Vermont Sports 2021 May Issue

CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL TRAILS | 60 YEARS RUNNING THE ROCKPILE | ATHLETES & ALCOHOL

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EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - editor@vtsports.com

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Shawn Braley

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Dr. Nathan Endres, Dr. David Lisle, Dr. James Slauterbeck —University of Vermont Robert Larner College of Medicine; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation; Jamie Sheahan, M.S., R.D.

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Brian Mohr, Phyl Newbeck, Leath Tonino, Wilson Vickers

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Pacl maker Ryan McDonald of Richmond modeled his Finn Designs sidebags after the medic bag his grandfather used for fishing. Photo Evan Kay/Climb High Productions

5 The Start

16 Feature

28 Featured Athlete

Vermont cracks down on illegal trail cutting.

If you like to fish and hike and camp, spend a weekend trekking to these magical ponds.

Skier, runner and high-school phenom, Ava Thurston is someone to watch.

22 Feature

39 Calendar

For 2021, backpacks have been redesigned with a focus on fitting different body types.

34 Endgame

26 Feature

Mud season may close the trails but it can also open your mind.

When Trail Builders Go Rogue

6 News

60 Years of Running the Rockpile A Vermonter defends her title in one of the most legendary races in the U.S. this June.

10

Health Rehydrating with Beer: Good or Bad Idea?

BE SOCIAL!

Beer just seems like the perfect post-race drink. Is it?

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13 Your Race

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MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 3

THE START

WHEN TRAIL BUILDERS GO ROGUE

THERE’S BEEN A SPATE OF ILLEGAL TRAIL BUILDING ON PUBLIC LANDS. NOW, THE STATE IS TAKING ACTION.

While old logging roads criss-cross many of Vermont’s public lands, cutting or even trimming for new trails is illegal.

T

he good news first: Vermont is opening up. Events are back. By July, we should be running neck and neck again, giving high fives at the finish and clinking cold beers. And about that post-race beer? There's good news from our nutrition editor, Jamie Sheahan, on page 10.

Now the bad news. If there was one thing that the pandemic left us with it was an overzealousness for the outdoors. Trailheads saw such crowded parking conditions that in the Adirondacks, you now have to make a reservation to park for some trails.

The ignorant (and the intentionally ignorant) paid no attention to mud season warnings and tromped and wheeled the soft turf of spring terrain, leaving indelible marks that will remain all summer or until volunteers repair the damage.

And some aspiring trail builders have decided it’s OK to build their own private networks. All well and good, but for those who missed it, if you are going to take a shovel or saw to the forest—or even move a rock or dig a berm—you need permission from the landowner. Especially if that land is owned by the state of Vermont.

In March, Vermont’s Attorney General T.J. Donovan filed a lawsuit for the state against Thomas Tremonte. Tremonte, a New Hampshire resident who bought land in Westfield, Vt. in 2017, had been clearing a backcountry ski zone on his property. The state alleges he also cut 839 shrubs and trees on land abutting his. That land was part of Hazen’s Notch State Park.

If found liable, Tremonte could be fined three times the actual value of the timber, in addition to other fees. Under Vermont state law, trees under 6 inches in diameter are valued at $50 on up to $2,000 for stumps over 22 inches in diameter. Bushes and shrubs are $50 each.

This is not an isolated incident and cutting for mountain bike trails has also been rampant. Last fall, Michael Snyder, Commissioner of the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, was hunting on state forest land near his home when he came across a network of backcountry ski and mountain bike trails.

“I went just a few strides into the woods and was like ‘Oh man!’ I was heartbroken walking around out there. As a forester and a backcountry skier, I can easily see when a line has been cut. To see rocks moved, trees felled, holes dug and lines and berms cut, it’s just so not OK. The sense of entitlement is shocking to me,” he says.

“We are for people enjoying the backcountry and we have an interest in having more access to it. But we have a process and we have a growing community of groups that are doing it right and partnering with the state to build trails.”

In many areas, local mountain bike clubs have worked with the state or National Forest on a forest management plan that takes into account both the ecological health of the forest; its uses for timber and sugaring; and recreation—hunting, fishing, birding and hiking as well as mountain biking and backcountry skiing.

As Commissioner Snyder says, “The unauthorized do-your-own-thing is a bummer—it’s selfish and jeopardizes all of it for everyone. It’s the public’s land. It’s just not OK and something we need to address.” —Lisa Lynn, Editor

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60 ROCKPILE RUNNING THE

YEARS OF

ONE OF AMERICA’S LONGEST-RUNNING AND MOST LEGENDARY RACES IS BACK AND THIS VERMONTER WANTS TO DEFEND HER TITLE. BY LISA LYNN | PHOTOS BY JOE VIGER The first true photo finish in the Mt. Washington Road Race's 59 years saw Craftsbury's Heidi Caldwell, left, come from behind to tie with Brittni Hutton. Both will start again this June.

T

he morning of June 15, 2019 was a pleasant day around most of New England with mild temperatures and light winds. A crowd of more than 1,000 runners gathered at the Pinkham Notch base of the Mt. Washington Auto Road in New Hampshire. Among them were Nadir Cavagna, a member of the Italian team that won the silver medal in the World Mountain Championships in 2018. Three-time winners of the Mt. Washington race, Ernie Blake of West Hartford, Ct. and Simon Gutierrez of Alamosa, Colo. were also there. In the women’s field was Brandi Ehrolz, a twotime winner from McCall, Idaho and two Vermonters: Caitlin Patterson, the Olympic Nordic skier and UVM grad, and another Craftsbury-based skier and runner, Heidi Caldwell.

Since it was first launched in 1904, the Mt. Washington Road Race (now sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental) has attracted top runners from around the world. For those who are not elite runners, entries are by lottery and nearly always sell out.

6 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

For Caldwell, who finished second in 2018, it was a chance to come back and vie for the first place $1000 prize purse.

The Running Director at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, she started out slowly, measuring her pace as she started her climb. Ahead, the 7.6 mile road would rises 4,650 feet with an average grade of 12 percent, getting even steeper toward the top. The race’s motto, “there is only one hill,” is an apt one. But it’s a big hill.

As Caldwell came above treeline she could see Brittni Hutton of Lubbock, Tx., ahead of her. Hutton had broken away at the start and now had a half-minute lead.

“I would do 10 power-hiking strides up the steep switchbacks, which I think gave my muscles a break,” Caldwell said as she came to the winding part of the course.

And as the 6,288 foot summit came into sight, Caldwell felt a second wind. “I saw I was gaining on Brittni and I just gave it my all,” Caldwell remembers. The final 50 yards have a 22 percent grade. “There is a reason they call it The Wall. It is literally like running up a wall," Caldwell says. "You are power walking or hiking or

whatever you can to get up it. It’s the epitome of Type 2 fun and maybe the only race I’ve done where I thought this is as hard as I can go,” she remembers.

By this time the temperatures had dropped to 37 degrees and the wind was howling at 50 mph. The two women crossed the finish line neck and neck, finishing at 1:16:17. It was the first tie the race had seen in 58 years.

With the 2020 race cancelled due to Covid, this year marks the 60th anniversary of one of America’s most legendary races, a race that has seen all sorts of firsts. This year will mark another: in an effort to keep the Coronavirus at bay, on the men will race on June 20th, and the day before, on June 19h, the women will start.

Caldwell is planning to be there to defend her title with Hutton and a host of other top racers ready to take her on.

THE ONCE AND FUTURE RACE Completed in 1861, the Mt. Washington Carriage Road was designed more for recreation than for transportation.

Early on, it took visitors to the summit of Mt. Washington and was an attraction that helped fill rooms at the Halfway House and other area hotels. Frank Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer steam-powered motor vehicle, was the first to drive up the road in 1899.

In 1904, a medical student named George Foster wanted to prove he could run up the road faster than any of the newfangled automobiles. He proved his point, completing the climb in 1 hour 42 minutes. In 1936 some of Dr. Foster’s friends organized a Mt. Washington road race in his honor and 12 runners finished. The race was held again in 1937 and 1938, with larger fields each time.

In 1938, Paul Donato, a 21-year-old from Roxbury, Ma., finished first in 1:16:24. Dan Donato still has a photo of his grandfather crossing the finish line.

“He was in the top five in the Boston Marathon and was quite a runner,” says Dan. “The first time I did the race I was in my 20s and I was thinking a lot about my granddad and how he must have felt and how he must have trained. His diet

Clockwise from top: Huntington's Kasie Enman, the former World Mountain Running champion, placed second in 2017. George Etzweiler racing in 2018 at age 99. The race draws elite runners who come for the challenge and the scenery as well as some who like the challenge of making it to the top and who vie for the lottery slots to enter. For Vernon, Vt's Fred Ross (inducted into the 2019 Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of Fame) this will be his 43rd year in the race and he holds the record for the most number of times running up the Rockpile. He is now 73.

included steak and beer and he talked about his shoes a lot. It amazes me when I look at those old photos and see him running in leather shoes with heels and here I am in my Nike Vaporflys.”

Dan Donato is the third generation in his family to run the race. “My dad did it without really training but I’m shooting to break 1:30,” said the 41-year-old from Marblehead, who had run the race in 1:32. “The whole premise of running up this mountain is insane. People have asked me, 'What’s harder, a marathon or Mt. Washington?' I say, without a doubt, Mt. Washington.” This year Dan may also bring along the trophy his granddad won in 1938. “It’s about waist-high,” he says.

THE RECORD HOLDERS Vermonters have long been top contenders in the race. In 2012 Keith Woodward, also a Craftsbury Outdoor Center employee, was inducted into the Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of fame for having raced up the Rockpile the greatest number of times (at the time, that was 36) – and he won the race in

1:06:38 in 1983. In 2011, Woodward also set his age group record (60-64) with a time of 1:21:19.

Fred Ross III of Vernon, Vt. eclipsed Woodward’s record and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019 after racing the event 42 times. In 2017 and 2018 he also won his age group, 70-74.

But perhaps the most famous contestant in the race has been George Etzweiler who started running at age 59.

Etzweiler’s first time at the race was in 1989 at age 69 when he ran with his son Larry, 43. He has since completed it 13 times and holds the age group records for 85 to 89 (he ran a 2:33:20 in 2005), for 90 to 95 (2:48:25) and for 95-99 (3:28:41). Etzweiler was scheduled to race in 2019 when a stomach bug sidelined him. In March 2020, he turned 100 and was already training for the race when Covid cancelled it. This year, at age 101 he has promised to be at the race— but doesn't plan to run.

The 2021 race may not draw some of the international stars of years past but the lineup is still strong. The overall

record holder, New Zealander Jonathan Wyatt (the six-time World Mountain Running Champion) ran the race in 56:41 in 2004. Ethiopian Shewarge Amare recorded a time of 1:08:21 in 2010. Other perennial contenders include Joseph Gray of Colorado Springs who has won the race four times and is the top American and defending champion Eric Blake.

As the race began to attract more elite runners, it started a policy of banning anyone who had previously tested positive for drugs in any race.

About 14 years ago, Ethiopian runner Alene Reta asked if he could compete.

Reta had been suspended from racing in 2002 when he tested positive for nandrolene, the steroid baseball player Roger Clemens was caught using. He was denied entry.

In 2010, Reta’s sister Shewarge Alena Amare, then 21, asked to race. Shewarge had no history of performanceenhancing drugs and was accepted. She set the course record, which still stands, at 1:08:21. The only woman to come

close to that is Colorado’s Kim Dobson who ran it in 1:09:25 in 2012 and is expected for 2021.

Kasie Enman of Huntington, Vt., has finished second at Mt. Washington twice. The former Women’s World Mountain Running champion (she also finished second in 2017) was happy to see the move toward testing, “It’s important that we ensure a fair race for all the clean athletes in our sport. Thanks to Mount Washington Road Race for taking this important step,” she wrote at the time.

In June, Heidi Caldwell plans to return to the race. “I grew up in New Hampshire and I’ve summited all 48 of the 4,000 footers there, so it feels like home,” says Caldwell, the granddaughter of legendary Nordic ski racer and coach, John Caldwell. “Perhaps the best thing about the race is it really is just one hill and you don’t pound on your knees the way you do going downhill,” she says. “I hope I’m going to be able to do it for a long, long time.”

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 7

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VERMONT REOPENS; EVENTS ARE BACK

On April 6, as Governor Scott announced state's reopening plan, event organizers rejoiced. The stages, outlined in a graphic above, show that in May, outdoor gatherings of up to 300 (plus any number of fully vaccinated participants) can take place and by July 4, there should be no capacity restrictions. “This is such a huge relief,” said long-time race director Steve Hare whose Vermont Sun Half-Marathon takes place on May 16. Phil White, who organizes the Dandelion Run in Derby had also been counting on the state reopening and had planned his run May 22 halfmarathon and 10K accordingly, although with the Canadian border still closed, he didn’t expect to exceed the 300 capacity limits. Around the state, organizers began hitting the “go” buttons on their events, albeit with new safety precautions such as staggered starts (the Mt. Washington Road Race will host the men’s and women’s races on separate days), packaged foods and beverages, and socially-distanced registrations. To see what events are being planned, see Calendar, page 30.

NEW MOUNTAIN BIKE FESTIVALS COME TO VT Plans were underway last summer to bring Outerbike to Killington, Vt. The event, which bills itself as the “the best bike demo event in the universe,” has six stops planned on its 2021 tour and Killington is on the list for July 23-25. Outerbike typically sets up a tent city of vendors. A full-pass ($250) entitles you to three days of unlimited bike demos, lift tickets to Killington’s more than 35 miles of downhill trails, lunches, contests, parties and prizes. If you want to skip the demos, cost is $155. The following weekend (July 30-Aug. 1) Flow State, the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival, comes to Ascutney. Put on by Ascutney Trails and Mountain Flyer magazine, it will showcase Ascutney’s 35 miles of trails and 20 miles of trails on private property. The event will have demos, guided rides and clinics as well as camping and food trucks. See Calendar for details.

