Long Trail Codding Hollow to Route 15

This was my first hike of the season, and it felt great to be back on the trail. My youngest son, Lee, and I are hiking the Long Trail together. Although he would prefer to thru hike the entire 272 miles at once, this is currently not a feasible option for me, so we knock off a section when we can and hopefully will have it completed over the next decade. Having finished the New Hampshire 4000 footers and currently working on the same for New England, I find that I am more motivated to go climbing if I am checking of a list.

This past Saturday was a perfect day for a hike. The weather wasn't too hot, and even though the past week or so had been quite wet, the trail was in good condition. On this day we were the only car in the parking area, but a woman walking her dog pointed us in the right direction to go south.

The beginning of the trail near Codding Hollow

By late June, most Spring flowers are gone, but there were still a few things in bloom on the trail.

As well as some fungi.

Although the only wildlife we saw was this toad.

I've never come across this while hiking in the "wilderness." A clear sign that we were in Vermont.

Tubing system for tapping maple trees

Although the portion of the trail that we hiked was only 6.8 miles, it offered some interesting variety and some nice views.

View from behind the Roundtop shelter

Nearing the end of our hike we climbed over Prospect Rock. It is a mere 1040 feet, but offers a fantastic view. The number of people hiking up the other side was a testament to its popularity. This part of the trail was a little tricky because it wraps around the top of Prospect Rock before doing a switchback to continue south. It took us retracing our steps a couple times to figure this out.

View from Prospect Rock, also a popular rock climbing location

We finished the section in a little over 3 hours. The parking area off route 15 is only a short distance past the suspension bridge over the Lamoille River where we met our ride.

We had time to grab some freshly made sandwiches and a bowl of Gazpacho soup at Thompson's Flour Shop in Morrisville, before Heading over to Rock Art Brewery for a sampling and tour. 
It was a great way to replenish after a morning hike.