Until this week I had never before hiked in Vermont. I'm hooked on the Long Trail and Vermont in general.
WARNING! Don't let anyone tell you differently, The Long Trail can kick your ass!
Some time ago I completed the Maine and New Hampshire 4000 footers - i.e. hiked all the peaks in those two states that are taller than four thousand feet. There are 48 in NH and 14 in Maine but there are also five in Vermont. It had been an extremely busy summer for me as a performing musician and music teacher and I had a four day window in August with no commitments so I formulated a plan to hit some of Vermont's highest peaks: Mt. Ellen, Mt. Abraham, Camel's Hump and Mt. Mansfield.
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES HOMER SOMETHING SOMETHING
The week leading up to the trip couldn't have been busier, my band performed six shows in the four days before I left. The last day (a Saturday) involved getting home from a gig in Damariscotta, Maine at the Schooner Landing (Hi Scott!) at about 2:30am, followed by a trip to Sugarloaf (a 3+ hour drive) to perform from 1-3pm and THEN back to Portland to play from 6-9pm at the Portland Lobster Company.
I had my gear all packed and ready to go and I planned to drive as far as North Conway, NH to get a good head start on the first day of my hike. I had contacted a shuttle service in advance and planned to leave my car in Stowe, Vermont - an easy hitchhike down Route 108 from Smuggler's Notch - what I had hoped to be the end of my route. I had planned an ambitious journey, involving over 58 miles of hiking and thousands of feet of elevation gain and loss. I figured this would be a perfect way to put the ultralight packing techniques I had perfected over the summer to a real test. After my Grafton Loop trip, I felt totally prepared.
I was wrong.
Well, kinda sorta...
Our gig ended at nine and I got in the car and started the drive. I had a good stockpile of episodes of The Adam Carolla Podcast to listen to (the man is a comedic genius imo) and the next thing I knew I was in Crawford Notch, feeling a little sleepy so I stopped in the Highland Center parking lot for a quick nap.
A brief aside - the Highland Center is a recently constructed multi-million dollar big ass monstrosity of a building constructed by the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) in the remote and formerly desolate Crawford Notch. It is enormous and arguably inappropriate for what is such a wild place. A good friend of mine was at a dinner party and was chatting with a new neighbor and the topic turned the AMC and specifically to the Highland Center - he expressed his dismay at the size and obtrusiveness of the structure when the person he was taking to revealed that he had been involved with the planning and execution of that very project. My friend apologized and hoped he hadn't offended his subject, but utterly failed as he somehow ended the conversation by saying " I hope it burns." !!!
After an hour or so of sleep I awoke and resumed my journey. I contemplated hitting up the Gale River Road campsites but I felt solid driving and kept on keeping on. I made it to Bethlehem and learned from a hotel night person that the nearest available room was in Montpelier, VT at the Capitol Plaza Hotel. I arrived at 4am and was very pleased to crawl into the king bed after almost 19 hours on the go. At 8am I awoke to a woman chastising her domestic underlings in a heavy Eastern European accent. I opened the door in my underwear and channeled the voice of our banjo player: "Good Lord woman, I'm trying to sleep!" She apologized for yelling and I fell back to sleep until about 10am.
I checked out and paid an outrageous amount for the room and asked the gal at the front desk about where to get some good coffee. She told me the hotel restaurant served "...that gross Starbucks stuff, but the Coffee Corner has Green Mountain Coffee!" Well, Starbucks is decent and Green Mountain is weak ass crap in my book so I ignored her advice totally and was happy to see a sign on the main street for the Capitol Grounds. They have excellent espresso - my Americano was perfect and I enjoyed a great egg and cheddar bagel and was ready to start my journey.
