NEWS

Quarterly of the Green Mountain Club FALL 2018

The mission of the Green Mountain Club is to make the Vermont mountains play a larger­ part in the life of the people­ by ­protecting and maintaining the Long Trail System and fostering, through education,­ the stewardship of Vermont’s hiking trails and mountains.

Quarterly of the Green Mountain Club

Michael DeBonis, Executive Director Jocelyn Hebert, Long Trail News Editor Richard Andrews, Volunteer Copy Editor

Green Mountain Club 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road Autumn on Mount Mansfield. Photo by Gus Billard. Waterbury Center, Vermont 05677 Phone: (802) 244-7037 Fax: (802) 244-5867 CONTENTS E-mail: [email protected] Website: greenmountainclub.org Fall 2018, Volume 78, No. 3

TheLong Trail News is published by The Green Mountain Club, Inc., a nonprofit organization founded in 1910. In a 1971 Joint Resolution, the Vermont Legislature designated the Green Mountain Club the FEATURES “founder, sponsor, defender and protector of the Long Trail System...” 7 / Arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer Contributions of manuscripts, photos, illustrations, and By Mike DeBonis news are welcome from members and nonmembers. The opinions expressed byLTN contributors and 8 / The State of the Vermont Moose advertisers are not necessarily those of GMC. GMC reserves the right to refuse advertising that is not in By Isaac Alexandre-Leach keeping with the goals of the organization.

TheLong Trail News (USPS 318-840) is published 10 / The Wonders of Avian Architecture quarterly by The Green Mountain Club, Inc., 4711 By Martha Leb Molnar Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. Periodicals postage paid at Waterbury Center, VT, and additional offices. Subscription is a benefit for GMC 14 / Kingdom Heritage Lands Trail System members. Approximately $5 of each member’s dues is By Jean Haigh used to publish the Long Trail News. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Long 16 / Rebuilding Bromley Mountain Observation Tower Trail News, 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. By Jocelyn Hebert Copyright©2018 The Green Mountain Club, Inc., 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. Permission to reproduce in any form any of DEPARTMENTS the material in this publication without prior written approval of The Green Mountain Club, Inc. is granted only to individuals for their own personal hiking 3 / From the President 20 / Field Notes 25 / Board Report ­convenience. 4 / Mountain Views 22 / Trail Mix 26 / Land Stewardship 5 / Trail Support 23 / Education 28 / Sections Cover: Early morning sighting of a bull moose on Mount Abraham summit in 2017. Photo by GMC 6 / Blue Blazes 24 / Volunteers 31 / Journey’s End Caretaker Scout Phillips. From the President

t is a special honor to be elected the 43rd 2010—an amazing adventure that I am president of the Green Mountain Club, looking forward to repeating. Ithe principal protector and maintainer When the GMC celebrated its 100th of the Long Trail, the Vermont Appalachian anniversary, the club conducted a Long Trail, and the Northeast Kingdom trails. I Trail relay with section hikes along the appreciate the opportunity to lead such a entire length of trail. To complete my valuable and esteemed Vermont institution. end-to-end, I joined five of the section In my firstLong Trail News column, I’ll tell hikes. During the relay I met a group of a little about myself and my connections to volunteer hike leaders who were clearly the Club and the Long Trail. invested in and devoted to the trail. Born in Proctor, I attended school in Former GMC President Jean Haigh led Rutland and then Burlington before moving my last leg to Journey’s End. Jean, then- back to Rutland, where I finished my early Executive Director Ben Rose, and then- education and high school. I’ve lived in Director of Trail Programs Dave Hardy Vermont all of my life except for the four made such positive impressions on me that years I was in college and two on active duty I just had to become a GMC volunteer. I Tom Candon with the U.S. Army. started as a board member, then went on A degree in economics led to my to serve as secretary and vice president, as and I look forward to working with staff, early career in association management a member of the executive committee, and officers, board members, committees, and in Montpelier before joining the Howard for the past three years as chair of the trail other volunteers to reach our goals. Bank (today TD Bank) in Burlington. I management committee. For 108 years the Green Mountain completed my professional career in 2014 As chair of the trail management Club’s purpose has been to develop and with 21 years as the Vermont Deputy committee I was fortunate to see first hand maintain a hiking trail system in the Commissioner of Banking, and concluded much of the extensive planning needed to Vermont mountains. The club works a 23-year military career with the Vermont maintain our trails. Visiting sites to evaluate hard to ensure your hiking experience is Army National Guard in 1993. My wife maintenance projects has been a valuable memorable and enjoyable. But we need your Mary and I live in Shelburne, and we education. More importantly, I had a front- support. If you are a member who has yet to have four married children and eight row seat to the late Dave Hardy’s brilliance, participate on a section outing or volunteer grandchildren. savvy, hard work, and most indelible to help on a trail workday, I encourage you, I was first introduced to the Long Trail trait—his indomitable desire to ensure that as I did, to make it a goal this season to get when I was a Boy Scout in Rutland. I can the Long Trail System would be a foremost involved. Along with the staff and volunteer remember hiking north from U.S. Route 4 hiking experience for future generations. I leadership, I will be available to answer for an overnight adventure. It was a great look forward to doing my part to build on questions and listen to recommendations. outing, but I must admit that the most Dave’s invaluable contributions. Autumn is the perfect time of year to memorable part was a very close encounter At GMC’s 108th Annual Meeting in grab your backpack and head for the hills. with the trail when our assistant scout June, John Page concluded his three-year Share time on the trail with a friend—they leader lost his wedding ring and we spent a term as president by passing the gavel to me. will certainly want to repeat the experience, fair amount of time combing the trail for it. One of many significant accomplishments and may be inclined to join the thousands If memory serves, it was never found. during his term that will guide me and GMC of GMC members and volunteers already I section hiked the Long Trail from the for the next five years is the newly adopted supporting our trails today. Massachusetts border to the Canadian strategic plan. It will be a continuous topic of —Tom Candon, President border, completing the final stretch in discussion and focus during my presidency, PHOTO BY JOCELYN HEBERT PHOTO BY JOCELYN

LONG TRAILWheeler NEWS Pond in •the FALL Northeast 2018 Kingdom | 3 Mountain Views

Three Magical Weeks on the Trail I Married the Man, and the Pond We received the [end-to-ender] certificates last week The enclosed check is to be used for present and and are absolutely thrilled! My daughter Amanda future expenses at Stratton Pond. In 1971 when GMC Officers is going to sew her patches on her pack right away. I married Robert Humes I also seemed to marry Tom Candon, President And both certificates will get framed and hung Stratton Pond, being from then on for many years Sheri Larsen, Vice President Stephen Klein, Treasurer on the wall soon. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised part of Worcester Section annual work parties. Ed O’Leary, Secretary if Amanda brings hers to hang in her dorm room Bob, as past president of the main GMC and also GMC Directors when she goes away to college in a couple of years. of the Worcester Section, kept me active in one Robynn Albert, General Lars Botzojorns, General She is that proud of her accomplishment. And she way or another in GMC until his death in 1991. Michelle Connor, Burlington should be—it’s a tough hike! I hope this donation can help both with caretaker Hope Crifo, General Bob Fish, Manchester Thank you so much for making this happen. costs and especially with your proposed rerouting Russ Ford, Northern Frontier James Fritz, Connecticut We fondly remember our hike every day. And your and new shelter and campsite plans. Jean Haigh, Northeast Kingdom stunning magazine never fails to bring smiles to our —Mrs. Anne Humes, Kennett Square, PA Peter Hope, Upper Valley-Ottauquechee Anne Janeway, General faces as we fondly remember all of the wonderful Healthy Ridgeline Amy Kelsey, General things that happened during those three magical Wayne Krevetski, General George Longenecker, Montpelier weeks last summer. We wanted to send you a hearty thank you for Ron Lucier, Sterling hosting our group last Friday. It was exciting Nancy McClellan, General —Bruce Young Rich Minogue, Bennington to see the Mansfield ridge looking so healthy. John Page, Immediate Past President Thundering Falls Boardwalk Mike Peckar, Worcester GMC’s stewards do exemplary work with Kenna Rewcastle, UVM Board Fellow Thank you so much for all your hard work on admirable dedication, all most evident to us as we Ira Sollace, General Cynthia Taylor-Miller, Killington this amazing section of trail! My cousin was in a enjoyed our walk from the Forehead to the Chin. Dann Van Der Vliet, General Howard VanBenthuysen, General near fatal car accident over two years ago, and has Speaking for the [Waterman] Fund, it was Matt Wels, Brattleboro been relearning everything. Before the accident, most rewarding for us to see how our support Bruce Yelton, Bread Loaf John Zaber, General she would spend a month here with me over the benefits that incomparable alpine ridgeline. Vacant, Laraway course of a year, hiking and skiing and enjoying Again, thanks for giving us such a wonderful GMC Staff Directory Vermont. This past week was her first time back day! All the best, and carry on… since the accident and I was so excited to keep —Laura Waterman Main Telephone: (802) 244-7037 doing the things we love to do together—the ADA Jason Buss, Director of Finance MUT Running Attracting Young People to E-mail: [email protected] [wheelchair accessible] boardwalk section of the Phone: (802) 241-8214 Appalachian Trail from River Road to Thundering Mountains Ilana Copel, Field Supervisor Email: [email protected] Falls was just perfect. Her mechanical wheelchair I wanted to acknowledge the significance of Phone: (802) 241-8218 fit perfectly, there were pull-offs so people could Rob Rives’ article on trail running in the last Lenny Crisostomo, Database Manager E-mail: [email protected] pass us, and she felt like she was in the middle of the Long Trail News issue and offer my support. Phone: (802) 241-8325 woods and got to see a stunning waterfall. It was an (Disclaimer: I worked with Rob as a member of Lorne Currier, Group Outreach and Field Coordinator amazing experience for her, me, and her mother. GMC field staff last summer, and he convinced Email: [email protected] Phone: (802) 241-8327 Once again, so much gratefulness for all the hard me on my first day to continue the tradition and Michael DeBonis, Executive Director work that you do. try the Mansfield-Camel’s Hump challenge. It E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (802) 241-8212 —Merisa Sherman, Killington was awesome.) Alicia DiCocco, Director of Development Rob’s perspective on MUT [Mountain/Ultra/ E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (802) 241-8322 Trail] running and use of the LT comes at a time Keegan Tierney, Director of Field Programs, of transition for the GMC. I’m talking about Email: [email protected] the issue plaguing many of Vermont’s and our Phone: (802) 241-8320 Mollie Flanigan, Land Stewardship Coordinator country’s oldest groups and organizations: median E-mail: [email protected] age. How does the GMC facilitate making the Phone: (802) 241-8217 Vermont mountains play a larger part in the lives Jocelyn Hebert, Long Trail News Editor E-mail: [email protected] of the young people? I think Rob may have a clue. Phone: (802) 241-8215 The MUT community is young, energetic Matt Krebs, Operations/Publications Coordinator E-mail: [email protected] (enough to run 100 miles, in fact), and has Phone: (802) 241-8321 a very strong sense of family. I don’t quite Kristin McLane, Membership and Communications Coordinator know how I feel about holding an Ultra run Email: [email protected] on the Long Trail just yet, but welcoming this Phone: (802) 241-8324 community into ours is an essential move in the Amy Potter, Visitor Center Manager E-mail: [email protected] right direction for our organization. Run, walk, Phone: (802) 241-8210 skip, or hop, the Long Trail is for everyone, and Robert Rives, Education and Volunteer Coordinator Email: [email protected] MUT running the black flies bite ‘em all. Phone: (802) 241-8329

