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  1. #1
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    Smile ViDEO: Vermont Long Trail with the Hickery Brothers

    I will be adding the next VIDEO Parts to this Thread as they become Available

    The Vermont Long Trail is something I have had my eye on for quite a while. My wife Meg and I have visited Vermont many a time as my daughter Aerial was a trouper with Circus Smirkus for 3 seasons. http://www.smirkus.org/about-big-top-tour/
    I would always drive to a trailhead to put my feet on the trail. It looked magical as it went up and over the Green Mountains.

    So Hickery and I just did 8 days on it and found that the magic is real.
    Fall was a bit late in Vermont this year due to a dry September. We hit it at peak! So Vermonty>>>>>
    After a 24 hour drive for me from Minnesota we started at the Northern Terminus that starts at Canada. I will say now that the trail goes up and down and up and down. The builders of the trail do not believe in switchbacks. Straight up. Straight down.
    A tougher trail than I anticipated and the North end is known to be the more difficult and isolated end.
    The first day proved to us that we would not be making the milage I expected us to make. My normal pace is about 2.5 miles an hour. But not on this trail. More like 1 mile per hour. The Long Trail was leafy and wet and rocky, rooty and slippery and steep. Dig in boys!

    My new Salomon Quad boots that I went up a half size in (normal shoe 10…new boots 11) since bad feet on my Border Route thru hike proved a stellar move. My feet were good and happy the whole trip with no toe discomfort or blisters.
    I used my DIY Blackcrow tarp, Dutchware Chameleon hammock, my DIY Frankenquilt UQ and Hammockgear 20º Shug Special TQ. Also used my UQ protector a couple of times.
    A tip of the Shug hat to my Black Diamond flick lock hiking poles. They were my most useful and helpful piece of gear! Saved me many a time and helped me up and down the mountains. I used a new-for-me push/pull pole technique by planting my right pole behind me to push up the rocks and my left pole up in front with my hand slid down the shaft to pull me up. Some very high steps up the rocks and roots of the trail in many places.
    On this trail you are not just walking and sauntering down the trail. It is very technical in places and you are really more climbing than hiking. Putting trust in a root to help you up and if you were to slip and fall back it could be a game changer. Seriously.

    The Vermont woods are amazing. The moss alone is worth the walk. The cabins and shelters the Green Mountain Club provides along the trail are really nice. Now…I usually dislike shelters. Find them gloomy. But the Long Trial cabins and 3 sided shelters are really pleasant and interesting. I never slept in them but it is where you want to stop to camp as that is where you can find reliable water. The water sources along the trail are few and far between. We had torrential rain so that helped for sure. Weather was everything from muggy to cold. A low of 31º one morning.
    Also the Long Trail privys are great. They are mouldering privys https://www.greenmountainclub.org/privy-privy-privy/ are well built. So fun to have the morning constitutional in one.
    Many trails could take a note from these. I love when poop is all in one spot and not dropped hither and yon in the woods with toilet paper dropped on top for all to see. Nasty!

    We had two cars since both of us drove up to Vermont so we did the car to car thing. We re-booted and shuttled once and it does eat up most of the day to get to a car…drive back to the car on the northern trailhead…re-boot the meals, fuel, toilet paper and such…..drive to next end point trailhead and then drive back to where we first egressed for the day. All the while being distracted by food and maple syrup. But no one would ever pick us up to hitch into town to re-supply so this was good for us.

    It was a real treat to see how the maple trees are tapped and the sap runs down tubes hanging in the forest pulled by gravity and helped with vacuum pumps. I spoke with a Sugar Man at length about the maple syrup life. Very interesting. We sipped syrup and chatted.

    In the end we made about 50 hard-earned miles. From the North terminus to Codding Hollow Road Trailhead.
    But this trip was about just spending some time together as this is usually the only time we see each other all year. We have been friends for over 40 years.
    It was about enjoying the woods. But the competitive walking spirit still wants to make more miles.
    I found the home of the Maple King in his Kingdom. As usual thrilling and disturbing.

