The Innkeeper, Pat, at Smuggler’s Notch Inn in Jeffersonville Vermont, agreed to drop me and my hiking friends – Rob, Mark, and George, at the Long Trail parking lot off HWY 15. He just had to finish cooking and serving breakfast for guests first. He and his son were running the Inn while his wife was tending to his injured daughter. Pat agreed to park my SUV at the Inn while we were gone for the week. We thanked him for the restful evening, the tasty breakfast, and the shuttle drop-off before waving goodbye.
Just one km into the trail, we came to the Lamoille River crossing. The river was maybe 6 metres wide at this point, but a giant white pine had fallen, obscuring any clear path. A notice posted on the trail suggested a road detour of three km to the east. We started down a faint trail that was parallel to the river but turned back after 10 minutes thinking we could find a way across.
When we got back to the tree, two thruhikers were trying to find a way across as well. Eventually we discovered others had walked across the fallen pine so we all followed suit. It turns out our difficult crossing was only over a side channel and a suspension bridge spanned the river proper.
GIRP and Pickles
GIRP (Guy In Red Pack) and Pickles were teachers in Montpelier, but were both new to Vermont. They were on day 17 of their Long Trail thruhike. We never caught up to them again, but read their entries in the trail registers found in all shelters.
On our first day, we covered only six km, but climbed 1000 feet. We stopped at Roundtop Shelter early that hot afternoon, knowing we would have to start slowly to gain our trail legs. The shelter, a three-walled log structure with two sky lights looked to hold maybe six hikers. Rob strung up his one-man Durston tent as a mosquito shelter and Mark and I decided to rely on bug head nets for protection. George set up his tent guaranteeing a better sleep. We slept poorly, so this was the last open shelter we stayed in. Early in the evening, two young women arrived at the shelter after a 16km day. They set up their tent, cooked, and we had a great evening of conversation.
Goodall and Littlefoot
Goodall and Littlefoot were friends from Massachusetts. Goodall was here for the weekend, supporting Littlefoot on her fifth and final section hike of the Long Trail. She, Goodall, sectioned hiked the Long Trail over a number of years, and thruhiked the Appalachian Trail last year. Other hikers dubbed her tramily (trail family), ‘The Ameoba’. She described the group as “a handful”. She acquired the name Goodall as ‘the mother of all the monkeys’.
Littlefoot had just finished her Phd researching treatments for cancer. Her trail name, Littlefoot, came from her first section hike on the Long Trail. She had an unfortunate incident behind a shelter, witnessed by many. Littlefoot was an acceptable alternative to the name given to her by the onlookers.