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After a year of towing cars, locals complaining, and crowding on the trails, the Adirondack Mountain Reserve is instituting a reservation system at its most popular trailheads, including the access to Indian Head (pictured here). On May 1, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR) launched a pilot reservation system to address public safety at a particularly crowded corner on Route 73 in the town of Keene in the Adirondack High Peaks region. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said, “With the increasing number of visitors to trailheads accessed through AMR, exacerbated in 2020 by New Yorkers looking for a nature break as a respite from COVID-19, DEC and AMR are working together to promote sustainable recreation and protect public safety.” Reservations will be required for the 7,000 acre AMR property, as well as the Round Mountain and Noonmark Mountain trailheads accessed through AMR lands. Advance reservations for the 70 parking spaces as well as for bike-in or walk-in visitors can be made two weeks ahead at hikeamr.org.

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HEALTH

I

f one were to examine the relationship between exercise and alcohol, “it’s complicated” would be a fitting description. It’s hard to say exactly when exercise and alcohol became so intricately linked.

The earliest evidence of humans consuming alcohol dates all the way back to 7,000 B.C., but organized athletics were still a long way off. The first modern Olympic Games weren’t held until 1896. It was at this inaugural Olympics that the relationship between alcohol and exercise truly blossomed.

Greek marathoner, Spyridon Louis, was trailing behind his competitor when he famously downed a glass of Cognac with just six miles to go. Upon finishing his drink, Spyridon resumed running, going on to win gold.

The love affair between alcohol and exercise became official as athletes tried to replicate this success in future Olympic Games and other competitions.

The purported performance-enhancing effects of consuming alcohol during exercise has since been debunked, but as opposed to a clean break, the relationship has simply evolved.

Today, beer has become the goto beverage for many athletes after exercise. Seemingly every bike and running race promises a free finish line beer to celebrate a job well done. In fact, multiple surveys have shown that those who exercise regularly are also more likely to drink. Why these two seemingly paradoxical behaviors go together is unclear.

As satisfying as cracking open a cold beer post-race might be, how can we reconcile a healthy activity like exercise with one that is arguably less so?

Imbibers often make a case that beer can be just as hydrating as water and the carbs can replenish the carbohydrates burned off during exercise. However, just as many contend that the opposite is true. This leaves many wondering, does that post-ride beer help or hinder recovery? To evaluate the competing views consider the three primary components for maximum recovery after exercise; hydration, glycogen replenishment and muscle repair.

HYDRATION A top priority post-workout is rehydrating. During exercise, the body

10 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

REHYDRATING WITH BEER: GOOD OR BAD IDEA?

A POST-RACE OR POST-RIDE BEER IS PART OF OUR CULTURE. IS THAT A GOOD THING OR NOT? BY JAMIE SHEAHAN, M.S., R.D. With so many events offering a post-race or ride beer, should you imbibe?

can lose as much as 3 to 4 ounces of fluid per hour through sweat and respiration. Replacing those fluids as well as the electrolytes lost in sweat is critical to allow for proper recovery. Can a beer provide the fluid and electrolytes the body so desperately needs? Well, that all depends…

Alcohol has long been established as a diuretic, meaning that consumption of alcohol increases urine output, thus having a dehydrating effect on the body. The extent of this diuretic effect is contingent upon a number of factors, the most important of which is the alcohol content of the beverage consumed. Studies examining the effect of alcohol on fluid balance after exercise have found that beverages with a lower alcohol content (≤4%) are able to rehydrate on par with alcohol-free beverages. However, as alcohol content creeps up to that of a typical beer, about 5% for an average beer, urine output increases resulting in a dehydrating effect. In other words, your going to be losing more water than you consume.

The other factor to consider in evaluating the dehydrating effects of alcohol is volume. There’s a big difference between drinking a pint of beer and polishing off a six-pack.

These aforementioned studies (the ones indicating that beers with a higher alcohol content dehydrated subjects) were rather liberal with the volume of the post-exercise brews. Subjects in those studies consumed an average of about 4 pints of beer. Subsequent studies have shown no significant difference on hydration status after exercise between consuming water and a moderate amount of beer.

GLYCOGEN REPLENISHMENT Much of the energy used to fuel a bout of exercise, particularly higherintensity activities and endurance exercise, comes from glycogen, the body’s storage form of carbohydrate.

The body can store approximately 300 to 500 grams of glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscle, or enough to power about 90 to 120 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise. During exercise, glycogen is broken down into glucose to provide a quick source of energy to the working muscles, thereby depleting these glycogen stores. Replenishing glycogen is a must in order to avoid the side effects of low glycogen levels like fatigue and impaired performance.

Fortunately, the body is primed to begin this refueling process after exercise thanks to an enzyme called glycogen synthase.

Glycogen synthase catalyzes the conversion of glucose into glycogen and is highly active after exercise. It just needs one thing to make it happen; carbohydrates. And this is where that post-run or ride beverage or snack becomes critical to allow the body to refuel.

There’s a reason chocolate milk, bagels and bananas are readily handed out after endurance races.

It is recommended that athletes consume 1.5 grams of easy-to-digest carbohydrates per one kilogram of body weight immediately after exercise to optimize glycogen replenishment.

Simple carbohydrates like those found in refined grains and sugary foods or beverages are ideal to begin the process of restoring glycogen to pre-exercise levels.

So how does beer fit into the picture?

It’s good news, bad news for those who like to imbibe after a tough workout. Let’s start with the good news. A 2003 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found no evidence that alcohol interferes with glycogen replenishment.

Before a triumphant “cheers” to your beer being an ideal post-workout option, it’s important to discuss that bit of bad news. Arguably the biggest issue with consuming a beer post-workout in terms of glycogen replenishment doesn’t have anything to do with the alcohol itself, but instead with what that beer might be standing in the way of; a carbohydrate-rich beverage or snack.

Contrary to popular belief, beer isn’t high in carbohydrates.

A typical 12-ounce beer contains only about 10 grams of carbohydrate. That hardly compares to the approximately 40 grams of carbohydrate in a 12-ounce chocolate milk.

Thus, although the alcohol in beer won’t inhibit glycogen synthesis, beer alone won’t provide the necessary carbohydrate to adequately replenish glycogen.

MUSCLE REPAIR There’s a reason your muscles are sore the day after a tough workout. Exercise causes damage to muscle fibers, which in turn allows those muscles to adapt by getting bigger and stronger. Protein provides the building blocks for this repair process. It is recommended that individuals consume 20 to 40 grams of protein after exercise to increase muscle protein synthesis. Unfortunately for beer-lovers, the average 12-ounce beer has less than one gram of protein.

To be fair, few would likely argue that beer is a good choice for muscle recovery, but does consuming a beer actually inhibit muscle protein resynthesis?

In 2014, a study looked into exactly that; with athletes completing three stints of exercise after which they consumed protein alone, protein with alcohol, or carbohydrates with alcohol.

The results were clear that regardless of whether alcohol was paired with protein or carbs, the consumption of alcohol reduced muscle protein synthesis. However, it is important to note that the amount of alcohol consumed in this study constituted

6

SESSIONABLE BEERS

If you’re grabbing a beer post-run or ride, studies show that choosing a brew with less than 5% alcohol content should have little or no impact on recovery.

“We even make a seasonal brew, a Radler Trail Beer that was designed as a post-mountain bike brew.

Created by a German innkeeper, it was originally called Radlermass, German for ‘cyclist liter,’ “ says Sam von Trapp of von Trapp Brewing. Vermont beers are catching up to the big boys in the light beer market.

Here’s where the lightest weigh in.

more than just a casual celebratory drink. The study attempted to replicate what would be considered binge drinking, the equivalent of about seven drinks.

Although no studies have been conducted to see if smaller amounts of alcohol consumed after exercise have the same deleterious effect, there is some hope that one beer won’t completely negate the benefits of a tough workout on muscle gains. In 2019, researchers examined the influence of consuming a

BUD LIGHT Alcohol: 4.2% Calories: 110 Carbs: 6.6 g

LONG TRAIL LITTLE ANOMALY IPA Alcohol: 3.8% Calories: 110 Carbs: 9.6 g

VON TRAPP HELLES Alcohol: 4.9% Calories: 144 Carbs: 13-15

LAWSON’S FINEST SUPER SESSION Alcohol: 4.8% Calories: 150 Carbs: 14 g

MICHELOB ULTRA Alcohol: 4.2% Calories: 95 Carbs: 4.6 g

VON TRAPP RADLER Alcohol: 439% Calories: 130-135 Carbs: 12-14 g

moderate amount of alcohol (about 5 drinks per week) on muscle mass gain following a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program.

After 10 weeks, all of the subjects experienced increased muscle mass and reduced body fat mass. Most interestingly, these improvements in body composition were the same for those who regularly imbibed and those who did not. It’s important to note that the subjects in this study did not consume alcohol

immediately after exercise, which makes it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about how much one or two beers after exercise will interfere with muscle gains.

It is clear that although beer may not be the best recovery option, it is not necessarily harmful either. Consuming just one or two beers with a lower alcohol content after a carbohydrate and protein-rich meal or snack is the best way to go. Whatever your drink of choice, for better or worse, the relationship between

exercise and alcohol will likely endure.

After all, it worked for Spyridon Louis .

Jamie Sheahan is the Director of Nutrition at The Edge in South Burlington. She holds a Master of Science in Dietetics from the University of Vermont, where she serves as an adjunct professor of sports nutrition. Jamie has run over 40 marathons in addition to several ultra marathons.

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 11

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YOUR RACES

I

began running in my mid 40s. I always wanted to run a road race, but lacked the confidence and courage. I finally did a race, in part to be a role model to my young daughter.

My first race was sponsored by Joan Benoit Samuelson, a two-time Boston Marathon winner and gold medalist at the first women’s Olympic marathon (Los Angeles, 1984). It was the second year of Joan Samuelson’s Beach to Beacon 10k in her hometown of Cape Elizabeth, Maine and Joan’s cousin was a college roommate of mine.

I was ill prepared, but wanted to try it. I “trained” some, but had no idea what I was doing. On the day of the race, I was nervous. Just as the 10k race began, I suddenly realized that I had left my asthma inhaler in the hotel room. I tried not to focus on this mistake. I thought, “Take it slow.”

At the starting line, I saw people of every age, physical condition and skill level. They were from all corners of the world. There were a few thousand participants. The energy level and comradery were exciting. Brief conversations with strangers always ended with “Have a good run.”

The race began and I purposely stayed at the back of the pack. As I was running, I slowly gained on a young woman ahead of me. As I reached her, I realized she had one leg and was running using crutches. I thought, “If she can do this, so can I.” She was my inspiration. Soon a young man in a homemade wooden lighthouse costume on wheels went running by me.

He added to the fun.

The hundreds of people all along the racecourse were amazing. These strangers were clapping, shouting out words of encouragement, ringing cowbells for me and the other runners. I felt as if I were Joan Benoit Samuelson and my fans were showing their support. Their energy was contagious. It made me focus on the moment.

Just before I crossed the finish line, I pushed myself with the little energy I had left inside. The crowds were so enthusiastic screaming, “You got this,” “Looking good,” “Almost there.” I made it! I finished my first road race.

INSPIRED TO RUN

AFTER A YEAR OF SOLO CHALLENGES, RUNNING FOR SOMEONE ELSE BECAME THE ULTIMATE MOTIVATION. BY GARRY SCHAEDEL

The author (in purple) running in the Spring Lake 5 Miler in New Jersey in 2019. Schaedel began running races to honor friends, or even friends of friends, and writing their names on index cards he pinned to the back of his shirts. Photos courtesy Garry Schaedel

RUNNING FOR A CAUSE Eventually I began seeking out races in different locations or for certain causes. Running in new locations added to the fun. I raced in the streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans;

West Mount in Montreal, Martha’s Vineyard and elsewhere.

Then I came across a fundraising race for pancreatic cancer. My friend

Charlotte had been recenty diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died just two months later. I decided to dedicate that race to Charlotte. I wrote her

name on an index card and attached it to the back of my shirt. I did this to honor her but also to help me deal with my own grief.

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

As I ran in more road races, I would occasionally dedicate a race to friends or family members who had passed.

More often than not, I did not mention my dedication to others. The dedication felt personal to me, both honoring the person and sharing my own grief.

In the fall of 2019, I summoned the courage to take on a new challenge and signed up for my first half marathon.

Four years earlier, I had coffee with a friend whom I had not seen in a long time. She told me she and her husband had recently done a half marathon in southern Vermont. I told her I always wanted to do one, but was nervous I would not be able to finish it without having to walk during the race. With a sense of disbelief in what she had just heard, Carol said, “Then walk! My husband does it all the time.”

Sadly, that was the last time I saw her as she too was battling pancreatic cancer. Soon after we talked, her health deteriorated fast. She was gone within a few weeks. I never forgot those words, “Then walk.”

I signed up for the Vermont Half Marathon Unplugged in Burlington. I told few people about it. I was worried if I was not able to complete it, I would feel embarrassed. My training started in January 2020. In April of 2020, at

BRAVING ANOTHER ELEMENT

SHE SET OUT TO RUN A MARATHON IN MEMORY OF HER SISTER-IN-LAW. SHE NEVER EXPECTED THIS ADDED CHALLENGE.

W

hen CeCe Rohrbach set herself the goal of running a marathon in honor of her sister-in-law, she didn’t count on having to swim to finish it.

Rohrbach of New Gloucester, Maine, was registered to run the 2020 Boston Marathon as a charity runner (she raised over $10,000 for Camp Kita—a camp for children who have lost family members to suicide). Like many similar events, the Boston race was canceled due to Covid concerns, but organizers offered a virtual option. Rohrbach signed up, designing a marathon route that would be meaningful to her family: her starting line was Airport Park in Colchester—less than a mile from her running partner and sister-in-law Kristin Westra’s childhood home.

Westra committed suicide two years earlier. It was a widely reported story that rocked her local

age 65, I ran, and finished my first half marathon—virtually, due to Covid 19. I wore “Carol” on an index card that was pinned to my back for the 13 miles.

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Rohrbach, dripping wet from her swim. Courtesy photo

As much as I love running in road races, I do not like running outside to train for them. I tried it and it did not work. I came up with every excuse in

community. Rohrbach's course led her over the Colchester Causeway (queue the Local Motion-operated bike ferry at the Cut) and up the backroads of South Hero and Grand Isle to her 26.2-mile finish at the iconic Hero’s Welcome store in North Hero, just a mile from her mother-in-law’s camp, another of Kristin’s favorite childhood stomping grounds.

