Day 9 – Bolton Mountain
Hike North______________The Long Trail______________Hike South
The Long Trail End-to-End Journal (Southbound)
October 4, 2007
Puffer Shelter to Richmond, VT
LT Miles – 11.5
Total LT Miles – 88.9
Extra Miles – 0.6
morning view at the shelter
It’s a quiet, peaceful morning at Puffer Shelter. The register is filled with comments from northbounders about Bolton Mountain, to the south. It will be my early task of the day. I also study comments about the brown water from the nearby stream. Yes, it is tinted brown. Yes, I cooked with it last night. Yes, I am drinking it untreated, and hoping the color is a natural occurrence…
Bolton Mountain is no big deal – the summit is only a half mile from the shelter. For northbounders, however, it’s a long way up, which means a long way down for me! The sun is bright today and casts clear shadows along the ridge.
I unexpectedly come to a place called Harrington’s View, and enjoy a mid-morning snack in the sun. My mind drifts into “hiker mode,” and I daydream my way down the trail.
24 hours too late for Mansfield
I go 0.3 miles downhill off the trail to check out Buchanan Shelter for another snack break. Somebody has left two old GMC newsletters in the register box. I’ve never seen one of these before, and the editions make for excellent lunchtime reading.
The forest floor is blanketed in ferns, and occasionally spotted with wide, spreading trees.
Don’t miss the next page! (This day continued)
