The Vermont Long Trail Legend

Author: Megan Michelson

When Dean Ouellette was 20 years old, he decided that he wanted to hike all 272 miles of the Long Trail, which winds along the Green Mountains through the entire length of Vermont. He set out by himself, with a backpack filled with a sleeping bag, tent, unreliable cooking stove and enough packaged noodles to last him to his set food refill point 100 miles along the trail at the Middlebury Gap. He carried little else with him. "I had no money. I was 20 years old, I didn't care. I know I wouldn't ever do that today," said Ouellette, who now at the age of 31 works as the maintenance supervisor of electricians for Middlebury College's Facilities Management Department.

Ouellette completed the trail in a swift 20 days, averaging just over 13 miles a day. When his stove stopped working, the young hiker sat atop the 4,083 foot peak at Camel's Hump and wondered how he would prepare his next meal. Over 10 years later, he still remembers the name of the woman who hiked up alongside him and offered to lend him money to buy a few items at the next store he passed along the way. "Her name was Laurie Spaulding. She said she'd lend me $40, but when I got to the store, she had left $60 waiting for me," Ouellete recalled. "I sent her a check to reimburse her as soon as I completed the trail."

Stories like these are not uncommon on the oldest long-distance hiking trail in the United States - the Long Trail, found right here in Vermont. "It may not be the longest trail, or even the best trail, but it is the oldest," said Ouellette, a lifelong Vermonter. The trail crosses three arctic-alpine zones, four federal wilderness areas, six ski resorts, a national forest and overlaps with over 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail. It climbs five peaks, the highest being the 3,494 foot summit of Mt. Mansfield in Stowe, and it sinks to low elevations of around 300 feet in areas of southern Vermont.

What makes the Long Trail stand out, however, besides its venerability, is perhaps the trail's degree of difficulty. "It is a surprisingly big challenge for people to hike the whole distance. A lot of people who hike the Appalachian Trail comment on how difficult it is when they hit Vermont," said Keri Foster, the membership and volunteer coordinator for the Green Mountain Club. The Club is Vermont's premier hiking organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Long Trail system.

Since the trail was completed in 1930, a recorded 2,400 people have hiked it in its entirety. According to Foster, there were 188 thru-hikers recorded last year. So far this hiking season, which will continue until January, the total count is up to 90. "It seems as though there's more hikers than usual this year. The good weather might have had an impact. Also, it seems like since Sept. 11, more people have decided to stay close to home to hike the trail in their own backyards," said Foster. Only about half of the recorded Long Trail hikers, however, are actually from Vermont. "We've had people from Alaska, Quebec, Pennsylvania and Georgia just recently. They come from all over the place," she said. "Last year New Zealand and India were represented on the Long Trail."

The Green Mountain Club records thru-hikers by asking individuals to submit end-to-end applications and a 10-page summary of their hikes, making it difficult to keep accurate calculations. "We can only track the people who send in the application. There are probably a lot of people who we can't record. And many people wait up to several years before filling out their application," explained Foster.

Those who do send in their impressions and stories often include humorous and inspirational tales, the likes of which can only be had in the remote woods of the Green Mountains. Hikers have carried everything from tubas to rubber chickens, documenting their journeys with photographs along the way. One city dweller lugged along a bulky air mattress and foot pump to provide more nighttime comfort. Another young hiker, a 14-year-old boy from Vermont, proudly claimed he finished the entire trail in order to prove to his parents that he was worthy of earning his driver's permit. Eighty-year-old Bob Northrop has completed the Long Trail six times. And last summer, a family of seven walked all 272 miles together.

The Long Trail's distance and elevation climbs make it a realistic long-distance hike for hikers of nearly all experience levels. "The time frame is very manageable. Unlike the Appalachian Trail which takes six months to complete, most people do the Long Trail in about three weeks. It's easy for some people to just drop out of their lives for 27 days and go hike the Long Trail," said Foster.

Ouellette says he may try to do the Long Trail again some day, but for now, he's focused on his family and on climbing all 46 of the 4,000 foot peaks in New York's Adirondack Mountains. His longing to be back on the trail runs deep. "There's something great about being able to survive solely on what you can carry on your back," said Ouellette. What draws so many other people to endure the lifestyle of a Long Trail hiker is not always known, but according to Foster, there is one thing that brings people back. "The best feature of the Trail? It's in Vermont!"

For more information on hiking the Long Trail, visit the Green Mountain Club's Web site at greenmoutainclub.org, contact them by phone at 802-244-4237, or stop by at the hiker center in Waterbury, Vt.