What Rohrbach's course planning didn’t account for was howling 40-mile-per-hour winds and pelting sideways rain on her chosen race day, Sept. 13, 2020. Just 3.5 miles into her run, she arrived at the end of the Colchester Causeway to find the ferry shut down due to wind— and deserted, except for a solitary man 200 feet away on the South Hero side. “I wanted him to look away,” she says. “I didn’t want him to discourage me.” Discourage her from what, you ask? Surrounded by angry three-foot whitecaps and ominous gray clouds, she reviewed her options... and really, the only option was to turn back, right?

the world. It’s too cold outside, it’s too hot, too much traffic, I’ll run tomorrow. Instead, I run on my treadmill in my basement. I’ve done this for over

A RUNNING DEDICATION Wrong. The man on the other side disappeared, and, wearing her running outfit and shoes, Rohrbach jumped into Lake Champlain. Holding her cell phone, glasses, and facial mask high above the waves, she swam the 200 feet to the other side of the Causeway cut. Halfway across, the thought occurred to her that losing her phone would be unfortunate. “If I lost my glasses, though, I’d be done,” she says.

The smart thing might have been to turn back and try again another day.

But when you’re running for suicide awareness in honor of your friend and sister-in-law, sometimes you jump in the lake and keep running.

When she climbed onto the rocks on the other side, Rohrbach had 22.5 cold, rainy, windy miles remaining. And, yes, hours later, miserably soaked—but not in the least bit miserable in spirit—CeCe Rohrbach finished her solo marathon in North Hero to the cheers of a six-person crowd of her family members. —By Mark Aiken

15 years. I listen to music, I mark my progress. I can run morning, noon, or night. No excuses. I run. I run to train for future road races.

Having a road race in my sights has always been my motivator to keep me on my treadmill. In 2020, all my planned road races were cancelled.

I had even won a lottery entry into the 2020 New York City Marathon. It would have been my first full marathon.

It too was cancelled. After my April half marathon, I needed to do something to stay active and to keep me motivated.

I had learned about an outdoor running club from a former work colleague. When all of my in-person road races were cancelled, I joined his group. I needed a group to inspire me, to keep me on my treadmill. We met once a week at different locations.

A few months before I joined the running club, I had lost two good friends to illness. Similarly, many friends began to lose loved ones— parents, grandparents, and cousins. One friend lost a parent to the Coronavirus. Since I no longer had road races, I decided to dedicate my runs in my weekly running club to those who passed.

I started my dedications with Audrey, a friend’s mother, then Jason, a friend’s nephew, and then Bill, a friend’s dad, then Patricia, John, and Ed. Through social media I let people know what I was doing, and asked if

anyone wanted a dedicated run for a loved one who recently passed. I received more requests, totalling nearly 30 through the end of the year.

Each week my run club organizer chose a different location for our group run. Before we all took off, I got a chance to say for whom I was running, and a few words about my connection to that person. Some wanted to see the index card with the first name of the person to whom I was dedicating my run. Later, I would write to a friend or family member to tell them where my group ran, the distance we ran, what I said about their loved one and the reaction from my group. I also enclosed a photograph of the index card I wore on the back of my shirt with the first name of that person. As I came to the finish of each run dedication, I quietly said the first name aloud.

I never could have predicted how meaningful this simple act could be.

The responses I received have brought me to tears.

One friend had the Covid-19 early in the pandemic and was unable to attend his mother's funeral. He wrote me following my run for his mom. “To be honest, I am tearing up with emotion right now. Thank you, my friend.”

One friend had a grandparent who

had lived in Asia his entire life. I wrote his name in Korean on the index card.

My friend wrote, “Hi Garry, your message and run and the photos brought me to tears. To say I’m touched and honored would be a huge understatement. I am beyond grateful for the love you’ve shown me and my grandfather.”

Years ago, I started these dedications as a way to acknowledge my own grief and to memorialize friends or family members. My dedications have provided meaning to me during the pandemic and support to friends and family, especially in these times.

The one thing we all wanted to do during the pandemic was to hug and to touch people we cared about. This is especially true when we, or friends lose a loved one. It is the only thing we cannot do. I tried to reach out in a different way. One friend said it best about my dedicated runs “In such a sad time, you gave us hope.”

Burlington's Garry Schaedel was the Director of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for the Vermont Department of Health. In 2014, he received the National American Academy of Pediatrics Child Health Advocate Award..

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MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 15

Five Treks to

TROUT PONDS

THERE ARE HIKERS AND THERE ARE ANGLERS AND THERE ARE CAMPERS. IF YOU ARE ALL THREE, SPEND A FEW DAYS EXPLORING THESE MAGICAL SITES.

BY PETER SHEA

16 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

Nestled above Smuggler's Notch and Stowe's Spruce Peak ski areas, Sterling Pond is just off the Long Trail and has nearby campsites. Each year, the pond is stocked with trout year that are carried up in tanks on the ski area's chairlifts.

Photo by Nathanael Asaro

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

At Bourn Pond in the Lye Brook Wilderness, the U.S. Forest Service has recorded some of the largest brookies in the state, measuring up to 18 inches. The pond also has a campsite on the north end. Photo by Peter Shea

T

he reason that diamonds, Picassos, and the dilithium crystals that powered the Starship Enterprise have such high value is their rarity. So it is with Vermont’s backwoods trout ponds.

For purposes of this article, they are defined as those that require an angler to hike to get to them, even if it’s only a short portage of a few hundred feet.

By my estimate, there are no fewer than two dozen of these places in the state. I have fished nearly all of them, including some additional ones that no longer hold trout.

I am wild for fishing these places, and have fished them for the last 50 years, and write about the best of them in Vermont Trout Ponds (from which this is excerpted).

The kind of magic these ponds hold for me is perhaps conveyed a little by recalling a trip to a certain reclusive pond in southern Vermont. It was the Columbus Day weekend, the solemn high holiday of the fall foliage haj, when thousands of tourists, including hikers and anglers, come to visit our state.

That evening’s outing had yielded two very special, eight-inch brook trout.

They were what I call “football trout,”

18 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

“A pond or lake will do you no favors.

Fish can disappear for days. On the other hand, that still water can explode into action with fish of eye-popping size jumping all over the place, making your knees weak and your hands shake with excitement.” with shapes more like bass. They were hunch-shouldered, with jaws kiped, as you might expect on a 15-inch brookie.

Adorned with a riot of spawning colors, their bellies matched the fiery trees and the scarlet constellation points on their flanks were surrounded by a royal blue that would shame a bird of paradise. There are many larger brookies and other large trout that have long faded from memory, but I will always vividly recall this prized brace.

The only other person sharing this pond during my stay was my backpacking partner. In the glare of brilliant morning sunshine, he had managed to sleep in while a pack of coyotes came yipping and howling to within thirty feet of where we were camped. Fortunately, last minute they veered off in a panicked surprise.

We hiked out later on that glorious day. In the midst of Vermont’s busiest tourist season, we had just spent three entire days without seeing another soul.

This was true even on the trailed portion of our hike. There are wild places in Wyoming or Montana where you cannot easily accomplish this.

Some of the ponds noted here host wild brook trout well beyond a foot in length. But their value and meaning are way beyond the fish. These backwoods waters are places to see an eagle steal a trout from an osprey; to be transfixed

by a field of lady slippers; to get nervous as you confront a moose; to listen to an otter crunch on the bones of a fish he just caught; to have a hummingbird perch on a cord that guys your tent; and, to fall asleep to the tremolos of loon and the splashes of feeding trout.

There is a mystery to the waters of a lake or a pond. A stream or river presents the trained eye some obvious places where trout can lurk. A lake or a pond, at least at initial observation, often offers up a blank slate— even for trained eyes.

Given a decent temperature range, even a tough day on a stream will likely yield at least a little stinker or two. A pond or a lake will do you no favors like that. The fish can disappear for days on end.

On the other hand, that still water can explode into action, with fish of eyepopping size jumping all over the place, making your knees weak and your hands shake with excitement.

Here are just five of the nearly twodozen ponds included in Vermont Trout Hikes. While the book has GPS coordinates and more detailed maps, if you are going to hike to some of these ponds, especially the few that have no trails to them, you should have a working knowledge of maps, compasses,

TRAVELING LIGHT

Orvis Encounter Rod & Reel set

Eno JungleNest Hammock A brace of 9-inchers like this one were the catch of the day at Sterling Pond.

and GPS technicalities.

Please also know the rules of the lands you are on when it comes to camping and campfires and follow the “leave no trace” principles.

THE BRANCH, BOURN AND STRATTON TRIANGLE, SUNDERLAND One of the best multi-day fishing/ hiking destinations is the Lye Brook Wilderness. Here, you can pitch a tent, fish several different ponds and have a chance at catching some of the biggest trout in the state. Plus, there are options for hiking loops of up to 16 miles.

Branch Pond, Bourn Pond and Stratton Pond are all just a few miles apart with campsites at Bourn and Stratton Pond. All are in the Green Mountain National Forest, and most are within or bordering the Lye Brook Wilderness. They are most easily accessed from the Kelly Stand Road in the town of Sunderland, a seasonally maintained road that is closed during the winter months. Keep in mind, depending on road conditions, “winter months” can sometimes include both edges of the trout season calendar.

Branch Pond is the first you will come to if you are heading north on the Branch Pond Trail from Kelly Stand Road. To get there, take Forest Service Road #70 (Branch/Bourn Ponds Access Road,) 2.5 miles north to the Branch Pond Parking Lot. The short trail to 53acre Branch Pond is on the west side of the parking lot.

At an altitude of 2,637 feet, Branch is one of the highest in the state and plunges to a maximum depth of 34 feet.

Branch receives an occasional planting of spring fry brook trout, and an annual stocking of one-year-olds. These have numbered between 1,000 and 2,000 for the last three years and there are some very nice, 9-inch-plus brook trout.

The pond has several primitive, social campsites along its shoreline.

All are handily reached from the water.

There are three campsites that are easily reached by foot from the vicinity of the boat access. At about a hundred feet or so, before you reach the launch area, a

Photo by Nathanael Asaro

narrow trail enters the main trail from the right. Take this trail, which after a hundred feet or so braids relentlessly through the woods, paralleling the east shore. In the course of about 800 feet, it passes through three established campsites. After that, the trail gets pretty squirrelly to follow.

If you are looking for a more reclusive camp, but don’t have a boat, another campsite is a three-quartermile hike. From the parking lot, take the short spur trail east, to where it joins the Branch Pond Trail. Take this trail north (left) about a third of a mile. Another short spur trail comes in from the left, and leads to a primitive campsite just above the lake shore.

If you continue north on the Branch Pond trail, about a 2.5-mile hike from the trailhead, you come to Bourn Pond. Bourn has held a decades-long reputation for producing some of the largest brook trout in the state. It is more than reputation: U.S. Forest Service samplings have kicked up brookies up to 18 inches in length. Natural reproduction is limited, however, so each year about 8,000 spring fingerling brookies are stocked, and evidently do quite well. Its most recent stocking was 9,300 so we should see a nice cohort of big trout in coming years.

The trail is easy with just some rolling ups and downs, and a net elevation loss of about 120 feet. A common camping area is near the northwest side of the pond, which adds another three-quarters of a mile to the hike.

You can hike from Branch to Stratton Pond, although the trail is often muddy and can be overgrown or follow the more popular route, the Long Trail, for about a 4-mile hike in from Kelly Stand Road.

Although Stratton Pond does not share the same reputation as Bourn Pond for big trout, I suspect that may be simply a function of it being fished less. Most of the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail thru-hikers seem to have little interest in fishing, while for the locals it’s almost four miles of hiking versus the 2.5 miles for Bourn.

At 47 acres, Stratton Pond sits at a

Shea's DIY setup Grayl Ultralight Water Purifier

T

o explore these ponds, you can load up with everything from waders and a float tube to a frying pan and an inflatable SUP or a canoe. Or you can travel light, as author Peter Shea does and go minimal.

Shea uses strap-on sandals and neoprene socks and tucks his nylon pants into the socks in areas where leeches are present. Nearly 20 years before hiking poles became prevalent, Shea also figured out how to put his rod case to use as a hiking pole by taping a tomato paste can to the bottom and wrapping the top with a ducttape grip. “I reduce my tackle from a 4-5 lb. fishing vest with everything but the kitchen sink to a small package of under 2 lbs.,” he says. Reels and flies (Shea recommends light-colored hex mayflies for early spring) go in a small fanny pack.

If you are new to fly fishing, keep in mind that pond fishing, where it’s often hard to find a clear place to cast, is more challenging than stream fishing. If you want to give it a try or have a kid who is starting out, Orvis’ entry-level Encounter Fly Rod Outfit comes with everything you need: rod (a choice of 5 weight to 8 weight and 8 inches to 10 inches) for just $169. The smaller versions are better suited to Vermont’s fishing.

For overnights, consider bringing a sleeping hammock, such as the Eno JungleNest (that comes with mosquito netting) for $109.95. At just 20 ounces, it not only cuts down on weight but extends your options for campsites, especially since finding cleared, dry ground near a trout pond can be challenging.

A water bottle that doubles as a water filter, the 16-ounce Grayl Ultralight Water Purifier ($89.95) weighs in at 10 ounces and will save time and aggravation when filtering water. You just fill it and press the water through a filter in the bottle, and you have a bottle filled with clean, bacteria-free water.

Pack a lightweight campstove and cooking kit, ample supply of bugspray (remember, fish like bugs), and a change of clothes and you are set for an outing.

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

2,575-foot elevation.

60 It has a maximum depth of 15 feet and in most years, from 7,000 to 9,300 brook trout fry are planted there. In the previous three years, an average of 7,500 brook trout fry have been dumped in.

With a size that is comparable to Bourn Pond, there is no reason to believe that Stratton would hold fish any smaller.

The pond is located a couple of thousand feet east of the Lye Brook Wilderness boundary, right along the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail. The Green Mountain Club describes the shelter here as the busiest one on the Long Trail and the Vermont section of the Appalachian Trail. Spots in the shelter and tent sites (a $5 camping fee goes to the Green Mountain Club) fill up by early evening.