LESSON #1 - VERMONT IS CHOCK FULL O' COOL PEOPLE
Montpelier is about 30 minutes from Stowe so I called the guy from the shuttle service and told him I'd meet him in Stowe in an hour or so, presumably at the Post Office (which I have found is usually a safe place to leave a vehicle overnight) and giving me time to get myself there and ready. I got to town to find the post office was off the beaten path and called him once again to say we'd meet in a public parking area I'd found right off the main drag. The man on the phone sounded a little gruff and I wondered what our long ride might be like. It was hot (in the 90's) so I found a shaded spot in the lot. About 15 minutes after our proposed meeting time he called me again, it turned out he was one block away in another parking lot on the same street. One minute later I was loading my pack into his van.
I immediately felt at home since Louis drove exactly the same vehicle our band uses, a beige Grand Caravan with quad seating. I knew I liked this guy when after 1.5 blocks we pulled over, a young girl had set up what we learned was her first lemonade stand. She was cute as could be and her very proud parents wore enormous smiles. That lemonade tasted so good!
I really want to give Louis a plug, his company is called Everywhere Taxi of Vermont and he is a super nice guy and I highly recommend his services. When I initially contacted him, he quoted me what seemed to be a really low price for the distance we were to travel, (from Stowe to Lincoln Gap) so I had planned on spending more. When he finally realized where I was headed, he apologized for the mixup offered me a very reasonable rate that was more in line with what I had expected in the first place. We chatted the entire ride, he was full of useful info about the area and really seemed to enjoy what he was doing. He explained that he was a hunter and fisherman and I told him a little about hiking in a lightweight style which he seemed very interested in. He also mentioned how he liked live music and I promised to send him a CD of my band and I will let him know if we ever have a show in Vermont.
I was really psyched when we got to the trailhead at about 1:30 pm and Louis said he might like to walk a little of the trail with me. We walked together for a bit to the first GMC sign kiosk, about ten minutes up the trail. We shook hands and I thanked him for his services and companionship and he headed back down the trail and my adventure began.
DAY ONE - LINCOLN GAP TO APPALACHIAN GAP (and then some) aka THE EASY PART
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday and there were lots of day hikers on the trail. I passed several couples as I ascended Mount Abraham, including a man who seemed very skeptical when I told him I planned to reach Appalachian Gap that evening.
Here is a simple lesson for all of us:
Never measure others using YOUR OWN yardstick!
You absolutely cannot judge a book by it's cover so don't try, and seemingly normal people are capable of amazing things.
The first mile of trail was easy as could be. On one of my very first hiking adventures, we climbed Mount Chocorua in NH. My good buddy Adam told us how his one-legged aunt had climbed this mountain, and her tale became our rallying cry - when the going got rough we'd think about his aunt and how we actually had it easy. Now when I'm on a nice piece of trail I always think of Adam's one legged aunt for some bizarre reason.
Soon the trail steepened considerably and in no time I was on the summit. A young guy was acting as an "alpine steward" and reading a book in the sun, presumably telling folks who didn't know better not to step on the fragile alpine plants on the summit. I have found these folks to be a little overbearing in the past but this guy was great. It was over ninety degrees out and very humid, so there was no real view through the haze, but the slight breeze made me feel great.
The next several miles were perfection - to me, very reminiscent of the ridge between the Horns and West Peak in the Bigelow Range in Maine. Short trees, a soft trail and the ridge falling away on both sides it went on like this for over four miles. Every now and then the trail would pop out to a bald area, the top of a ski lift for the various ski areas.
In years past I would be a bit annoyed to find a building and various other crap on the top of mountains, but today the nice flat deck and shade of the summit warming huts were very welcome. The miles were flying by, and despite the relentless heat I was feeling excellent. I met two young guys staying in the Mad River Glen summit building. (the mountain is labeled Stark's Nest on the LT map) The sun was setting soon and my goal for the day was to reach Appalachian Gap (VT 17) so I kept on going.
LESSON #2 - KEEP YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT
"Vermont is SO easy!" I wrote in the journal at the Theron Dean shelter. Insert foot in mouth. It were as if someone were listening and decided to rearrange the rocks in the trail ahead of me. Immediately upon leaving the shelter, the trail got rougher and rougher as I got closer to the road.
