Note: special thanks to Elizabeth Smith for sharing her amazing story with us:
Over a year ago, I decided to hike The Long Trail in Vermont. I have dreamed of becoming a thru-hiker since I was a child, and fulfilling this dream on America’s oldest long-distance hiking trail seemed like the perfect way to do it. The Long Trail is 272 miles long, and it runs from the top of Vermont all the way to the bottom, traversing the state’s highest peaks. Though I originally planned to hike with a friend, I ultimately ended up hiking solo. Being a teacher, the month of June seemed to be the ideal time to complete this trip. On May 31st, my husband dropped me off on the Vermont-Canada border. My goal was to travel southbound (known as SOBO) and reach Massachusetts in 18 days.
Week 1
My trip started out in a crazy way. On day one, after having hiked 11 miles, I got stuck in a hail and thunderstorm up on Jay Peak. The lightning was so close and the hail so big that I had to hide out in a small wooden shed for about an hour. Once the hail died down, I ran along the tree line to the very top of the mountain (the next shelter was down the mountain 1.5 miles away). The thunder, rain, and lightning continued, and I have never been that close to lightning in my life! I found an unlocked hallway of the ski cafeteria and ended up staying the night there rather than climbing down the mountain. It was an interesting start to the trip.
On day two, I initially planned to hike 20 miles; I ended up going only six because I had underestimated the northern part of the trail. That evening, I met another SOBO hiker who was staying at the shelter. His trail name was MC Yogi, and he was hiking the LT after completing the AT the previous year; we had the experience of teaching high school in common. We ended up sharing shelters for the first few nights of the trip; it was nice to have company and guidance from someone who had thru-hiked before.
Day four was the first day I met other thru hikers besides MC Yogi. There ended up being five of us in a shelter. Prairie Dog, Tumbles, and Matt were lots of fun to hang out with. We stayed up until 9 p.m. (very late on the trail) exchanging stories. I also finally received my trail name—Flip—given to me because of my flip phone. Day six was the first day I saw other women thru-hiking the trail. There were three high school girls that I got to eat lunch with. They
were a fun bunch out on the trail for one week as a school project before they graduated the following weekend. I ended up being able to give them trail names, which they were very excited about.
To finish the week off, I spent the afternoon in Stowe, Vermont. I had a resupply package waiting for me, and I planned to use the library computers to watch my little sister graduate from her Montana high school. I’m grateful that even though I was far away, I could still watch it live. She gave an amazing speech. Later that day I hiked three miles to Taft Lodge halfway up Mount Mansfield. I had the shelter to myself, which was scary at first, but it ended up being the best night of sleep on the trail! At this point on the trip I was eager to meet more people. The days were fun, but spending 10 hours hiking on my own did get a bit lonely.
Week one trail stats: I hiked 50 miles (222 more to go), highest peak climbed: 3,858 ft, total people seen on trail: 26 (only 10 have been thru hikers or partial thru hikers), favorite trail foods: Untapped syrup packets (just tubes of straight Vermont syrup), Yumbini beans and rice (warm dinner at night is the best), and StarKist tuna and rice packets. I did not see any bears, but I did hear a moose bellowing, and I had countless red squirrels yell at me.
Week 2
I met a lot more people this week; all of the northbounders are finally on the trail. I met a hiker who was in the middle of hiking the Appalachian Trail but decided to also add on the Long Trail. He hiked so fast while we talked, and he mentioned that he hikes at least 30 miles per day! One night I got to share a shelter with another woman my age who works for the Green Mountain Club (the people who maintain the trail). She was a lot of fun to hang out with, especially since other women on the trail had been a rarity up to this point.
As for the actual trail, it was hard work! There were a lot of downed trees from the storms, and I fell on slick rocks more times than I could count. On the bright side, the rain kept the bugs and the heat away! I climbed Mount Mansfield (the highest peak in VT) on day eight. The weather was horrible and it was really hard to find the trail up there, but I slowly made my
way over. It was either climb it in the rain or wait another day before hiking. Even though it was dangerous weather, I’m glad I did it because I was able to meet two people from Canada on one of their first-ever hikes. I ran into them after I had climbed the mountain and they planned to climb it that day too. In the end, they hiked with me away from the mountain because it was not a safe situation for inexperienced hikers.