Here, I will point out a favorable difference between us anglers and the thru-hiking denizens of these monumental trails. We anglers tend to arrive much earlier at our destinations, and are quite content at pitching our tent, or dropping a pack in a shelter, at 11 in the morning, and then fishing in the afternoon. Or, more importantly, we want to be all set up and ready to go at the golden hours, from say, six in the evening until you can’t see any longer.

So, we land earlier than many of the hikers who are trying to add miles to their day. Early the next morning, we are fishing while the rest of the trail world is eating a hasty breakfast and packing up to go.

SILVER LAKE, LEICESTER This is a great destination for a firsttime camper or a family. It is a beautiful location, a short hike, and there are 15 designated campsites, with picnic tables and fire pits and a building with toilets. The Chandler Ridge mountain bike trail passes Silver Lake and there are miles of other trails to explore.

This is also a great destination for a day-hike, if you are staying at nearby Branbury State Park, with their fullservice campground and cabins on the shores of Lake Dunmore.

Silver Lake is located within the

20 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

Silver Lake in the Moosamaloo National Recreation Area has clear, deep waters stocked with trout and family-friendly campsites on its shore (below). Nearby trails pass the stunning Falls of Lana and across the lake, the Chandler Ridge mountain bike trail looks out on Lake Dunmore. Courtesy of U.S.F.S.

trail, not the forest road that comes in from the Lake Dunmore side.

KETTLE POND, GROTON

Green Mountain National Forest, and has two access points. One is to the west of the lake, with a trailhead located a half-mile south of the Branbury State Park’s entrance. It is on the east side of State Route 53, an easy 2 mile walk up a wide forest road. Along the way you will pass the stunning Falls of Lana, deep gorges and scenic overlooks.

At 101 acres, Silver Lake is hardly a pond and goes as deep as 69 feet. It has been regularly stocked and in the last few years the numbers of brook trout stocked have been bumped up to 1,200 – 1,600. There are nice brookies, 9-plus inches on average. These fish are joined

by what has been a metronomic stocking of 500 rainbows each year. These are in the 10-plus inch range. There are also brown trout present from stockings in the previous decade.

You can also access the lake from the parking area off the Goshen-Ripton Road. Some overzealous anglers will actually carry a jon-boat, a canoe, or kayak in from the Goshen side (all downhill) and then, when they finish fishing or camping, continue the downhill trek to the Route 53 trailhead, where they have parked transportation.

This is not an easy feat, so know your limits. The short trail from Goshen is a

Another great pond for family camping is Kettle Pond, the central feature of Kettle Pond State Park, within the Groton State Forest. Like Silver Lake, it’s a bigger “pond” at 109 acres and it has a maximum depth of 18 feet. This pond sees an annual stocking of 1,000 rainbows (generally in the 10-inch range), but in 2020 only 800 were put in. For those who may occasionally go slumming for smallmouth bass, this pond also holds some good ones.

There is a day-use fee that allows access to the several state parks in the Groton State Forest. A portion of Kettle Pond State Park is dedicated to organized group camping, but of interest to the freelance angler are the day-use launch and the remote campsites. Seven leanto sites and one tent site are accessible by watercraft with a short portage.

If you are registered for a campsite, you can launch your canoe or nonpowered craft from the campground itself. It is a much shorter haul. The campground’s entrance is just a couple hundred feet south of the Route 232 parking lot. (Please note that registration for campsites or day use is at nearby New Discovery State Park.)

Head to Kettle Pond midweek this spring with a canoe or kayak and you might find a shoreside remote campsite you can paddle to and have the pond to yourself.

Photo by Nathanael Asaro

UNKNOWN POND, AVERY’S GORE The farther you get from civilization the wilder the fish. For those willing to make the trip to this corner of the Northeast Kingdom, Unknown Pond, a small, 19-

Trail continues straight south.

The lands here are owned by timber companies and protected with easements. The trail system is now managed by the Green Mountain Club which asks that you follow Leave No Trace principles: travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of your waste properly, minimize campfire impacts and be respectful of wildlife.

An “angling geographer,” and resident of Vermont since 1965, Peter Shea has chased trout with a fly for more than 50 years. In 1980, he was a founding partner of Northern Cartographic, Inc. In that capacity he co-wrote and published numerous books and maps on trout fishing, Vermont travel, and geography. These notably included the first road atlas to label all of Vermont’s back roads by name, and the award-winning Access America: An Atlas and Guide to the National Parks for Visitors with Disabilities. In addition to Vermont Trout Hikes, he has authored and published six other books under this imprint: Vermont Trout Ponds; Long Trail Trout: Backcountry Fly Fishing Adventures from Vermont to Montana, and Beyond; Vermont’s Trophy Trout Waters; Collateral Trout: A Vermonter’s Angling Memoirs and Fishy Tales; The NEW Atlas of Vermont Trout Ponds: A GPS-Compatible Guidebook; and, with co-author Bob Shannon, Vermont Trout Streams: A Fly Angler’s Guide to the Best. He lives with his wife, Carol, in Burlington.

STERLING POND, STOWE/CAMBRIDGE Each spring, fisheries managers head up Smuggler’s Notch Resort’s chairlifts carrying not skis but fish. They are headed for Sterling Pond, which gets stocked with catchable-sized trout. Over the last decade, the annual number of stocked trout has ranged from 200 to 1,000. Their size has ranged from 8.5 to 9 inches. Most recent stockings (2018 -2020) have been at the 300-level, because some stunting has been reported with higher levels of stocking.

Situated on the saddle between Smuggler’s Notch Resort and Stowe’s Spruce Peak ski trails, Sterling Pond, covers eight acres, and is 26 feet deep at its maximum. At an elevation of 3,019 feet, it is the state’s highest trout pond.

Sterling Pond also lies along the Long Trail, and is most easily accessed by a one-mile steep climb from Smugglers Notch, following the Sterling Pond Trail. This leaves from the east side of Route 108, a short distance south of the Smugglers Notch Visitor Center. This trail meets the Long Trail on the ridge, and the pond is a 0.1 mile hike north (left) on the Long Trail.

The Green Mountain Club maintains a busy shelter at the pond, and there is a nominal fee for an overnight stay.

An early arrival will ensure a place in the shelter. I do not recommend walking into or out of this pond after dark. Even with a good headlamp. It is about an 850-foot climb, and in places, you may be required to use your hands to balance.

west. A good pair of legs is required for this trip.

In less than a mile and a half, you climb almost 1,000 feet to this trail’s juncture with the Middle Mountain and Bluff Mountain Trails. From here you head south (right) on the Bluff Mountain Trail, for about a half mile, where the Gore Road (an old logging road) comes in on the left. Take this left another half mile to the pond; the Bluff Mountain

A hiker and an angler, author Peter Shea has been exploring Vermont's backwoods and hidden trout ponds for more than 50 years. Courtesy Peter Shea

acre pocket pond, is a find.

Vermont has two ponds that are named “Unknown Pond” —this one is in Avery’s Gore. Unknown has a maximum depth of 14 feet and sits at an elevation of 2,319 feet and was last stocked in 2009. But the following year, the pond 110 was sampled and 95% of the trout found were wild, and had an average size that approached 10 inches. That’s a siren call for me.

Visiting this pond, though, is as much about the hikes as the fishing. In 2019, the Kingdom Heritage Trail System was completed forming more than 20 miles of trails that connect several mountain tops—Bluff, Middle, and Gore Mountains. The trail system starts in Brighton State Forest, near Island Pond, where the Bluff Ridge Trail runs north, connecting to the Gore Mountain Trail which hits Route 114 just five miles south of the village of Norton, on the Canadian border.

The easiest access to this pond is from the Unknown Pond Trail. The trailhead is located on the east side of State Route 114, about 75 feet north of where Hurricane Road comes in on the

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 21

Rethinking

BACKPACKS

A NEW FOCUS ON BODY DIVERSITY HAS DESIGNERS GOING BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD, AND FOR 2021, MULTI-DAY PACKS FIT AND FUNCTION BETTER THAN EVER.

BY WILSON VICKERS and LISA LYNN

22 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

Granite Gear's new Perimeter pack is designed to be adjustable for a variety of neck and shoulder widths and has a wider size range for its hip belts.

Courtesy of Granite Gear

T

hat Long Trail section hike. That week-long hut trip. A weekend camping in Maine’s Northwoods.

Peak bagging in the ADK. If any of these are on your “to-do” list, now—as Covid fades but before travel and international borders fully reopen— would be the time to tick them off. The only thing you need is a really good backpack and gear. We’re talking about a backpack that won’t chafe or bounce and that you’ll keep for ...well...forever.

Backpacks have come a long way in the last year or two. Lighter and more versatile, the 2021 models have dozens of options for fit, neat ways they can expand or contract, and new options for carrying water, ice axes, cell phones and more. So much so that even if you are not planning a big hike, it’s worth it to add a 40 to 60 liter, go-anywhere, carryalmost-everything pack to your quiver of lighter daypacks.

The biggest question: which one to choose? We asked a few local experts for their advice.

HOW BIG SHOULD YOU GO? If you walk into any gear shop, the first things a backpack sales associate will ask you area: “What’s the rest of your kit look like?” and “How long are you planning to be in the woods?” ““If you don’t actually have anything, you don’t start with the backpack,” says Hayes Gilman, who heads up the packs department at Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington where the Church Street store has more than 165 models of backpacks and bags in inventory. “You want to actually get all of the little pieces fist.” Knowing what stove, tent and sleeping system you are going to be carrying will help you determine what pack you should consider.

If you have compact, lightweight gear, you can generally fit that into a pack in the 40 to 50 liter range. But if you have more standard gear, for 3- to 5-day trips you will want something in the 40 to 60 liter range. Anything smaller will not give you enough room, but anything bigger is going to be overkill. “Food and water are one difference in what size pack you should use,” adds Seth Dandurand, a sales associate at OGE.

FIT IS EVERYTHING Sure, browsing different gear sites and reading reviews can give you an idea of what the market has to offer, but when it comes to buying a pack, if you buy online you are missing out on the most important things: fit and comfort.

Before going into the shop, have a friend measure your torso from your hip to your neck, specifically from the nape of your neck (that bone that sticks out when you tilt your head forward) to your iliac crest (the bones between your hips where a pack often sits). Gear shops

Jenny Bruso of Unlikely Hikers provided the feedback that helped Gregory establish new plus-sized packs across their 2021 line and rethink how backpacks can fit a broader range of body types. Courtesy of Gregory

may also do this for you. Packs often come in three sizes (small, medium and large), but don’t go by your shirt size— you might wear a medium but may find a large pack fits your longer torso better.

Women often have shorter torsos relative to their height than men do, wider hips and narrower shoulders.

The best pack makers are designing a women’s line with this in mind, such as Osprey’s women’s line and Deuter’s SL fit—a slimmer fit with narrower shoulder straps. Most packs feature a telescoping yoke that can be adjusted up or down as well as various hip belt and harness options.

Gregory’s packs come in standard sizes but offer three different harness lengths and five hip belt sizes so you can customize them with 15 different fit combinations. Gregory also just released its first full line of plus-sized packs, designed with testing and input from Unlikely Hikers, a Portland, Ore.,-based group that prides itself on diversity and represents a spectrum of body types.

“I learned so much from their feedback,” says Vice President John Sears who has been designing for Gregory for 19 years. “It’s amazing it’s taken this long but we now have a complete line of packs that have plussize options and they cost just the same as our regular packs,” he noted.

For spring 2021, Granite Gear has

launched its new fit-focused Perimeter pack. Designer David Eisenberg also worked with Jenny Burso and Unlikely Hikers and the Perimeter is the result.

While the pack is unisex, it is far from one-size-fits-all. Designed for “body diversity,” the pack has a spring steel frame. On that frame are two settings for shoulder straps so you can adjust the width and it comes in a Regular or Long torso size. "The RE-FIT adjustable hip belt can go from 26 to 44 inches on the unisex model and 24 to 40 on the women’s fit. There’s also an option for a Large waist belt that goes from 36 to 52 inches," says Eisenberg. He also says the company regularly gets calls from people on thru-hikes who have lost weight while hiking and are asking them to send a smaller hip belt.

Six Moon Designs has a modular system that allows you to fit its ultralight frameless packs to a vest-style harness (great if you are a trail runner) or to shoulder straps. The newest Swift X comes with three different harness options (shoulder harness, flight vest or s-curve harness) which each come in two sizes, as well as three different hip belts.

Without trying on a pack, putting weight in it, tinkering with the harness and hip belt, and walking around for a little while, it will be hard to know whether it is going to fit you properly.

Often, this means trying on a number

of different packs and comparing how each one feels. Shops will often have sandbags or climbing ropes they can throw in the pack. That’s why it’s best to head to a gear shop staffed with experts who can help you through the process.

“Let’s say you put 20 pounds in there and you go on a little walk,” remarks Gilman. “You’re like, oh, there’s like this little thing. It’s kind of annoying, but it’ll be fine. Five hours into your first day, it’s not gonna be fine. You’re going to be really mad. It’s going to be a less than ideal situation for sure.”

As you are trying on packs, consider how easy it is to adjust the straps, how wide they are and whether they will cut into your arms as you swing them. Are the load lifters (the straps that run from the top of the pack to your shoulders) accessible? An important feature, too,is where the sternum strap that crosses your chest is placed and how adjustable it is. Is the hip belt the right width and well padded? Does it sit on your hips comfortably? Can it expand or contract as you gain or lose weight?

“When you’re backpacking, 80 percent of the weight goes on your hips.

That’s why there are so many different styles of hip belts and trying them all on and making sure one fits you well is important,” explained Gilman. “Because you’re not just carrying the pack on your shoulders, you’re actually trying to carry as little of it on your shoulders as possible."

That’s also why you want to consider how you pack the weight you are going to carry and one reason many packs have a sleeping bag pouch at the bottom. “You don’t want the heaviest thing right at the bottom, you actually want the heaviest thing to be right above your hips. So, you put the sleeping bag at hip level and then all your heavy stuff right above that. So those things can be resting on your hips, not below them,” says Gilman.

Consider too, things like how much cushioning are in the waist belt and straps and how well ventilated the back is.

