EDITORS NOTE: This journal accounting has not been edited or re-written by LTH. It is being provided exactly as posted on our webboards. Please see the companion webboard thread here - http://www.longtrailhiking.info/webboard/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=167
Ho & Hum's Long Trail Journal Johnson/Route 15 to Lincoln Gap August 10-21, 2009
Prologue
Hum (Bob Ash) and I (Jerry Ash) begin to seriously plan for our Long Trail (LT) hike starting in February, when Bob, Pat, their son Keith's family, and our daughter Debbie's family spend a week skiing in Killington and come to our house one night for dinner. We have a good old Ash family reunion that night, with lots of guffawing, as usual, and Hum and I begin to map out our August LT hiking adventure. We look over the Long Trail waterproof map (http://www.greenmountainclub.org/product_detail.php?sku=2216) and Long Trail Guide (http://www.greenmountainclub.org/product_detail.php?sku=2200) I purchased from the Green Mountain Club (GMC), and I loan him my DVD Vermont's Hiking Trail -The Long Trail: A Footpath in the Wilderness (http://www.longtrailhike.com/), which provides a nice overview of an end-to-end hike on the LT.
Having been born and raised in Vermont, with the majority of my family still in the state and some lineage dating back 10+ generations, Vermont holds a special place in my heart as I believe it does for all of us who reside here. Erica knew this from day one. She was from the west coast, but upon meeting one another, she immediately did research online about the state, from Calvin Coolidge to Ben & Jerry’s. And she knew how proud I was of this state, making fun of me for it all the time.