Jan 29, 20221 min read

My 16 Day Solo Journey on the Long Trail

The Lead Up

I had been wanting to do a thru-hike for some time, but I never expected to do it solo. Yes, I can plan and successfully have epic backpacking weekends, or even 4-5 day stretches in the woods, but never had I been out for weeks, let alone by myself. The thought was scary and a bit nerve-wracking, but it excited me. I had my eye on the Long Trail for some time when the stars finally aligned, allowing me two weeks off from work to do whatever I wanted.

As a scientist who primarily does ecology research, summers are typically filled with critter collections (insects, arthropods, mammals), as long as it’s warm enough to do so. Having a multi-week trip had been out of the cards for me until summer 2021. I changed universities and found myself deep in laboratory science, white coat and all. Lab rats (the people), I’ve come to realize, don’t have “field seasons”, and summers are actually meant for vacation time. With this new found freedom, I began plotting my journey on the Long Trail, heading northbound. The only issue: my new grad program was set to start mid-August, and I was going to start hiking late-July. This would leave me exactly 16 days to hike 272 miles from Massachusetts to Canada (what typically takes 21 days on average), and I wouldn’t be able to take any zero days.

I'm an ambitious person who embarks on trips with the assumption that everything will turn out fine and that I can push through it, so the time crunch wasn’t going to stop me. I picked up a couple extra gear items, downloaded Guthook (an impressive navigational app that has the best waypoints), and I started weighing everything. With a questionable left knee and an upcoming rollercoaster trail terrain, I wasn’t going to carry any more weight than I needed to. Among the major weight cuts I chose to take, I made the bold move to use a hammock rain fly and cheap ground plastic from Lowes as my shelter, and I decided to cold-soak (whatever can hydrate in water without cooking) my food in a used Talenti ice cream container to avoid carrying fuel or cooking appliances. I don’t regret these decisions, but there are definitely a few changes I would make next time (a full gear shakedown will be a supplemental post). Fortunately, towns are frequent along the Long Trail, so I could scale down my food to carrying only 4 days worth at a time.

After taking a few pictures before leaving home (for social media and in case something happened to me), I headed off to Massachusetts with my partner, Uri, who would hike out with me the first day.

Day 1:Pine Cobble to Melville (mile 15.9)

Day 2: Melville to Blackbrook (mile 36)

Day 3: Blackbrook to Manchester center (mile 54)

Day 4: Manchester Center to Little Rock Pond (mile 74)

Day 5: Little Rock Pond to Governor Clement (mile 93.9)

Day 6: Governor Clement to David Logan (mile 117.5)

Day 7: David Logan to Middlebury (mile 135)

Day 8: Middlebury to Cooley Glen (mile 147.4)

Day 9: Cooley Glen to Birch Glen (mile 166.2)

Day 10: Birch Glen to stealth camp spot (mile 186)

Day 11: Camp spot to Butler Lodge (mile 201.5)

Day 12: Butler Lodge to Johnson Airbnb (mile 221)