PHOTO BY GREG MAINO —Jordan Rowell Follow Us: Trail Support Donating from your Retirement Account: How to Increase your Impact

any Green Mountain Club from a traditional Individual Retirement members choose to give to the Account (IRA) or incur substantial Mclub in addition to dues, and I financial penalties. Normally these am often asked the best way to do so. My distributions count as taxable income to answer: support the club in a way that is you, but also beginning at age 70½, you meaningful to you and your family, and can make gifts directly from your IRA to that works for you. any public charity. Known as charitable Financial needs and situations are fluid, rollovers, these count as part of your so it is important to review your options required minimum distribution but are not each year. One simple, often overlooked, considered taxable income to you. That’s a yet frequently advantageous way of giving big benefit, particularly if you don’t itemize is through your retirement account. Folks deductions on your individual tax returns. tell me that when they started saving for You can also set up monthly distributions retirement years ago they never dreamed from your retirement account. they would be able to give back so much If you are age 70½ or older, please Alicia DiCocco to organizations that embody their values, consider donating directly to the Green like the Green Mountain Club. Mountain Club from your retirement Donating through your retirement account account. gift annuities, I would be happy to answer may increase the amount you can give GMC, If you have questions, call me at them too. But I always recommend which will increase your impact on the trails (802) 241-8322, or email adicocco@ discussing any change in donations with and the people like you who cherish them. greenmountainclub.org. your financial advisor as well. Once you turn 70½ you must start If you have questions about other ways —Alicia DiCocco taking required minimum distributions to give, such as planned giving or charitable Director of Development

Lincoln Peak

• LONG TRAIL NEWS FALL 2018 | 5 HEBERT PHOTO BY JOCELYN Blue Blazes Frost Trail: A Favorite Footpath up Mansfield

n my quest to complete all 88 side trails possible trailhead. The Frost Trail route to shimmering and stunted birch and ever- managed by the Green Mountain Club, Maple Ridge has become my preferred path shrinking spruce and balsam. II look forward to discovering places I’ve up Vermont’s highest peak. After almost a mile the trail emerges never seen, and sometimes finding a new I originally assumed that the Frost Trail from conifer-scented woods onto the first favorite route up a mountain I’ve hiked many was named for Robert Frost, the well-known of several large rock outcroppings that offer times before. poet, Vermont resident, and a Long Trail expansive views of the Champlain Valley and With each hike I am surprised and hiker himself. I learned, however, from the western slopes of the Green Mountains. delighted by the distinctive features and Robert Hagerman’s book Mansfield, the An increasingly exposed scramble climbs qualities of a trail, even when it originates at Story of Vermont’s Loftiest Mountain, that further until it reaches the Maple Ridge Trail, the same point as other side trails. the trail’s namesake is Harold P. Frost. Frost where stone cairns guide the way. The Stevensville parking lot on built a compass device and mounted it on You can continue on the Maple Ridge Mansfield’s west side near Underhill is the the porch of the Mount Mansfield Summit Trail for another mile or so to the Long Trail origin of three such trails. The Nebraska House, enabling him to identify mountains at the Forehead, at which point you have the Notch Trail, Butler Lodge Trail, and Frost visible from the Mansfield ridgeline. option of turning left (north) to the Nose Trail each climb to different elevations along According to Hagerman, “By 1953, when and Chin, or right (south) towards Wallace the approach to Mansfield and its ridge. The Frost described his hobby of some seven years Cutoff and Butler Lodge. Nebraska Notch Trail rises gently south of for the Green Mountain Club’s Long Trail You might feel compelled to turn from the Forehead to the Long Trail. The Butler News, he had charted 60 different mountains the Maple Ridge Trail before you reach the Lodge Trail climbs more steeply east, directly by name and angle.” Long Trail, however, when you encounter two up to the lodge. The Frost Trail winds its Starting in the woods, the Frost Trail alluring options. Just under half a mile along the way north, changing character steadily and begins with a moderate ascent, the footpath Maple Ridge Trail you reach the intersection dramatically from bottom to top before covered this time of year with a blanket of with the Rock Garden Trail. Another half breaking out of the woods and reaching the soft and colorful leaves and the distinctive mile further is the intersection with the Maple Ridge Trail. aroma of autumn. It gradually becomes Wampahoofus Trail. These two slightly more After hiking the Frost and Maple steeper and winds its way by sections of technical trails feature abutting vertical rock Ridge trails for the first time last fall, I have mossy carpet, sheer rock walls, and trees faces and narrow crevices, and lead south approached Mansfield’s summit from every that change from mixed hardwoods to toward Butler Lodge. I still viscerally recall the excitement I felt as a child when I first hiked Mount Mansfield—my first alpine summit—as the trees became shorter, the air colder, the wind more bracing, the terrain more imposing, and the views more distant than I’d ever seen. Certain trails have a magical quality that make you feel, in just a few miles, like you are traveling to a strange and faraway land. As I approach my last undiscovered blue-blazed pathway to the Long Trail, I feel somewhat wistful, but I’ve hiked long enough to know that each time out I will experience something new—a different season, a unique loop—and again feel the sense of wonder I had when I first began to explore the Green Mountains. —Douglas Lloyd, Burlington

Maps to get you there: Doug Lloyd on Frost Trail Mt. Mansfield and the Worcester Range

PHOTO BY JOCELYN HEBERT PHOTO BY JOCELYN Vermont’s Long Trail Map

6 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB

Arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer Forever Changing Vermont’s Forests

was fresh out of forestry school and working as Maine’s Urban and Community Forester in 2002 when the news hit I that emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) (EAB) had been discovered in Michigan. Sixteen years later, EAB has devastated ash trees in more than 30 other states, including Vermont. The metallic emerald-green beetle, measuring a quarter to a half inch long in its adult state, burrows into ash bark, leaving an S-shaped gallery and cutting off the flow of water and nutrients. Healthy ash trees typically die three to five years after the first symptoms of infestation. What we’ve learned in sixteen years is that most infested ash trees will die. This alarming news has us wondering how the appearance of Vermont’s forests will change, what ecological impact the loss of the ash trees will have, and how hikers will be affected. Vermont is almost 80 percent forested, and ash trees (black, green, and white) comprise about five percent of our forests. Five percent might not seem like much, but that’s about 160 million trees. Areas with high concentrations will be hit hard, leaving a more noticeable gap in the forest. Stands of ash and individual trees can be found along the Long Trail, Appalachian Trail, and Northeast Kingdom trails. One notable area near the Quechee-West Hartford Road on the AT has a high concentration of mature ash. Unfortunately, once the EAB is established, very little can be done to stop its spread. Chemical treatment of individual trees is possible, but expensive and impractical for a forest. Harvesting of ash trees is also ineffective. The EAB infestation can cause high concentrations of blowdowns and threaten hiker safety. We can remove hazardous trees near HEBERT PHOTO BY JOCELYN shelters and at trailhead parking areas, but we have never managed Healthy ash trees near Devil’s Gulch. hazard trees along the trail. It might be an impossible task, given the potential magnitude of EAB destruction. For now, the club and its landowner partners will monitor What can you do to help? conditions and address infected ash trees where they threaten hikers. • Learn to identify ash trees. As a licensed forester, I know Vermont’s forests are diverse and • Learn to identify EAB. resilient, and will persevere despite EAB. But as a hiker, the loss of ash in the forests and our communities is difficult to comprehend. • If you think you have found EAB, visit vtinvasives.org for While there isn’t a happy ending for Vermont’s ash, we have learned a more information on EAB and to report your sighting. lot from neighboring states in the last 16 years, and we can apply this • Don’t move firewood. EAB typically spreads only one to two knowledge to slow the spread of EAB and enjoy our ash trees for as miles a year naturally, but it can move sixty miles an hour long as possible. when transported as firewood. —Mike DeBonis, Executive Director

