Long Traill VT: App Gap to Mt Ellen 8/9/14

Saturday was a great day for a hike on the Long Trail. I did the 5.3 mile trek with my dog from the top of the Appalachian Gap ( aka Rte 17) to the summit of Mt Ellen. It was sunny, temps in the low 70's and the Long Trail was mostly dry. My son dropped us off at 10:30 and we made it to the 4083 foot summit of Mt Ellen at 2:15 PM. I finished the hike going down Rim Run to Looking Good to Northway to Inverness to the base of Mt Ellen.

The first 1.8 miles to the Theron Dean shelter is fairly difficult with multple ladders and rapid elevation gain.

One of the ladders:



Theron Dean Shelter:



View from the Sunnyside Double at MRG:


The beginning of Paradise is actually on the Long Trail:



My dog on Paradise:

Here’s the obligatory picture of the Single Chair :



The view of the top of Mt Ellen from Starks Nest:



Along the way you can take a short detour to the Glen Ellen Lodge that was originally built in 1933 and rebuilt in 2012:




The trail is pretty much in a canopy of pine trees for a long stretch, finally you get a view as you are almost at the summit of Mt Ellen:



Finally the view from the top of Mt Ellen looking north to Camels Hump and Mt Mansfield:




This was one of my favorite hikes this summer. The terrain is challenging, there were not a lot of people and I enjoyed hiking a ridge line that I see all winter when I am at my place at Mt Ellen.