Jay Camp

3.2 miles

Planning out the day.

Tending blisters from the
Manistee hike the week B4.

Getting up after a less than perfect start, was a bit slow. Scott, our soldier buddy took off in a light drizzle about 8 am. It is misleading to think heading out into nature is simple and easy. Lots of planning before and during is necessary to be prepared. Camille was so well informed before we started! Because the shelters are open to critters, anything that would be attractive for a critter to eat, ie food, scented toiletries, toothpaste, etc had to be hung.  Barriers like gatorade container, tin pans, plastic lids are strung through the middle in such a way that if it (mouse, chipmunck) climbed down the hanging rope it would be unable to get around the wobbling barrier. We were an hour after that by the time we ate, cleaned up and packed. 

We started out with our rain gear on and soon realized there was no point. We would either be wet from the rain or wet from sweat. So off the rain gear came. 

Which is no small feat when your pack is stuffed with 35 lobs or more. Not to mention when nature calls. The Green Mountain Club encourages peeing in the woods and using the composting privies for the rest. If privies are not available, a 6” cat hole has to be dug and everything buried. Leave no trace.

Hiking up Jay Peak was steep! 

It was also somewhat ethereal with the low hanging clouds and covered in beautiful patterns of mosses, lichen, ferns etc. It follows the edge of a ski hill. The mist from the clouds felt great. It was hard work getting up to the top of the mountain! 

It is probably a good thing it was foggy and we couldn’t see how much more we needed to climb. Ever wonder what it’s like to hike up a ski slope? We don’t anymore! 

Top of Jay Peak before heading down.

Scott from Laura Woodward shelter told us there was a Snack Shack open from 10 am - 3 pm everyday, serving lunch, snacks and drafts. It was a driving incentive. 

Naturally, as luck would have it, it was closed (lady called in sick). 

We sat for a good 1 !/2 hours, charging phones, getting rehydrated and giving our legs a rest. We had a bit of Trail Magic, when George, the tram operator volunteered his services, actually, his wife’s services to give me a ride down in the tram and then to the car. Turns out, that was about a 15 mile trip back. Love that Trail Magic!

While I moved the car, Camille continued on.

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.

There were interesting sights along the way!

Shallow roots, rain and topped trees
make for interesting views

Log hopping thru mud.

Trekking poles are a must!

We weren't at camp yet! Headlamps hike!

Mad Dash

After months of planning, the final preparations were like a mad dash to the finish. It took a lot more than I had initially thought, to put together 23 days worth of food, label it, divide into mailable bundles and get the right address on a timeline to send at different mail drops. 

We are off to Vermont via Canada! Go Camille!

Mannistee River Trail

My parents and family,.. people... strangers... almost everyone I talk to about it are concerned about me hiking alone. To temper their worries, I wanted to give Mom and Dad a taste of what it would be like for me on the trail. Plus, I needed to do a test run of all the gear. After minimal digging I discovered there is a fantastic loop trail in northern Michigan around the Mannistee River. Did I mention it was 23 miles over 2 days. Day 1 followed the Mannistee River Trail on the east bank of the Manistee over relatively flat terrain. Beautiful views of the winding river and through magical fern and lodge pole pine forest. Still 11 miles is 11 miles and when we rounded the bottom of the loop and found no campsites, the next mile, till we found a suitable spot, was a quiet one.  

I successfully pitched my shelter system on the first try while my parents pitched their ancient but sweet tent. I would not call it ancient! Just because Mike used it after her gradated from high school on a trip to the boundary waters with 2 of his buddies, it was still light enough to pack between us!

It was a little unnerving at first feeling more exposed than if I were sleeping in a tent, and less protection than a lean-to. But I slept fine. No bugs got in, but I could hear them trying, so many misquitos. I chose this system for a couple reasons. One, it is really light and secondly, I could sleep in the bug bivy inside the lean-tos (sans tarp) that are on the trail and keep the bugs out. I hung by boots on my trekking poles that held up the tarp in the middle specifically to keep the slugs out. No such luck. One had made it’s way into the heel of my boot and gave me quite a surprise. It was also fun flicking the slugs off the outside from inside of the tent. They became so indignant! They were literally on everything!

We boiled water in the Jet Boil and tried out some of own dehydrated meal creations; chili with mashed potatoes, cous cous with chick pea curry and black beans with rice and vegetables.

We were all so tired, but it seemed to light to go to bed, until we checked the time and it was 10 pm! It took a while to settle down enough to sleep. There was lots reminiscing, giggling and laughter over where slugs were found. It was great to get horizontal! We were awoken at 6 am by loud clapping and cheering. I rolled over in my sleeping bag and saw heads bobbing past the field of ferns that surrounded us. Apparently there was a running club conducting a marathon run around the loop.

Dad loved the trekking poles and felt they really helped him on the trail, taking some of the weight off the legs and help keep the body more erect. They also help with balance up and down the steep heels.

Day 2 at Mannistee started a little slower, that’s for sure. We ran a little low on water, but the weather was cool and pleasant so not much of an issue. The trail on the west side of the river follows the North Country Trail, over more hilly terrain, before descending back down to the river. We found water at mile 8, near a bridge that crossed a little stream. Since most of my water on the Long Trail will come from streams, it was important to find a purification system. After much research, I settled on the Aquamura Drops. It’s lighter, easy to use and kills bacteria, protozoa and viruses. It takes about an hour to do it’s magic, but the water tastes good. It’s advertising claims it can actually improve the taste of water, and it does.

We had a little bit of rain that lingered from the torrential rains the night before, which pushed our trip back a day to avoid the worst of it. No problem though, that is what a rain cover for the back pack is used for! They are easy to put on, much like an old timey shower cap.

