Long Trail, day 12

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Start: David Logan Shelter

End: Maine Junction/US 4

Mileage: 12.1 on LT (+0.2 for side trail to shelter, +1.0 to get to US 4 from Maine Junction)

Elevation gain/loss: 2198’/2592′

We had a truly terrible night sleep, with high humidity and high temperatures; we didn’t sleep well at all. I was fully awake at 5:30am, and started packing up at 6am. We were packed up and back on trail by 6:30am.

We had wings on our feet this morning, sprinting for our final destination and civilization. We quicklu made it past Telephone Gap and Green Road, arriving at Rolston Rest Shelter (8.1 miles) by 9:45am. We took a 30 minute water resupply and food break and then continued up the trail. We passed by Elbow Road and the tent site now present at the old Tucker-Johnson shelter site (the shelter burned down last year), arriving at Maine Junction by 11:30am (12.1 miles).

We took a bunch of pictures at the junction and then hoofed it towards US 4, 1.0 miles away. Within 200 feet of hiking, we felt rain and heard thunder. We put on pack covers, and within 5 minutes, the skies opened and a torrential downpour began. We arrived at the road around 12:15pm and started trying to hitch back to my car 1.5 miles away.

We didn’t have luck for the first 5 minutes, and there was some intense direct lightening strikes close by, close enough we could smell the ozone. This freaked us out a bit, so we started walking towards the Inn at Long Trail, thinking we could seek shelter there, at the least. On the way, we kept trying to hitch; within 5 minutes, we had someone stop for us. It was an expensive-looking car, and Travis was in a suit. But it was raining and he stopped, so we hopped in. He dropped us off right at my car, and we took shelter under the porch at the Killington Pico Area Association welcome center to pull out dry, clean(er) clothes and to find my car key. We dried off and changed in the welcome center, and then started driving home. And just like that, we’ve hiked the whole Long Trail!