393230

"Noboat" was the trailname I used for my 2010 AT sectoin hike, but for this 2012 LT hike I just used "Florida Mike". Was a lot easier to explain to folks on the trail when asked "who are you? and where are you from?"

I read 10-K's very helpful LT report after his August hike, used some of his tips, and helped me decide which sleeping bag to take. I just read Sam's LT hike report, he must have been up there about the time I was.

Hike Distance: 163 miles (Southern Terminus to Appalachian Gap)
Hike Duration: 11 days (9/5 - 9/15)
Longest day: 19 miles (Inn at Long Trail to Sunrise Shelter)

Notes:
1. I recommend Dave Ackerson in North Adams, MA for shuttle rides from Albany airport to Williamstown, MA. He's dependable and on time. I flew up from Florida on Southwest Air, great airlines, no baggage fees.
2. I used the Howard Johnsons in Williamstown, MA my first nite before hitting the trail. It was clean, fair price and only a short hike down Rt-2 from the AT trail crossing. I hiked the AT instead of the Pine Cobble Trail up the Southern Terminus. Colonial Pizza across the street from Hojos is good pizza too.
3. I took a cheapie Verizon flipphone. Very spotty coverage along the LT. Verizon gets the best coverage in the southern Appalachians along the AT. But up in Vermont, I found out that AT&T has better coverage. So next year I'm taking a cheapie AT&T Gophone. Anyone up there who can comment on that is appreciated.
4. From my perspective, I thought the LT became more difficult north of Brandon Gap (Vt-73). I'm not disagreeing with 10-K, since I did not hike the entire trail E2E this year. I agree that north of Lincoln Gap was harder, it just seemed to me that north of Brandon Gap was tough too. Not a big deal. Next year I'll hopefully do the entire E2E and find out what is north of App Gap.
5. For early September, with nite temps high 30s to 40s, the Western Mountaineering Highlite (35deg) bag was perfect. If I got chilly, I just added another base layer (Cap-2 or Cap-3 base layer) and a fleece cap.
6. I used Aqua Mira like usual, it worked fine. But I'm beginning to think I'm using the Sawyer Squeeze next hike. It's lightweight, dependable, and compatible with the Evernew water bladders.
7. I love using the GU-Brew lemon lime or NUUN cucumber mint hydration tablets to mix with water in a 20 oz Gatorade bottle to sip on all day while hiking. They are lightweight and like drinking Gatorade.
8. Avoid the Autumn Inn in Bennington, VT. What a nightmare hotel. It should not be listed in the LT End to End Guidebook.
9. I liked the Long Trail End to End Guide Book, but it does still mention a snack bar at top of Killington. NOT there!! lol
10. The GMC Long Trail map was somewhat useful, but I think I could probably get by with just the End to End Guidebook.
11. Did not bring rain pants on this hike, but the last day it got a bit chilly hiking from Battel Shelter to App Gap in cold rain/drizzle. I'll probably bring rain pants for a September LT hike next year.
12. The Inn at Long Trail was good. Food was great, but I agree with 10-K on not having a TV in your room, that kind of drives me crazy too, especially for watching the Weather Channel in your room to get the latest predictions.
13. Sutton's House in Manchester Center is a great boarding house, close to everything in town. Jeff's Hostel was closed the day before I got to Manchester Center.
14. The Waitsfield Inn in Waitsfield is fantastic. The owners John and Vicky went overboard helping me when I stayed there my last day.
15. Early September there are a LOT of college kids out on orientation hikes in southern Vermont.
16. I love those Golite hiking shorts, best hiking shorts I've ever used, no chafing problems at all.
17. No foot blister problems at all this hike with Montrail AT plus shoes and Patagoochie UL merino wool crew socks, and green Superfeet. Those socks are very thin, almost like liner socks. I also used Hydropel, and I think it helps.
18. I went the regular white blaze trail near Killington, did not do the detour. No problems doing it.
19. Again one of the biggest challenges for me on this hike was planning resupply and how many days food to carry! Being in Florida, its one thing to sit and look at a map and trail profiles, and try to estimate how many miles/day I could do. I sent too much food in my mail drops and had to send home food. This always a challenge, I think I'll send one days less food than i think I need next year, and never carry more than 3 days food. there are lot of road crossings on the LT. Maybe further north near the end of the trail this is a different situation.
20. NO bugs up there, just a few gnats and black flies. Heaven compared to hiking the Florida Trail!!
21. For next year, I've got decide which is more important. Hike later in September to see more fall colors, or start in late August to avoid carrying more winter gear. Hmmmm... that one will have to wait.

overall a fantastic hike, met some good people, some I hope to stay in contact with....thanks everyone here for their suggestions. I love the LT and Vermont, would live there July-September if I could!

Happy Trails!

[NorthCountryWoods]

I've just done a Trail Journal with some photos on my LT Section hike over at TrailJournals.com.
2012 - Long Trail: Trail Name - "Noboat"

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=393230

"Noboat" was the trailname I used for my 2010 AT sectoin hike, but for this 2012 LT hike I just used "Florida Mike". Was a lot easier to explain to folks on the trail when asked "who are you? and where are you from?"

