October 19: The Canadian Border / Home
 
Miles Today : ~15
Total Miles : ~56

Nine miles to the border, nine miles to the border, I only have nine more miles to walk to the Canadian border! I slept very well last night, much better than I though I would sleep given that darkness lasted for 12 hours. I woke up several times over the course of the night, but each time I feel back to sleep easily for another couple of hours. I was never cold, but I think that I was able to sleep so long because my body was working hard all night to keep me warm. When I did finally stir this morning, I was starving. I was also surprised to see that the temperature had risen considerably and as early as 7:00 it was a couple of degrees above freezing.

Well, now that I was up, it was time to check and see how my stuff faired on this cold night. I had some water in the sleeping bag with me, but I left my bladder outside. While the bag was filled with slurry, I was able to clear the ice from the hose rather quickly and get a sip right away. The real problem was the frozen shoes and socks. My socks resembled cardboard and my sneakers had no flexibility whatsoever. I solved this problem by stuffing my socks under Bear, and putting my shoes very close to my stove. The first order of business was heating up a liter of water and getting that into my body. I learned my lesson from last night.

Getting all of my chores done this morning went very smoothly. My shoes defrosted nicely, the hot water kept my core temperature running hot, and just about everything else was fine. By 8:30 I had packed up and again headed north on the Long Trail. The sunrise from the shelter was a great one, the sky horizon was burning with color, but since then the sky had clouded up some and I did feel a little bit cold without the sun on my face.

Still, the temperature was warmer than yesterday, and the snow was melting quite a bit. It seemed that with every few minutes, there was less and less snow. There were even a few spots of bare ground, for which I was very thankful. I was up and over a couple of 3000-foot peaks, which did provide a few nice outlooks back at Jay Peak, for a few miles until I arrived at Shooting Star Shelter. This is literally a brand new shelter as the previous one collapsed last year under the weight off all the snow. I took a brief break here, warmed up my feet some, and then headed out. After all, Canada was less than five miles away at this point.

I flew down the trail and crossed the last road before the border. From here, there was only one more climb up a 2500-foot peak, and then downhill to the end. At the top Carleton Mountain I was treated to one last outlook to the south. Jay Peak seemed so far away already, I could hardly contain myself. As I was heading down the trail, almost running, I came across a sign that said I was on the 45th Parallel, or exactly halfway between the North Pole and the equator. That was a nice bonus that I wasn’t expecting.

A few minutes after that, I found myself standing on what looks like an old Jeep road. Well, it was not Jeep road, it was the border! Apparently, to mark the boundary between the countries, they cut a wide swath of trees along the entire length of the border. Interesting to say the least, especially since the border went straight up over a small mountain to the left. This was a nice place to finish, since there was a great outlook to the north, into Canada. I daringly crossed the border the put my feet into Canada, clearly violating several domestic and international laws. No one seemed to notice, but I know that I am now an international criminal.

Well, after taking a bunch of photos and walking along the border for a while, it was time to start the journey home. There is a mile and a half side trail, called Journey’s End, which leads out of the woods and to a dirt road. However, traffic is very limited on these roads, so it was more like a five-mile walk to the nearest major road. From there, I managed to get back to my car in just two hitches, the second of which was a couple that drove up a dirt road and about five miles out of their way to drop me off right at my car. People can be so great sometimes.

The Long Trail was a great adventure, and while it lacks the great views of the White Mountains or of western Maine, it has a charm all its own. I will return to the Long Trail some time, only next time to hike it all at once, not piecemeal as I did this time around. I am in no rush, however, since the trail is not going anywhere. Thanks to the Green Mountain Club for doing a great job on maintaining the trail and the 70 shelters and camps along the way.

-Chomp

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