We made it to the summit of Killington. After this, the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail divide. The Long Trail, the older of the two trails, continues north through Vermont to the Canadian border. The AT turns east and heads toward New Hampshire crossing into the Granite State at Hanover. We still have many miles to cover, but fewer every day!
On top of White Rock above the town of Wallingford, Vermont, is a sculpture of white rock in the middle of the woods. I thought it was a pretty cool discovery on the trail. Some people might see it as forest graffiti. In either case, it was unexpected and diverting!
We have had a great time passing through southern Vermont and a large part of that has been due to the generous hospitality provided by the Foote family. They graciously provided us warm beds, showers, shuttles, and family dinners which meant we were able to slack pack across several peaks. Awesome, and a huge thank you!
The picture above shows Farsight on Mount Baker. The beautiful white rock is mined from quarries visible across the valley to provide the famous Vermont marble in monuments and structures like the Jefferson Memorial, the US Capitol, and the the US Supreme Court.
This beautiful scene is not the opening shot of a science fiction video where Farsight has emerged to save Earth from disaster, though that may appear to be his spaceship! We are actually on top of Bromley Mountain here in Vermont ski country, and that is the mountaintop lift. The AT passes over several peaks in Vermont with well known resorts including Stratton, Bromley, and Killington.
When you want to slack pack as much as possible, you need a vehicle that can climb the mountain forest roads that take you to the trail on the ridge line and deep in the woods. That's why we bought the "Trail Rated" Jeep. We got to try out some of the off road features today. Lots of fun!
Honestly, you can also pretty successfully slack pack with a Honda Civic or any other reliable vehicle, but it's still fun to own the Jeep and imagine other cars can't get where we can.
Farsight successfully negotiated the latest in a long series of famous mud slides, pits, and holes throughout Vermont. Luckily, we are here in later summer when the ground is dryer, and it's been a reasonably dry week until the afternoon thunderstorm today. For those readers who really enjoyed learning about healthy soil at Farm Aid, or anywhere else for those who didn't go to Farm Aid, I will say the mud is impressively black and rich. If the soil on the farms is like the soil in the forest, it makes sense that Vermont is so fertile!
