Nameless, a Novice Backpackers Blog: Laura Woodward Lean-to

Border crossing at Troy, VT

11 miles

Camille decided to start The Long Trail at the northern terminus, which btw, is the most “challenging”. We had taken a room in Montreal, Quebec, the closet city to the trail. It was only 64 miles away. Little did we know the border crossing alone would eat up about an hour of our time. We got on the trail about 12:30.

I hiked with Camille along the Journey’s End trail (1.3 mi) to where the LT hits Canada then hiked back and moved the car while Camille went on. There is a marker and definitive line, well maintained, marking the border between US and Canada.

Line between countries. Looks well maintained.

We met up at VT 105 and hiked to Shooting Star shelter (1.8 mi) by 4 pm. Seemed kind of early, so we thought we would try for the next shelter, Laura Woodward, (4.3 mi). We learned exactly what ‘challenging’ was starting to look like. The terrain became really rocky and was basically continually upward, with vertical rock scrambles, heavy tree roots, mud, mud, mud. We reached the shelter, with headlamps blazing, feet screaming, and nerves frayed.

Mom wanted to quit literally 100’ from the shelter and pitch a tent in the middle of the trail. Good thing we kept moving, because it also poured in the middle of the night. We shared the lean-to (one side that is completely open with a soldier, Scott, from Columbus, OH.

Should be called The Long Mud Trail!

We still had to fix dinner and set up for the night, but it was Great finally getting there. Camille let me try out her bug bivy. With one wall completely open I thought I would get bit up. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t fall asleep, until I realized my head was pointing down. Head to the other end and zzzzzz! Our intent was for me to climb back down and move the car, but with such a long, difficult hike down we decided to both hike to Jay and hitch back to the car. On we went.