Photo Credits: Left: Emerald Ash Borer, Leah Bauer, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, Bugwood.org Right: Emerald Ash Borer, Michigan Department of Agriculture, Bugwood.org

Affected Ash Tree Emerald Ash Borer

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 7 The State of the VERMONT MOOSE By GMC Field Assistant Isaac Alexandre-Leach

Young moose at Sterling Pond. Photo by Samantha Norton.

hether you grew up in far northeastern corner of the state. This by white-tailed deer without harming Vermont or are here for the steep reduction in permits, down from them, often affects the central nervous Wfirst time, seeing wildlife on 80 last year and 141 in 2016, is part of an system of moose, leading to behavioral our hiking trails is a treat. There is a special effort by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife distortions that may kill the moose directly pleasure, though, in spotting one of our Department to establish a healthy or require killing it for human safety. most famous and elusive inhabitants: the population across the state while allowing Brainworm cases, tied to the density of moose. deer populations, are most prevalent in Sighting a moose is, to me, a rather southern Vermont. stunning, reverential affair. They are “To relieve irritation Particularly shudder-inducing for elusive—almost mythical—and then moose may rub their fur parasite-conscious hikers are winter ticks, suddenly so large and real that it takes a which thrive in warmer and less-snowy moment to adjust to their presence. off against trees, exposing winters. Later snowfall means more time Moose are already a rare sight to Long for ticks to find moose hosts. When spring Trail hikers. Their population is relatively the weakened animal to comes early, sated ticks dropping from a small, they avoid people when they can, moose land on hospitable forest duff rather and they blend into the trees amazingly lethal cold.” than snow, permitting them to reproduce well. The moose population in the Green rather than die. Tens of thousands can Mountains is now threatened, further sustainable moose hunting, which many cover a moose, feeding on its blood. To reducing a hiker’s chances of seeing one. value as an important part of Vermont relieve irritation, moose may rub their fur Many people took notice this spring culture, and a source of food. off against trees, exposing the weakened when Vermont announced it would issue Recently, moose in Vermont have been animal to lethal cold. only 14 permits to hunt moose, limited challenged by two threats: brainworm and Given all of this, how can moose to bulls (male moose), and only in the winter ticks. Brainworm, which is carried hunting be justified? Research has

8 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB indicated that if the density of moose populations is reduced, The State of the the population of ticks may decline enough so more moose will ultimately survive the winter. In areas with viable moose habitat, the state hopes to establish population densities between 0.25 and VERMONT MOOSE 1.00 moose per square mile. Densities are currently in that range By GMC Field Assistant Isaac Alexandre-Leach only in and near Essex County, where some hunting can continue. While fourteen moose is not many, they can provide about twelve thousand meals of meat, according to the Fish and Wildlife Department. Also, while seeing moose is exciting, there can be too much of a good thing, especially in moose-heavy habitats like the Northeast Kingdom. In the early 2000s the moose population in Vermont swelled to more than 5,000 compared to around 1,650 today. An increase in hunting permits was required to limit over- browsing and destruction of other animals’ habitats. What does all this mean for hikers? If you hope to spot a moose, check out the growing trail system in the Northeast Kingdom, managed by the GMC’s Northeast Kingdom Section. There are moose along the Long Trail corridor too. The area along the ridge of the Green Mountains is estimated to support 388 moose, almost a quarter of the state’s population. Cedric Alexander, the wildlife biologist leading the Fish and Wildlife Department’s moose project, helpfully provided tips for PHOTO BY SCOUT PHILLIPS spotting moose. First, although moose often favor low-elevation Bull moose protecting fragile vegetation by staying within the string while wetlands that provide nutrient-rich foods, they also tend to avoid walking south along the Long Trail on the Mount Abraham summit. human activity. They spend most of their time at middle- and higher-elevations, which helps explain the ample piles of moose droppings on ridgeline trails and provides some opportunities for viewing. Second, moose are most active at dusk and dawn, and in cooler weather, so time your hikes accordingly. Finally, and most important—if you want to spot a moose (or most wildlife, for that matter)—keep quiet. Hike silently and keep group size small. Don’t forget to look around, too. I’ve certainly walked past a quietly grazing moose without noticing. While wild animals should never be approached, Alexander added that bulls should be given extra room during rutting season, from mid-September to mid-October, when they are most aggressive. The same goes for cows with young calves in May. A final note on moose conservation, lest you feel frustrated that ticks and hunting permits are beyond your influence. From July 2016 through June 2017, Vermont recorded 20 moose deaths from ticks and brainworm, and 15 from unknown causes. Vehicles PHOTO BY SAMANTHA NORTON killed 48. Wherever moose are active, stay alert on the road! Young moose at Sterling Pond Moose aren’t so different from hikers: They eat constantly, hate crowds, and can smell horrible. As climate change brings warmer and dryer winters, our common battle with ticks may be just beginning. Although recent years have been challenging for moose, this would not be the first time they have suffered a decline. As recently as the 1960s the species was nearly extirpated in Vermont. The story of moose in Vermont is changing, but not ending. Through some adaptation on both of our parts, we may continue to spot each other on a cool ridgeline many years from now. PHOTO BY ARM TURCOTTE Moose tracks

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 9 The Wonders of AVIAN ARCHITECTURE By Martha Leb Molnar

Osprey dropping a branch before reaching nest. Photo by Jocelyn Hebert.

m I as capable as a bird? Can nests—as big and heavy as a car—to a saliva. Vireos decorate the outside of their I build a simple nest? Not a hummingbird’s—as tiny as a thimble. hanging nests with bits of paper filched Apendulous one like a Baltimore They require complex engineering and from hornets’ nests, so they look like oriole’s, nor a giant osprey’s. Just a little impressive craft, making birds the master hornet nests, serving as a defense. cup, such as many native birds build by the builders of the animal world. That it Birds are incredibly creative not only hundreds of thousands in our woods. with construction but in the choice of I forage for materials, returning with sites, from grain elevators and steeple twigs, dried grass, earth, moss, a feather, “Bird nests...require tops to mailboxes and discarded shoes. rotted wood, old leaves, bark, a ragged complex engineering and Increasingly, they choose to live with us piece of newspaper, and milkweed pods, rather than in the wild. Not just Barn and lay everything on the kitchen table. impressive craft, making Swallows and Chimney Swifts, but Trying to imitate birds, who have only also phoebes, rock doves, corvids, and their beaks to work with, I try using just birds the master builders even falcons, ducks, and geese. All take two fingers. I decide their beaks must be advantage of food and nesting sites we better designed than any two of my fingers. of the animal world.” provide directly or indirectly. Using eight fingers and two opposable As a result, nest materials are also thumbs for most of an afternoon, should be birds with their beaks, direct changing. The Great Crested Flycatcher fortified by coffee and chocolate, I descendants of dinosaurs, rather than, say, used to incorporate shed snakeskin, but manage to weave an embarrassingly small bonobos or orangutans, with hands much these days uses plastic wrap. Orioles weave object vaguely resembling a nest. I hang like mine, is mystifying. nests from the fibers of the previous year’s it between two branches, and place two milkweed stems, but apparently their of the smallest eggs I can find in the How do birds do it? And how do concept of fiber is flexible: naturalist and uneven depression. The thing wobbles they know what to do? author Bernd Heinrich reports in The dangerously but stays put. Nesting Season that he found an oriole nest Within three days, following a heavy Birds do it because they must. The nestling near a boat landing in California made rain, the nest is gone. I find the mess of stage is the most vulnerable time in their entirely of blue fishing line. construction materials and eggshell shards lives. The variety and creativity of nests A common nest in our woods, in the rapidly growing grass. results from the arms race between the easily glimpsed from the Long Trail or I can no more build a seemingly birds’ adaptations to reduce predation, Appalachian Trail, especially after leaf simple bird nest than the complex house and the evolutionary selection pressure fall, is the classic cup: a robust bowl with we live in. on predators to increase it. An extreme an insulating lining, strongly supported Bird nests, it turns out, are anything example is swifts, which for safety, nest and anchored, often with spider silk, well but simple. They are intricate, strong, deep in caves with no materials for nests. above ground. In this relatively secure Herb Ogden Sr. Signs and beautiful. They range from eagles’ So they build nests entirely from strands of environment that also conserves body heat,

10 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB chicks take longer to mature than species whose nest you might glimpse hung high another time. A genetic template would raised in less sturdy nests. Since longer in trees. It is woven, knotted and stitched direct the same sequence each time. maturity is linked to greater intelligence, from grass using some 10,000 stitches, Many nests are camouflaged. Lichen these birds are considered the brainy ones: similar to the construction of baskets. on a titmouse nest in a lichen-covered tree jays, blackbirds, warblers, crows, finches, Building these resilient yet light creations works well, as does a robin’s messy nest of sparrows, and hummingbirds. takes both engineering and gymnastics. trailing grass and loose leaves, which look Cup nest materials include just about like debris. But birds don’t change the everything: roots, stems, twigs, leaves, “The variety and creativity camouflage materials when nesting on our lichen, flowers, fruit, and mud. The lining buildings, even though a lichen-covered may incorporate feathers, down, and wool. of nests results from nest is highly visible against paint. What The nest is bound together by interlocking does that say about their ability to learn its materials. the arms race between and adapt? A naturalist watched a hummingbird On the other hand, many birds build her nest. She chose strands of hemp, the birds’ adaptations to incorporate aromatic plants in their nests placed them crosswise on a branch, then to deter parasites and mosquitoes, and they picked up loose ends and flew clockwise reduce predation, and use what they find around them. They also around the branch until she created a small the evolutionary selection adapt the structural materials available. cushion. She added more material, forming Around here ravens use knobby twigs a cup through a sequence of body, head, pressure on predators to broken from poplars for platforms, but wing, and bill movements. She shaped the in Alaska where there are no trees, ravens inside by turning, twisting, and pressing increase it.” used steel welding rods pilfered from a her breast against the bottom and sides. construction site. Adaptation, clearly, but Finally, she covered the outer wall with How do birds know how to build is it adaptation through the process of gray lichen for camouflage. Hummingbirds these mind-boggling structures? Are they evolution, or through individual learning? routinely use spider silk, a brilliant hardwired to build nests, or does it require We don’t know. And so we’re left with choice because it’s stronger than steel and learning? If I were a Baltimore Oriole, a mystery leavened with admiration, spiced stretches up to 40 percent of its length would I instinctively know how to weave a with a bit of envy. Which makes the nests without breaking, ideal for binding a nest perfect hanging nest? we find all the more fascinating. that must expand as chicks grow. Nobody really knows. Studies reveal The amount of work is astounding. Tits “a clear role for experience,” especially Martha Leb Molnar, formerly a journalist, collect some 3,000 lichen flakes, 600 silk among builders of the most elaborate nests. is an author, VPR commentator, and public spider egg cocoons, 300 sprigs of moss, and Experienced builders drop fewer blades of relations professional. She’s a foul weather 1,500 feathers to build a five-inch cup nest, grass. Also, techniques vary from bird to writer only, since good weather in any with a pair working together for four weeks. bird, and even in the same bird from one season finds her outdoors gardening, biking, Most elaborate of local nests is that nest to the next. A bird may build from swimming or skiing. of the Baltimore Oriole, our weaver bird, left to right once, and from right to left