Soon I came out to the road and was treated to a sky full of stars and a nice clear Milky Way. Appalachian Gap is a neat place to be at night, and I met two guys from Bristol, CT who were hanging out in the back of their truck, having day hiked to Camel's Hump and back that day, with plans hike south to Mt. Ellen in the morning. They offered me a beer, which seemed like a bad idea so I declined. I laid out my pad and chatted with them for a while, we talked about places in Bristol I could remember as a kid.
I had considered staying here overnight but I was down to under a liter of water and felt refreshed so I said goodbye to my new friends and hit the trail once again. Solo hiking at night can really feel slow at times so I'll often listen to an album on my iPhone as I hike along by headlamp, tonight's choice was the Skip, Hop & Wobble album, which seemed pretty appropriate given the condition of the trail I encountered next.
It was like I had entered the Mahoosucs! (a famously rough section of the AT in Maine, from the ME/NH border to Grafton Notch) Steep rocky ascents complete with mossy wet rocks, followed by sheer drop-offs with only an abused old root to hold onto for dear life. I almost walked off the edge of Molly Stark's Balcony, a ledgy outlook to the north. My trekking poles didn't seem to be gripping very well here either. (I finally realized a day later that one of the tips had been snapped off clean off, most likely on Katahdin the week before. No wonder it was slipping!) I slowed to a less than one mile per hour pace and carefully made my way towards the Birch Glen shelter.
Hiking at night is something I have always enjoyed, early in my backpacking days I would regularly leave a gig in Portland at 1am, drive to the Whites and hike to the first water I'd find, then setup camp and sleep in, waking up in the woods and ready to walk. I have also learned that when I'm tired I need to slow down and be careful, even a simple injury out here could become serious quickly, particularly a fall resulting hitting one's head.
Suddenly, there was the sign for the Birch Glen shelter! I went straight to the water source and pumped four liters. I was very happy to have about 15 miles behind me after a late start and was feeling great.
Warning: Backpacking gear geek talk ahead, you may wanna skip this next paragraph
I had just picked up a new quick connect kit for my three liter Camelbak, allowing me to hook up my water filter easily without even taking my pack off. It also has a on/off valve that makes it easy to fill a bottle or cookpot from the bladder without taking it out of the pack. There is a piece you connect to the outlet hose of your filter and it plugs right into the Camelbak valve.
I usually also carry a one liter water or soda bottle to make drinks like hot chocolate or a gatorade packet. (Aquafina water bottles have a nice big mouth, are much lighter than a Nalgene and are easy to get in and out of my pack's side pouch) I just recycle the bottle after and use a different one next time and don't need to worry about washing out a Nalgene. (the threads can get pretty nasty after a while) I usually like to know I have 3 liters of water when leaving a water source in an area I don't know well. I just fill the bladder and then use it to fill the bottle. That way I can drink all I want from the bladder, but I know I have at least one liter left in the bottle.
Geek mode off
I could tell there were a few folks in the shelter, as well as two tents setup off to the side. I found a nice flat tent site away from the shelter, as it was almost 11pm by time I had pumped my water. Tonight's entree was of the just boil water variety: Natural High Spicy Thai Chicken my all time favorite freeze dried meal. It is low in fat, has a 114 grams of carbs and some protein as well. On winter trips I add a small pouch of peanuts for more fat and salt. It's yummy and it also makes your nose run!
I got my stove going to boil water and quickly setup the tent. I ate slowly, knowing I'd be sleeping very soon. After dinner I felt good and full and stretched out in the tent. My body was so hot from a long day of walking and the warm food in my belly. I fell asleep quickly with just my shorts on, sleeping bag barely draped over my legs.
I awoke in the night sweating profusely, it was the kind of night it was too cold not to be covered up, but the sleeping bag was just too warm. I'm considering making a quilt to use next summer. I ended up propping up the sides of the bag with my sandals which provided a little air flow and I slept fitfully until almost 7:00am.
