Long Trail

Long Trail

Camel's Hump from the Long Trail
Length 273 mi (439 km)
Location Vermont, United States
Use Hiking, Snowshoeing
Elevation
Highest point Mount Mansfield
Lowest point Winooski River at Jonesville
Hiking details
Trail difficulty Moderate to Strenuous
Season Late spring through late fall

The Long Trail is a hiking trail located in Vermont, running the length of the state. It is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States,[1] constructed between 1910 and 1930 by the Green Mountain Club. The club remains the primary organization responsible for the trail, and is recognized by the state legislature as "the founder, sponsor, defender, and protector" of the Long Trail System.

History

The Long Trail was conceived on March 11, 1910 by James P. Taylor who was at the time the Assistant Headmaster of Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, Vermont. Taylor lobbied other Vermont residents who shared his dream of a mission to "make the Vermont mountains play a larger part in the life of the people by protecting and maintaining the Long Trail system and fostering, through education, the stewardship of Vermont's hiking trails and mountains". In 1910, work began on the construction of America's first long-distance hiking path. The GMC completed the Long Trail in 1930.

Geography

The Long Trail runs 273 miles (439 km) through the state of Vermont. It starts at the Massachusetts state line (near Williamstown, Massachusetts), and runs north to the Canada–US border (near North Troy, Vermont). It runs along the main ridge of the Green Mountains, coinciding with the Appalachian Trail for 100 miles (160 km) in southern Vermont. Additionally, over 175 miles (282 km) of side trails complete the Long Trail System.[2]

The Long Trail traverses almost all of the Green Mountains' major summits, including (from south to north) Glastenbury Mountain, Stratton Mountain, Killington Peak, Mount Abraham, Mount Ellen, Camel's Hump, Mount Mansfield, and Jay Peak.

Maintenance

The Long Trail is maintained primarily by the Green Mountain Club. Twelve club sections maintain assigned sections of the Long Trail - two other club sections maintain the trails in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and the Appalachian Trail from Maine Junction in Killington to the Connecticut River. Although roughly 1,000 volunteers perform most of the club's trail work, the club also employs a staff to handle day-to-day operations and a seasonal staff of summit caretakers and the Long Trail Patrol which works on heavy duty projects on the trail. The Green Mountain Club also receives assistance from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and private landowners. During the mud season in late Spring, some sections of the trail are closed to hikers, to protect the trail from both erosion and to protect nearby flora from being damaged (especially the higher peaks that possess fragile alpine tundra).

Historical curiosities

The section of the Long Trail between Woodford (on Vermont State Route 9 just east of Bennington, Vt) and Glastenbury Mountain some 10 miles (16 km) further north has gained notoriety because six people vanished in that area between 1945 and 1950. Only one body was found and the fate of the other missing persons remains a mystery.[3]

The case which perhaps gained the most media attention at the time was the disappearance of the 18-year-old Bennington College sophomore Paula Jean Welden, of Stamford, Connecticut, (elder daughter of industrial designer William Archibald Welden of the Revere Copper and Brass Company), who in the afternoon of December 1, 1946 set out on a day-hike on the Long Trail from Woodford Hollow and northwards in the direction of Glastenbury Mountain. Despite repeated and extensive searches of the area nothing was ever found.[4] Foul play is suspected in her disappearance.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Long Trail - Green Mountain Club - Long Trail, Vermont, Hiking, Vermont Hiking
  2. ↑ Green Mountain Club - The Long Trail: Vermont's "Footpath in the Wilderness"
  3. ↑ Marshall, Richard (1982). Mysteries of the unexplained (Repr. with amendments ed.). Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader's Digest Association. pp. 130–131. ISBN 0895771462.
  4. ↑ "Paula Jean Welden". The Charley Project. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  5. ↑ Dooling, Michael C. Clueless in New England: The Unsolved Disappearances of Paula Welden, Connie Smith, and Katherine Hull. The Carrollton Press, 2010.

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