DETAILS THAT MATTER Even if you aren’t looking for a pack that has dozens of features, but want something that will allow you a range of options, there are some things Dandurand suggests considering.

A kangaroo pouch on the front of the pack is perfect for stuffing a wet raincoat, rain cover or stream-crossing shoes into.

Dual water bottle side pockets give you easy access to fluids and keep them from taking up space in your pack Compression straps allow you to carry trekking poles, skis, ice axes, tent poles, extra layers, and more, without worrying about stuffing them into your main pack pocket. A removable lid is great for a little extra storage. Several

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

can also be turned into a fanny pack for short treks out of base camp. The lid on Granite Gear’s Blaze 60 pack can even be snapped to the front of the pack for quick access.

Unless you plan to exclusively camp in the desert, plan on encountering rain or moisture and the drier you can keep your gear, the better. As Frank Gibbons, the camping and sporting goods buyer at Sam’s Outfitters in Brattleboro, notes: “There are two ways of waterproofing; one is a dry sack that you use inside the pack. And then the other would be to buy a pack cover that goes over the outside of it. Generally speaking, most of the bags and backpacks are not waterproof.”

Many packs, like the Gregory Katmai/ Kalmia, come with a rain cover.

Access is another consideration.

Many of the new packs have zippers that allow you access to your entire pack instead of only having access at the top.

Mystery Ranch’s Terraframe has three full zippers that make it easy to lay the pack down and access gear as easily as you would from a zip-top duffel. The Bozeman company makes packs for the military so the zippers should be strong enough to withstand strain.

Carrying enough water is critical, even for day hikes. If you dislike the bulkiness of large bottles, a reservoir system may be the best choice. If you do plan to carry a reservoir, you will want a pack that has a reservoir pocket or sleeve and consider how you access it for refills. Gregory also just launched a new reservoir that fits into it’s pack that is easier to pour from.

If you plan to bring water bottles, you will want a pack with side pockets.

Side pockets seem standard enough, most are made of stretch-mesh, but Gilman points out that all are not equal.

“In my opinion, the most undervalued thing on a backpack is this horizontal water bottle holder. I can’t even tell you how much time I’ve spent fighting to get a big Nalgene in the vertical thing.”

Gilman points to a Gregory Paragon 58, “This one, you just slot it right in.”

Bring your water bottle and test the pack when it is loaded. If the pocket is too tight, it’s tough to pull out a water bottle. Too loose and it could jostle out on its own. Think too about where you will put maps, phone, car keys and other small items. Are the pockets big enough and accessible?

Last, even smell matters. “I hate having a smelly pack,” says Gregory’s John Sears who added what he calls “Polygiene Stays Fresh Technology” – a coating designed to fight bacterial buildup and odor on the mesh parts of the pack where sweat often permeates.

Yes, even the littlest details matter.

24 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

THE LEADERS OF THE MULTI-DAY BACKPACKS NEW FOR 2021, THESE MULTI-DAY BACKPACKS ARE DESIGNED TO GO THE DISTANCE.

O

n a day hike, you can get away with a pack that fits only moderately well. On a longer hike though, what might start as a minor annoyance can become a major problem. Whether you’re looking at setting an FKT or wanting to carry everything but the kitchen sink up to a lodge or hut, consider this six-pack of multi-day backpacks. There’s one for every type of hike.

Deuter Futura Air Trek Pro 50 + 10

Granite Gear Blaze 60

DEUTER FUTURA AIR TREK 50 PRO So, you’re hiking the Long Trail? This may be the pack you want if you’re planning a long-distance trek with few places to reprovision. Thanks to an extendable collar and lid that can be adjusted for height, this pack can carry from 50 up to 60 liters. This makes the Deuter Futura Air Trek Pro 50 + 10 ($250) which weighs in at 4.5 lbs. a great option if you need to carry extra food at the start of a multi-day hike and then cinch your pack down as the load gets lighter. This is an internal steelframe pack that uses Deuter’s VariFit system to adjust the pack to your torso and has pivoting, padded hip belts that are super cushy. Deuter also has an SL model (short for Slim Line) that has shoulder straps placed closer together and a conical hip belt – features designed for a more comfortable fit for women. The Futura Air also has a lined internal pocket for a hydration sleeve with a hole for the tube exit, a zippered separate compartment for sleeping bag and comes with a detachable rain cover.

GRANITE GEAR BLAZE 60 This spring Granite Gear launched its new Perimeter pack that has a variety of fit options. However, we still prefer the Blaze 60. “It’s our most durable pack to date,” Granite Gear says of its Blaze 60, which says a lot about a 60 liter pack that weighs in at just 3 lbs. The Blaze uses its proprietary 210D Robic nylon triple ripstop in high impact areas. A stretchy mesh front pocket helps store a rain jacket and a full side zip makes it easy to access other gear. Perhaps the feature we love the most: the Blaze has one of the most versatile lids out there.

It can be unstrapped and refitted to your chest for easy map access or, in camp, take it off, slide it over the hip belt and you have a fanny pack for short forays.

GREGORY KATMAI 55/KALMIA 50 John Sears, vice president at Gregory, has been agonizing over how backpacks fit over his 19 years designing at Gregory.

This year, two new things have come out of his research: plus-sized models

across the Gregory line developed with feedback from the members of Unlikely Hikers, and the new Katmai/Kalmia packs. These are among the first in the Gregory line to come in both regular fit and the plus size. The Katmai, which weighs in at about 4 lbs., 10 oz for the men’s and the women’s 50-liter Kalmai are good choices if you’re an athletic hiker who moves at a quick pace. The torso height is easily adjustable thanks to a Velcro pad – just pull up the harness or push it down. The dynamic hip belt flex panels and articulating s-curve shoulder straps keep the pack from swinging like a hammock with each stride as you’re climbing a trail.

The free-floating mesh back holds the pack away from your spine and offers full 360-degree ventilation so sweat doesn’t build up. Another bonus: the mesh is treated with Polygiene Stays Fresh Technology to keep bacteria and odors at bay. A reservoir sleeve can be tucked inside the pack and a rain cover (provided) in the lid. We also love that this pack has straps and zippers just

Gregory Katmai 55 & Kalmia 50 Mystery Ranch Terraframe 3-Zip 50L

Six Moons Design Swift X 40 L

Osprey Talon 44 & Tempest 40

about everywhere you need them. A full side zipper accesses the whole pack. A bottom zipper lets you into the sleeping bag compartment (with a removable divider) and a zippered huge back pocket (as well as a stretch pocket on the outside) makes the pack expandable.

Another nice feature: if you’re using a reservoir system, the water bottle pockets tuck neatly into the side of the pack and Velcro in place.

OSPREY TALON 44/TEMPEST 40 If you tend to be more of a short-trip, ultralight hiker who carries under 35 lbs., consider the 2021 edition of the streamlined Osprey Talon 44 (or Tempest 40, for women), $180. Made of bluesign®-approved recycled hightenacity nylon with a PFC-free coating, the 44-liter pack weighs in at just 2.95 lbs. (for a small/medium) or 3.18 lbs.

(for a large/XL)—slightly heavier than previous models but more eco-friendly.

The injectionmolded AirScape® backpanel and continuous-wrap harness and hipbelt also make this a good pack if you are moving fast on foot, bike or skis and want a snug fit that won’t bounce around. There is a separate sleeping bag compartment with zippered access and a removable divider.

The hydration reservoir is also easily accessible via an external sleeve and there’s a big mesh pocket on the front of the pack for stuffing a windbreaker or other gear. If you’re someone who likes to strap on gear, there’s a strap for pretty much everything from ice axes and trekking poles to sleeping pads. And the pockets on the hip and shoulder straps are great for carrying your phone, map, glasses or other quick-access items.

Aaron Krinsky, buyer for Mountain Goat in Manchester, recommends Osprey because, "Osprey's quality is outstanding, they're reducing PFC's, and they offer a lifetime warranty."

MYSTERY RANCH TERRAFRAME 3-ZIP 50L "When you get to more niche brands like Mystery Ranch, it's more of a unique look...you can see the difference in style" says Ryan Leclerc, buyer for Onion River Outdoors in Montpelier. In 2000, Dana Gleason and Renee Sippel-Baker who founded Dana Designs, started Mystery Ranch and went on to design backpacks for military personnel and hunters as well as hikers and backpackers. The Terraframe 50 Liter ($349.95) loadsling pack solves a problem that all too many whine about: easy access to gear, particularly bulky or heavy items that are tough to squeeze into a roll-top pack.

The three-zipper design and reinforced straps make for easy access and it can carry up to 150 lbs. If you’re doing trail work and carrying an axe, heading up to a hut and planning to cook for a crew, or a successful hunter with a heavy game

bag, this pack comes in handy. The pack uses an external carbon fiber frame and has telescoping yoke. At 5 lbs., it’s also on the heavier side, but thanks to the 330D Lite Plus Cordura fabric, is super durable.

SIX MOONS DESIGN SWIFT X 40 If you’re after an FKT (fastest known time), like to run to the next campsite or are just looking for an ultralight pack, the Swift X ($270) tips the scales at just over 2.4 lbs. That weight can vary though depending on what type of harness you choose and if you don’t mind adding an ounce or two, the Swift V ($215) is made with a slightly burlier 100-denier nylon fabric and drops the cost. Runners may appreciate the flight vest harness which holds the frameless pack snug but there are options as well for either a regular or s-curve shoulder harness and three different sizes of hip belts with dual adjustment straps so you can contour the belt to your body. The main body of the roll-top pack can carry 36 liters with a 4 liter extension collar. A Y-strap at the top can secure a sleeping pad or a bear cannister. The two side pockets on the

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

the

PACK MEN

THESE VERMONT MAKERS ARE PRODUCING CUSTOM PACKS THAT CAN CARRY GEAR TO THE SUMMIT OF EVEREST, DOWN THE GNARLIEST CLASS IV ROADS OR TO YOUR FAVORITE FISHING HOLE.

BY WILSON VICKERS

C

an’t find the perfect pack for your camping trip, bikepacking adventure or fly-fishing foray?

That’s the problem that climber John Campbell, cyclist Aaron August, and fishermen Ryan McDonald and Jake Sienkewycz were facing. So, true spirit of entrepreneurs, they started making their own packs and selling them.

The result is that here in the Green Mountains you can get a custom pack made for just about any adventure you can dream up.

CUSTOM BACKPACKS FOR EVEREST AND BEYOND John Campbell began doing hikes on the Long Trail when he was only seven years old. Raised in Connecticut, he spent summers camping in a canvas tent on land his parents owned in Cabot, Vt. At the age of 16, he did a 5-week NOLS course in the Chugach Range of Alaska. A year later, he did a monthlong climbing trip in the Andes. All of this before the age of 18.

From an early age, Campbell, now 51, knew what he wanted from a backpack. “I didn’t think a lot of what I saw on the market really fit the need, even back then,” remarked Campbell.

Many companies were focused on backpacking and mountaineering packs that had one-size-fits-all harnesses and oversized hip belts. According to Campbell, JRAT and Wild Things were some of the only companies making quality technical packs. Inspired by these brands, he decided to start making packs and gear himself using his mother’s Singer Sewing machine.

“You know, I just did my own thing. I’m a very big believer in do it yourself.”

Eventually, Campbell found himself sewing packs at Dana Designs, now Mystery Ranch, full time in Bozeman,

26 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

MT. He would go on to work in sales for companies such as Cloudveil Mountain Works, Sterling Rope Co., Genuine Guide Gear, and Macpac Wilderness Equipment. During that time, he was able to visit factories in China and see how many packs were made.

In 2013, while living in Ouray, Co. Campbell launched his own brand, Alpine Luddites. “You know, a lot of people construe Luddites to be anti-technology,” explains Campbell. “In reality, the Luddites were fighting the onset of the Industrial Revolution in England that was destroying home lives, making people work in factories, paying them really low wages, really horrible living conditions, and building really crap products.” At Alpine Luddites, Campbell handmakes an extensive range of bikepacks and backpacks.

In December 2020, Campbell and his wife moved to Island Pond. In addition to running Alpine Luddites, Campbell has been teaching an outdoor gear design class at Sterling College.

Campbell makes custom gear that is meant to last forever. Even the packs that Campbell does not deem, ‘full-custom’, are personalized to each customer: You can spec everything from back lengths, to hip belts, to shoulder straps, to split sleeves, to colors of the Dyneema fabric he uses. You can ask for rolltops, drawcords, the list could almost go on forever.

Campbell is a mad scientist of packs.

‘Standard’ is likely not even in Campbell’s vocabulary. If your hip belt doesn’t fit right, no problem, he’ll take care of that free of charge. As Campbell says, “It’s part of what you’re paying for.”

What sets Campbell’s custom packs apart? Each customer goes through multiple phone consultations with Campbell and provides their dimensions.

Depending on what the pack will be used

John Campbell, and his Alpine Luddites custom packs, top. Photo by Craig Copeland

for, some climbers prefer different lengths. For climbing, one might want a shorter pack, but for backpacking, prefer something a little longer. Special care is taken to make sure that the hip belts fit correctly and each pack is sewn to measure. Campbell requires a measurement around the waist at the hip bone, as well as at the actual waist.

For bigger, 60 liter packs, over half of his customers are women who typically cannot find packs that provide a good fit. “The hip belts are conical in shape— wider at the bottom than the top so that you don’t really have to squeeze them real tight. They just sit on top of your pelvis,” explains Campbell.

Campbell handmakes all of his products (which range from alpine

packs to bikepacking packs). “Every day I have new challenges,” says Campbell.

“You know, 85 percent of my work is one-off, custom.” Since forming the company, Campbell has made around 1,000 packs that range in cost from $45 to $900. His packs range from 32 oz.

Nalgene-sized water bottle pockets to handlebar bags for bikes to 70-plus liter packs and 135 liter expedition duffel bags.

Campbell's customers range from professional climbers, cyclists, and guides, to newlyweds whose friends chip in to buy them heavily customized packs, to people who scrounge up every last nickel and dime they have in order to buy one of his creations. Alpine Luddites packs have summited Everest, climbed ice formations in the Taihang Mountains of China, and trekked across Scotland. But as Campbell puts it, “the things that make me feel the best is when I get emails from people that have not had a comfortable pack their whole career, and they get the pack that actually fits them.”

