The 2006 Edition of the July Fourth Butt kicker!!

“There is always Gaysville.”

“GAYSVILLE! Now that would be my dream come true, LOL.”

“The swimmin' holes there are fabulous!!”

“my goal is to get all the 4000 footers.”

“OK wise guy, how many days and how far?


My goal is to get the whole trail one piece at a time.
last edited: 3/23/06 10:58:25 AM”

“I need to get the guide. There is one of the 4000 footers I may not be able to get on this trip, Killington, since it is towards the south. But the others are in close proximity from what I understand. The trip will probably be around 4 days and 40-45 miles.”

“Vt Rt 17, Appalachian Gap to Vt Rt 108, Smuggler's Notch is 45.3 miles.

Shuttling cars up and down Rt 100 is relatively easy.”

“Kick it!!”

“Well??”

“The location for this year's July 4th Buttkicker will indeed be the Long Trail in northern VT. The mileage each day will be around 12 miles. There will be many big climbs and descents. We hope to get 4 out of 5 of the 4,000 footers in Vermont, including Mt. Mansfield, the highest of all mountains in Vermont. This year could be the finest July 4th Buttkicker yet!”

“I look forward to the trip report.”

“Uh huh..........then why not go along and see for yourself??”

“I'll be that way at the end of August. I also have to work Monday, July 3.”

“Yeah......sure...”

“sounds fun ENS, i'm looking forward to hearing about it.”

“hey Roam!”

“Hey Roam”

“Hay Roam?
”

“Hey Yall!”

“Southern end:
Meet at Appalachian Gap on rt 17. This is about 6 miles west of rt 100, near towns of Waitsfield and Irasville. This may also be in Camels Hump State Forest.

Northern End:
leave car at Appalachian Gap, drive up rt 100 to Stowe and head north on rt 108 for about 8 miles to Smuggler's Notch. Hike south, starting with Mansfield, or vice versa.

total mileage looks to be about 45 miles.

potential?

dang, lunch break is over. back out on the road. talk amongst yourselves.
last edited: 6/07/06 10:51:51 AM”

“http://www.extremeultrarunning.com/mchart.htm

According to this here the distance is 45.3 miles.

For some reason I like hiking north on this segment.

Number one good reason is that there is a creek at Smuggler's Notch in which to bathe after four days on the trail.
The creek is fifty feet from the parking area and screened by trees......not that I mind showin' my ass.
Last summer the three of us, Henry and Pedxing and I, took a bird bath in this very and very cold creek.
If we have some women with us..........even better!!

Number two good reason is that in Stowe there are many choices for places to eat.
Last year we hit a Chinese buffet and put a serious hurt on it.

I have no idea what is in Irasville.
It is maybe a small village.
last edited: 6/07/06 11:13:34 AM”

“Scratch my itinerary. 2 4000 footers, Abraham and Ellen, are south of Appalachian Gap. Doh! The next parking area south is Lincoln Gap, adding 11.6 miles. However, there is a shelter less than 2 miles north of Lincoln Gap, which could make a Friday night start doable?”

“FYI, there is a fee to use the Battell Shelter (the shelter just past Lincoln Gap).

Here’s a list of the shelters along the Long Trail:
http://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=54”

“Uh oh, this is starting to become mileage creep.

That would make it 56.9!!!!

I can't hit the road until Friday evening.
If I drive straight through I could maybe make it to "where ever Vermont" by 3:00 AM Saturday.

If we are to get 10-12 miles done Saturday we will have to hit the trail by Noon.”

“Wassup

Me & my dog did what looks like the most rugged section of the Long Trail, just under 100 miles of it, south to north, ending at Mansfield about 8 years ago. Think I started somewhere near Rutland..wherever the Appalachian Trail permanently separates from the Long Trail.

Camels Hump is a formidable peak, but aside from that I found most of the Long Trail to be (now I don't wanna piss anyone off here) pretty easy. Only saying that cause I found the trails to be in good condition, with some long ridgelines sections that enabled a quick pace. Abraham was steep, but not too long - sorta like a Catskill peak. What was very cool was that I could see Mt. Marcy in NY from Abraham, and NH Whites. It had rained for the whole week, but the sky alowed rays of sunlight that illuminated Marcy & the Whites, providing an incredible view!

Have a great time on this trip!!”

“Thanks Zac and Mousey. :o)
Mousey - you gotta get back on the trail with us one of these days.

Okeeeee, the Friday night hike is out then. Here's another option, hoping we can get on the trail before noon Saturday:

Sat: Lincoln Gap to Birch Glen Camp - 14.2 miles
Sun: Birch Glen to Bamforth Ridge Shelter - 14.1 miles
Mon: Bamforth Ridge to Puffer Shelter - 17.4 miles
Tues: Puffer Shelter to Route 108 - 11.9 miles

Monday's 17.4 miles could be shortened to 13.4 miles by camping at Buchanon Shelter, making the final day 15.9 miles.