DAY TWO - BIRCH GLEN CAMP TO BAMFORTH RIDGE SHELTER
The morning was fairly cool, and I was glad for that. Record highs were in the forecast for today. Breakfasts on this trip were my old standby: any kind of breakfast cereal my mom wouldn't buy me as a kid! For this trip I had selected Lucky Charms (actually generic knock-off "Magic Stars") I pack it in a quart freezer bag with some powdered milk, and just add a little cold water and shake it up - it's great!
As usual I was packed and ready to go in under ten minutes. I met a woman who was solo backpacking a section and had stayed in the shelter the night before. She had various complaints regarding the trail, the signage and the temperatures but seemed nice enough. The whole previous day, as the sun was baking me my mantra was "It's NOT raining!" (In Maine during June this year, it rained 28 out of 30 days - for a total of 103 minutes of sunshine)
Just as I was about to head out a father & son team started down the trail in front of me. A look at the map showed the matinee for today, over a series of increasingly tall minor peaks leading up to Camel's Hump. I planned on stopping at the Montclair Glen Lodge almost 11 miles away for an afternoon siesta to rest my feet and prepare for what looked to be a serious climb up to the summit of Camel's Hump.
The first few miles were relatively easy and rolling, a relief after the trail yesterday. It didn't last long however.
At the Cowles Cove shelter a few miles up the trail I ran into Dad & Son again and learned they had been doing the Long Trail together all summer. The son got a stomach bug and they had taken a while off but were back at it again. Dad's knees were hurting him and he was wearing braces on both knees, he looked like he was hurting. The Complaining Lady arrived as we were chatting, she was talking about bailing back to the road. She told us about the black flies on the ski resort summits from the previous day - they were absolutely ferocious! Apparently they were on the summits because they can only feed at a certain temperature and so they were way up high where it was a little cooler.
I topped off my water and headed on down the trail again. It immediately returned to being a rough and rocky sort of affair. Lots of rock steps and mossy slabs. Just as the heat started cooking, I began the climb up Burnt Rock Mountain. It breaks out into the open after a 1000' climb and becomes quite a scramble at times. In bad weather this would be a bad place to be, the Long Trail blazes are white, and the rock is full of large white quartz deposits, which all sort of look like blazes at times. I ran into a nice couple on the summit and began a thrashing descent.
The sun had taken a toll, so I rolled out my pad and rested in a shady spot for a minute. Soon after I found myself in a really neat boulder cave with a wonderful strong, cool breeze blowing through, I lingered there as well. I saw something on the map labeled Ladder Ravine and thought "This can't be good."
It wasn't.
There was a mossy sloping ledge that fell away to dead vertical, to which was bolted an aluminum ladder. The problem here was that to get on said ladder, one needed to traverse the mossy sloping ledge, and then put a foot on the ladder and climb down. There were no roots left on top of the ledge to hold onto so this was honestly a pretty scary maneuver. The ledge was too tall to risk dropping my pack down first w/o damaging it - I have done lots of climbing and scrambling in the past but the fact is a slip would mean serious injury a LONG way from help and I was taking it seriously. I tossed my poles down as they were useless for this and carefully tested my foot hold on the sloping ledge and delicately transferred my weight to it, quickly matching feet and putting my left foot on the ladder. My foot slipped across the rung until it hit the outer edge of the ladder and then everything was fine. I do believe I may have peed myself for a second. BTW, this is a total piece of cake southbound and you'd go right up and over it.
Yep - this feels like the Mahoosucs alright. Good times!
Now it was time for another 1000' climb to Mount Ira Allen & Ethan Allen. I had got my 5th wind and was doing well despite the constant climb up rocky steps. The descent to Wind Gap was steep and I was was cruising down, gunning for the shelter and a nap. I was really overheating by now and my water was warm and running low.