Cup nest with twine and a strand of tinsel Hummingbird nest PHOTO BY KRISTIN MCLANE AND FIRE PROTECTION, BUGWOOD.ORG OF FORESTRY PHOTO BY DONALD OWEN, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 11 Rainy Day Trail Friends Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) eggs hatch in water. The aquatic larvae eventually climb onto land, and spend several years in the juvenile ‘eft’ stage. Efts are orange and can been seen on the footpath in many areas along the Long Trail, especially on cooler, rainy days. Efts return to water as adults, changing to an olive-green color. Their tails becomes flat again to support an aquatic lifestyle. Look for adult newts in the shallow water along shorelines of backcountry ponds and lakes like Stratton Pond, Little Rock Pond, and Griffith Lake.

12 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 13 section, and a new hiking trail system in trees, pushed aside dense hobble bush, the Kingdom. slogged through bogs, and fallen in Kingdom The Vermont Agency of Natural brooks as they searched for and flagged Resources (ANR), U.S. Fish and trail options. They bushwhacked Wildlife Service, Essex Timber mountains big and small from the Heritage Company, The Nature Conservancy, Canadian border to Island Pond until Vermont Housing Conservation Board, they found the best footpath routes. and Vermont Land Trust cooperated Dave Hardy, GMC’s late director of trail Lands Trail to purchase the sizable tract and divide programs, joined many scouting hikes it into three parcels: the 22,000-acre in his classic style, often clambering System West Mountain Wildlife Management contentedly over rocks and through Area; the 26,000-acre Silvio O. Conte swamps in Birkenstocks. Wildlife Refuge; and an 84,000-acre We settled on a 15-mile trail passing Final Steps of the working forest operated by Essex Timber over Gore Mountain, Middle Mountain, Company, with recreational easements and the Bluff Mountain ridge range, with that created a wonderful opportunity to a 2.5-mile side trail that would eventually Bluff Mountain expand hiking in northeastern Vermont. lead to Unknown Pond. In 2004 we The long-range management plan for submitted a draft management plan with Ridge Trail the conserved lands stipulated that all the proposed routes to the ANR, which “corridor-based” recreational uses, like approved it early in 2009. hiking, bicycling, snowmobiling, and GMC contracted with the By Jean Haigh horseback riding, must have designated NorthWoods Stewardship Center corridor managers. In 2000, enthusiastic (NWSC) in East Charleston to begin local Northeast Kingdom hikers formed trail building in 2011. Their backcountry GMC’s 14th and newest section, the crew of young men and women, with Northeast Kingdom Section (NEK NEK Section volunteers, put loppers, Section). The following year, expanding hazel hoes, and rakes to the ground. It upon its 90-year history managing the was a long anticipated and exciting time Long Trail System, the Green Mountain for the club’s youngest section. Club expressed its interest to the As grant money became available ANR in becoming the official corridor from the Vermont Department of Forest, manager for hiking trails. Parks and Recreation (FPR), progress Since then, NEK Section members continued, one step at a time. While have crawled over and under downed we waited for funding, we put in time

Jean Haigh

fter eighteen years of planning and hard work, completion of Athe Bluff Mountain Ridge Trail is in sight, and the Northeast Kingdom Section is elated. In one of the biggest land deals involving multiple partners in this country’s history, Champion International Paper Company sold nearly 300,000 acres of land to conservationists in Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York in 1998. Approximately 132,000 of those acres were in rural Essex County in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The complex land deal led to the eventual conservation of its properties, Bluff Mountain Ridge Trail volunteers the birth of a new Green Mountain Club

14 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB scouting and focusing on the Bluff Mountain Ridge Trail Work Map essentials of a well-constructed trail. This spring we were delighted to learn that we had received a substantial grant from FPR enabling us to finally complete the project. The last step in this 18-year process is to build the remaining six miles that will follow a remote, undulating, and fairly open ridge with beautiful easterly views into the Silvio O. Conte Wildlife Refuge. When finished, the trail will connect with the existing Bluff Community Trail and down to Island Pond. This will be an enormous accomplishment for our section, in partnership with the NWSC; FPR; and landowner Weyerhaeuser Company (formerly Essex Timber Company). It will establish an excellent way for the hiking community to experience one of Vermont’s most wild and remote areas. “In all my years of hiking I have never seen a trail created from beginning to the end,” said NEK Section President Cathi Brooks. “Watching the Bluff Mountain Ridge Trail change from flag lines to a beautiful walk deep in the woods, I have a new appreciation and respect for all the work and effort that transition requires. I look forward to its completion and to seeing hikers out exploring and enjoying it.” The NEK Section is grateful for all our hardworking and committed volunteers, the NWSC crews, and FPR, especially FPR’s Land Stewardship Forester Lou Bushey and Recreation Specialist Luke O’Brien. As long time NEK Section member and volunteer Susan Winsor said: “Thank you, trail dreamers, trail builders, and trail supporters.” For me, completion of this trail will be a dream come true. MAP BY MOLLIE FLANIGAN

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 15 TRANSCENDING TREELINE Rebuilding Bromley Mountain Observation Tower By Jocelyn Hebert

n a stifling July day, GMC summit. The tower became a destination from nearby towns once scrambled Manchester Section President for them as well. to the platform for the admired OMarge Fish and I enjoyed a A 50-year resident of southern multi-state views, and as kids do, for welcome oasis at the Inn at Long Trail Vermont and longtime GMC volunteer the fun of it. But what else did these in Killington. As we sipped our iced and trail ambassador, Marge was children experience? What do most of tea, Marge told me about the section’s us experience when we transcend the fundraising efforts to replace an densely forested Vermont landscape? observation tower that once stood on the “It gives one a sense of Phyllis, a retired Manchester summit of Bromley Mountain in Peru. freedom and power. It Elementary Middle School teacher of 28 Accessible on the Long Trail, the years, took her classes up the mountain to wooden tower rose 40 feet above the inspires a sense of wonder identify trees, and up the tower to name 3,281-foot summit and drew thousands mountaintops as far as they could see, of hikers over its 50-year life before it and awe in the vastness of instilling a sense of science and geography was deemed structurally unsound and that maps and books alone could not. torn down in 2012. Removal of the tower our world.” Phyllis recalled how climbing above the changed the hiking experience. It created treetops affected her students. “It touches a sense of loss in the hiking community saddened by the fate of the tower. She your spirit,” she said. “It gives one a sense and roused the Manchester Section and her family first climbed Bromley, and of freedom and power. It inspires a sense to action. Today, Marge and fellow the tower, in 1973. They repeated the of wonder and awe in the vastness of fundraising committee members Phyllis hike two or three times a year, creating a our world. Our senses move far deeper Lewis and Katie Brooks are leading the treasured family tradition. than the intellectual knowledge of our campaign to finance a new tower. Before the tower was built, and since surroundings.” Fred Pabst Jr., founder of Bromley its removal, the summit provided partial Observation towers occupy a special Resort, built the observation tower in views of the surrounding area, but they were place in the hearts of mountain ramblers the early 1960s to give summer tourists interrupted by trees, the chairlift headworks, of all ages. Katie used to join locals on a reason to ride a new double chairlift to a ski patrol hut, and other resort equipment. the platform to watch Fourth of July the summit. But the 1970s hiking boom The tower’s 40 feet put hikers above all that fireworks in several towns at once. Long brought tourists who bypassed the lift where the views were spectacular. Trail and Appalachian Trail thru-hikers and used the Long Trail to reach the School groups and scout troops savored sunsets and sunrises and searched

16 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB the night sky for meteors. And everyone enjoyed the spectacle of fall foliage lending color to hundreds of square miles. “The last time I was on the tower it was fall,” Phyllis recalled. “The mountain ash was in full bloom, and the tree canopy was a brilliant red. I have not seen a display like that since the tower was removed; but I hope to see it again, and to share that vision with others.”

