For this year's post-semester Appalachian Trail section hike, Liz, Nick & I narrowed in on Southern Vermont for a 2-night, 3-day backpacking trip. Despite its proximity in mileage, we traveled 3 hours to Route 9 in Bennington to begin our 27-mile section hike to Stratton.
From the parking lot on 9, we quickly ascended 700 feet in the first mile- truly experiencing the rise of the notch from the parking lot. By the spur for Melville Nauheim Shelter, the gain became more steady but remained persistent until Maple Hill, at 2690 feet. Coming down from Maple Hill was a small relief, especially in its incredible footing as we entered the Glastenbury Wilderness, which was marked with the coolest GMNF sign.
As we started up Porcupine Lookout, the heat of the incoming 90-degree days began to set in, and we got our one true view and breeze for the afternoon. The terrain remained very steady, keeping to small ups and downs for some time, until that last rise to Goddard with a 400'+ push. To my surprise, nearly all of this gain was accompanied by rock stairs and held little erosion, despite having the grade to be quite so.
Rolling into camp, we were surprised to find a well-flowing pipe spring, farmer's porch shelter, bear box, and amazingly clean privy. In addition to amenities, there was room for plenty of tents in comparison to the Northern LT spots. We enjoyed hot dinners, dropping temperatures, and the best outdoor sleep of my life here. I would love to visit again via the long West Ridge trail!
Waking up on day 2, I was reminded of my spring allergies 10-fold and suffered a cracked voice and a tough time breathing the rest of the day. Tis the season! We started heading up Glastenbury Mountain, whose fire tower is closed to structure concerns, and then began a fairly long descent. The incoming heat, quickly hitting 90 in the valley on Monday, didn't mix well with the pollen and ability to not sweat off all my sunscreen. We kept plenty of water filtered and made the most of it all.
My favorite part of day 2 was the charcuterie stop at Kid Gore (aka Kid Rock) shelter just north of Big Rock. The fueling got us through nicely but unfortunately did not make the bugs any less active as we dropped down into the Alder Brook wetland area. While filtering at Alder Brook, we had a mix of bugs, some biting some not, which stayed with us as we went through the wetlands between the crossing and Story Spring Shelter.
Story Spring Shelter was a bit of an older one, with an uphill privy and a very closeby water source. We had a picnic table and a decent room for tents as well. It was here that I tripled up on allergy medications, and as a result, was curled up around 6:30. This was the only night we had anyone else with us, tonight an AT hiker from Florida who had never hiked in New England before!
The morning was met with a lot of gratitude as Liz didn't finish her incredible egg scramble and I got to have some delicious breakfast, then a couple of rolling miles. The 3.6 miles from Story Spring to Stratton-Arlington road was fairly easy, passing an attractive bridge and campsite about a mile from the road, but the anticipation of taking off my pack was vast.
Now we still had another significant milestone to hit, a big 80% done my New England 100 of course, but before that, I had a 2-pound vest to change into. In Liz's planning genius, she mentioned that we should slack pack Stratton rather than drag our 35-pound overnight bags up it was amazing.
She took off ahead of Nick and me, rearranging our things slowly, and then the two of us took off to the top, which we summited in about an hour and a half. The way up was delightful, especially as we hit the spruces that let the most beautiful breeze through. Getting to the fire tower was just incredible. Now I rarely go up fire towers, but after doing some much scarier things over spring break, I sucked it up. Man, am I glad I did.
In addition to the crispest air I've felt in a week, the 360 views over the Somerset Reservoir, Mt. Snow, Bromley, down into Massachusetts, and even East to Monadnock were unbelievable! I don't think that'll be the last time I brave a fire tower of this size.
The way down Stratton felt a bit longer, mostly because it was all that was standing between me and a hot plate of Fajitas in Keene. Still, I think that last day was my favorite- now Vermont is all hiked out of high peaks for me!
The backpacking trip came down to 31.1 miles with 6,335 gain. Always some great training for the summer to come!
Comments