Vermont-trekking along mile 1660

Tom is walking through the area in Vermont that the Benton MacKaye walked when he had the inspiration to build the Appalachian trail. Here is a bit of a  history lesson along with Tom's recent photos.

Stratton Pond

Stratton Pond

View from Stratton Mountain

 Benton MacKaye (1879-1975) was the first person to propose the idea of the Appalachian Trail, which he did in October of 1921. He grew up in Shirley Center, Massachusetts, reading the work of American naturalists and poets and taking long walks in the mountains of Massachusetts and Vermont. MacKaye sometimes claimed that the idea for the trail was born one day when he was sitting in a tree atop Stratton Mountain in Vermont.
Throughout his professional career MacKaye worked for a number of Federal bureaus and agencies, which included the U.S. Forest Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Department of Labor.
MacKaye was responsible for convening and organizing the first Appalachian Trail conference in Washington, D.C., in 1925. That gathering of hikers, foresters, and public officials embraced the goal of building the Trail. They established an organization, called the Appalachian Trail Conference, appointed MacKaye as its “field organizer,” and named Major William Welch, manager of New York’s Harriman Park, as its first chairman. The Appalachian Trail Conference became the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in 2005.
Sources: Benton MacKaye, “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning.” Journal of the American Institute of Architects 9 (Oct. 1921): 325-330.


Tom has encountered mud and agrees with the hiker sentiment that the Vermont trails are well known for their ever present mud.

Mud along the trail

 Tom was able to share a meal in Manchester, VT with Diesel this week. The two of them had hiked together earlier in the trek and Diesel was back home in Vermont healing up after a fall. He is about to hit the trail again.

Diesel and Tom

Monday night July 21, Tom stayed at Lost Pond Shelter. It actually has burned to the ground twice and was most recently rebuilt in 2009.

Lost Pond Shelter

At the Vermont-Massachusetts state line the Appalachian Trail joins the Long Trail for 105 miles to the Maine junction. At this point the AT heads toward Maine and Long Trail leads north toward Canada. The Long Trail was completed in 1930 and served as one inspiration for the AT.