I read 10-K's very helpful LT report after his August hike, used some of his tips, and helped me decide which sleeping bag to take. I just read Sam's LT hike report, he must have been up there about the time I was.

Hike Distance: 163 miles (Southern Terminus to Appalachian Gap)
Hike Duration: 11 days (9/5 - 9/15)
Longest day: 19 miles (Inn at Long Trail to Sunrise Shelter)

Notes:
1. I recommend Dave Ackerson in North Adams, MA for shuttle rides from Albany airport to Williamstown, MA. He's dependable and on time. I flew up from Florida on Southwest Air, great airlines, no baggage fees.
2. I used the Howard Johnsons in Williamstown, MA my first nite before hitting the trail. It was clean, fair price and only a short hike down Rt-2 from the AT trail crossing. I hiked the AT instead of the Pine Cobble Trail up the Southern Terminus. Colonial Pizza across the street from Hojos is good pizza too.
3. I took a cheapie Verizon flipphone. Very spotty coverage along the LT. Verizon gets the best coverage in the southern Appalachians along the AT. But up in Vermont, I found out that AT&T has better coverage. So next year I'm taking a cheapie AT&T Gophone. Anyone up there who can comment on that is appreciated.
4. From my perspective, I thought the LT became more difficult north of Brandon Gap (Vt-73). I'm not disagreeing with 10-K, since I did not hike the entire trail E2E this year. I agree that north of Lincoln Gap was harder, it just seemed to me that north of Brandon Gap was tough too. Not a big deal. Next year I'll hopefully do the entire E2E and find out what is north of App Gap.
5. For early September, with nite temps high 30s to 40s, the Western Mountaineering Highlite (35deg) bag was perfect. If I got chilly, I just added another base layer (Cap-2 or Cap-3 base layer) and a fleece cap.
6. I used Aqua Mira like usual, it worked fine. But I'm beginning to think I'm using the Sawyer Squeeze next hike. It's lightweight, dependable, and compatible with the Evernew water bladders.
7. I love using the GU-Brew lemon lime or NUUN cucumber mint hydration tablets to mix with water in a 20 oz Gatorade bottle to sip on all day while hiking. They are lightweight and like drinking Gatorade.
8. Avoid the Autumn Inn in Bennington, VT. What a nightmare hotel. It should not be listed in the LT End to End Guidebook.
9. I liked the Long Trail End to End Guide Book, but it does still mention a snack bar at top of Killington. NOT there!! lol
10. The GMC Long Trail map was somewhat useful, but I think I could probably get by with just the End to End Guidebook.
11. Did not bring rain pants on this hike, but the last day it got a bit chilly hiking from Battel Shelter to App Gap in cold rain/drizzle. I'll probably bring rain pants for a September LT hike next year.
12. The Inn at Long Trail was good. Food was great, but I agree with 10-K on not having a TV in your room, that kind of drives me crazy too, especially for watching the Weather Channel in your room to get the latest predictions.
13. Sutton's House in Manchester Center is a great boarding house, close to everything in town. Jeff's Hostel was closed the day before I got to Manchester Center.
14. The Waitsfield Inn in Waitsfield is fantastic. The owners John and Vicky went overboard helping me when I stayed there my last day.
15. Early September there are a LOT of college kids out on orientation hikes in southern Vermont.
16. I love those Golite hiking shorts, best hiking shorts I've ever used, no chafing problems at all.
17. No foot blister problems at all this hike with Montrail AT plus shoes and Patagoochie UL merino wool crew socks, and green Superfeet. Those socks are very thin, almost like liner socks. I also used Hydropel, and I think it helps.
18. I went the regular white blaze trail near Killington, did not do the detour. No problems doing it.
19. Again one of the biggest challenges for me on this hike was planning resupply and how many days food to carry! Being in Florida, its one thing to sit and look at a map and trail profiles, and try to estimate how many miles/day I could do. I sent too much food in my mail drops and had to send home food. This always a challenge, I think I'll send one days less food than i think I need next year, and never carry more than 3 days food. there are lot of road crossings on the LT. Maybe further north near the end of the trail this is a different situation.
20. NO bugs up there, just a few gnats and black flies. Heaven compared to hiking the Florida Trail!!
21. For next year, I've got decide which is more important. Hike later in September to see more fall colors, or start in late August to avoid carrying more winter gear. Hmmmm... that one will have to wait.

overall a fantastic hike, met some good people, some I hope to stay in contact with....thanks everyone here for their suggestions. I love the LT and Vermont, would live there July-September if I could!

Happy Trails!