Montclair Glen Lodge is a four walled cabin at a junction near several trails to Camel's Hump. I laid out on a semi-flat shady spot outside the cabin for about a half an hour, then looked around inside and found it was actually cooler in there. The thermometer on my pack read 91 degrees! I fell asleep for about 20 minutes until a couple of guys hiking south on the Long Trail stopped in for a rest. My siesta did wonders and I felt refreshed.
I topped off my water and prepared for the serious climb up Camel's Hump. The trail passes over a couple minor bumps before the main event, giving a great view of what lies ahead. In the end the ascent wasn't all that bad, it was ridiculously steep at times but there were long relatively flat sections as well and pretty soon I had reached the junction with the Alpine Trail, just 0.2 miles from the summit.
I was so happy to be near the summit, but I still had some work to do. I stowed my trekking poles on my pack and started scrambling up and around the imposing south face in earnest. This would be tricky route finding in bad weather if you didn't know where you were headed. In a few minutes I was on top, to be greeted by a dad who was loudly telling his wife via cel phone that he and his son were on the top safely. Cel phones are here to stay I guess, but the summit of a mountain isn't the place to yell into one.
The trail soon became more of a scramble and it passed over and around the various open ledges along the ridge. There were some crazy drops and tricky spots, including the part I called "walking the plank" where there was a one foot wide ledge with a two foot wide gap to the right and a drop off to the left, a fall here would be uncool.
The sun was setting and as I tried to pick up the pace to try and get down into the woods before dark. My feet were really staring to get pissed about the long rocky miles today. After a close call on a ledge, I decided to shift into low gear and be careful. As the trail entered the woods, I got out my headlamp and slowly picked my way down the trail. I must have been tired because it felt like an eternity, to the point where I even began to wonder if I had missed the shelter sign. As it turned out, it really didn't take all that long I hadn't stopped and looked at the clock. I was once again SO happy to see the shelter sign, which mentioned it was a LONG way. It was actually about 0.2 miles to the brand new shelter. There were folks at the tent sites and two people in the shelter. I asked if the minded me coming in so late and doing my camp chores, they were friendly and said no problem. It was a nice long path down to the water source and my feet were aching. I quickly pumped my water and headed back up the steep path to the shelter.
LESSON #3 - ZEUS IS EVERYWHERE
The shelter dwellers were two soon to be high school seniors out for a summer adventure, and they seemed to be having a great time, heading south on the trail as long as their time would allow them before they had to return to school. They joined me at the table and we chatted for quite a while. They were definitely interested in hearing about the terrain ahead, and I was happy to oblige. They were carry quite a bit of stuff, including this chrome skull guy they had named "Ghost Rider" I told them a little about lightweight hiking, and then told them my story about AT hiker Zeus, who's name last made an appearance in my Grafton Loop trip report. Well imagine my surprise when they said "Someone talks about a Zeus in the shelter journal!" (In case you don't know already on the AT and other trails there is usually a notebook and pencil kept in each shelter that is used by passing hikers to leave notes for other long distance hikers or just to record their name for posterity.)
To give a very brief recap Zeus (aka FUCKIT) was a rather odd guy I met in a AT shelter in southern NH this summer, who had been thru hiking at a rate of 5.1 miles a day (as opposed to 15+ most hikers do a day) I laughed out loud when I saw this entry in the Bamforth Ridge shelter log:
It reads: "To AT hiker Zeus, I bequeath a brain... you are a character but you are missing something upstairs... Seriously missing!"
The Long Trail and the AT are one and the same for the first hundred miles from the Massachusetts border to "Maine Junction" beyond Killington. I couldn't believe the Legend Of Zeus had made it almost two hundred miles north to entertain me one more time. Long Live the Mighty Zeus!
I checked the forecast and it was looking nasty for the next day, with rain and severe thunderstorms expected in the afternoon due to a strong cold front. It was getting late and we all laid down to sleep, it was hot again overnight and I barely slept.
DAY THREE - BAMFORTH RIDGE TO ROUTE 2
We all rose at about 5:30am and I had my cereal while the boys cooked up some oatmeal. As I prepared to leave one of the guys made the mistake of picking up my pack for a minute and the look on his face was priceless. I'll bet they have a cat food can stove now.