At Alpine Luddites, Campbell is the only employee, and because of this, wait times are typically around 6 months (currently 8 months). In the seven years that Campbell has been operating Alpine Luddites, only one pack has been brought back to him for a repair where it had been punctured by an ice screw.

Campbell fixed it free of charge.

THE BIKEPACKER’S SOLUTIONS As with Campbell, Aaron August, 28, of Class 4 Designs in East Bolton, started out just making gear for himself and his friends. “I inherited my great grandmother’s sewing machine. She’s still alive, she just doesn’t sew anymore,” says August. “Then a fabric store back home in North Umberland, Pa., went out of business, and I picked up a bunch of stuff really cheap.” At first, August was making anything and everything people wanted, from made-to-fit camera bags to totes and bikepacks. He made his first frame bag in 2018. Eventually, more and more people kept asking him to make them gear and Aaron realized he had to account for some of his costs.

From there, it grew into Class 4 Designs organically. Since its inception, August has focused the brand around a range of bikepacks.

A former Boy Scout, August has been going into the wilderness since he was a kid, and has been working at Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington since 2016. His current position is Level 3 Service Technician and Demo Fleet Coordinator. August first started toying with equipment design after taking an entrepreneurship class in 2011 and even a bit before that when he would weigh all of his outdoor gear by grams. August really started to get into bikepacking about seven years ago, but before that he was heavily involved in backpacking— specifically, ultralight backpacking and long thru hikes including the Rayado Trek; a 21 day hike in New Mexico.

After being given an industrial sewing machine from a coworker at Outdoor Gear Exchange, August began expanding production, making more frame bags and his brand bags.

All of August’s bags are made to order.

“I have a basic pattern that everything is modeled off. It’s one that I’ve tested and used and know works,” remarks August.

“From there, the world’s your oyster.

We can do anything and everything, from custom colors, to adding pockets, subtracting pockets, changing things… I

Ryan McDonald sews Finn Utility's sidebags. Photo

by Evan Kay/Climb High Productions

just bring to the table that basic design concept and then from there, we can do whatever you want really.” Most of August’s bags are made from either X-Pac VX21 fabric or 10.10 oz. water repellent Army duck canvas.

As with Alpine Luddites, the above service is not even the ‘full custom’ option. In addition to making frame bags, panniers, stem bags, and numerous other typical bikepacks, August will work with you to make whatever monster of a bag you have dreamed up. Some of his previous custom projects have included a stem-mounted camera bag, a truckbed ski carrier, and a bike basket bag.

Currently Class 4 Designs focuses

on bikepacks and totes, but August is experimenting with backpacks and ski packs. One standout is a ski vest that he previewed on the Class 4 Designs Instagram account. Though not available to the public yet, the prototype cleanly fits under a shell and has enough pocket space for just about anything you might need while on the hill. “I can carry a sandwich, beers, snacks, my multi tool, anything that I would need on a day to day basis,” says August. A prototype backpack of his will even be making a thru-hike on the Continental Divide Trail this summer.

One thing that makes Class 4 Designs special is August’s commitment to everything that comes with the world of bikepacking. “I went to Paul Smith's College to be in a lifestyle business.

That’s really what I’m all about,” says August. “I’m here in my cabin, in the middle of the woods, in East Bolton, on a dirt road. We can take your bag specs, we can get it built for you, you can come over, we’ll put it on your bike and we’ll go ride some Class Four roads and hang out.

And that to me is much more important than making hundreds of thousands of bags.” What August enjoys most is the opportunity to be creative and build oneof-a-kind bags for one-of-a-kind people.

A FISHERMAN’S FRIEND

In Richmond, another pack maker is

Aaron August, above, started making his own bikepacking bags. When a friend gave him an industrial sewing machine, he ramped up his business.

McAvey ans Aaron August.

Photos by Kevin

following in the tradition of handmade goods. Ryan McDonald, 45 and Jake Sienkewycz, 29, of Finn Utility are producing high quality, Vermont made, fly fishing bags, fly wallets, and other essential gear. After designing for different brands like Carhartt and Adidas, McDonald grew tired of the typical 9 to 5, stuck behind the constraints of a desk, and fell back on what he loved to do in his free time; fly fish. “You know, [now] I don’t have to be behind a desk and I get to go fly fishing,” remarked McDonald. He launched Finn Utility in 2013.

Most of the products are made with waxed canvas and English bridle leather.

As McDonald puts it, “It’s really soft and durable. And, you know, a little bit water resistant. And if you take care of it, it lasts a long time.”

Finn’s Essex Side Bag is based off of McDonald’s grandfather’s fly bag; a World War II medic bag that he converted for fishing upon returning home from the war. “I always remember looking at it when I was a kid,” recalled McDonald. “That stuff was so awe inspiring at the time. And I guess I was just kind of revisiting that in a newer way.” The bag’s adjustable leather strap allows it to hang nicely on your hip. One large zipper pocket has space to fit fly wallets, reel cases, picnic supplies, or maybe even a couple of beers.

On the outside, the bag features a rod holder loop, pouch pocket, two side pockets, and lots of convenient places to clip your floatant holder. The bag also comes with Finn’s tippet sling, flydry patch, and floatant holder. These subtle add-ons all appropriately have the ability to clip onto the outside of the bag, freeing up a little extra space and making them easy to access.

The nuanced design of Finn’s products transport you to a time when unnecessary bells and whistles weren’t even considered. “We were looking for this balance between functional design, beautiful aesthetic, and simplicity,” said McDonald, who sells his products direct as well as through 25 local fishing retailers, as well as Orvis.

In addition to making timeless fly fishing gear, Finn Utility also produces a rucksack, tote bag and French apron.

In the past, they even made a knife roll.

Looking forward, McDonald is working on a rucksack that would perfectly fit a paper grocery bag.

McDonald himself enjoys the simple qualities of fly fishing. “You know, I fish with a $20 Japanese bamboo rod from 1960, or something that I found at a yard sale,” he said. “It works great.”

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 27

FEATURED ATHLETE

You mentioned roller skiing. Is that good for cross-training?

It is. I don’t think anyone likes it the first time around but I’ve really gotten into it. They say that it works 90% of the muscles in your body. It builds strength and it’s aerobic so it’s similar to Nordic skiing.

AVA THURSTON: THE HIGH SCHOOL PHENOM

What are your goals?

I always want to have fun. I’m really excited about Harwood's cross-country team. We have a goal of coming back and winning the state championship and maybe upsetting a D1 team. For Nordic skiing we were also second so we want to finish first. Individually, I hope to get a top 10 finish at the Junior Worlds which would mean I’d qualify for the U.S. Developmental Team.

Name: Ava Thurston Family: Sister, Julia Thurston (15); Mother, Heidi Hill; Father, Tom Thurston; Dog, Diesel Lives in: Waterbury Primary Sports: Nordic skiing and cross-country running

A

t age 17, Ava Thurston has already traveled to Europe twice to compete in international ski races. The Harwood Union High School junior is a three-time state champion for cross-country and two-time champion for Nordic skiing and competed at the Junior Worlds this year. She is also a member of the National Honor Society.

Thurston’s initial exposure to an active lifestyle was chronicled in her mother, Heidi Hill’s book “Fit Family: The Infant, Toddler and Preschool Years.”

How did your family help you fall in love with running and skiing?

I know my mother wrote about those early years in her book but I don’t really remember them—although from the pictures, it looks like I was having fun.

We did a lot of hiking and skiing on the weekends. My parents were both runners and I started running with them when I was eight. They’d go out for a run and I’d ask if I could join them— although at first it was just a few miles.

We live near the Perry Hill trailhead and I started running there with my mom and fell in love. I just did it for fun but then I started running cross-country in seventh grade and really got into racing.

Your favorite kind of running?

I definitely like trails, not roads, and I don’t run track. Since I’m a skier I prefer hillier courses because I can make up some time. I’m pretty much a 5K specialist for high school racing but I’m really interested in trying longer distances. I did the 14-mile Moosalamoo Ultra last summer and I’ve done a half marathon. As I get older, I’d like to get into longer distances.

What is your usual pace?

I generally run a little over a six-minute mile for a 5K. My personal record is 18:16. I ran that as a sophomore in Belfast, Me., but that’s a fast course.

28 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

Thurston is a strong runner who has placed 5th in New England. But she's an even stronger Nordic skier who's already competing on the international circuit. Photo by Ann Zetterstrom

Is there one race that stands out?

The New Englands during my sophomore year was very exciting. It was a pretty setting on a golf course in Connecticut and a really competitive field. I probably started in 30th place but moved my way up. There was some downhill at the end and I wanted to see how much I had. I finished fifth and I really had fun.

You’ve received lots of awards.

Which have meant the most?

It was really cool to get Gatorade Runner of the Year last year [2019-20] for Vermont because you get to give a grant. I gave $1,000 to NENSA (New England Nordic Ski Association). The money went to Nordic Rocks, a program that introduces elementary school kids to cross-country skiing by bringing equipment to schools. It was also cool to be the Times Argus skier of the year last year and this year.

What's first: running or skiing?

My parents had me on skis when I was two and I definitely prefer skiing. In fact, I see cross-country running as cross training for skiing. I train all year for skiing, not for running.

What was it like to race in Europe?

Last year I had some really good races in Michigan and qualified for the U18 team and competed in Sweden in the U-18 Scandinavian Championships. I did two individual races and one relay and raced really well. I felt there wasn’t a lot of pressure because I was the youngest on the team. It was a super cool experience and a great place to visit even though there wasn’t a lot of snow. This year, Junior Worlds in Finland was a big jump for me. I raced really well thanks to my cross-country and roller ski crosstraining and was one of six Americans on the U20 team. I had some really good races and my best finish was 14th.

Going on those trips I needed to have a different type of independence since my coach wasn’t there.

Who are your coaches?

John Kerrigan is my cross-country coach at Harwood. He’s been there for over 40 years and he’s a super great coach who comes up with a lot of awesome workouts. Thanks to him, the girls have tied the boys now with 13 championships. My Harwood Nordic coach is Tom Strasser and my Mansfield Nordic Club coach is Adam Terko. He comes up with great training plans.

Do you have time for any other activities at Harwood?

I play lacrosse. I’m also involved with Rooted Organizing Communities which is a statewide program that has taken over what used to be called the Refugee Outreach Club. I’m on a committee that has been doing different drives for recently resettled people. I used to be on the Student Leadership Team but now I’m part of the Peace Alliance. This year we are raising awareness about the Abenaki in Vermont. Abenaki Heritage Week is in May and we want to hold a community discussion over Zoom. I’m also in the National Honor Society.

What’s next?

I think it’s likely that I’ll stay in New England for college because there is a great college racing scene and I’d be close to home. I’ll be looking at schools this spring and into the fall. I’d love to ski on my college team. I used to think that I also wanted to compete in running, but skiers on the World Cup like Jessie Diggins say they train for skiing in the summer and increase the volume of training in the fall. Since I run so much in the fall that training drops off, so in college I may want to see what it’s like to train for skiing in the fall rather than race cross-country.

Why do you love running and skiing?

Over the years, sports have become a bigger part of my life but they haven’t taken it over. They give me an outlet to relax and let go of some stress. I love being out in nature and being with my friends. I really enjoy the longer distance events. I did a 100K ski at Craftsbury in March with some of the other kids from the Mansfield Nordic Club. It took eight hours and it was so much fun to be out there and have that challenge.

—Phyl Newbeck

VERMONT

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RACE & EVENT GUIDE

1 | Pump it Up 5-Miler, Jericho Run a rolling out-and-back five-mile race on Old Pump Road. gmaa.run

MAY

2 | Chi Running Clinic, Montpelier The ChiRunning technique applies principles from Tai Chi to distance running promoting energy efficiency and injury prevention. How you run dictates how stress goes through your body while running.

Efficient running technique affords less stress on your body and requires less effort.

Developing efficient running technique is an essential component to restore or sustain your running practice. 9 am – 2 pm. Onionriver.com

1 | Northeast Kingdom Marathon, Island Pond A free USATF certified self-supported half/ full marathon designed to support Island Pond – a small former railroad town nestled deep within the Northeast Kingdom. brightonrecreationvt.com

6-15 | Peak Bloodroot Ultra, Pittsfield Race through the rugged foothills of the Green Mountains in the 500-miler on Thursday, May 6 a 200-miler on Wednesday, May 12, a 100-miler on that Friday, followed by the 50-miler, 30-miler, 10-miler and kids’ hike on Saturday. peakraces.com

1 – 31 | Run for Rokeby Virtual 5K Join in running or walking a 5K in support of Rokeby Museum’s preservation fund.

Rokeby Museum is situated on 90 acres in Ferrisburgh and is dedicated to sharing the story of four generations of the Robinson Family who lived on site from 1796 to 1961, and their contributions to the abolition of slavery, the Underground Railroad, agriculture, art, and literature. Rokeby.org

8 | Shelburne Half-Marathon, 5K, 10K, Shelburne Brand new for 2021, this is going to be a beautiful half marathon course. Leaving Shelburne Field House, you’ll run south past the Shelburne Museum, Meach Cove, vineyards, and orchard, and through some gorgeous countryside before heading back north. Almost entirely on quiet back country roads. Racevermont.com

1 | Sap Run, St. Johnsbury Join a 5k run and/or pancake breakfast at the Welcome Center. The Street Festival will be held on Saturday from 10am - 3pm on Railroad Street. All part of the World Maple Festival. Worldmaplefestival.org

8 | Adamant Half Marathon & Relay, Adamant This scenic figure eight course runs past the hills and ponds of Calais and East Montpelier. Part of the Central Vermont Runners race series. Cvrunners.org

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RUNNING

8 | Spring into Health 5K, Townshend This year’s Mother’s Day weekend race is hosted by Grace Cottage Hospital on a relatively flat course. The event will be held either in-person or virtually. gracecottage.org 13 | Road to the Pogue, Woodstock Race 6.1 miles along the carriage trails of Mount Tom at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, paced by Icelandic ponies. roadtothepogue.com

18 | Barre Town Spring Run 5K, Barre Central Vermont Runners host this race from the Barre Town Recreation facility. cvrunners.org 16 | Vermont Sun Half Marathon, 10K & 5K, Lake Dunmore Starts and finishes at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore, a spectacularly beautiful and pristine place to run. Our courses are mostly shaded. Amenities include digital photos, post race food and music, aid stations every 1.5 miles, custom awards to top 5 overall, top 3 in every 5 year age group, tech shirts, finishers medals and more.