Volunteers in Action After the Bromley tower was demolished, Marge and other Manchester Section members brought the question Original Bromley Tower Marge Fish on Observation Tower of replacing it to the GMC Trail Management Committee. It took time to negotiate with the Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation (the landowner) and Bromley Mountain Resort (the leaseholder), but with patience and persistence the Manchester Section was finally ready to raise money and now has less than $100,000 to go toward their goal of $262,000. The fundraising campaign has created a new awareness and appreciation of the Green Mountain Club in and around Manchester. The project plan for construction of a new tower 20 feet north of the original location includes permitting, a design Katie Brooks adjusting goal status with engineering plans, and endowment of long-term maintenance. The 40-foot steel tower and viewing platform will resemble the old one, with a projected lifespan of 100 years and stair treads designed for year-round use. For more than a century, passionate trail volunteers like Marge, Phyllis, and Katie have provided the spark and support behind significant trail projects like this one. You can help rebuild the Bromley Mountain Observation Tower by donating online: greenmountainclub.org/bromley. Or by mailing a check with “Bromley Tower Account” written on the memo line to: Green Mountain Club, 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. The Bromley Mountain Observation Tower fundraising committee hopes to reach its goal by the end of 2018.

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 17 Elimination of Pit Privies in the Backcountry

s more and more hikers venture into the backcountry the need for Asustainable backcountry sanitation is pressing. Seventy-three privies are managed and maintained by Green Mountain Club caretakers, staff, and volunteers on the Long Trail System and the Vermont Appalachian Trail. Of those, 17 are traditional pit privies. Pits served their purpose once upon a time, but they can’t keep up anymore. And we can’t keep up with them. In many locations it’s impossible to find new places to dig pits, so GMC plans to convert the remaining pits to moldering privies, a more environmentally friendly sanitation system. The graphic to the right explains the basic differences between the two systems. The moldering privy is better, but conversion of 17 privies is not simple or inexpensive. The typical cost of conversion to a moldering privy is between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on location. In the Green Mountain National Forest and on the Appalachian Trail (a unit of the National Park System) the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires structures to be accessible. Power tools are prohibited in federal wilderness areas, and remote locations might require airlifting or carrying materials long distances into the forest, sometimes over rugged terrain. Although the conversion of all remaining pit privies to moldering is a big job, the initial cost will eventually be recovered because digging new pits and GRAPHIC BY JENNY MONTAGNE moving privies will no longer be needed. Add the environmental and sanitary benefits from improved waste management in the backcountry, and the effort will be priceless. To learn more about the Green Mountain Club’s backcountry waste management program or to support our effort to eliminate pit privies from the backcountry, please visit our website at greenmountainclub.org/privyproject.

New ADA accessible moldering privy at Clarendon Shelter

18 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB GMC Managed Privies on Long Trail and Appalachian Trail

73 privies managed by Green Mountain Club

17 pit privies

14 pit privies at shelters located on Green Mountain National Forest Land: Emily Proctor Minerva Hinchey Boyce Old Job Sucker Brook Lost Pond Sunrise William B. Douglas David Logan North Bourn Pond Rolston Rest Kid Gore Governor Clement Melville Nauheim

6 pit privies at shelters located on Green Mountain National Forest Land in designated wilderness areas: Emily Proctor Lost Pond Boyce William B. Douglas Sucker Brook North Bourn Pond

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 19 Field Notes

Long Trail Patrol Construction Crew the traditional high use sites, including This summer the Long Trail Patrol was The Construction Crew was led this summer Stratton Mountain, Stratton Pond, Little led by newcomer Ryan Baxter, who by Kurt Melin, in his tenth season with Rock Pond, Griffith Lake, the Coolidge joined us after working many seasons the GMC. Kurt and the crew started the Range, and Sterling Pond. Caretakers with the Adirondack Mountain Club. season with minor maintenance projects on also conducted the usual monitoring and The patrol is in the midst of 17 weeks of Bryant Camp and its privy and woodshed. education programs in the alpine zones on maintenance along the Long Trail and They also coordinated a volunteer work Mount Mansfield, Camel’s Hump, and Appalachian Trail. group to improve drainage around the camp Mount Abraham and at their associated In the greater Mount Mansfield area, foundation. The crew then moved downhill shelters. Stabilizing and diversifying funding the crew stabilized an eroded section to Bolton Lodge to put final touches on for the caretaker program remains a priority of the Frost Trail, completed a section the woodshed and complete small interior as we plan future seasons. of new puncheon on the Hell Brook projects. —Keegan Tierney Director of Field Programs Tr a il, and finished installing waterbars Eight years after Tucker Johnson Shelter and stone steps, and hardening tread was lost to fire, a long-planned replacement on the Sterling Pond Trail. More is in progress. This summer the crew set waterbars were added to the Bucklin concrete foundation piers and built a new Tr a il on Killington Peak while routine accessible moldering privy on site. Shelter maintenance on others was done. The construction will be led by Manchester crew also rehabilitated the Long Tr a il Section volunteer Jonathan Bigelow, who will along Stark Mountain and stabilized work with a group of volunteers this fall to tread and improved drainage on the have it ready for the 2019 hiking season. Monroe Trail on Camel’s Hump at three After deconstructing and removing debris sites. from the pit privy at Clarendon Shelter, the A club-wide effort was made to clear crew built a new accessible moldering privy. approximately 100 blowdowns in the And, thanks to a generous donor, the floor Breadloaf Wilderness. GMC staff, of Cowles Cove Shelter was replaced and a Burlington and Bread Loaf section new tent platform was constructed. members, and U.S. Forest Service staff rallied to cut and remove trees Caretakers obstructing trails in the wilderness Despite uncertain funding at the beginning throughout the summer. of the year, the caretaker program operated This fall the crew will complete a successful summer season that continues Long Trail Patrol crew members (l-r) Alissa deferred tread maintenance in the into the fall. Caretakers were stationed at Hevesh, Clara Kuhn, and Isaac Bernstein Breadloaf Wilderness and work on open areas along the Vermont Appalachian Tr a il, maintaining views, controlling invasive species, and dispersing brush piles from past work. Volunteer Long Trail Patrol The Volunteer Long Trail Patrol was headed this year by Rosalie Sharp, crew leader, and Alivia Acosta, crew coordinator. They worked with volunteers to harden the saturated Branch Pond Trail. In the final two weeks of their summer season they guided volunteers in the first phase of trail hardening on the Long Tr a il from Dunville Hollow to Consultation Peak. This work will continue into the 2019 field season, which will include a push to begin the reroute and site improvement planned around Stratton Pond. VLTP crew leader Rosalie Sharp teaching volunteer to use a crosscut saw

20 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB 2018 Summer Field Staff: Back Row L-R: Group Outreach and Field Coordinator Lorne Currier, Bella Kline, Michael Dillon, John Plummer, Ryan Baxter, Bryan Stolzenburg, Isaac Bernstein, Jack Burnham, Rosalie Sharp, Abby Orosz, AnnaLisa Mayer. Middle Row L-R: Director of Field Programs Keegan Tierney, Marla Davidson, Alivia Acosta, Nikki Robitaille, Elsa Chinburg, Silas Monahan, Maggie Doubman, Kerry Miller, McVitty LaPointe, Stevie Raymond, Field Assistant Isaac Alexandre-Leach. Front Row L-R: Kurt Melin, Field Supervisor Ilana Copel, Hugh and Jeanne Joudry, Gable Krebsbach, Hannah Corbin, Dillon McQuade, Alissa Hevesh, Clara Kuhn. Not pictured: Julie Higgins and Ashley Wood.

Impressive GMC Caretaker Compliments to Field Staff Rescue. He, along with a Backcountry Rescue Our Little Rock Pond caretaker helped George My compliments to Ilana for hiring such a member Jake who happened to be hiking in Becht after he took a bad fall on the trail. nice group of folks. The trail crew members the area, helped me physically start the descent Below is an excerpt from a thank you note he were working incredibly hard [on Sterling at the direction of Backcountry Rescue rather sent to GMC. Pond Trail] when I came across them both than to have to wait until the whole team Gable immediately began to evaluate my going up and hiking down, plus they were could get to the clearing. Jack and Jake were so situation and administered first aid. He did very pleasant and explained to me just calm and competent and worked well together a neurologic evaluation and determined I what they were doing. The new caretaker to help me. was okay. Later he came to me and repeated staff were all gung-ho and very friendly. With great appreciation, the neurologic evaluation. The next morning —Sheri Larsen, GMC Vice President —Diane Blais Gable checked me again. I decided to change my plans and hike Shout Out to Ashley Awesome Trail Magic Alert! out via Homer Stone Brook Trail. Gable was A shout out to GMC caretaker Ashley. A hiker who stayed at Butler and Taft hiking out on that trail for his days off, and We saw her at Cowles Cove Shelter, then lodges recently had such a good experience offered me a ride. We were picked up on Route Montclair Glen, and then on the summit she sent packages to Butler Lodge caretaker 7 by the ridgeunner from the Killington area. of Camel’s Hump. She was informative, Hannah Corbin and Taft Lodge caretaker I went to the Express Care in Bennington. funny, and helpful. We enjoyed her laugh Dillon McQuade. This photo is of them When I described the first aid care Gable and her engagement with the trail! being very thankful for the thank you. administered, the doctor said Gable did We were doing just a section hike from —Ilana Copel, GMC Field Supervisor everything correctly—thank you Gable. Appalachian Gap to Smugglers’ Notch. It was Gable hosted 45 hikers at Little Rock lovely! Going up the Forehead was a bit intense. Pond shelter and tenting site that evening. What a beautiful trail. We are thankful. I watched as he cheerfully accommodated —Ross Coleman the hikers as they continued to arrive during the evening. I was totally impressed with Thank you, Jack Burnham Gable. He is professional, compassionate, I want to sincerely thank Jack and let you all caring and it is apparent he loves being a know what a huge help he was as well as a calm GMC caretaker. Gable brings great honor to presence following my fall at the summit of himself, his family, fellow caretakers, and the Camel’s Hump. He was the first to assist our Green Mountain Club. group with first aid and I believe guidance Dillon McQuade and Hannah Corbin —George Becht, Sarasota, FL about obtaining help from Backcountry

