Long Trail Day 19

10 Miles (222 Total)

Smugglers Notch to Bear Hallow Shelter

We had a lazy morning drinking coffee and cooking breakfast. It’s great to have your own kitchen when on trail. You can buy lots of food at the store and have yourself a grand feast. This morning it was scrambled eggs with tomato and avocado, and toast with cream cheese. Our stomachs were very happy before setting off back to the trail.

After a quick hitch we were back at Smugglers Notch hiking north again, up another large mountain. It was steep going, but only a few times did we need to scramble up rocks. At the top was Sterling Pond, a popular pond that can be accessed via a shorter side trail. There were about a few dozen people up there swimming and taking pictures. Dogs paddled in the pond too and shook off the water on the beach, inadvertently spraying a bunch of people. The pond goers weren’t thrilled.

The trail rose again to Madonna Peak, where Smugglers Notch ski resort has a lift. There was a warming hut there and we had lunch inside, trying to get away from the bugs.

The next three miles took us three hours. It was pretty horrible. Very steep terrain, both up and down, to eventually get to and over viewless Whiteface Mountain. There is a lot to like about the Long Trail, but the trail tread (or lack thereof) is not one of them.

I wonder sometimes the thought process that went into building this trail. I know it was from a different time, early 1910s, where the word switchback wasn’t even invented yet. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the best way to the top of a mountain is typically not the most direct. It seems these people thought otherwise, though. And over the years, that’s just the way it was, without any plans to improve upon it.

Oh, there’s a summit up there? Let’s just cut the trail the shortest and most direct way possible. It doesn’t matter that you need to crawl on all fours to get there. The people will figure out a way or die trying. 

It’s starting to really get to me. It’s very frustrating. I can’t even remember the AT in New Hampshire or Maine being this bad.

Luckily it’s almost over- I’m not sure how much more of this I would really want to hike. It’s mind numbingly infuriating not being able to jut walk without thinking about roots, rocks and mud.

Not much more left. Looking forward to reaching the end.