Vermont Long Trail: Section 2

Section 2: 104.2-Sherburne Pass Rt 4 to 165.5-Birch Glen Shelter

The second half of this section was pretty brutal, and it gradually became clear that my mom and I had different approaches and goals for the trail. I was wearing one knee brace for this section, and would add another for Section 3.

The big takeaway for me from this section? The Green Mountain Club needs support.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

–Robert Frost, Carved into the wall of Rolston Rest

Trail Day 8 (June 25): Sherburne Pass Rt 4 to Rolston Rest (5 m)

This seems like a lot of effort…borderline suspicious

Leaving the Appalachian Trail behind! We definitely had mixed feelings, we were happy to see 75% of the AT thru hikers go a different way, but we missed Bangles and the trail was EMPTY when we didn’t have that traffic anymore.

BIBIMBAP! I would call it one of the top two meals of the trail.

Trail Day 9 (June 26): Rolston Rest to Sunrise Shelter (13.7 m)

The roots of this birch made me think of Old Man Willow from The Fellowship of the Ring.

Helpful signage on the Long Trail continues.

And a little eggplant parm for dinner. It did have a lot of red pepper so I loved it but it was a touch spicy for my mom.

Trail Day 10 (June 27): Sunrise Shelter to Skyline Lodge (15.9)

The Middlebury Snowbowl was a present surprise! And a fun moment of realizing how close were to the house. We ski here all the time in the winter and my mom has hiked up the trails in past summers.

Clearly there was a Big Foot in the area.

Skyline Lodge is one of my favorite day hikes, especially on misty or rainy days because the forest is beautiful and the pond looks so mystical. Not only did we get fabulous views when we arrived but boy were we happy to be in a fully enclosed shelter when a hail storm rolled in!!!

Trail Day 11 (June 28): Skyline Lodge to Battell Shelter (13.9 m)

We spent a solid 15minutes here figuring out what mountains we were heading towards until we realized we were looking south…

Trail Day 12 (July 29): Battell Shelter to Birch Glen Shelter (13.1 m)

Mount Abe is another classic day hike that we do as a family (including during Christmas break). This was a moment of clarity in terms of the difficulty of the trail: a day hike that we considered a challenging all day event was about 20% of our day on the Long Trail.