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 21 Trail Mix KEEGAN TIERNEY New Director of Field Programs

The Green Mountain MIKE: So, how will the Club welcomed Keegan club meet this challenge? Tierney as director of KEEGAN: If the club field programs in June. maintains itself as an Executive Director Mike open and welcoming group, the trail will do DeBonis recently sat the job of getting people down with Keegan to get engaged and keeping them his thoughts after his passionate. Trying new things can be intimidating, first month on the job. and the outdoors is less and less familiar as our MIKE: Can you recall your population becomes first memory of hiking increasingly urban. I on the Long Trail while think if the club embraces growing up in Vermont? people at their comfort level and brings them into KEEGAN: I grew up in the fold, we will keep the Lincoln and Starksboro, Keegan Tierney (center, in green shirt) on Bluff Mountain Trail partner site visit organization strong, which so Mount Abraham was a means the trail will thrive. fixture in my daily life. The KEEGAN: I had spent a fair amount of time first vivid memory I have of hiking on the over the years working in parallel with Dave MIKE: From trail maintenance to Long Trail was going up Mount Abe and Hardy through my role at the Conservation building restoration, privy construction to being confused about why there was a Corps, so I developed a fair grasp of his roles backcountry stewardship, you have a lot on building [Battell Shelter] so far up the trail, and responsibilities. The one thing I didn’t your list this summer. What projects are and wondering who lived there. I was pretty have a great handle on was the dedication, you most excited about? young… the commitment, and the size of the volunteer effort that helps make managing KEEGAN: All of them. In all seriousness MIKE: You’ve spent many years working this network of trails possible. It’s reassuring though, I have already been out to look on conservation and trail projects in to know that group is there, but I wish there at a potential land protection acquisition Vermont, with 11 years at Vermont Youth was more time in the day to meet all those which would require a reroute of the Long Conservation Corps. What motivated folks as quickly as I would like to. Trail. The idea of helping to protect the you to make the change and take on the last few miles of trail is very exciting. I’m director of field programs job? MIKE: What do you see as the biggest also just eager to get out there and work challenge facing the Long Trail? with and get to know the people who KEEGAN: The idea of working in the trail maintain the trail. community has been a goal for me since KEEGAN: This is a question I think about my first taste of trail building in college. I a lot, and I think the answer that I would MIKE: Well, you can’t work all the time. have always kept my eye on the club as give wearing all the hats I wear in life—as When you’re not on the trails, what one potential avenue for that. Having a town selectperson, as a small community occupies your time? the opportunity to work in this role was non-profit board member, or here at the unexpected, but when it presented itself club—would be the same: getting the next KEEGAN: My other passion in life is there was no way I could not throw my hat generation engaged is the most important building things. My wife has the design in the ring. thing we can do. As long as there is a group sense to make sure I build beautiful of folks passionate about the trail I don’t things. Right now we are working together MIKE: After a month on the job, has believe there is any other challenge that to resurrect an 1840 English barn on our anything surprised you about the club or can’t be overcome. property that we disassembled in 2014. your role?

22 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB Education: Green Mountain Club Outdoor Programs Great Women’s Backpacking Weekend BONUS: SEVEN MILES OF SOLITUDE

aby steps. That’s how I’ve learned to made the rounds as a group and learned about of that too. Rain gear. Check. First aid kit. accomplish goals in life. My latest each other’s shelters—the weight of the tent, Check. A can-do attitude. Check! Bsuccess was gaining the confidence the space, the style, what worked, what didn’t. My third option—getting back on the to hike seven miles of the Long Trail solo to Pretty cool to see roughly ten different versions. trail—seemed like a gift, just waiting for me to my front door following a GMC women’s After the tent tour we began the evening accept it. I decided to take it and hike home backpacking weekend this summer. routine of purifying water, preparing alone. I climbed the steeps, I filtered my water, It wasn’t my first time joining the club’s meals, and after-meal cleanup. Our evening and cooked up some lunch to enjoy on an backpacking workshop. Baby steps… Last entertainment included watching each other overlook. summer I took my teenage daughter so we attempt to “lasso” bear bags up in the trees to Seven miles of solitude. To put it simply, it both could experience a backcountry adventure keep animals from eating our breakfast. After a was heaven on earth. in a safe way. I knew we would be guided by fun-filled day it was lights out. As I rounded the final corner on the trail, expert GMC leaders in the company of other The next morning I studied the five mile I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for women, and it seemed like a great way to return route on the Long Trail Map. I thought what the GMC women’s backpacking trip reconnect with the wilderness. to myself, it’s not enough, I’m not ready to get had returned to me: confidence, backed by I spent more time in nature when I was off the trail yet. knowledge, to be comfortable in nature again. younger. I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout, I had time to review my options as we —Lynn Lehouiller and I have childhood memories of camping at hiked out to the parking lot. From there, I campgrounds with my family. In college I took could hike home on roads, grab a ride with Lynn also attended GMC’s map and compass mini backpacking excursions on the Long Trail someone, or get back on the Long Trail and workshop and received a wilderness first with friends and did some winter camping in hike another seven miles to my doorstep. aid certificate after taking GMC’s SOLO the Green Mountains. Now I’m trying to find I began to think through logistics, using Wilderness First Aid course. Her business, ways to reconnect with nature while raising the experience gained from the women’s Johnson Hardware, Rental, Farm & Garden, is three kids, working, and celebrating nineteen backpacking weekend, to decide if I could go a GMC corporate sponsor. years of marriage. on. I had plenty of food. Water—I had plenty Water filtration. Check. Bear bag. Check. Hand shovel. Check! The GMC’s female trip leaders reviewed everything in our packs to make sure we had all we needed before we started our ten-mile trip. We hiked five miles, ascending Laraway Mountain on the northern section of the Long Trail. Some chatted away while others took in the experience quietly. The Long Trail is pure serenity. Fresh air, green foliage, and babbling brooks create a meditative state that encompasses you. Yeah, this is what it’s all about, tuning out in nature. 2018 women’s backpacking group at Corliss Camp The beauty of hiking is that everyone can travel at their own pace. Group hikes have one leader in front and another following behind as a sweeper. You can push your limits on those Green Mountain Club Outdoor Programs uphill climbs or go a slower speed toward the At GMC we are always looking for ways to help you have fun, be safe, and learn more about back of the group. We moved together but the outdoors. Educational workshops are added to our website all year, so be sure to visit spread out on the trail with periodic check-ins greenmountainclub.org periodically to sign up. Workshop full? Ask to be added to the waiting list. to see how everyone was doing. We meandered down the other side of Workshops may include SOLO Wilderness First Aid, Map & Compass, Cold Weather Trekking, Laraway and arrived at Corliss Camp, where Intro to Backpacking, Long Trail End-to-Ender Panel, Wild Edibles, Birding and more. we practiced setting up our tents. Then we

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 23 Volunteers 108th Annual Meeting Honorees Paul Kendall, Doug McKain, Sheri Larsen, and Ken Hertz

The Upper Valley-Ottauquechee Section hosted the 2018 Green Mountain Club Annual Meeting, Trail System, and was honored to present and organized a great weekend for members with help from other volunteers and from club staff him with Honorary Life Membership. members. The meeting, the club’s 108th, took place June 1-3 at the Hulbert Outdoor Center in Fairlee. In addition to attending the membership and board meetings, attendees could choose from a rich President’s Awards palette of activities and workshops including guided local hikes; development, communications, and Doug McKain trail maintenance workshops; late evening fireside storytelling; yoga, birding, and trail running; and an after dinner presentation by photographer and Arctic adventurer Stephen Gorman. In addition to serving on the GMC’s Board for many years, Doug McKain has been The essence of annual meeting is bringing together GMC members to socialize but also to honor and a major contributor to the publications praise the work done over the previous year. This includes a celebration of outstanding volunteers. committee since 2009, acting as chair for Below are the 108th Annual Meeting honorees: five of those years. Doug helped the club expand its publications program to reach more audiences and to compete in an Honorary Life Winooski River valleys was one of the increasingly important digital market. club’s top priorities and biggest challenges Doug edited 50 Hikes in Vermont and Membership Award in the Long Trail Protection Campaign. It two regional sections of the Day Hiker’s The Green Mountain Club’s highest honor, required complex land acquisitions, major Guide to Vermont, and has contributed to the Honorary Life Membership Award, was fundraising, and rerouting of the Long Trail almost every other GMC print publication. presented this year to Montpelier Section which would have been difficult without “Doug’s contributions over the years member Paul Kendall. Paul’s vision and leadership. go far beyond specific projects,” said “Paul has a way of breaking down Operations and Publications Coordinator complex issues to their core elements,” Matt Krebs. “I can always count on him to said Mike DeBonis. “As a new executive provide thoughtful insight to any question director, I sought Paul’s advice about how to or problem that might come up.” gain support to finish the Winooski River Long Trail Relocation project. Paul listened Sheri Larsen carefully, and provided critical feedback Sheri Larsen has been a stalwart presence and—more importantly—the motivation I on the GMC Board, and in the field as needed to get out there and do the work to a trail adopter, for many years. These get the project done.” efforts alone merit celebration, but Sheri’s Paul and his wife, Sharon Rives, have professional experience inspired her to led a life of volunteerism that extends well beyond the GMC. The Braintree Mountain Forest came into being when they donated a 1,547-acre land parcel to the New England Forestry Foundation. Through a collaboration with the Rochester/Randolph Area Sports Trail Alliance, this area is now a wildly Paul Kendall and his wife Sharon Rives popular destination for backcountry skiing. For several decades Paul has steadily and Paul and Sharon also support community quietly provided leadership and financial improvement and education initiatives support to many of GMC’s major land abroad. They established a scholarship that protection and trail building projects. Paul helps El Salvadoran high school students has also served on the board and on the attend universities and has enabled dozens long range planning, land protection, and of students to gain professional skills greatly land conservation committees. needed in their communities. Securing permanently protected Long The Green Mountain Club thanked Paul Doug McKain Trail passages through the Lamoille and for his extraordinary support of the Long

