July 11 - 12, 2014, Griffith Lake Section of LT (Mad Tom (USFS 21) to USFS 10 (Mt. Tabor)

Another long ride to the south with both cars. After dropping the truck off at USFS 21 with got to Mad Tom 9:30 on Friday. Started the hike in at 10:00 with the first peak being Styles Peak, stopped there for a short break and talked with a south bound LT thru hiker. We then headed over to Peru Peak and had lunch. We met a couple doing their third time around for day hiking the LT. They were probably a little older than we are. From Peru Peak we headed to Griffith Lake, our stop for the evening. We arrived at 2:00, meet Julie the caretaker for the area and picked out our tent site for the evening. Spend time at the lake meeting other hikers spending the night. Great group of folks. Our neighbor at the tent site was Bill, a retired Defense Department employee. We cooked our meal and got in the tent and read for about 2 hours. Up and out of the tent site by 7:15. We hit Baker Peak first and took a rest, it had a nice view to the west. We than entered the woods for a down hill hike to the road. Met an AT thru hiker coming out of Lost Pond Shelter, trail name 5 Star. She was shooting to finish her hike by the end of August. We finished the hike at 12:30. The parking lot was very busy with several AT hikers re-supplying. We were still able to do a wash down and chnage into clothes that didn't stink. Went back to get the can and had lunch at Cilantro, a road side food stand. Great food. Then the long drive home. 12.1 miles 9 hours

July 6-7, 2014: Laraway Section of LT - Codding Hollow Road to Vermont Route 118

Started off about 9:30am at the Belvidere Trail Head parking lot. Didn't meet anyone on the trail until Devils Gulch. Going through the gulch was a bit tough. Then we head up to the Bowens which was a nice ridge walk. The climb up Butternut Mountain seem to go on forever, numerous false summits. Got to Corliss Camp around 5:30 and set up our camp site after ward we refilled our water supply and cooked dinner. Spend some time reading as one other hiker came to the camp. It appeared to be a women we had met a Basin Brook that was not sure were she was headed. Got up the next morning and were on the trail by 8:00. Started the long haul up Laraway Mountain  and got some nice pictures from Laraway Lookout. Take our time descending down to the road/parking lot. Cindy saw a coyote on the climb up Laraway, and we saw numerous coveys of grouse during the hike. Lots of moose sign and the usual newts, toads and frogs. No snakes on this hike.

June 20, 2014 -South Ridge on Camel's Hump - LT (Monclair Glen Lodge) to Camel's Hump

Started the hike from the Burrows Trail parking lot, took the Burrows Trail-Forest Trail connector to the Forest City Trail. The temperature was in the middle to upper 40's, cool enough to be able to see our breath. We hiked up to Monclair Glen cut-off. We made a quick stop at the shelter. Stopped at the junction of the Dean Trail/Long Trail for a snack/water break before starting the climb up to the summit of Camel's Hump. We thought it would be very wet on this section because of all the rain we have been experiencing but to our surprised it wasn't. We had only met one person on the trail until we got to within .2 mile of the summit at which point there were people everywhere. Rested on the summit and had lunch and enjoyed the view, last week when we were here there was no view except for rain. Got tied of the noise so we headed down the LT to the Burrows Trail which is a very uninteresting trail. Continued down the trail back to the parking lot. Total time on the hike 5 hours and 20 minutes. 

June 15 - 16, 2014-Stratton LT Section - Kelly Stand to Rt. 11/30 via the Stratton Pond Trail

Day stated out find we could get to the trail head via the Kelly Stand Road, it was still under construction resulting from damage during Irene. We had to come in via the Arlington Road which add probably an hour to our car spotting. The hike in on the Stratton Pond Trail was fairly flat and very muddy in sections. We met a group of young kids hiking and running the trail. We got to Stratton pond in just under 2 hours which was 3.8 miles from the parking lot. What a beautiful setting, there appeared to be tent sites on an island, we'll have to come back and explore further. Hike for another 6 miles before we found a suitable campsite. We thought about tenting at Prospect Rock but decided against it because it was so close to the road. Also discovered  during this section I had somehow not packed the water filter, so we used purification pills. The next morning we had a cold breakfast because we were short of drinkable water, only having one quart between us for the 4.7 mile hike out to the car. Stopped at the Spruce Peak Shelter for a rest and filled a couple of water bottles from a piped spring, treated one with pills. Close to end of the hike we were past by a daughter and dad hiking team. When we crossed the road to get to our car they were hitching a ride down to Manchester Center, appeared they weren't being so successful. We offered to give them a ride to town, a little Vermont Trail Magic. They were from Michigan, she was Rocket and he was Michigan Wolverine. The dad had asked her were she wanted to go hiking this summer and she answered, thru hike the Long Trail. Drop them off and we drove back to pick up the car and headed home via Route 100. Total hike 14.3 miles which took 9 hours and 30 minutes.