At this point, my only thought was getting my filthy, salty self into the Winooski River as soon as possible. The last couple days had taken a toll on my feet and I was going slowly but steadily this morning, not stopping to rest. There were a few severe drops but the rest was rather pleasant walking on a gorgeous ridge, with some great open forests. The sun was starting to rise up into the sky and it was heating things up despite the early hour. My pace slowed as the temps rose and my feet complained even more loudly.
At long last I came to Duxbury Road which follows along the Winooski River, the sun was absolutely COOKING now. About a half a mile up the road I spied my spot, a nice ledgy area along the river that appeared easy enough to access. I took off my shoes and jumped in - it felt like I had been baptized or something. I washed my hiking clothes and myself and began to feel normal again. I floated for quite a while and watched a couple of kayakers downriver having fun against the strong current.
I had a last long look at the map. It was three miles of hot road walking to where the trail began again. The next section was 22.9 miles long, started at 392 ft above sea level, and then rose to almost 4000' at Bolton Mountain, then back down 2000' then back up to Mt Mansfield at 4393'.
I decided to do the road walk and then assess my situation, as my feet were still pretty sore from the descent off Camel's Hump the day before. I was slowly melting into the pavement at around 10am when I finally reached the bridge at Jonesville, an town with a post office and not much else. I absolutely had to be back at my car in Stowe by Wednesday night and there really aren't any practical bailout routes on this next section that would help my situation if I were delayed by the weather.
I decided it was way to friggin' hot to climb 4000' right now so I stuck out my thumb with the plan to regroup, rest and swim the day away and day hike Mansfield in the morning. I could see a guardrail with no shoulder stretching on into the distance as Route 2 followed the river so I stood where I was, put my bandanna over my head for a little sun protection and waited.
After 5 or 10 minutes a nice man picked me up, he was only going as far as the next town, but I gladly accepted his ride. He nearly drove off with my pack accidentally and I did a daring snatch maneuver to grab it as he sped off. I walked along the road for a while as there hadn't been much traffic.
A nice young woman took me the rest of the way into Waterbury, where I planned to stop and have lunch. She was taking the summer off and doing whatever she felt like doing, hiking, climbing etc. I thanked her for the ride and then quickly assessed my food options here. There was a pizza place, a store with sandwiches etc, and then I saw it.
Maxi's was air conditioned. It just looked like it would be good. It was!
I had biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and home fries. I gasped when the plate(s) came - two huge biscuits split in half, covering an entire large plate. The sausage was excellent, not the heartburn inducing foodservice patties you normally get. I could only manage 1/2 of the biscuits and 1/3 of the gravy, but I was stuffed and happy.
I lingered in the air conditioning for a bit and then it was time to hitch back to the car. The heat was like wet electric blanket. I walked north on VT 100 past the highway ramps and quickly was picked up by a guy who was on his way to Stowe to get some parts to fix his car. He said he had hitched the same stretch the day before in the heat, and felt sorry for me. He had some excellent tips on some swimming holes and took me right to my car. Yet another cool person in Vermont!
I decided the drive up through Smuggler's Notch. I'd only been through once before on a rainy day and was planning to head to Burlington for the night. The winding road was really fun in my Yaris. I stopped at the top at the turnout and checked out the cliffs on either side of the road. I recognized some features from the Ice Climber's Guide to New England and imagined how wild it would be up here in the winter.
I headed down the west side of the notch, to Jeffersonville, then south toward Burlington. I drank almost a gallon of water on the ride after the long hot road walks. I was tired and looking forward to a room and a hot shower. I ended up at the Best Western in South Burlington. I checked in, took a shower and promptly fell asleep for about two hours. I was hungry for some meat and looked online for some reviews for steakhouses in Burlington. It turned out the restaurant at the hotel, "The Windjammer" was reviewed as having great beef. Sounded good to me. It was awesome, I had a fillet and a glass of Mount Eden Cabernet which was excellent.
