Nancy Finishes the Long Trail

Nancy finished hiking the Long Trail today! The photo above is celebrating on the summit of Mount Abraham with family and friends.

Today's hike was from Appalachian Gap south to Lincoln Gap. The photo below is in App Gap at the beginning of the hike, just as the sun was rising:

Emily, Laura, Eliza and Dylan (and their dog Kona) hiked with us from App Gap. It was a beautiful day, with good views. Not much color in the fall foliage yet. This section of the Long Trail is along the top of a ridge with several ski areas on the east side – Mad River Glen, Sugarbush North, and Sugarbush South. Below is the famous single-chair ski lift at Mad River Glen Ski Area:

The photo below was the view from Sugarbush South Ski Area:

There are five 4000 foot peaks in Vermont, and we hiked over two of them today: Mount Ellen (4083') and Mount Abraham (4006'). Mount Ellen has a wooded summit, but the top of Mount Abraham is open. From the Long Trail Guide:

The alpine summit of Mt. Abraham offers one of the best panoramas on the entire LT, ranging from nearby valley farms to New Hampshire's White Mountains, 80 miles east. Due west is Mt. Marcy and its Adirondack neighbors. To the south the Green Mountains may be visible as far south as Killington Peak. To the north, though partly hidden by nearby higher peaks, the Greens may be visible as far as Belvidere Mtn.

We had a beautiful day, but we could not see as far as Belvidere Mountain. The other three 4000 foot peaks in Vermont are Mount Mansfield (4395'), Killington Peak (4235'), and Camels Hump (4083').

Howard, Sue, Bob, Joel, Bill and Donna (and their dog Moia) hiked in from Lincoln Gap and met us on Mount Abraham. The photo at the top of this post shows the whole crew on the summit of Mount Abraham.

Eliza packed cheese and crackers, as well as a cheese board and cheese knife, all the way from App Gap:

We celebrated Nancy's accomplishment in style! There might even have been some champagne and switchel consumed on top of Mount Abraham...

Below is Nancy at the end of the hike in Lincoln Gap:

Congratulations, Nancy!

Today's hike was 11.6 miles. We started at 7:05 AM and finished at 5:20 PM. (We lingered on the summit of Mount Abraham for an hour and 20 minutes.) Nancy's Fitbit registered 35,522 steps, mine registered 38,512.

Nancy is the fourth member of the family to complete the Long Trail. Howard and I and others hiked the LT with Boy Scouts in 1997-2001 (Bob and Joel were on some of those hikes). Laura hiked the LT with Eliza in 2006. Emily hiked the LT with a friend in 2009 (see Emily Hikes the Long Trail). Nancy supported all of those undertakings and hiked portions of the LT herself as part of each of those adventures, but her log of recorded LT hikes for her End to End Journal begins before any of those dates. Nancy's log begins with a short hike to Prospect Rock in 1988, the day before Emily was born.