24 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB “This is invisible, behind-the-scenes work that Sheri volunteered to do without any expectation of recognition, which is exactly why I want to recognize her,” said GMC President John Page. Ken Hertz Ken Hertz came to GMC headquarters and scanned every page of every edition of the Long Trail News, which has been published since the 1920s and is the primary historical record of the club. Few had access to this record, so Ken set out to create a searchable database. “I spent my first several years asLong Trail News Editor sifting through hard copies researching information,” said Jocelyn Hebert. Sheri Larsen “Since Ken scanned every Long Trail News page in GMC history, my job has become volunteer in a less traditional way as well. infinitely easier. He drove to GMC on Fridays For three years Sheri monitored for a year, spent an hour scanning each time, activities of the Vermont Legislature using then drove home and spent another two to Ken Hertz her experience in government relations three hours processing the day’s results. That’s to identify bills that could affect the club. how great our volunteers are.” Her weekly updates to staff and volunteer Ken followed that by scanning every page John Page said it best: “We rely on leaders summarized the most important of all 28 editions of the Long Trail Guide. volunteers to do a wide variety of things legislative developments, and identified GMC’s goal, substantially advanced by Ken’s that our staff just doesn’t have the time, or which bills the club should follow. enormous efforts, is to build an archive page sometimes the expertise, to do.” Without The GMC does not employ a on the GMC website housing these and other 108 years of volunteers like Paul, Doug, professional lobbyist, so engagement at historical resources for the public to enjoy. Sheri, and Ken, the GMC would pale in the statehouse is conducted by volunteers Ken also has helped maintain a digital comparison to what it has become. Thank and staff members. Sheri’s work has helped archive of Montpelier Section history on the you to all of our 2018 honorees and all of them direct their efforts most effectively. section’s website. their predecessors!

Board Report

he Green Mountain Club Board Peckar (Worcester Section), Bruce Yelton committee’s slate of officers for 2018 to of Directors met briefly on June (Bread Loaf Section), George Longenecker 2019: Tom Candon, president (first year); T3, following the 108th annual (Montpelier Section), and Nancy McClellan Sheri Larsen, vice president (first year); Steve membership meeting hosted by the Upper (general). He introduced Kenna Rewcastle, Klein, treasurer (fifth year); and Ed O’Leary, Valley-Ottauquechee Section at the Hulbert a UVM PhD student, as a non-voting board secretary (first year). Outdoor Center in Fairlee. fellow. The board approved changes in the Outgoing President John Page called the Treasurer Steve Klein reviewed the signature authority policy to enable the meeting to order. Before passing the gavel financial statement for fiscal year 2018, executive director to appoint a staff designee to incoming President Tom Candon, John which ended April 30. The club finished to sign checks in his absence. thanked outgoing board members Lee Allen, the year with a surplus of $3,231, which Dates set for future board meetings were: Marge Fish, Paul Houchens, Doug McKain, was transferred to the operating reserve. September 22, 2018 at GMC headquarters, and Mike Wetherell for their service. Unaudited results showed revenues of after the volunteer appreciation picnic; January John welcomed incoming members $1,504,672, expenditures of $1,698,717, 5, 2019; March 23, 2019; and June 1, 2019. Bob Fish (representing the Manchester and net distributions from endowment and All GMC members are welcome to attend Section), Amy Kelsey (general director), restricted funds of $196,414. meetings. Rich Minogue (Bennington Section), Mike The board approved the nominating —Lee Allen, Secretary

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 25 Land Stewardship Managing in Perpetuity

id you know that the Green • Collaborates in the stewardship of trusts that adopt all the Standards and Mountain Club is not only a hiking more than 10,000 acres on the LT/AT Practices can become accredited by the Dclub and maintainer of the Long and AT corridors in Vermont with the Land Trust Alliance, in a rigorous process Trail, the Vermont Appalachian Trail, and Green Mountain National Forest and the that demonstrates that the organization the Northeast Kingdom trails, but also a Appalachian Trail Conservancy, including meets the high standards for non-profit land trust organization? 19 open areas. management and land conservation. In 1986 the club launched the Long Over the next five years, GMC plans on • Manages 305 miles of boundary lines Trail Protection Campaign, a bold vision to reviewing the guidelines and making sure with the help of 65 volunteer corridor protect the land the Long Trail traverses, in that the Land Conservation Program is monitors. order to ensure a permanent route for the managed to those high standards. trail and preserve the landscape that creates • Works to protect the approximately 6.5 The Standards and Practices are the Long Trail experience. miles of Long Trail that remain on private comprehensive in scope, covering Thirty-two years later, the campaign property, which we hope to buy someday everything from how an organization is continues to seek opportunities to protect from willing sellers. managed to conservation easement and fee the footpath and landscape, but the club is land stewardship. Policies include: When GMC developed a new five- also taking a strong look at the true nature year strategic plan in 2017, responsible of the work we’ve accomplished. • Monitoring conservation easements stewardship of the Long Trail System and GMC’s Land Conservation Program at least once per year using consistent Appalachian Trail land and easements currently: monitoring protocols and record keeping was identified as a primary goal. GMC procedures. intends to employ careful review and, • Monitors more than 17,600 acres of where appropriate, adoption of Land Trust • Developing written land management land conserved under 64 conservation Alliance Standards and Practices to meet plans for each conservation property, easements. that goal. following through on the implementation • Manages more than 3,400 acres of land The Land Trust Alliance is a national of the plan, and updating it as needed. in 15 properties we own. organization that leads the land trust • Determining contingency strategies for community by establishing management • Holds 19 trail rights-of-way, protecting conserved properties in the event that the practices for the industry, distilled in their 6.4 miles of Long Trail System treadway. organization can no longer manage them. Standards and Practices guidelines. Land PHOTO BY CHARLES HELFER

Belvidere26 Pond | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB GMC Land Conservation Program Conserved Properties in Northern Vermont.

Mollie Flanigan

One year into the strategic plan, the Land Conservation Program is well on its way to meeting the plan’s goal. Within the last year a new database was created to track properties that have been protected and lands that are conservation priorities for the Club. The database houses all the basic information about the property (where it is, why it was protected, how the project was funded) as well as how the property is monitored, and any stewardship considerations or challenges that exist on the land. Also within the last year the Program has fully integrated ArcGIS, a computer mapping software, into the data management system. Now staff are able to track properties and projects by geospatial data, which has created new efficiencies in program management. The Green Mountain Club is proud of the bold vision, hard work, and generous support that has protected the majority of the Long Trail System. Permanent protection of the Long Trail System remains a high priority, but the Club must recognize that that goal does not just mean legal protection, but ongoing stewardship of the land in perpetuity. With GMC’s new five-year strategic plan, we are embracing and evaluating that work. Doing so will enhance the Long Trail experience for hikers and meet our responsibilities as a land trust organization. —Mollie Flanigan

