Little Rock Pond is a scenic pond on Vermont’s Lengthy Path. It has a more recent shelter and campsite space staffed by a Inexperienced Mountain Membership caretaker. Not too long ago, I visited it on a 26-mile backpacking loop, linking a number of obscure facet trails with a portion of the Lengthy Path within the Massive Department and Peru Peaks Wilderness Areas.
Our journey began on the Griffith Lake Path close to Mt Bromley and snaked north on the Previous Job Path, previously the route of the Lengthy Path. This path serves as an alternate lowland route between Griffith Lake and the Massive Department Shelter. The path is an previous street adjoining to Lake Brook, which drains Griffith Lake and is stocked by the State of Vermont. I didn’t have a fishing rod on this journey, however I plan to return with one.
Journey Plan
- Park at Trailhead on Griffith Lake Path, FS 58
- Griffith Lake Path North 2.2 miles
- Previous Job Path North 5.4 miles
- Lengthy Path North 4.8 miles
- Camp at Little Rock Pond
- Inexperienced Mountain Path South 4.1 miles
- Inexperienced Mountain Connector South 0.6 miles
- Lengthy Path South 6.8 miles
- Griffith Lake Path South 2.2 miles
- Whole: 26 miles w/4000 ft of elevation achieve
I used to be accompanied on this hike by a mountaineering buddy I’d met in Vermont earlier within the 12 months, who, like me, had beforehand section-hiked the Lengthy Path. We get alongside famously.
Mountaineering the Previous Job Path was quick, and though we’d gotten a late begin driving south that morning, we made it to the Previous Job Shelter by lunch. That previous shelter is in fairly dangerous form, however there’s a close by picnic desk alongside the brook the place we sat and loved a calming meal.
Leaving the shelter space, the path passes via an previous apple orchard alongside a mowed path bordered by head-high grass. This space was previously the location of brick kilns, judging by the shards of crimson brick that littered the trail and had been mounded within the adjoining forest. The Previous Job Path rejoins the present Lengthy Path close to the Massive Department Shelter, passing over a suspension bridge I believed I acknowledged from my 2008 Lengthy Path Finish-to-Finish.
There’s an enormous trailhead parking space a few mile north the place we stopped to resupply our water. From there, it’s solely 2.2 extra miles to Little Rock Pond, though the path is badly eroded from what I assume was dangerous flooding. Local weather change has been wreaking havoc on the Lengthy Path not too long ago. The Inexperienced Mountain Membership is attempting to extend the Lengthy Path’s resilience to main rain occasions, however that course of is certain to take a long time and won’t occur in a single day.
After we arrived on the shelter space, we arrange our tent after which headed to the shelter for a convivial dinner with the opposite backpackers tenting there. There have been two Lengthy Path thru-hikers and a household of three who had been out for every week that we’d met earlier within the day on the Massive Department Shelter. As soon as full of meals, we retired early and hit the hay. The next day was going to be lengthy, mileage-wise, and we needed to get an early begin.
Our route the subsequent day started with a climb up Inexperienced Mountain, which overlooks the pond. It’s an exquisite moss-lined path with huge expanses of open ledge on the prime. From there, we acquired again onto the Lengthy Path South and climbed over Baker Peak, which was an extended climb. I used to be trucking, but it surely was a heat day, and my buddy was having foot points, which slowed us down. As soon as over Baker, it was downhill all the way in which, and we had been quickly again at Griffith Lake after which the trailhead the place we’d began the day before today.
Regardless of a tough second day, this was a stunning loop hike and an intro to an space I plan to revisit. The facet trails to and from the Lengthy Path, which I’ve been mountaineering all summer time, open up alternatives for loop hikes which might be enjoyable to plan and discover. I didn’t anticipate that sort of payoff after I began this side-to-side path checklist, but it surely’s been a blast and the most effective half is but to return.