It was raining hard as I walked back to the room from dinner. I put my nasty hiking clothes in the hotel washer and hit the pool for a swim and a soak in the hot tub. I was very happy about my decision to bail, my feet were still not happy and this was supposed to be my vacation. I filled the two wastebaskets in the room with ice water and soaked my feet as long as I could stand it. It felt great! I fell asleep and slept for a long, long time.
DAY FOUR - VERMONT ROADSHOW
My revised plan was to get up not too early and then day hike Mount Mansfield. The forecast was for showers and thunderstorms so I decided to hike up via the Long Trail from Smuggler's Notch and then if the weather held go across the alpine zone from the Chin to the Nose. Mt. Mansfield from the West resembles a human profile) and the down the Auto Road a short way to the Haselton trail, which meets VT 108 a little way from the Long Trail parking area.
I didn't need to be back in Maine until Thursday afternoon so on a whim I called my friend Adam Frehm. He's a great Dobro player and photographer who lives in the Burlington area, we met at Thomas Point Beach years ago and always seek one another out at festivals to pick. I had his number in my phone and I was psyched when he answered. I told him that I was in town and didn't have anything going on tonight, and was wondering if there was any music to check out in town - secretly hoping we might find a way to pick some tunes. I didn't even have an instrument with me, but lo and behold, Adam said he had a guitar and would try and call a friend or two to have a jam somewhere that evening. He and Sarah, his very nice girlfriend, were going to be in Burlington that night and I could meet them and follow them afterward. I was really excited and we agreed we'd touch base later in the day.
I repacked my gear for a day hike and checked out at almost 11am. There was a coffee shop right in front of the hotel and I loaded up with an iced coffee and a bagel. I took a different route to the notch this time, it took a bit longer but it was very nice. The weather varied from decent to threatening as I headed further north, and I could see the summit of Mansfield shrouded in clouds. As I made the drive up to the top of the notch, it was getting black and there were some rumbles in the sky.
I could see that it had rained on the road earlier but it stayed dry until I got to the Long Trail parking area, when the skies opened up and a torrential downpour began. I waited in the car for 15 minutes and it eventually eased off a little. I put on my pack and headed on up the trail. It was either going to improve soon or not at all so I figured I'd give it a go. After about 45 minutes it was still coming down and the thunder began again and I decided to return another day. I really want to see the view some day, perhaps this fall.
I changed into dry cotton clothes in the car and contemplated what to do now. I decided to go for a long ride, a favorite pastime of mine. I had lots of music to listen to and decided to head south, as far as VT 17, through the Appalachian Gap and then head south, as I had never seen the West side of the mountains. I took a route that bypassed Stowe and headed to Waterbury, through the gorgeous countryside.
I made my way south and then turned west onto VT 17 and headed up the gap past Mad River Glen ski area. Soon I was on the other side and I detoured south a bit more to visit Middlebury. I stopped for a cup of coffee and wandered around town for a bit. Town was busy and I imagined how crazy it would be here on a weekend when school was in session. The ride north on Route 7 was idyllic, rolling green farm land, endless mountains to the east and views of Lake Champlain to the west.
Warning: Very Childish, Boorish Stupidity Ahead
I don't know where I learned this, but there is a very stupid (but fun) highway traveling game, along the lines of "Punch Buggy" or looking for a license plate from each of the fifty states. It is very simple, you take the model name of a vehicle and put the word "Anal" in front of it and the hilarity ensues. After a while, I started to wonder if this is how they come up with the names in the first place. Some are just easy and obvious: Anal Explorer, Anal Probe, Anal Fit, but the funniest ones are more obscure: the Mystique, the Diplomat, the Venture, the Rendezvous. Once you venture into the world of RV names, it really gets outrageous: the Intruder, the Access, the Pleasure Way. We play this game pretty regularly in our band van and every now and again, I'll get a text from a band mate that simply reads: "Anal Impact" or something similar. Well this afternoon, I found one of the funniest I had seen - the "Adrenaline Surge."
