Long Trail – Day 20

July 3, 2016

Johnson, VT to Corliss Camp

I originally planned to do a little under 18 miles today to Spruce Ledge Camp. The trail has a funny way of changing your plans. I again thought that I would be hiking by myself for the remainder of the trip. 3 miles in I met some cool hikers at Roundtop Shelter. As we were talking, Magic Mike walked up with his dad. I yelled Magic Mike at the top of my breath. It was so unexpected and good to see him again. For the rest of the day we hiked together and talked. We all had lunch at Laraway Lookout and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

We have been fortuitous with the sunshine and no bugs. The view from Laraway was wondrous and again gave a nice vista of Mt. Mansfield. When we arrived an hour later at Corliss Camp, there were several hikers just hanging out. They said that last night there were a ton of hikers in the shelter. We were warned that Spruce Ledge would likely be full. Corliss is a great cabin, with a door and moss on the roof and a great water source.
We agreed to not trade the comfort of a known for an unknown. We enjoyed shared food, a warm fire and the wafting breeze in the canopy above.

I will miss this when it is over.

Total mileage is 11.4 miles.