The Long Trail, Vermont

“I didn't mean to hitch a ride from home but hitching along for a piece of the trail like I did with Pedxing in 2005.

That would require dropping my car somewhere near Jonesville and meeting your weekend warrior ass at the point where the trail goes through Smuggler's Notch.

If this comes to pass I could re-supply you at Smuggler's Notch and there could be a package for you in my car at Jonesville.”

“sweet, marko!

ped, what kind of timeframe/distance are you interested in?”

“I don't know for sure Crash. If it was just me, I would start in August and aim either for the whole LT or I'd start in Canada and take a left at the Maine Junction and see how far I could get with the time available.

I'd pick August just because it seems that for the last few years summer started in August in New England and July was way too wet. Doing the Cohos last summer was the worst stretch of trail I've ever done as far as wetness goes - some of it was the trail but mostly it was the non-stop rain. I have grafted skin on my feet - which isn't nearly as durable as normal skin and my feet didn't fare well at all (leading me to stop my trip after finishing the Cohos instead of trying to make it to Vermont - first time I've ever cut a trip short of my goal).

I'd probably put in about 3 weeks which is about what I've done when I did the LT. 10 miles a day would be the perfect pace - but its hard for me to get four weeks off.

It would be great to hike with you, and Marko and the other people who are signed on as "maybe." I figure I'd commit to doing some stretch of the trail together - coordinating transportation - and see how it went as its hard to coordinate pace and everything for too long. I've also become a solo backpacker and may be too set in my ways to adjust to how other people travel for too long a time. I'm slow, but I'm stubborn and keep wanting that next stretch of trail and end up putting in long days.

Marko gave me a great start to my first LT hike - by meeting me with food for my first resupply and having supplies in my car for the second resupply.

There are couple Bushwhacks I want to do next time I'm nearby - Big Jay in the North and Mendon near Killington. If the pace is 10-12 miles/day I could probably take the side trips and catch up.”

“im probably going to be doing this in july, ped. august is too busy for me.”

“it's been awhile since ive bought airline tix. whats the good website to do that now? expedia? cheaptickets?”

“I start with Kayak.com - which will also give you a look at some other searches. It can also help to check out airfarewatchdog.com. If you sign up for Kayak (free), it has some functions that help you find the cheapest dates.

Priceline and Hotwire can give you some good deals if you don't mind committing before you know the details.”

“Other advice:

http://www.frommers.com/deals/airfare/article.cfm?dealID=AIRFARE&articleid;=6234&t;=Airfarewatchdog%27s%2011%20Ticket%20Buying%20Tips”

“I figure if i reserve far enough in advance, flying should be slightly cheaper than driving, and massively quicker. i just have to arrange transport from the airport to the trailhead. know of any shuttle services?”

“Which trailhead and which airport? If I started with you in the North, I might see about splitting a shuttle or giving you a ride depending on who else comes, etc.

There is some shuttle information at whiteblaze.net in the Long Trail forum. There is also some in a forum in the webboards at http://www.longtrailhiking.info.

My strategy for shuttles was

1) SOBO: I posted questions about shuttles on trailforums.com and a kind soul offered to shuttle me from White River Juction - I had to push him to accept gas money. I hitched home from North Adams when finished.

2) NOBO: My wife drove me to the trail head North Adams. I figured I'd wing it hoping to finish with someone who had a car or a ride waiting (with a plan B to back track call for a shuttle from Jay or back track to the last significant road and then hitch). I ended up meeting up with an LT SOBO who I'd hiked with before. He drove up to the trail head and gave me a ride to the bus station.”

“im southbounding, so northern terminus”

“what is the closest major airport to the southern terminus? boston?”

“It depends on what you mean by major - some people do fly into Burlington Vt - which is served by major airlines. Almost as close is Montreal - not sure how much of a hassle that would be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington_International_Airport”

“Closest public transportation I know of is Amtrak to St. Albans. I don't know if a bus goes there - it's not that much closer than Burlington, however.”

“I fly from Burlington, much cheaper than Montreal.”

“whats the closest major (served by major airlines) airport to the southern terminus?”

“did you google it? ;)”

“your mom googled it”

“How'd she like it?”

““whats the closest major (served by major airlines) airport to the southern terminus?”
crash bang
1:33:06 PM
1/11/10

Probably Albany.”

“albany is closer than boston?”

“Albany "International" Airport is about 45 miles from North Adams. About 100 miles closer than Boston. Flights to Boston would be cheaper though.”

“is there a bus line from albany to north adams?”

“I'd have to look into it more, but I don't think there is a bus service from Albany to North Adams. There's always the taxi option.”

“Oops my stupidity - I was reading and thinking Northern Terminus. Albany is definitely the closest airport to the southern terminus.

If you take a bus from the southern terminus, you would be best off using the Pine Cobble trail which splits off from the AT just below the Vermont border and going to Williamstown. There is a bus station in Williamstown - I don't think there is a bus station in North Adams. I'm not sure if there is a direct bus to Albany. Maybe there is in the summer.

You might look at Bus schedules (and direct flights) rather than physical distance to the trail head in choosing an airport for the southern terminus. I assume sure the bus schedules will be different in the summer than they are now. Other airport options might be Worcester, Hartford, Boston, New York City and Manchester for airports.”

“Damn - I tried to edit the message and remove my false confession of stupidity - but even though I beat the time limit, it wouldn't let me change. I realized you had asked about the northern terminus and then about the southern.

Anyhow, the bus from Williamstown to Albany may be almost as long as to Boston or NYC due to connections and the it may run more often to Boston and NYC - so check bus schedules, plane schedules and price before making buying a plane ticket.

Peter Pan may be the only bus that goes anywhere near the southern terminus, but it wouldn't hurt to check out greyhound or trailways.”

“haha we all you youre stupid now”

“I ain't immune to stupidity and try to admit when I am. If I could get paid for my time on TT, I'd be more careful.”

“Anyone going to be hiking in Vermont in Late June or in the first half of July?

And - OK that was great! I posted to a Long Trail thread which was linked to a Deam Wilderness trip in 2010 - since I was listed as organizer and Ewker (I think) posted that all the trips were changed to Deam at some point, I went to edit and then deleted the trip. Of course, the thread died with it - so here I am.”

“Ped, if you go to the past trips page you will see about 25-30 Deam Wilderness trips and all but one have the same date”

“Sigh. Thanks for pointing that out Ewker. Wish the owners cared about maintaining this site.”

“it would be nice but we know it isn't going to happen...so who wants to buy it ;)”

“I'd love to see them sell it. Facebook has hurt all but the strongest topic boards - I wonder what they'd want for it and who would pony up. A few I used to like have died completely or fallen into the kind of state we are in - though backpacker seems to be going strong.”