It had been an absolutely fantastic afternoon and I made my way back to Burlington. I wanted to replace my trekking pole tip and had been wanting to replace my 3/4 length Ridgerest foam pad, which was given to me over 10 years ago and was only about 1/8" thick now from being used so many times. I found the Climb High store on Bank Street. I had owned some Climb High gear in the past but never realized they had a retail store. The guy working the counter was very helpful, we struggled a bit getting the old pole tip off but were successful in the end.
I took a walk down Church Street and found a nice Japanese restaurant, sat outside and enjoyed some sushi and a glass of wine. It had been another hot day so I walked down toward the waterfront looking to swim. There we lots of people milling about, several rowing teams were racing and the crowds were cheering them on. I had on my trail runners and just walked right into the water for a swim hoping to get them clean for the first time in a while. The water was the perfect temperature and I very slowly swam along the water's edge for quite some time. I changed clothes and then walked to the park to get into position for what promised to be a lovely sunset. Rows of purple and pink Adirondack mountains stretched out as far as I could see in both directions and the sunset couldn't have been nicer. It was really cool to look around and see all the people quietly sharing this special moment.
Adam had recruited his bass player friend Mike to pick with us and he was waiting for us at the house. We chatted on the porch for a bit and headed inside. The house was absolutely wonderful, a really cool funky place that he had been renovating over time. The first room was a new addition, a high ceilinged room with one wall that was all windows. It had hardwood floors and was the ideal music room. Adam told me he had just been to Rockygrass, a great bluegrass festival in Lyons, Colorado. He had won first prize in the Dobro contest after fours years of entering, a nice Wechter/Scheerhorn Rob Ickes model, signed by Rob himself. Adam already plays a Scheerhorn, but it is still a really nice Dobro! Sarah headed off to bed as she had an early morning planned and we sat down to play a bit. I restrung Adam's guitar (the least I could do) and we played a bunch of fun tunes, including "the Hymn of Ordinary Motion" which featured the incredible tone of Mike's bowed bass.
I awoke at 8am and Adam made a delicious breakfast complete with fresh eggs from their chickens. I was pleased and impressed by Adam's coffee technique - he first used a large stovetop espresso maker which was added to a french press for outstanding turbocharged fresh coffee.
We headed up to Adam's studio and we listened to several tracks he had in various stages of completion for an eventual solo album (or two given the amount of material he has) I can't wait to hear this when it's completed, a huge variety of styles and tons of great players including several members of the Infamous Stringdusters, as well as Leigh Gibson and some mind-blowing fiddle by local hero Patrick Ross. Adam's production sense is excellent, it sounded superb unmixed with no EQ and most of the tracks are just waiting for some Dobro.
It was time for me to head back to Maine, I had to be in Windham for a gig at 5pm so I said goodbye to Adam & Sarah and made my way home. The views of the White Mountains from the west were so beautiful, I had never really seen them from that side before.
What should have been a four hour ride took five and a half. I don't know if Obama's stimulus package is to blame or what, but every town seemed to have decided to tear up whatever intersection was busiest, and turn it into a one lane road with a flag person. Luckily I had left myself some extra time, which I used every last bit of. I arrived at the gig with 13 minutes to spare and another wild weekend of bluegrass began.
I'll definitely hope be back to Vermont soon - a big thanks to Adam and Sarah for their generous hospitality and friendship!
We drove back to the campground and I fired up the Fancy Feast stove at prepare our dinner, Spicy Thai Chicken. We ate the hot food sitting out in the cold, enjoyed our respective adult beverages and promptly fell asleep. I had to be back no later than 3pm to setup for Henryfest so we woke up at 8am and packed up to head out. It was another cold morning and I had slept like a log. We were both ready for a hot breakfast so we shouldered our packs and made for the car, crossing the bridge over the stream and stopping for a photo.