    What a walk. What a time.
    All secure in sector seven and sticky from maple syrup,
    Shug





















    Last edited by Shug; 10-19-2017 at 20:23.
    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  2. #2
    alifeoutdoors's Avatar
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    There are no words that can convey how awesome this trip looked. You've inspired me to do something out of my usual comfort zone. Just amazing man.
    Once you're lost in twilight's blue, you don't find your way, the way finds you.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Cabmanhang's Avatar
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    That Vermont looks like a cruel beauty.

    Thanks for another installment of the Hickery Bros and that creepy mug Maple King.
    "If we lose the forests, we lose our only instructors. People must see these forests and wilderness as the greatest educational system that we have on the planet. If we lose all the universities in the world, then we would lose nothing. But If we lose the forests, we lose everything." -- Bill Mollison

  4. #4
    Senior Member Floridahanger's Avatar
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    Wowee! Look at those colors.

    Time to get me some hot wings and enjoy our own first "cool front" and have me some lunch and a movie.
    Enjoy and have fun with your family, before they have fun without you

  5. #5
    Senior Member arcana73's Avatar
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    Looks like a nice trip, I will watch tonight with a nice warm cup of caramel apple cider. Having done peaks in the Adirondacks I know all to well the ups and downs without switchbacks.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Vanhalo's Avatar
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    This needs to be addressed.

    Screenshot at 2017-10-17 12:23:46.png
    "...in Florida, she felt air conditioning for the first time, and it was cold and unnatural upon her skin."


  7. #7
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by alifeoutdoors View Post
    There are no words that can convey how awesome this trip looked. You've inspired me to do something out of my usual comfort zone. Just amazing man.
    By garschk...my buns are still burning!

    Quote Originally Posted by Cabmanhang View Post
    That Vermont looks like a cruel beauty.

    Thanks for another installment of the Hickery Bros and that creepy mug Maple King.
    Good description...a beautiful cruelty. More Maple King to come........

    Quote Originally Posted by Floridahanger View Post
    Wowee! Look at those colors.

    Time to get me some hot wings and enjoy our own first "cool front" and have me some lunch and a movie.
    It was so pretty I cried a bit.
    Now I need wings!

    Quote Originally Posted by arcana73 View Post
    Looks like a nice trip, I will watch tonight with a nice warm cup of caramel apple cider. Having done peaks in the Adirondacks I know all to well the ups and downs without switchbacks.
    I am so loaded up on Vermont Maple syrup. Local sugermen. Drinking from the bottle. Enjoy the caramel apple cider.

    Quote Originally Posted by Vanhalo View Post
    This needs to be addressed.

    Screenshot at 2017-10-17 12:23:46.png
    The Maple King is a bit computer hobbled with his sticky fingers. Maybe in time he will get it finished.
    In the meantime....https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...gFPagULFXbnsYG
    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  8. #8
    Member Benchmark's Avatar
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    Shug - Thank yee for taking us along!

    I had some other things I was going work on during lunch but when I saw this was up, well...priorities shifted - there's always tomorrow (unless pt 2 is up by then)! It looks like a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed your time in New England. Rocky & Rooty is pretty much par for course around here. Your trips on SHT and to BWCA have put those on my hit list!
    Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't.
    ~Bill Nye

  9. #9
    Senior Member Floridahanger's Avatar
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    Thanks Shug.

    Got me those wings and watched me some Hickory Brothers in the treetops of Vermont with the Maple King(.com) . Now my belly is full, my mind is happy and all is well.

    Those peaks are so high. I got a little queasy. I'm sitting here at about 20' above sea level. Even the clouds were looking in my window wondering how to get up there.

    Thanks for a great video and can't wait to see the next installment, Shug the Windswept.
    Enjoy and have fun with your family, before they have fun without you

  10. #10
    Senior Member Pennsy Camp and Canoe's Avatar
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    liked and commented! Just got back from my own little adventure, must be the season. Great video once again!

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