Vermontsuntriathlonseries.com 19 | Maple Leaf Marathon, Lake Morey Run eight laps of a 3.3-mile course for a full marathon or four laps for a half marathon in the Boston Marathon USATF qualifier at beautiful Lake Morey. newenglandchallenge.org/maple-leaf-marathon 30 | Retro Rally, Burlington Come join us in Burlington’s Waterfront Park to support Special Olympics Vermont; $20 of the registration fee will be donated to their programs. Three chip-timed course options: 5K, 10K and 10-Miler as well as a 1-mile kids run. Open start line from 7:30am. Specialolympicsvt.com

20-30 | Infinitus Trail Races, Goshen Start dates vary for this 8-mile, marathon, 88k, 100 Mile, 250 Mile, Penta, Deca, 888K relay, and 888k races held on the trails of the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center with the shortest races (8 miles to 88K) being held on Saturday, May 29 and longer races starting earlier that week. Endurancesociety.org 22 | Kingdom Games Dandelion Run, Derby Choose between a half marathon, a 10K, a four-mile, a two mile, or a one-mile run or walk through the dandelion fields and the hilly but beautiful Northeast Kingdom.

Kingdomgames.co 23 | Race Around the Lake, Barnard Walk or run a 5K or run a 10K around Silver Lake. The course is on wooded trails, back roads and scenic footpaths with views of the Silver Lake. barnarts.org 29 | Timberlane Dental Group Mini Marathon, Burlington Head to the Waterfront Park for RunVermont’s 19th annual marathon and relays for runners ages 4-14. The event includes a half-mile and one-mile fun run. The kick-off is a two-mile race. runvermont.org/minimarathon

JUNE 6-13 | Virtual Covered Bridges Half Marathon, Woodstock Run 13.1 miles anywhere you please. The event will be held virtually this year due to COVID concerns. Registration for 2020 deferred runners opens February 28 and for new runners opens March 8. cbhm.com

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MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 29

19 | NH-VT Covered Bridges Half Marathon, Colebrook, N.H. Choose a half-marathon, a 16.2-mile race or a 5K, all on the same scenic course in Vermont and New Hampshire. Nhvthalfmarathon.com 19-20 | Mt. Washington Auto Road Race, Pinkham Noth, N.H. Elite runners and those who won their spots in the lottery compete on this sold-out 7.6 mile course up the Mt. Washington Auto Road sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental.

Men start on June 19, women on June 20. mtwashington.com 20 | Solstice Trail Race, Charlotte Formerly the Equinox Trail Race. Try out some new terrain in a fun, yet challenging 5K or 10K trail run through fields, singletrack and old sugar wood roads. Gmaa.run 26-27 | Catamount Ultra, Stowe Run a 25K or 50K trail race on wide, hardpacked dirt trails that roll through highland pastures and hardwood forest at Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center. The 50K course is two laps on the 25K course rolling through highland pastures and hardwood forest, complete with maple sugar tap lines in place and ready for the spring “run.” catamountultra.com

30 | Moosamaloo Ultra, Goshen Run 14 miles or tackle the ultra, 36 miles of mostly singletrack jn the Moosamaloo National Recreation Area. The race is based out of the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center and will have free camping onsight on Friday and Saturday night (or stay at the Blueberry Hill Inn). Moosamalooultra.com 20-24 | Spartan Death Race, Pittsfield This adventure race bills itself as the most difficult race in the world. In 2018, racers faced 3,000 burpees, an overnight trek over Bloodroot Gap, a 30,000-foot rope pull and set a Guinness World Record for a 12-hour crawl under barbed wire. Peakraces.com

AUGUST 7 | The Point to Point, Powered by VSECU, Montpelier Pull on your running shoes for a half marathon or ride a century, half-century or 25mile road ride, or a 40-mile gravel grinder from the statehouse lawn to fight hunger in Vermont — with a virtual option Thepointtopoint.org

29 | 20th Annual Basin Harbor 5K & 10K A 5K and 10K at beautiful Basin Harbor – a spectacular seasonal resort on the shores of Lake Champlain. Racevermont.com

29 | Race To The Top Of VT, Stowe A 4.3-mile, 2564-vertical ft. climb up the tallest mountain in Vermont - Mt. Mansfield. s many as 800 hikers, mountain bikers, and runners com from across the U.S. For some it’s all about trying to achieve a fast time up this tough course. For others… they come to challenge themselves, and to enjoy the spectacular views. Rttovt.com

JULY

SEPTEMBER

4 | Clarence Del Mar 5K, South Hero This is the 39th running of this July 4 tradition. Don’t miss it! Gmaa.run

26 | 28th Vermont 50 Ultra Run & MTB, West Windsor This 50 mile trail race lets mountain bikers and ultra runners enjoy a challenging and scenic course that is like no other. There is something for everyone. Net proceeds go to Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports.

Vermont50.com

12 | 43rd Annual Goshen Gallop, Goshen This exceptional backcountry course on the trails of the Moosalmoo National Recreation Area starts and finishes at the Blueberry Hill OutdoorCenter and benefits the center. From a natural obstacle course to a stunning surprise view from the south end of Hogback Mountain, the Gallop’s elevation profile and rugged terrain have earned the race the nickname “the toughest 10k in New England.” The 5K is equally exhilarating, and you can still brag (just half as much). Goshengallup.com 16-18 | Vermont 100 Endurance Race, West Windsor Featuring unrelenting rollers that add up to 17,000 feet of climbing, the VT100 trail race winds its way over country roads, through forested trails, and alongside breathtaking views of the southern Green Mountains.

Vermont100.com 24 | Round Church Women’s Run, Richmond A 5K walk or run along Cochran Rd. with the start opposite the round church.

Gmaa.run

30 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

OCTOBER 16 | Trapp Mountain Marathon, Stowe .This half or full marathon features steep climbs and descents and a newly updated climb to the highest point on the Trapp Lodge property; Round Top Mountain.

The 13.1 mile loop course is approximately 2/3 double track wide trails and dirt roads, and 1/3 serpentine, rugged single track.

Full marathon racers will traverse this loop twice. This is a challenging trail race with significant elevation gain and loss and some steep scrambling segments. Trappmountainmarathon.com 24 | Vermont City Marathon & Relay, Burlington Marathoners and relay runners can safely conquer 26.2 miles in a new, two-looped course that includes many of the highlights runners have loved about the course for over 30 years. runvermont.org

BIKING MAY Now through June 19 | Virtual Vermont Adaptive Challenge (formerly Charity Ride), Killington Join in the virtual ride (or choose any other challenge of your own) and help raise money for Vermont Adaptive. Join the Vermont Adaptive Strava Club (or track your progress on your own) to win prizes. Charityride.vermontadaptive.org 1 | Onion River Outdoors Annual Bike Swap, Montpelier Find the perfect new-to-you bike, sell that old bike that’s been taking up space in your garage all these years, or better yet, do both! From kids bikes to road bikes, full suspension bikes and fat bikes, it’s all here and waiting for you! As always, our helpful and knowledgeable staff members will be on hand to answer any questions you may have and to guide you toward the bike that is best suited for your riding. 9 am – 2 pm. Onionriver.com 15 | Crank the Kanc Hillclimb, Conway, N.H. This annual hillclimb is up the Kancamangus Highway and through the White Mountains. The race is 21.3 miles long with about 2,340 feet of elevation gain. mwvbicyclingclub.org 22 | Richard Tom Foundation and Green Mountain Bicycle Club Gravel Ride, Richmond This free 35 or 50 mile gravel ride tackles terrain surrounding Cochran’s Ski Area.

Donations are appreciated and will go to the RTF. thegmbc.com/events

JUNE 11-13 | Tour de Kingdom, Derby Four days of riding: The three-day Tour de Kingdom including The Moose, a 103 mile “timed event” on wide open roads in June and our one-day Fly to Pie, a 26.2 mile “timed event” on mostly dirt roads through “The Gut” of the Kingdom. kingdomgames.co

12 | Women’s MTB Clinic, Montpelier Join Onion River Outdoors and Christsonthy Drellos of Blue Sky MTB for a series of fun, supportive clinics for women and non-binary riders to hone your skills, learn to corner and get your wheels off the ground on the Montpelier trails. First session is on fundamentals. July 17th is on cornering and Aug. 7th pumps and jumps.

9 am-1pm . Onionriver.com

13 | The Ranger, Tunbridge Ride 38, 18 or two-to-five miles in this epic gravel riding celebration. The 38-mile gravel enduro race is a loop of dreamy hardpacked dirt roads and minimally maintained Class IV riding. Registration is now open for those who were registered in 2020 and opens March 20th to the public. therangervt.com 19 | VT Monster, Ludlow This is a challenging course primarily on quiet gravel roads, with plenty of climbing, flowing descents and epic vistas. Monster is best attacked with a cyclocross bike, though road, mountain or fat bikes are also capable of handling the courses: 77 and 50 miles of epic and very challenging off-road riding. The 50-miler includes about 5,000 feet of climbing and the 77-miler features over 9,000 feet of climbing. Vtmonster.com 26 | 100/200, North Troy First ridden in 1984, the 100/200 spans Vermont, north to south, following scenic Route 100. The first 100 miles roll by fairly quickly, but save your reserves, as the big climbs kick in during the second half of the ride, and the 12-mile Mt. Snow climb. 100-200.org 26 | Bikes & Beers, Stowe This second annual event features a 15, 30, and 50-Mile ride departing from The Alchemist and traveling through the beautiful region. All rides will feature rest stops with refreshments and will finish up back at The Alchemist. This is a ride for everyone - All riding levels welcome! Bikesandbeers.com 27 | Central Vermont Cycling Tour, Montpelier An original gravel grinder, this ride takes you either 15, 30 or 60 miles of country roads.

Look forward to great food, convenient rest stops, well-marked courses, maple creemees, and hula hoops. All to raise funds to build the Cross Vermont Trail. Crossvermont.org.

27 | Coyote Hill Classic NECS XC Series Race, West Fairlee Coyote Hill Mountain Bike Camp hosts a cross country mountain bike race series on its trail system. coyotehillcamp.com

JULY 1-11 | The Prouty (Virtual), Hanover, N.H. Ride 20, 35, 50, 77 or 100 miles on roads in the Upper Valley, or wherever home may be.

Tackle a 70K or 100K gravel ride. Golf 18 holes, walk 3k to 10k, or even row 5-15 miles.

The Prouty may be virtual, but there are still many ways to participate. dhmc.convio.net/ 16-19 | Farm to Fork Champlain Islands Adventure, South Hero Ride a guided tour past stunning lake and mountain views, villages, quiet meandering roads, fresh and fantastic local foods—this is Vermont, the heart of the small farm movement. farmtoforkfitness.com

17 | Raid Lamoille, Craftsbury A challenging 25 or 55 mile route that includes a significant amount of packedgravel riding and some major climbing segments. Some would call it a dirt road randonee, others a gravel grinder, we just call it a Raid. This is not a race.

17 | Women’s MTB Clinic, Montpelier Join Onion River Outdoors and Christsonthy Drellos of Blue Sky MTB for a series of fun, supportive clinics for women and non-binary riders to hone your skills, learn to corner and get your wheels off the ground on the Montpelier trails. This second session is on cornering and join onon Aug. 7th pumps and jumps. 9 am-1pm Onionriver. com 25 | 4th Annual Guilford Gravel Grinder (G3), Guilford 545 Velo hosts the fourth iteration of this 40mile course featuring 4,800 feet of elevation gain, with 93 percent of the riding falling on dirt roads. Bring a bike with tires that are 28-35mm or wider in width. bikereg.com/ guilford-gravel-grinder-the-g3

AUGUST 1 | Rooted Vermont, Richmond Join Ted and Laura King for a weekend long celebration of gravel roads, community and all things VT, with necessary Covid precautions in place. Race the long course (82 miles) and 8,000 feet of climbing or go your own pace and do the 48-mile short course.

And an epic afterparty featuring local foods and brews follows. rootedvermont.com 7 | Tour de Slate, Middletown Springs Ride a regular or metric century, 36 or 25 miles -- or ride the D&H Rail Trail. This is a great way to explore the emerging trails and quiet roads of Slate Valley. There is also a virtual option for this event. tourdeslate.org 17 | Women’s MTB Clinic, Montpelier Join Onion River Outdoors and Christsonthy Drellos of Blue Sky MTB for a series of fun, supportive clinics for women and non-binary riders to hone your skills, learn to corner and get your wheels off the ground on the Montpelier trails. This second session is on pumps and jumps. 9 am-1pm .

Onionriver.com 7 | Vermont Gran Fondo, Bristol Ride Vermont’s infamous four gaps in the Gran Fondo with 130 miles and 11,ooo feet of climbing or opt for an 85 or 40-miler. All will take you over heart-stopping hill climbs with breathtaking views. Vermontgranfondo.com 7 | The Point to Point, Powered by VSECU, Montpelier Get on your bike or pull on your running shoes and register for a century, half-century or 25-mile road ride, a 40-mile gravel grinder or a half-marathon run from the statehouse lawn to fight hunger in Vermont with a virtual option Thepointtopoint.org

15 | Coyote Hill End of Summer Race and BBQ, West Fairlee Coyote Hill Mountain Bike Camp hosts a race on its trail system followed by a celebratory BBQ. coyotehillcamp.com 21 | 48th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, Albany, NH This 7.6 mile race to the summit of the highest peak in the northeast is a fundraiser for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center.