Land Stewardship Coordinator MAP BY MOLLIE FLANIGAN

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 27 Section Directory Sections Bennington Maintenance: Harmon Hill to Glastenbury Mountain President: Lorna Cheriton, (802) 447-1383 E-mail: [email protected] The Green Mountain Club welcomes Bread Loaf Section Website: meetup.com/gmcbennington five new section directors to the Brattleboro Bruce Yelton Maintenance: Winhall River to Vt. 11 and 30 board: President: George Roy, (603) 381-7756 Bruce has “frittered away” most of his E-mail: [email protected] Website: brattleborogmc.com time in universities and offices while Bread Loaf daydreaming about being in the woods and Location: Middlebury area on the streams. He and his wife, Debbie, Maintenance: Sucker Brook Shelter to Emily Proctor Shelter spent their first two weeks together in the President: Ruth Penfield, (802) 388-5407 E-mail: [email protected] Nantahala National Forest and the Outer Website: gmcbreadloaf.org Banks National Seashore, and have rarely Burlington been separated since. Maintenance: Winooski River Footbridge to Smugglers’ Notch Bruce has traveled extensively in President: Ted Albers, (802) 557-7009 South America and the Caribbean. He E-mail: [email protected] Website: gmcburlington.org has traveled by boat into Mato Grosso, Connecticut and spent six weeks traveling from Belem Location: Hartford, Connecticut to Manaus on the Amazon River. More Maintenance: Glastenbury Mountain to Stratton- Arlington Road recently Bruce has worked with the Sierra President: Jim Robertson, (860) 633-7279 E-mail: [email protected] Club carrying out archaeological surveys Website: conngmc.com in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico Killington Rich Minogue and working with the Conservation Voter Location: Rutland area Maintenance: Vt. 140 to Maine Junction group and various land conservation President: Herb Ogden, (802) 293-2510 organizations. E-mail: [email protected] Website: gmckillington.org The Yelton family lives in East Laraway Bennington Section Middlebury, where Bruce spends his time Location: St. Albans area gardening and dispensing “unsolicited Maintenance: Lamoille River to Vt. 118 Rich Minogue President: Bruce Bushey, (802) 893-2146 wisdom.” E-mail: [email protected] Rich Minogue has been living in southern Website: gmclaraway.org Vermont since 2002. Before that he and his Manchester family lived in the Adirondacks. Maintenance: Vt. 11 and 30 to Mad Tom Notch President: Marge Fish, (802) 824-3662 His outdoor interests include kayaking, E-mail: [email protected] Website: gmc-manchester.org downhill skiing, hiking, and camping with Montpelier his travel trailer. Rich and his wife, Berta, Maintenance: Camel’s Hump to Winooski River Foot- have traveled to or through 29 states in the bridge and Smugglers’ Notch to Chilcoot Pass President: Steve Bailey, (609) 424-9238 past two years. E-mail: [email protected] After attending college in Louisiana Website: gmcmontpelier.org Northeast Kingdom and in New York he graduated with a Maintenance: Willoughby and Darling State Forests and bachelor’s in education, and later received the Kingdom Heritage Lands President: Cathi Brooks, (802) 626-8742 a master’s in special education. In a 33- E-mail: [email protected] year career Rich worked with people with Website: nekgmc.org disabilities as a teacher, administrator, Northern Frontier Location: Montgomery and executive director of a multi-service Maintenance: Hazen’s Notch to Canada human service agency in Clinton County, President: Ken Whitehead, (802) 933-5352 E-mail: [email protected] New York. A great source of professional Bruce Yelton Website: gmcnorthernfrontier.org pride was facilitating the removal of people Upper Valley-Ottauquechee from institutions and returning them to Location: Upper Valley, and New Hampshire Maintenance: Appalachian Trail: Maine Junction to community-based homes where a high Manchester Section NH border quality of life was provided. President: Dick Andrews, (802) 885-3201 E-mail: [email protected] His greatest personal accomplishment Bob Fish Website: gmc-o-section.org was raising five children who have all Bob Fish and his wife, former GMC Sterling Location: Morrisville/Stowe/Johnson become independent adults with great president Marge Fish, have lived in Maintenance: Chilcoot Pass to Lamoille River careers, strong commitments to family Londonderry for more than 40 years. President: Greg Western, (802) 655-6051 E-mail: [email protected] values, and a love for the outdoors. Rich A hiking family, they have been heavily Website: gmcsterling.org and Berta have thirteen grandchildren who involved with the club over the years. Worcester live in Texas, Nevada, New York, South Bob has devoted much of his spare time Location: Worcester, Massachusetts Maintenance: Stratton-Arlington Road to Winhall River Carolina, and Oregon. performing trail maintenance on the Long President: Ram Moennsad, (603) 767-2962 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.gmcwoo.org George is retired from Vermont the Long Trail at Sherburne Pass. It was Technical College, where he was a sealed at age 17 when he summited Denali professor and chair of the Department of in Alaska. He grew up in Connecticut, English, Humanities, and Social Sciences. graduated from Lewis & Clark College in He is a writer and photographer, and his Oregon, and then moved to Massachusetts poems have been published in journals in the mid-80s. In 1990 he married including Atlanta Review, Seneca Review, Rachel and settled in West Boylston, and Whale Road Review. He is president of Massachusetts, where he works as an The Poetry Society of Vermont. information technology consultant and George enjoys Nordic skiing, kayaking, has almost finished raising three future and hiking. His travels have taken him trail stewards with Rachel. to arctic Alaska, the Colorado Rockies, Nevada’s Great Basin National Park, Utah’s Zion National Park, La Mauricie Nation Bob Fish Park in Quebec, and California’s Channel Islands. He’s hiked the Long Trail end-to- Trail from Vermont Route 11/30 to Peru end, as well as the Appalachian Trail in Peak Shelter. He also spends time outdoors Vermont and New Hampshire. hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, biking, and George serves on the budget swimming. committee and conservation commission Now semi-retired, Bob worked for for the town of Middlesex. While living 35 years as a master chimney sweep, and in Marshfield he served seven years on for the last seven and a half years as a its select board, including two years as consultant and instructor in the chimney chair. George and his wife, former board sweep industry. He has a bachelor’s degree director and president of the Montpelier in American history and a master’s degree Section Cynthia Martin, live in Middlesex, in education. where they garden and enjoy the Vermont woods. Cynthia and George met on a GMC hike, and have a daughter, Julia, Montpelier Section who has accompanied them on many treks. George Longenecker Worcester Section George Longenecker was elected to the Mike Peckar GMC board in 2018. A GMC member Mike Peckar for more than 40 years, he’s also served as Mike’s lifelong passion for trails started Mike serves on four nonprofit boards section president. as a child when his dad dragged him onto in central Massachusetts, including Wachusett Greenways and the Greater Worcester Land Trust. He is also a Massachusetts Midstate Trail Maintainer and Sawyer. Mike joined GMC in 2015, having been drawn back to Vermont by long- time friends and Worcester Section members. Since then, he has jumped into club activities with both feet, leading section events, serving on committees, and participating in the section’s weekend-long Long Trail/Appalachian Trail maintenance trips to Stratton Pond. As a director he plans to help execute GMC’s strategic plan, spend time with GMC folks on the trails, promote and improve the Long Trail, and become a Long Trail end-to-ender.

George Longenecker

LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 29 The World is Our Classroom: How One Family Used GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB Nature and Travel to Shape an Extraordinary Education Cindy Ross Volunteer Appreciation Picnic Monday, October 1, 7-8:30 p.m. Saturday, September 22 GMC Visitor Center, Waterbury Center Cindy’s story began in the Rocky Mountain wilderness on a 1:30-4:30 P.M. unique journey: two parents leading their young children 3,100 miles on the backs of llamas. Their Canada-to-Mexico trek Green Mountain Club Visitor Center showed Cindy and her husband what experiential education Waterbury Center could do. Inspired, they continued to supplement their children’s education by focusing on the natural world and travel. Join us A day to celebrate our impressive volunteer for a multimedia presentation on raising broad-minded and corps—the backbone of GMC. Food and empathetic children through travel and immersion in nature. music provided. Awards too! Wool Knickers and White Blazes: A Retro Hike on the Long Trail Mike DeBonis Thursday, October 18, 7-8:30 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Society, Middlebury Have you ever wondered what it was like to hike the Long Trail a century ago? GMC Executive Director Mike DeBonis will tell tales of his 2017 retro end-to end hike, celebrating 100 years of the Long Trail Guide. You’ll enjoy the fun of hiking the trail in 1917, but without the wool, bugs and canned fish that Mike experienced.

Advertise in the LongTrailNews Call Jocelyn at 802-241-8215

30 | THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB Journey's End Conquering the Wilderness Within ature has always provided back. It was exciting on the exposed me with peace, joy or rock, facing heavy gusts of wind. I Ninspiration. My siblings finally made it to the top, where I and I were fortunate to grow up stood looking out over the vast and near a river and sparse forest. The beautiful scenery. world seemed bigger then, the I had proven to myself that I woods offering an endless supply of could do it, despite the pestering, wonder and exploration. When I irrational anxieties that had held me got older the forest became a place back so much in life. Eventually I to reflect and find balance, even if realized this was not a onetime goal; only for a while. it was an exercise, and one I would I had always been interested in need to repeat. moving north, to be surrounded by Reaching the summit liberated nature and its beauty again. Perhaps me from the biggest thing holding I wanted to recreate the childlike me back: myself. I felt alive. sense of wonder that had faded over I made the summit four more the years. Last summer, though times that season, and with every hesitant, I found an opportunity to hike I was changed. Experiences Kyle Driscoll on Mount Mansfield summit move to Vermont, and took it. It was such as a momentary turnaround, out of character for me to actually air. It seemed something penetrated my an encounter with a black bear, and chase a dream. I had everything to lose. The soul, lighting the darkness from within. moments of self-reflection contributed to transition felt like leaping with outstretched It took a few hikes to familiarize myself my relationship with Mount Mansfield. The arms from a collapsing bridge over a canyon, with the mountain before attempting the mountain always gave me perspective on my hoping to grasp the ledge on the other side. summit. Eventually I found the confidence life down below. Fortunately, I made it. By the skin of my to move beyond my doubts and set out for Sometimes the biggest hurdle is not teeth, but I made it. the Chin. I hope I never forget that day. the summit, but simply getting started. Then it was time to ponder: “What the It was a bit nerve-wracking, given that I never conquered the mountain, I only hell am I doing?” I had never done anything like it before. conquered myself. The mountain is It wasn’t until I set foot on Mount Being on my own seemed to make it more simply a vantage point from which I may Mansfield that I truly understood why I was daunting. As I pushed further up the Sunset gain a greater perspective and a clearer here. I recall the vibrant, uplifting songs of Ridge Trail the views got better and better, view of what lies ahead. birds and the fragrance of trees in the crisp to the point where I simply could not turn —-Kyle Driscoll PHOTO BY JOCELYN HEBERT PHOTO BY JOCELYN

Sunset Ridge on Mount Mansfield LONG TRAIL NEWS • FALL 2018 | 31 Periodicals Postage Green Mountain Club PAID 4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road Waterbury Center Waterbury Center, VT 05677 and Additional Offices

Long Trail News is printed using 0% VOC, Soy Based Inks, 100% Certified Renewable Energy and paper that is certified by Bureau Veritas to the FSC standards.

2019 Long Trail Calendar We don’t think we’ll ever run out of stunning photos captur- ing the essence of the Long Trail and Vermont’s other special hiking trails. The 2019 calendar features photographs of classic trail scenes by GMC members; holidays and moon phases; and facts about Green Mountain Club and Long Trail history. Add it to your holiday gift list! List Price: $12.99 Member Price: $10.39

UPDATED! Second Edition Camel’s Hump and the Monroe Skyline Hiking Trail Map This waterproof pocket size map covers the Long Trail and side trails from Sunset Ledge north to Bolton, including Mount Abraham, Vermont’s iconic Camel’s Hump, and the Winooski River Footbridge and recent Long Trail relocation over Stimson Mountain. GPS coordinates for parking lots are a new feature. List Price: $5.95 Member Price: $4.76 Purchase of these and other GMC publications and merchandise supports our work to protect and maintain the Long Trail System, Vermont Appalachian Trail, and Northeast Kingdom trails.