3. AT&T is good along the ridges for some reason, but Verizon has better coverage in the valleys, especially in the north. My dad moved down to VA and has AT&T and he gets nothing in the valleys when he comes to visit.
4. And it only gets harder north of App Gap.
8. Agree.
9. Turnover of services/lodging/eateries is rapid up here. Places come and go all the time and honestly none of the books put out by the GMC are immune to dated errors.
20. No bugs is good and that's related to the time of year. It's also been a dry summer.
21. If you go later in September, I recommend going south to catch more color. All my E2Es have been in September/October and always been NOBO. It's friggin cold and color is gone by the time you hit Journeys End. For hikes that late I carry midweight base layers, convertible pants, fleece, hat, gloves and 15 degree bag. You're usually warm while hiking and throw everything on for sleeping. It's definitely more weight and shorter days, but no better time to hike IMHO.

[SamA]

Praha4, Nice report. We were out a few days ahead of you. We left Williamstown Sept. 1 - the holiday weekend which probably accounted for the full shelters and crowded trail. Saw college students from Williams, Green Mountain, Yale, Princeton. I admire service learning, but I would suggest that trail-bound students have a mini class on trail etiquette.

Great time of year to visit VT. No bugs, but had some spide bites and had the epipen at the ready.

All of which reminds me of what 10-K said about the LT: something about a million ways to fall or get hurt. The GMC has put in a bunch of board walks and they're slicker than black ice when wet. i took one tumble that
left me with an 18-inch scrape/cut on my leg. No. One Son was ready with his military med kit and was looking to stitch me up, but we cleaned it up without too much effort and continued on our merry way. the board walks scared me every time they came my way, though.

SamA

[Praha4]

Ditto SamA and Woods -

those VT bog bridges do get slick as ice with that green slime ... I slipped, tripped, and fell too many times to count on rocks, tree roots, and the bog bridges. Cuts, scrapes and bruises come with hiking that trail that's for sure. I'm impressed with how many hikers bring their dogs on the LT... those ladders would be a challenge with a dog. My Cho-Pat knee brace actually cushioned my knee on one fall on a slick boulder. They just reported a first human case of West Nile virus here in the Ft Walton Beach area near me. It was fantastic up there not having to worry about chiggers, ticks, or mosquitos. I ditched my bug spray at the Inn at Long Trail.

By starting before Labor Day weekend, you had to have seen more college kids on the trail... everybody I met said Labor Day weekend on the trail was crazy, the nice weather and holiday brought out all the day/weekend hikers too. I was lucky only had one night at a shelter with college kids.

On the cellphone, I guess either Verizon or AT&T would do okay in Vermont. I'll give some serious consideration to hiking the LT a little later in September to catch the peak colors.... nice thing is there's still plenty of time to get up to the AT in Georgia, NC and TN this fall to catch peak colors. I'm thinking of doing a one week section hike in October from Damascus north thru Grayson Highlands.

[Jeff]

I'm thinking of doing a one week section hike in October from Damascus north thru Grayson Highlands.

If you are up that way consider attending ALDHA's Gathering just north of Pearisburg Oct 12-14. It's always a great weekend.

http://aldha.org/gathring.htm

[Cookerhiker]

It's unfortunate that your last day hike along the Lincoln Ridge was enshrouded in fog with the attendant poor visibility because in clear weather, that's one of the nicest stretches of the entire LT. And descending to Appalachian Gap in wet conditions - not fun!

On my '07 thruhike, we were so bummed to wake up at Battell Shelter in rain that we took a zero day and did the hike the next day which was beautiful.

[Spokes]

This is good stuff. Refreshing actually. Thanks Praha4.

[Praha4]

It's been one week since I got off the LT, and as a final follow-up, I wanted to share some info on the particular injury that knocked me off the trail at Appalachian Gap. My problem was a strain of the Anterior Tibialis Tendon. This was a first problem of this kind I've ever had, so I wanted to learn as much as I could about it to prevent it from happening again on the trail. I found this informative article by Ben Benjamin, PhD, who has a doctorate in education and sports medicine.

http://www.benbenjamin.com/pdfs/09SO.pdf

As stated in the article at the link posted, injuries to the Anterior Tibialis muscle are colloquially referred to as "shin splints". My injury was not shin splints, it was with the anterior tibialis tendon. I've had shin splints on occasion going back to my high school track and cross country days, I know what they feel like. This injury began like shin splints, but became worse. When the anterior tibialis tendon is strained, pain may be felt anywhere from the inner arch of the foot to about 4 inches above the ankle. My problem was from 1" to 3" above the right ankle. I'm convinced the problem began with running downhill with full pack in the area of Big Branch. Again, the best lessons that I've always learned are the hard lessons. It's one week later and the ankle is about 99% better after a week of rest, ice, 500 mg Naproxen-D twice daily, stretching, and Ace bandage (which I stopped needing a couple days ago). I'm ready to get back on the LT now if I lived closer, but darn it, it's 1,500 miles back to Appalachian Gap, so wait til next year ! arghhhhh!!!

happy trails!

[jakedatc]

I most likely had similar from the tedious hike down the slopey side of Camel's Hump (i also think i had an awkward step that day put it over the edge). I am a stubborn bastard and my history of track, soccer and rock climbing has instilled a high tolerance for pain and with a bit of advil I got to Stowe for my nero and zero. iced both days and got things back to where it only bothered me on some downhill sections.