We knew we were finally coming to the end of the trail when we crossed a wooden suspension bridge across the Manistee River. Only a mile and half to go. In total we walked 23 miles or more over 2 days. We all found out how important it is to have good fitting shoes as we all ended up with blisters. I’ll say, my feet were killing me and you don’t want to know the rest! Mike and I are thrilled we made all the way around and finally to the car!

Red River Training

So, hiking 272 miles up, down and over the Green Mountains of Vermont requires a tad bit of training. What better place to train than the Red River Gorge. Ok, I admit, we mostly rock climbed, but I did make Ben’s life a whole lot easier by carrying all our gear to and from the crag, up and down pretty steep trails. Not to mention no small amount of stairs, one climb was over 150 steps. My pack held my personal climbing gear, (shoes, belt, chalk bag.....) as well a 60 meter of rope, a rack or two of 16-28 quick draws, lunch, and 2 liters of water. All total, about 30 lbs. Let me tell ya, Kentucky humidity was a killer, but other than than it was pretty good. Hopefully this means good things for the trail ahead. It was also a great opportunity to hang out with family, friends and a couple of interesting strays.

We had hoped to have my shelter system done beforehand in time to test for the Red, but that was not the case. Time is running short! And, oh, I forgot, I might of broken my toe walking barefoot to the car and doing a toe plant into the barrier in the parking lot, ouch! My feet are struggling and I haven’t even started yet.

Bugs and Bivy

I had a great idea for a light weight shelter and gave my mom a call.

Here’s the conversion:

Ring, ring.

Hey Mom.

Hey Camille, what’s up? 

Do you think we can make a tarp and a bug bivy?

Sure, we can probably do that. 

Great, I’ll order the fabric to be delivered to your house.

What’s a bug bivy? It takes fabric, hmmm????

Jump forward. There were no specific patterns to follow but a few guidelines pulled from the internet that required head scratching, measuring, folding and more math than a normal day requires. We had to call in the big guns for that, Ben. But basically, a bug bivy is a tapered triangular prism made of bug mush and a silnylon floor that is water proof. To protect from rain, a tarp is pitched overhead and anchored independently. Our tarp is modeled after the Gossemer Gear C-Twin Tarp and the bivy is based off the Mountain Laurel design.

Finger Lakes 5/2-5/3

Finger Lakes in Spring. Sounds like a good place for some firsts with backpacking! Camille and BF Ben hit the trail and this is what they had to say:

View from the parking area before we started our hike up and along the ridge on the right.

Periodically along the Finger Lakes Trails (FLT) there are these rather adorable little roofed boxes with log books for hikers to sign. Inside is a notebook and various pens and pencils inside a plastic bag with entries going back to 2012. This one was placed halfway up a steep climb in a rare shaded patch of pine trees right next to a waterfall, the perfect stop to rest. 

After the initial steep climb the trail levels out and despite the remote 

location we passed a realty sign (at the back of the picture)...  weird

The traverse across the ridge is through a fairly level and uniform patch of forest. Probably as a land mark someone placed a rock in between the fork in a tree and since the tree has grown around the rock. The rock tree is about half way across the traverse.

Passed this little guy chillin' right off the trail

About halfway to the lean to we came to this wonderful lookout spot and decided to stop for lunch. According to Ben hand gliders use it as a jumping off point which is why its cleared of trees. 

The trail we followed was blazed in orange and after the lookout it's a short walk to a logging road which we were suppose to take for a sort while before cutting across private property that the FLTC has secured access to (except from oct.-dec. for hunting season of course). However, the logging company decided it was a good idea to mark the trees to be cut down with orange spray paint. So we are walking down the logging road thinking we are on the trail because of all the orange blazes, except they weren't blazes. We realized our mistake after about a half mile which was good, unfortunately it was a half mile down a steep logging road. After slogging our way back up the road we found the turn off and were rewarded by a particularly serene section of cushy grassy trail with views of the surrounding hills and wind turbines.

    

Once we made it to our lean to for the night it was time to try my first stabs at dehydrated meals. Ben and I split Pasta with Vodka Sauce and Black Beans and Rice. Both were good. I was genuinely surprised the pasta was so good given I used packaged sauce but it only needs a few tweaks, add some dehydrated chicken for protein and find a noodle that dehydrates a little better (maybe ramen style noodles). The Black Beans and Rice were good but need a little work. It needs some zing so I'm going to try it with more tomatoes, some tomato powder and little more salt. I also dehydrated corn to add next go and am going to do more black beans and less rice in the future. Over all BIG success!

Pasta with Vodka Sauce

~4oz (two servings) angel hair pasta

~1/2 c dried mushrooms

~1/3 dried tomato

~1/2 small head of broccoli, dehydrated

~handful of crushed dried kale

~2t parm

~1t nutritional yeast

~1/2 t garlic

~1/4 t salt

~2/3 of a packed of Knorr Brand Parma Rosa Sauce Mix

Black Beans and Rice

~1/3 can black beans, dehydrated

~1 c of instant rice

~dehydrated sweet potato, zucchini, bell pepper, & tomato

~1/2 t chili powder

~1/2 t garlic powder

~1/2 t cumin

~1/4 t smoked paprika

~1/4 t salt

       

View from our lean too over Lake Canandagua. We were fortunate enough to be there on a night when they were doing the ring of fire around the lake, which means that once it was dark all the residences along the lake lit bonfires in their yards so the whole lake is ringed in fire. Its pretty cool.

We lit a fire in the fire pit near the lean to once it was dark, although we didn't really need the light because the full moon was so bright.