Long Trail Day Five: Bittersweet

 As Emily mentioned in the last post, today was our last day on the trail.  5 days, 50 miles.  Not bad.  But... we did have a daunting 4-mile 2000' climb up to Killington right off the bat.  I hiked ahead of the girls, and stopped every 300-400 feet of elevation (using my altimeter watch) to let them catch up and give them moral support and a chance to rest.

Tickling Parker with some leaves during one of the rest stops

Snack time during a rest break

Her appetite continued to be huge

Plain flour tortillas... yum!

Peter Rabbit sweet potato, corn, and apple

One of many many toads we saw this day

We eventually made it to the top of Killington.  Well, almost.  The peak was actually a 0.2 mile hike off of the Long Trail up a blue blaze.  I made a quick dash up while waiting for Em and P.

Vista from Killington Peak

The rest of the day's hiking was pretty mild.  2.5 miles after leaving Killington, we came to our turn-off: Sherburne Pass Trail, which would take us directly to our destination.  The Sherburne Pass Trail was originally the AT/LT.  It was rerouted in 1999, and now crosses Route 4 almost a mile west of the pass.    Obviously, we opted for the original route.

Leaving the LT; 2.5 miles to Sherburne Pass and the Inn

The Inn at Long Trail

Long Trail 2012 was a success.  We now have 54 miles left to complete our section hike of the Long Trail.  2013??

-Chris