Monday, September 9th, 2019
We were bagging peaks all morning; Gilpin to Domey’s Dome, to Buchanan Mountain. Short distances take a long time out here. Frisbee and Middle Brother have come to the conclusion that the Long Trail isn’t called, “long” due to mileage. It’s only 270 miles. But it’s called the Long Trail because it takes a “long” time to hike it. We weren’t covering nearly as many miles as we anticipated. It’s like hiking the White Mountains, except insert waterfalls on the trail and lots of mud.
We took a lunch break at Hazens Notch Shelter before hiking on. I was covering flat ground through the mud and slipped, landing on my left hip in a mud puddle. No pain. Good! When I tried to get up, my trekking pole got hooked on some roots above me so I must have looked like a dingus trying to get myself back on my feet.
We reached the top of Haystack Mountain, but had to take a long spur trail to get the summit view.
Then we were off to Tillotson Shelter. We met two section hikers there who we socialized with before crashing.
Two girls showed up late at night. They had a hard time finding the front of the shelter in the dark, and then couldn’t figure out how to use the door which instructed you to “push” to open. Apparently one of the girls injured her IT band and that’s what led to their late arrival. Hey, there are no operational hours on the trail. They ended up sharing a bunk with the section hikers below us, and left before the sun came up the next day.
11.7 miles (18.8 km)
Jump Ahead to The Long Trail: Part 3
or
Jump Back to The Long Trail: Part 1
Stubbs Rambles On 