On day 10, I hiked my longest mileage day yet: 17.5 miles. That was also the day I climbed Camel’s Hump; it took me from 250 ft above sea level at 12:00 to 4,000 ft above sea level at 4:00. It was genuinely the hardest hike I have ever done and I did it in my socks and sandals because my feet were hurting from my boots. I also experienced my first “trail magic” on this day. Trail magic is when someone does a kind thing for a hiker. Someone left cold coolers of Sprite by the trail before I got to the Camel’s Hump trailhead. It was amazing in the heat! A couple hours later, a car drove slowly by me, and the driver held a beer out the window for me. I did not take the beer from him but it was a funny experience. At the end of the day, I was so exhausted and annoyed that it felt like I was stomping my way to the shelter. When I finally got to my destination, the door swung open to reveal MC Yogi, who was shocked that I had caught up to him. We spent the evening commiserating and ranting about the trials of the trail. It’s the times I spent talking with other thru hikers that are my favorite moments from the trip.
On day 14, I planned to stay in Middlebury, Vermont. My plans did not work out as Airbnb didn’t respond and everywhere else was a couple hundred dollars out of my price range. Thankfully, I ended up meeting a girl my age who randomly came up to me at the grocery store and offered me a ride! She drove me the whole 20 minutes back to the trail that evening – a HUGE blessing. I got back on the trail at 5:30 and realized that I still had 4.5 miles to get to the next shelter before dark at 8:30. I panicked and ended up running most of the way (with a full load of food in my pack and 32 oz of chocolate milk in hand). I ended up getting there safely in an hour and a half. I only got scared by one raccoon on the way as I thought he was a bear from far away. I had the three-walled Suckerbrook shelter to myself; it was also a little scary but I ended up being just fine.
Week two trail stats: So far I hiked 142 miles (over halfway!), highest peak climbed: 4,393 ft, five snakes spotted (all harmless garter snakes), and on one day I counted 24 newts within 2 hours.
Week 3
Day 15 was a slow one because I was exhausted from the day before. I ended up traveling to the next shelter 4 hours away and resting the remainder of the day. It stormed all night, which was very relaxing. I used my “day off” to get caught up in my Bible reading and journaling.
Day 16 was wet and rainy but I got 16 miles done because my legs were fresh! I counted a total of 60 Eastern Newts in their “red eft” stage. This beats my previous record of 24 in one day by a long shot. Seeing all of the wonderful animals on the trail never failed to cheer me up! By the time I reached my shelter, I was only half a mile from the Appalachian Trail. The last 100 miles of the Long Trail shares the path with the AT. I thought I had a shelter to myself but two AT hikers showed up at 9:30 pm after I had briefly fallen asleep. Their names were Lorax (named because he blended in with the trees) and Spreadsheet (named because he has a Google spreadsheet of all his hiking data). They were very nice and I was happy to have company in the shelter.
On day 17, I only hiked 1.4 miles to get to Killington, Vermont. I planned to resupply and spend one night in town but it was so comfy I ended up staying two! I also went out to dinner with Addison, the woman who gave me a ride back to the trail a couple of days before. It was nice to have a quick escape from the trail and spend time with such a lovely person!
On day 19, I hit the trail again with the daunting forecast of rain. I planned to hike 17 miles that day but after the storm rolled in while I was on Killington peak, I cut it short and stopped at Governor Clement shelter. I had only hiked 11 miles on fresh legs; this was disappointing, but I was too cold to continue. I shared the shelter with another AT hiker who built a fire for us. The shelter was really cool and it featured a stone fireplace.
