Moosalamoo - Day 195

  Say MOOSE-ə-luh-MOO. This is a National Recreation Area within the Green Mountain State Forest in Vermont. It covers almost 16,000 acres, and was designated a Wilderness in 2006. It was there when Marie and I hiked Vermont in 2014, but I didn't feel confident that I could get good enough maps of the trails to cut through it at that time. So we just hiked the road up to Middlebury Gap and got on the Long Trail there.

In the center of this wilderness is Mount Moosalamoo, at 2600 feet. Not a huge mountain, but from the parking area it's a 2000 foot climb. This is not to be scoffed at!

This time, there is a chosen route for the NCT through Moosalamoo. I even got a map. The NCT route does not go all the way to the top of the mountain, but it does climb 1700 feet.

I was delighted to find that some of the trail is even blazed for NCT

This trail is also used by mountain bikes. Their club has done some impressive trail work, especially a lot of rock work.

In an open area, I caught a Viceroy butterfly. They look a lot like Monarchs, but have that extra black line across their hindwings.

Kevin met me at the campground- near the middle of the day- and brought me wonderful deli salads for lunch. Then he hiked with me part of the afternoon. That was great because he knew exactly which turns to take, and the east half was not NCT blazed. He kept trying to talk me into coming to spend the night at his house. He didn't like my footwear (neither did I, but that's another story), and he wanted to take me to an outfitter to get better shoes.

We did not reach the turn to climb up to the Long Trail until after 4 p.m. That was another 800-foot climb, and I let myself be talked into going home with him, even though it would add another day to my hike.

Since he fed me lunch, dinner, and breakfast, I had enough food that the extra day was not a problem. And dinner was yummers!

Now for the rest of the story of the day. Last things first, we did not find a pair of shoes that fit me. That's the story of my life. Kevin was really unhappy that I would not buy a pair of shoes, but I insisted I'd be fine (very uncoachable, you see).

Kevin's presence did greatly encourage me.

For some reason, I was having a really tough time this day. Perhaps I didn't realize how long the climb up Moosalamoo would be. It was so discouraging. There were a lot of small switchbacks. Switchbacks are a good thing, but I kept looking at my shadow and grumbling, "Why am I going north againn?"

It was hot and the mosquitoes were thick. I was back in the headnet and long sleeves again. The forest was very closed in, and views were not on the menu. I was unusually tired, and feeling perhaps not fully positive about going into unknown woods backpacking again. Strange feeling for me, right?

Anyway, I started singing, "His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He'll carry us when we can't carry on. Raised in His power, the weak become strong. His strength is perfect; His strength is perfect." (This is only the chorus. You can hear the whole song by the singer who made it well-known at His Strength is Perfect)

What a great message for ME. You all keep telling me how amazing I am, and maybe I was starting to listen to you. I am only stubborn, and willing to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I'm old, I'm weak compared to what I was even a few years ago, but I'm being allowed to do this epic hike (it has begun to feel a little epic), and all I have to do is keep letting Him carry me.

No one has an accurate mileage for this section yet. I estimated 11.2 miles by measuring the trail lines on a topo map. I think it has to be more than that. I should have turned on the tracker in my app, but I didn't know I'd be going to Kevin's where I could have easily charged up my power pack. I'll go with the measured distance. It was certainly at least that.

Miles today: 11.2. Oak Ridge TH to Sucker Brook Trail. Total miles so far: 2425.7.

See Trail Around Middlebury