Adventures as a family
Someday is today
Day 24 on the Vermont Long Trail
We woke up around 7:30. Family Mule and Tiny Turtle headed to the fitness room to work the upper body, while Dreamer and myself prepared for the day ahead! We packed up, had breakfast and headed out! We had to stop at a laundromat and get everything washed for the next stretch of the hike. We found a laundromat in Waterbury, which was nice. The owner was very friendly and told us the story of her how her grandfather led the rescue mission of the famous 1944 bomber crash on Camels Hump. The grandfather along with other rescuers debated on where the plane crashed and decided to split up. Her grandfather decided to take a group of young men in hopes to find survivors. Nine crew members died in the crash. If you would like more information about the crash then click the link below.
http://www.cba.cobar.org/tcl/tcl_articles.cfm?articleid=8156
On our way back to the trail head we found an small ice cream shop. After Family Mule, Dreamer and Tiny Turtle had their ice cream cones we continued to head down the road towards the trail. We tried to get a ride but no luck. We came to an camping store on the way that was going out of business so we decided to make another stop. We found a MSR filtration system! We then headed back on our way and very happy to have the new water system! A nice gentleman picked us up. He was very interested in our story as a family backpacking. He had his own hiking goals and we were now one of his inspirations to get out and do it!
Per the advice of the nice gentlemen who picked us up, we headed south (I know its the wrong way but keep reading)! By heading south we were able to take a trail to see the longest suspension bridge in Vermont! The bridge is 224 feet long! It was worth the extra hike. We then headed north. We thought we missed the trail because we were walking on the road for .5 miles before we were back in the woods and then hit the incline. It seems tough the first day back in the woods after we hit a town. Tiny Turtle wasn’t feeling well. He said the dreaded, “Mom I need to tell you something”. Well his “something” was now all over his pants, socks and shoes! We decided we should find water then set up camp quickly. I can not stress how much I appreciate having baby wipes as my comfort item in my backpack! We found a decent water supply and was able to get everything washed and laid out to dry. We found a campsite not far from the water supply on an old logging road. Tiny Turtle laid down for a short time. Dreamer was a sweet big sister and made sure he was doing alright. She laid next to him, well until he was quickly trying to get out of the tent but only made it right out the door and vomited! Yes, that happened!! Meanwhile all this was taking place at the camp, Family Mule was trying to hang the bear bag. This did not go well! He was able to get it hung on a branch but then the branch broke and hit him in the head! He was okay but angry! He did finally find a branch to hang it luckily. We all decided to skip dinner and get some sleep.
After everyone was a sleep less than 2 hours, Dreamer screamed in terror! Family Mule jumped out of the tent to ensure everything was alright. It was good and Dreamer was going back to sleep. As you know from previous postings and the name “Dreamer”, she does this sometimes! When Family Mule returned to the tent, we tried to get back to sleep but we had so many animals near the tent making noise in what I can only assume to be their search for food. Sleeping was not in the cards. Total miles for the day was only 5.4 but the day seemed very long!
Adventures as a family 