On day 20 I set out to make up for the mileage I missed the day before. It ended up doing 20 miles – a cool way to celebrate 20 days in Vermont! This was one of my favorite days. I met three other women who were around my age and were solo thru hiking the LT. Of course, they were going the opposite direction but it was nice to meet them and be able to encourage each other. I also experienced some big trail magic from a trail angel named “Spineless Cougar.” He had set up tables, camp chairs, drinks, food, and chargers. He cooked up a hot dog for me and I had pop, cookies, and chips with it! Spineless Cougar also had a trail log that hikers could sign. It asked for information such as: NOBO or SOBO? LT or AT? Trail Name? Pack weight? I had no idea how much my pack weighed and Spineless Cougar offered to weigh it on his scale. Turns out it was 41.1 pounds….. 20 pounds heavier than my goal weight. In my defense, I did have my wet hiking boots hanging from it (I had four water crossings that day) and I did have five days of food in my bear vault. Honestly, I was proud to know that I had been carrying that over the mountains for 20 days. I had multiple AT hikers make rude comments about how huge my pack was BUT I am proud of what my body was capable of and I was the only one who had to carry it! That night I stayed at the beautiful Little Rock Pond Shelter with two other teachers. We had some great conversations! The site caretaker was also fun to meet and she informed me that there was a tornado warning when I was up Killington peak, which explains why the wind was so insane.
On day 21, I was excited to stay at the Bromley ski hut on top of Bromley Mountain. I heard rumors that it had a dryer and outlets so I could dry my clothes in case of rain and could charge my phone and call my husband. The day was long and I passed two shelters that all of the hikers had been warning me about. Apparently there were two different men in ski masks that were living there and were not hikers. I saw their belongings but did not see them. The ski hut was fantastic and I got to share it with two other solo women.
Week 4
On day 22, I met a mom and her seven-year-old son who were northbound on the LT. Their names were “Good mom” and “Blaze” (he said he got the name because he is REALLY fast). They were so sweet and it was nice to take a break with them. It’s incredible that a seven-year-old willingly was hiking the trail, and they had done 16 miles the day before! I stayed the night at another beautiful pond shelter; it was packed full, but they were wonderful people.
On day 23, the forecast predicted heavy rain starting at noon and lasting until the following morning. I started hiking at 5:30 am to try to get as much done as possible. I got up Stratton Mountain quickly and enjoyed some beautiful views from the fire tower. When I got down the mountain, another trail angel was waiting with breakfast! I got to sit with an AT hiker from Norway named Nemo (because he always gets lost) while the trail angel, “Johnny Shofar”, made us fresh French toast and told us lots of stories. It was such a weird but fun experience; I drank a can of Mountain Dew at 9 am while Johnny Shofar demonstrated his real kudu shofar horn. The rain arrived as expected but I pushed on to Bromley shelter which I got to around 5 pm. This shelter was PACKED full of people who were not very happy to be on the trail. It was a tough night because nearly everyone was unfriendly, it was freezing, and there was a hiker who was smoking cigarettes AND vaping from his sleeping bag.
On day 24, I was feeling pretty down in the morning but ended up having an amazing conversation with “Spot,” a hiker in his 80s who is hiking the AT for his 8th time! He was so kind and was a fellow Christian. We ate breakfast together and he sent me off with a hug. It was a nice start to the day and made the previous night worth it. I broke my newt record again on that day, counting 68 newts on the soggy trail. I had some extra food in my bear vault so I enjoyed a feast of ramen, Yumbini cowboy BBQ rice and beans, and a cosmic brownie.
On day 25, I woke up in the very last shelter on the LT and set out for the Vermont border. I reached the border around 9:30 am and was so excited to get home! I had a couple more miles in Massachusetts in order to reach town. As soon as I hit Massachusetts, I took a nasty fall and hurt my hand and legs pretty badly. I was so annoyed, but that quickly went away when I arrived in town and got to eat some fresh food. I took a couple of buses to Pittsfield, MA, where a Greyhound bus would take me home in the morning.
Only a few days after leaving the trail, my husband, brother-in-law, and I returned to the AT for a quick overnight trip. We cooked kielbasa and added it to our dinner of Yumbini beans and rice. I loved being able to share part of my experience with them!
My favorite parts of this trip: how much God taught me to rely on him (he provided so much, from safety in hail/lightning storms to amazing company), the awesome people I met, the wildlife, and the ability to become a thru-hiker- it feels good to finally fulfill my dream! Shout out to everyone who supported me on and off the trail, and a big thank you to Yumbini for providing me with the best trail food! Your kindness is so appreciated!
Happy trails!
Elizabeth Smith (Flip)
