The sense of adventure runs deep among the staff of the Green Mountain Club. It was especially noticeable this summer as our staff was taking time to travel the country and enjoy the fresh air outside of the Long Trail. Here are some stories overheard around our Waterbury Center office:
Amy Potter, Visitor Center Manager
I had an adventure filled summer with lots of climbing and hiking throughout New England, but it was all in preparation for a trip to the North Cascades National Park. My husband and I spent a week in mid-August exploring the park’s jagged peaks. We followed pristine hiking trails; crossed glaciers; and scrambled steep, loose rock; all just in the first day to summit Sahale Peak.
We then spent the next few days as the sole climbers at a beautiful backcountry campsite surrounded by glaciers and 8-9,000’ mountains. From there we crossed more glaciers; scrambled more steep, loose rock; and climbed 3 pitches to ascend Sharkfin Tower.
After the excitement of climbing, we spent 3 relaxing days canoe camping on Lake Ross. The North Cascades offers endless opportunity for adventure, but the little, rugged mountains of Vermont have prepared me well for almost any terrain thrown my way.
Kristin McLane, Membership & Communications Coordinator
I went canoe camping on Saranac Lakes in the Adirondacks in July. A good friend of mine has been talking up the lakes for years and we finally had a weekend we could both go. We got there on Friday and five minutes after we started paddling to our campsite, it started pouring and thundering and lightning. We quickly paddled to shore to wait it out, then made it to our campsite later. The next morning, despite it not raining since the previous night, the same thing happened on our way to our next campsite! Both times it was just enough rain to soak all of our things. Still, we had enough beautiful weather to more than balance out the bad, we heard and saw plenty of loons, we enjoyed paddling around and swimming in the sun, and we had a big campfire Saturday night. It’s really a wonderful spot and I plan to be back next year.
Mollie Flanigan, Land Stewardship Coordinator
This summer my partner Jake and I struck out to Yosemite National Park to marvel at Half Dome and El Capitan of course, but also to see if we could find some hidden wonders on our own. And find them we did. One joy for the adventurous hiker in the Sierra Nevada is that the great expanses of granite and sparse alpine vegetation makes it easy to navigate off trail, opening up the mountains to exploration. Being careful to practice our best Leave No Trace hiking skills, Jake and I explored scree slopes, alpine meadows, and mountain lakes that no trail signs directed us to. Leaving behind the crush of tourists in Yosemite Valley, we were free to wonder at the majesty of the mountains as if we were the only souls in the park. It’s an experience I’ll be sure to seek out again, and one I would encourage everyone to find.
Alicia DiCocco, Director of Development
My family and I spent much of the summer hiking parts of the Long Trail, but over Labor Day weekend we set off on an adventure to explore parts of Maine. We traveled through New Hampshire (where we saw our first snow of the season by Mount Jefferson!) and made our way over to Maine in the small town called Hartford. We spent four days hiking, swimming, and most importantly looking for frogs. We enjoyed our first “camping” experience with both kids at a cabin on Great Pond, one of the Belgrade Lakes, and got to enjoy a bonfire on the beach. It was fun to explore another state in New England and we look forward to doing more of it!
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