Journey’s End

Journey’s End of the Long Trail

Slider and I hiked together up to Jay Peak—the last big peak on the Long Trail. It was surprisingly not a difficult climb at all and was over much sooner than expected. I woke up thinking that once I had Jay down, that it’d be a smooth 9 miles to the border between Vermont and Canada. Not so much. The Long Trail continues to be a stout journey from finish to the end, or at least Maine junction where it breaks off from the AT. I kept thinking, ‘I don’t need to go .25 miles off trail for water because it is all downhill from here,’ but ended up making the journey at Shooting Star shelter (a sweet lean to on top of a giant boulder near the top of a mountain). I hoped to see a Mounty at the border, but Fun fact: unlike the PCT, the Long Trail ends at the Canadian border, but then the trail sharply turns back into the U.S. Unless you want to bushwhack across the border, there is no way to get into Canada. Oh well, makes the pick up and ending logistics easier. To my shock, the trail was a solid up and down until the very end, which snuck up on me. I turned a corner, and there it was in all its grandness-the end sign! My toes are jumping for joy and making me promise not to wear closed toed shoes for the rest of the summer. More foot photos to come… 3570′ gain