Long Trail 2016 Day 3

After an OK night's sleep, we awoke excited for the day! For this will mark the finish of our section hike that we began back in 2008 (!). Same morning routine plus a little extra play in the tent by Parker. Go figure - she sleeps out under the stars all night, then gets IN the tent for horsing around.

We got rolling around 8:30 and we decided to push on to the MA border before breaking for lunch which is exactly what we did. We made it! Long Trail is complete :-) Pictures were taken at the border though Charlotte and another dog Mahoosuc could not see eye to eye and tempers flared between them which made us hasten our departure.

Beyond the border, we had a mile to our turn-off at Pine Cobble Trail which took us the 2 miles directly down to the trailhead where Impreza was parked. It got pretty hot on this last section but we ambled our way down the 1000 feet or so of elevation loss and got to our car mid afternoon. As promised we stopped at Friendly's in Bennington for ice cream and other tasty food before retrieving my bike that I locked to a tree at the Rte 9 trailhead.

3 hours later we were back in Boston for 4th of July celebrations at home and we all had smiles on our faces. We are very proud of Parker for walking the entire 17 miles!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed after her night's sleep under the stars

Navigating some rocks and mud

Char, after an extra long detour into the woods where she must have picked up a scent

Big rock!

Lemon Squeezer!

At the southern terminus of the Long Trail

Pine Cobble Trail - 2 miles down to our car

Shirt off for the last couple miles

No caption needed

Long Trail 2016 Day 2

We had a cozy night near Congdon Shelter, though due to there being so many hikers (it was Saturday of 4th of July weekend mind you) we ended up camping somewhat close to the privy. Not ideal, but it sufficed.

It dawned dry and clear Sunday morning... Emily and I settled right back into our morning routine from the PCT - I made the coffee and got breakfast ready while she packed up the sleeping bags/pads and organized the stuff inside the tent.

The itinerary had 7 miles on the docket and we got rolling by 8:00am. Our hope was to put in 4 miles before breaking for lunch, which ended up working out well because that was also a water stop. Unfortunately, our steripen failed to work so we had to use backup tablets to treat the water. After lunch, we kept moving and enjoyed a short sunny break under some power lines, and made it to our destination - Seth Warner shelter - by 3:00pm :-) That gave us plenty of time to pick a good site, get some water, goof off a bit and even build a fire! We met some nice hikers, one of which was a thru-hiker who shared some hot dogs with us.

Parker wanted to cowboy camp and so we let her. Surely she would want to come inside the tent at some point! But nope we were wrong - she slept outside the entire night, even through the barrage of fireworks people were shooting off right over our heads. Brutal but what are you gonna do? Emily and I finally fell asleep after they petered out. It was a good day. 7.2 miles hiked.

Mornin' Sunshine

Breakfast and braids

Girls are ready to go

Sittin on a rock by a stream

Bog bridges (and volunteers working on them)

Add caption

Parker LOVES taking breaks

Her new obsession: "Where the Red Fern Grows"

Feeling a little tired

"Daddy can you put this rock in my backpack?" "Uh, how about I take a picture instead?!"

Happy Family!

Goofing off - taking some slo-mo videos

Campsite near Seth Warner shelter

Proud of my fire :-)

Cowboy camper, sleeping out under the stars

Long Trail 2016 Day 1

It's been 8 years since we began our section hike of the Long Trail. Emily and I hiked the majority of it in 2008 and 2010, 2009 being the year we did our PCT thru-hike. Since then, a lot of life has happened and we finally got around to walking the last 14 miles of it :-)

Parker (daughter) and Charlotte (dog) are both 5 years old and one of them can go a lot faster and further than the other... I shall leave names out of it. So we opted to use up our 4th of July weekend to tackle it over 3 days. It was 14 miles to the MA border from Route 9 near Bennington but then another 3 miles down to the Pine Cobble trailhead near Williamstown equaling a total of 17 miles.

Pics from Day 1:

The girls are ready!

And they're off. But not me. I have a car to go drop off.

I drove to the southern trailhead, parked the car, and rode my bike the 19 miles back to the northern trailhead

And I'm off! 2.5 hours behind the ladies

Meanwhile, Parker poses for a number of pictures

I eventually caught up to them, and then a mile later we camped at Congdon Shelter. 4.3 miles for the day

Charlotte hears critters in the woods

SKT4

Well this is it - last section!  Oh wait, OK so actually I decided to break this last section into two, because Parker is now hiking by herself (most of the time) and today we hiked 5 miles - plenty for a 4 year old in my opinion.  So here's our hike of the Skyline Trail section 4 between Randolph Avenue and Chickatawbut Road.  Warm weather and no rain = happy day.

Our hike in Blue Hills on the Skyline Trail

Parker waiting patiently while I get my backpack and Charly Dog situated

Across a little grassy area before heading into the woods - Parker is very skilled in following the blue blazes

Steep climb up to something Hill

Our one wildlife sighting.  Parker touched it.

Picnic in a shady nook

Cooling off our feet during lunch

Tired Charly Dog

Elevation profile

SKT3

Back on the Skyline Trail today with Parker, to do section 3! (of a planned 4).  The little 4 year old walked a majority of it, though our "picnic" at the top of Buck Hill was cut short due to weather (wind and dropping temps).

Map, courtesy of Garmin Fenix2 and iPhone 4S

The walk begins

Hollow tree, great for saying hi to your daughter

I was initially nervous about my chosen footwear for Sparks, but she rocked the Tevas

Add caption

Almost to the top of Buck Hill

Charly, barking up the right tree

In the Poco for the return trip because it got cold and Daddy didn't prepare well - shame!

Our hike in elevation profile