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Published: October 25th 2018
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VT LT/AT
The very wet AT that we hiked in VT. The AT is also the LT (Long Trail) in southern Vermont. Our planned hike for Vermont was along the AT to a ski area on nearby Bromley Mountain. However, as usual on this trip, it rained all day on Monday when we had planned to do the hike. Since it was our last day in Vermont, and we had about a 4.5 hour drive on Tuesday to get back to Portland for our flight home on Wednesday, we toughed out a couple of very wet and cold miles on the AT trail to Bromley Mt.
Vermont has a trail, called the Long Trail, that goes from the southern border with Massachusetts to the northern border with Canada. The southern half of the Long Trail is shared with the Appalachian Trail until the AT turns east toward New Hampshire. So our hike on the AT in Vermont was also on the LT. Our 2 miles on this trail met our main requirement to hike the AT in Vermont, but we still needed to get a few more miles of walking in so, as the rain eased up, we drove to a lovely city park in Manchester Center, VT where we got another 3 or so miles in. The trail in this park
Color on the VT AT
Along the AT to Bromley Mt. took us by a nice municipal ice rink in a building called Riley Rink. The building is actually a multi-use arena that is converted to indoor soccer as well as a venue for concerts in the warmer months when it is not used for ice hockey in the winter. We met a really nice man who was instrumental in establishing the facility and who gave us a tour with a very complete and interesting history of the building and all of its various uses as a venue for many different events throughout the years. It is pleasantly surprising how many interesting people and places we stumble across in our travels.
Up on Tuesday, morning we traveled to an area called White Rocks National Recreation Area where we were able to take an interesting 2 mile or so hike to an area called the Ice Beds. The trail passed a couple of overlooks that provided nice views of the valley below before descending into and along a ravine to the end where a boulder field tumbled down from the mountainside above. A stream fed by ice melt underneath the boulders flowed out and down the ravine. Apparently the water freezes
Bridge on the AT
On the AT to Bromley Mt. in winter and stays frozen until late summer providing a cool breeze along the base of the ravine all summer long. In October, the ice had melted some time earlier, and we did not need the ice to provide a cool breeze since mother nature was doing that quite adequately all by herself. After our short hike, we drove on to Weston, VT, where we did a bit of shopping in the relatively famous Vermont Country Store, a store with every conceivable thing a tourist might want for souvenirs or gifts for those back home. Weston is a very small town with this store being the obvious main attraction. The store is huge with hundreds of people shopping – something interesting to see and I guess we are glad to have experienced it but don’t have much desire to return. Too many people.
After the store, we drove to Portland, checked into our motel, got a bite to eat for an early dinner, and packed for our early, 6:00 AM flight home. All flights were on time, and we arrived home around 1:00 PM. Now we only need Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia to complete our 14
Bridge on the AT
Another of the bridge state AT hiking goal.
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