I'm just winging it here and tossing stuff around, going by the mileages in the guide book. I've never been on the LT before so I don't know if there is any other camping between designated sites.”

“I'm trying to get the rest of that week off so I won't have to rush home Tues after the hike. As of today, I can't get the time off unless someone switches their vacation schedule. I'm working on that. If I can get off, I'd like to hike Killington on Wed, head towards the Daks and get a motel for a night. I'd like to get some peaks Thurs and Fri before the Dix hike, camping somewhere Thursday night.”

“I think I'll be there Thursday or Friday. Pennsy...you got my mobile number? ENS I know you do! MarkO you better have it...”

“Holy crap, what happened to no more than 12 miles per day, Pennsy??

Gem, uh.............lemme go see”

““G'ster - you can always join us in Vermont. It's not gonna be that big a buttkicker. We're not planning on doing much more than 12 miles a day.”
Pennsy
9:52:19 AM
6/07/06

HUH?!?!?!?!?!?”

“I think we should lower the mileage on the Monday to 13 miles and Tues up to 15. I think we should Use that as a basic plan and then play each day by ear, much the same way Pennsy and I did on our recent AT adventure. I also think we should spot cars and stash gear along the way to reduce the pack weight. IT'll make shuttling complex, but it will make the hike easier and also make bailing easier in the event of emergencies.”

“Finally, a bonehead with some sense!!

Ha ha!!

It would be nice not to actually break something, like my hump, to get to Smuggler's by Tuesday.

We could visit Princess Sparkles after our hike.......all smelly and stuff!!”

“Holy crap, what happened to no more than 12 miles per day, Pennsy??

That was before I realized that Abraham and Ellen are south of the intended start. I was just tossing out ideas, but I'll do whatever you guys come up with. I'm really hoping I can get the rest of the week off, so if the schedule skips those 2 mountains, I can get them on Wed the 5th.

I'll shut up now.
last edited: 6/08/06 3:53:27 PM”

“is LT coming?”

“did I tell you all that I love you very much? :D I am so damn excited it makes no sense. But that's prolly because I'll do mitchell tomorrow...whoohoooooo”

“Awwwwwww, shucks, Gem. You didn't tell me how much you love me. Tell me! Tell me! ;o)
It will be great to see you. Last time was last year's July 4th trip. I hope this one treats you better.”

“I'm tryin' to get back out there Pennsy - gotta rebuild in order to keep up w/ you folks. I'm going to test the back out in the Whites in 2 weeks - doing the Carters and Wildcats - probably at a sissy's pace. My plan is to be back at full strength by late summer to try one of the buttkickers you guys draw up.

(Wrote this on my Blackberry - hope it doesn't show up at 100 font, cause that's how it looks on my screen!)”

“ENS......you gots mail........Gemini too!!”

“oh!! That! yes, i got that!
I dun care, I just wanna get my ass kicked!!!”

“I believe this hike will be ass kickin' enough.

Last July I did 36 miles in the same number of days and it kicked my keister.
This one is 45.3.”

“I look forward to the trip report. Your itinerary matches my planned first 4 days of the trail.”

“You goin' beyond Smuggler's Notch, Zac o' Lumber?”

“Dude, Whiteface Mountain is a breeze....................uh, up on top it is breezy.”

““You goin' beyond Smuggler's Notch, Zac o' Lumber?”
MarkO
2:01:52 PM
6/16/06
We plan to hike a little ways past Smuggler's Notch on day 4 and stay at Sterling Pond. Our plan is to hike all the way to the Canadian boarder from Lincoln Gap over the course of 9 days was an extra 10th day in reserve in case we need to change our plans.”

“Sterling Pond is about four miles north of Smuggler's Notch.

Whiteface is in your path beyond Sterling Pond......hahahahahahaha!!!!”

“So do you dorks have the plan together yet? Hell yeah I'm in! Says yes next to my name doesn't it?
So we are starting to hike Saturday morning? Are we going to meet up Friday night somewhere? My house is about 3.5-4 hours from there.”

“I'll probably be getting there pretty late Friday night, say midnight.”

“according to the new "trip Czar" MarkO, we're meeting noon Sat at the Smuggler's Notch parking area near Stowe, right?

If we are meeting at noon, I don't think I'd get up there Friday night. It's about 380 miles from here so if I leave here Sat morning at 5am, I can get there around 11:30.

ENS - are you pooling with MarkO and Gem?
Also, I can NOT get the rest of next week off work, which means I have to head home after the hike on Tues the 4th.

Who is this Lthiker character? I thought he quit hiking to be a full time hair dresser. ;o)”