Long Trail section hike

[jofish]

Hey fellow hangers - and possible hiking companions,

I'm in the process of section hiking the Long Trail and wondering if I can find any fellow hammock campers who'd like to join me for a stretch. It's impossible for me to get enough time off work to hike the whole thing at once, thus the section hiking. I've already done the first ~50 miles of the trail and I'm looking to do the second approximately 50 mile stretch at some point this summer. Specifically, the section I'm looking to hike goes from where the trail crosses route 11 (near Manchester Center) to where the trail crosses route 4 (near Rutland/Killington), which comes in at just about 50 miles. I haven't decided exactly when to do the hike, but it would likely be in July or August. I'm looking to do the hike over the course of 4 full days, likely Thursday thru Sunday or Saturday thru Tuesday - I have a bit of flexibility there, but it would definitely incorporate a Saturday-Sunday + 2 more days. It's a fairly strenuous stretch (check out the elevation map below) and we'd be averaging about 12.5 miles a day, so it wouldn't be for someone without a fair bit of hiking experience/in decent shape. Let me know if you might be interested in joining me and, if so, some dates that would work for you. Right now the only weekends in July or August that wouldn't work for me would be the first weekend of each of those months.

Long Trail map: http://postholer.com/gmap/gmap.php?trail=lt&dist=1
Long Trail elevation map: http://longtrailalex.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/lt_full_01.gif
Long Trail distance calculator: http://www.longtrailpodcast.com/ltdist_calc.php

[Alpha42]

I'd love to, wish I could take more than two consecutive days off work :/

I through hiked the LT northbound in 2005 with a hammock. Plenty of places to hang. Obviously near higher elevation it's difficult due to thinner+weaker trees, but if you plan it right you can hang at most shelters.

[I-Hang]

Good luck with your plans jofish. I hope you are able to find someone to hike with. I plan on doing an 8 day section hike of the LT at the end of August. I am looking to start up north and head south. I figured I would start out at the hardest section first and see how far south that I can make it.

[Alpha42]

I figured I would start out at the hardest section first and see how far south that I can make it.

If I was going to do it again, this is definitely what I'd do. The shelters are also much nicer where the AT/LT don't run together (northern third). Only thing I'd be worried about is Mansfield - if I recall correctly, it's around 4,000 feet of elevation change in a VERY short distance.

[I-Hang]

Thank you for the heads up about the trail near Mansfield. I have been studying the maps and have planned on drastically reducing my miles hiked per day to take in account all of the elevation changes.

BTW welcome to the forum Alpha42!

[Alpha42]

I have been studying the maps and have planned on drastically reducing my miles hiked per day to take in account all of the elevation changes.
That's one of the things I loved about hiking the LT - so many shelters, made it really easy to adjust your miles per day by ~5 miles. (I was hiking with a tent-dweller)


BTW welcome to the forum Alpha42!
Thanks! :D

[jofish]

No takers? Bueller?

[R3l@x]

Hi Jofish,

I'm doing the section from rt9 to Mad Tom rd this weekend which is a little farther than where you want to start. I may be able to meet up with you from Mad Tom to 140 depending on the weekend. That will leave me the last 150 and I'm knocking off another 50 right after the Harold Parker hang. I'll watch this thread.

[Swoopy]

sure man- im always down for a walk in the woods if you're looking for some company.