The race is known as the toughest hillclimb in the world with an average grade of 12%. www.mwarbh.org 23-25 | Outerbike, Killington Demo bikes, ride the trails at Killington, take part in this all-things-MTB two day festival that brings all sorts of gear and bike manufacturers to Vermont. Outerbike.com 29 | Vermont Overland Grand Prix, Ascutney A 50-mile dirt road bicycle race featuring 6,000 feet of climbing, seven sectors of “Vermont pavé” (unmaintained ancient public roads), two well-fortified sag stops, a magnificently scenic route and an awesome party afterwards. It’s the ultimate overland adventure ride.. Vermontoverland.com 30-1 | Flow State, Brownsville Ascutney Trails play host to Flow State, the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival, a three-day celebration of all things mountain biking put on by Mountain Flyer. Flowstatemtbfestival.com 31 | Slate Valley Epic, Poultney A 40+ mile, 5,000+ vertical mountain bike race on Vermont’s newest and best singletrack trails in the Slate Valley of southwestern Vermont. slatevalleytrails.org

SEPTEMBER 11 | Kelly Brush Ride, Middlebury The 15th annual edition of this fundraising ride takes riders through various courses from 25 miles to 100 miles in scenic Addison County. Kellybrushfoundation.org

20 | Winni Slalom, Northfield, N.H. Live music, whitewater clinics, beer, free morning yoga, food and camping right in town and two days of whitewater races.

Don’t miss the Winni Slalom on Saturday, a race through suspended slalom gates and Class II rapids on the Winnipesaukee River.

Nessrace.com 26 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, SalisburyTry your hand at the USA Triathlon Vermont State Championships at the Vermont Sun Triathlon: Swim 0.9 miles, bike 28 miles, and run 6.2 miles. You can also just do the Aqua Bike option with just the swim and the bike or do the Lake Dunmore Triathlon (600 yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.1 mile run). The classic, pristine course starts and finishes at Branbury State Park. Participants swim, bike and run around beautiful Lake Dunmore. Triathlons repeat July 18 and Aug. 15. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com 27 | Brattle Paddle Canoe, Kayak & SUP Race, Brattleboro Enjoy a nine or 3.5-mile flatwater race on the Connecticut and West Rivers to benefit the West River Trail. neckra.org

JULY 3 | The Great Race Triathlon/Duathlon, St. Albans The Great Race is a canoe triathlon/duathlon which is a tradition 41 years in the making. This family-friendly sporting event was recently taken over by the Town of St. Albans. Run 3 miles, bike 12 miles and paddle 3 miles on beautiful Lake Champlain. Stalbanstown.com 16 | Branbury Classic & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury Paddle 1.5 miles, bike 14 miles, and run 3.1 miles or do the Lake Dunmore Triathlon (600 yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.1 mile run).

Our classic, pristine course starts and finishes at Branbury State Park. Participants paddle, bike and run around beautiful Lake Dunmore. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

AUGUST

MULTI-SPORT /WATERSPORT MAY 9 | Fiddlehead Slalom, Montpelier For those comfortable with Class II+ rapids, this is a fun whitewater slalom race for canoes and kayaks on the Winooski. nessrace. com/fiddlehead-slalom

1 | New England Championships: Canoe, Kayak, SUP, Brattleboro Enjoy a 12 mile flatwater race on the Connecticut River or a 5 mile recreational race.

Neckra.org

JUNE

7 | Missisquoi Paddle-Pedal, Richford This family-friendly event combines 6.5 miles of paddling down a designated Wild & Scenic section of the Missisquoi River and 5 miles of cycling on the adjacent Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail. northernforestcanoetrail.org

19 – 21| LCI Father’s Fishing Day Derby The 40th anniversary of the Lake Champlain International Father’s Day Fishing Derby, and the event is about so much more than catching fish. Mychamplain.net/ fathers-day-derby

14 | The Bitter Pill, Craftsbury A summer adventure race for teams of two or three with lhiking, biking, and time on the water – as well as requiring you to continually navigate. We are known for being able to really challenge experienced teams

while providing a great race for the firsttimers. If you have never done an adventure race before, this is a great way to get started. gmara.org 15 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury Swim 0.9 miles, bike 28 miles, and run 6.2 miles. You can also just do the Aqua Bike option with just the swim and the bike or the Lake Dunmore Triathlon (600 yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.1 mile run). The classic, pristine course starts and finishes at Branbury State Park. Participants swim, bike and run around beautiful Lake Dunmore. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

DAM RELEASES West River Dam Release, Jamaica, Vt. April 30- May 2 | Sept. 24-26 Celebrate two seasonal dam releases at the Ball Mountain Dam at Jamaica State Park.

Shuttle service is provided for those who run the Class II-Class IV stretches of the West River. Vtstateparks.com Fife Brook | North Adams, Mass.

The Deerfield’s Fife Book section ranges from 700 cfs to 2000 cfs, at which point it becomes class III-IV. Scheduled releases are: April 3-4, 14-18, 21-25, 28-30; May 8-9, 15-16, 19-23, 26-30; June 12-13, 17-20, 23-27, 30; July 1-4, 7-11,14-18, 21-25, 31; Aug. 1, 5-8, 12-15, 19-22, 26-29; Sept. 1-5, 8-12, 15-19; Oct. 1-3, 6-10, 13-17. Releases start between 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m and are a minimum of 3 hours. https://amcbostonpaddlers.org/documents/river-releases/ Deerfield River | #5 Station Dam, Monroe, Mass.

A mile south of the Vermont-Mass border, is the #5 Station Dam. Friday releases are for 4 hours beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday releases last 5 hours and begin at 10 a.m.

Sunday releases are 4 hours beginning at 10 a.m. Flows alternate among 900, 1000, and 1100 cfs.. Releases are scheduled for May 29-30; June 13, 19-20, 25-27; July 2-4, 9-11, 17, 25; Aug. 1, 6-8, 14, 21-22, 27-28; Sept.

4-5, 11-12, 19; Oct. 2, 10. https://amcbostonpaddlers.org/documents/river-releases/

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 31

IKE SHOPS

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99 Bonnet St., Manchester Ctr, VT 802-362-2734 | battenkillbicycles. com Manchester's bicycle shop since 1972, Battenkill Bicycles is a Trek and Specialized Bicycle dealer offering advice and sales to meet all your cycling needs. The service department offers tune-ups and repairs for all brands of bikes. Come to the shop to rent a bike or get information about local group rides or advice on where to ride your bike in the Northshire. Battenkill Bicycles is the number one e-bike seller in Southern Vermont and is an authorized Bosch e-bike systems service center.

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BERKSHIRE OUTFITTERS

RR 8, 169 Grove St., Adams, MA 413-743-5900 | berkout@bcn.net We are a full-service bike shop at the base of the Mt. Greylock State Reservation. We also border a beautiful 12-mile paved rail trail. We carry Jamis, Rocky Mountain and G.T. We offer sales, repairs and hybrid bike rentals for the rail trail.

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BOOTLEGGER BIKES

60 Main Street Jeffersonnville, VT 802-644-8370 | bootleggerbikes.com A full-service shop near Smugglers' Notch. We offer new, used and custom bikes as well as custom-built wheel builds for mountain, road, gravel, fat bikes, bikepacking and touring. Rentals offered at our Cambridge Junction shop on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Bikes are a passion here.

32 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

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CHUCK’S BIKES

45 Bridge St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-7642 | chucksbikes802. com Putting smiles on people's faces for over 35 years. Bikes by Jamis, Transition, Norco, KHS, Davinci, Raleigh, Marin and Diamondback. Hours: Mon - Wed & Fri 10-5, Sat & Thurs 10-2. Be well by being smart.

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EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS

2069 Williston Rd., South Burlington, 802-864-9197 | earlsbikes.com Earl’s Cyclery has been serving Vermont's cycling and fitness needs for more than 65 years. With over 12,000 square feet at the new location, Earl’s has the largest selection of bikes from Trek, Giant, Scott, Bianchi, Electra, Haro, and more. The service center at Earl’s has professionally trained technicians who are certified to work on all makes and models of bicycles, not just the ones we sell. Whether you need a flat tire fix or a suspension rebuild, the service staff is ready to help.

Estimates are always free! Stop by our new location at 2069 Williston Rd, South Burlington, or call us.

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2012 Depot St. Manchester Center, VT 05255 802-367-3118 | bradleysproski.com

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BRADLEY’S PRO SHOP SKI & SPORT

The premier bike shop in Southern Vermont, located in Manchester Center.

Known as your go-to ski shop we are now your go-to bike shop. We have one of the best bike mechanics in Vermont on staff, Dan Rhodes — many of you know of his reputation as a master bike mechanic. We carry the full lineup of Cannondale and GT bikes—mountain bikes, gravel, e-bikes, BMX and hybrids. We are a full-service operation with sales, service, accessories and rentals including e-bikes. We always offer a great bike tune-up price so be sure to bring your ride in. As always: THINK DIRT!

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EAST BURKE SPORTS

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215 eastburkesports.com We are the original home to Kingdom Trails, located in the heart of East Burke.

We pride ourselves in expert knowledge and friendly customer service to help get you outside to have fun! Come get your bike fixed at our full-service repair shop, rent from our fleet of Santa Cruz, Juliana and Trek mountain bikes (with direct access to Kingdom Trails), and shop for clothing, parts and accessories in our retail shop. Open 9-6 every day.

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AROUND THE REGION advertising section

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FROG HOLLOW

74 Main St., Middlebury, VT 802-388-6666 | froghollow bikes.com Take advantage of the most advanced and courteous service in our region, with quick turn-around time in our service shop downstairs. Upstairs in the sales room, we offer the best in new and used road, mountain, lifestyle, and children’s bikes and new gear. We carry brands that offer superior products that balance innovation and performance with reliability and value. Hours: Mon. - Sat. 9:30 - 5:30, Sun. 11 – 4.

THE GEAR HOUSE

16 Pleasant St., Randolph, VT 802-565-8139 gearhouse.com The Gear House brings fresh energy and excitement to the state's cycling scene.

Located in the center of Vermont, we offer Rocky Mountain, Bianchi, Yamaha e-bikes, a rotating inventory of consigned bikes and gear, and a full service repair shop. Randolph has newly revived mtb trails that combine classic old-school singletrack with machine built zones. Start the 12/12a loop from the shop for 38 miles of well maintained road miles, or map out a day ride entirely on the gravel. The shop is also home to RASTA's outdoor trail hub which features topographical and printed maps. Stop by and plan your next adventure!

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GREEN MOUNTAIN BIKES

105 N. Main St. Rochester VT 800-767-7882 | greenmountainbikes. com

Located in the center of Vermont, in the heart of the Green Mountains, we are surrounded by terrain that calls to mountain and road bikers alike. Whether you ride twisting trails or back to back gaps, we service, sell, and rent all styles of bicycles, featuring Kona, Jamis, Juliana, Raleigh, Santa Cruz, Transition, and Hinderyckx bikes hand crafted by our own Rochester boy Zak Hinderyckx. So STOP READING and RIDE YOUR BIKE! Hours: 7 days a week, 10 – 6.

HANOVER

11 ADVENTURE TOURS 713 US 5 N., Norwich, VT | 802-359-2921 | hanoveradventuretours.com

More than a full-service bike store, we are a full-service adventure center. With an expertise in electric bicycles, we live and breathe outdoor exploration through our offering of e-bike rentals, sales, and tours including doorstep delivery and a full-service shop (all bikes welcome). Over 100 electric bicycle rentals, demos, and tours available for individuals and large groups, short and long-term. Open year round with seasonal options. Explore one of the largest selections of e-bikes with Yamaha, iZip, and Magnum.

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HITCHHIKER

331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 | oldspokeshome.com

394 Mountain Road Ste. 6, Stowe, VT | 802-585-3344 hitchhikerbikes.com

Hitchhiker Bike Shop is Stowe's newest shop.

We carry bikes from Rocky Mountain, Cervelo, Otso Cycles, Chromag, Open Cycle, and Gazelle E-bikes. If you are looking for a tuneup we offer service for just about every type of bike and budget.

Service appointments are encouraged, but not necessary. You'll also find great clothing, parts, and accessories in our shop that is pedaling distance from the Cady Hill trails. See our website for more up to date information on the shop, services, and pricing or stop by and check us out next time you're in Stowe!

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HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY

2733 Main St., Lake Placid, NY 518-523-3764 | highpeaks cyclery.com The Adirondacks' source for bicycling and outdoor gear since 1983! Sales, service, rentals and tours. Bikes by Salsa, Giant and Yeti. Your advenutre center for mountain biking, gravel and road riding adventures.

Dirt, gravel, road and e-bike tours, Basecamp Lodge and dirt camps.. Hours: Mon – Fri 9 – 6, Sun 9 – 5.

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MALLETTS BAY BICYCLE & SKI

794 W. Lakeshore Dr. Colchester, VT 802-863-2453 | Malletts Bay mbbicyle.com es�� ����

Bicycle & Ski

Service, rentals and sales. Located on the shores of beautiful Malletts Bay, our shop offers expert repairs, top quality rentals, a fine complement of accessories and new bicycles from KHS, SWIX, Free Agent and Manhattan.

Rent a bike and ride from the shop via the town rec path to the famed Colchester Causeway, the "Jewel of the Island Line Trail".

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OLD SPOKES HOME

MOUNTAINOPS

4081 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-4531 mountainopsvt. com

We offer bike sales along with fast, friendly service. Dealers of Niner, Scott, Devinci and Jamis, we carry a large assortment of mountain and gravel bikes including a 60 bike Demo Fleet. Our techs have years of experience and our local trail knowledge is second to none. Our converted 1893 barnturned-bike-shop houses a huge selection of bike and lifestyle clothing along with parts and accessories. Looking for a more mellow ride? Rent one of our cruisers for a trip down the legendary Stowe Rec Path right from our parking lot!

Vermont’s best selection of professionally refurbished used bikes and new bikes for touring, bike packing, commuting, fat biking, and simply getting around town. Named one of the country’s best bike shops for it’s “plain-talk advice and no-nonsense service.” A nonprofit as of January 2015, Old Spokes Home uses 100% of its revenue to run programs creating access to bikes in the community.

And don’t miss their famous antique bicycle museum! Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10 - 6, Sun.

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OMER & BOB’S

20 Hanover St. Lebanon, NH 603-448-3522 | omerandbobs.com The Upper Valley's bike shop since 1964.

Offering mountain bikes, gravel and road bikes, hybrid bikes, e-bikes, and kids bikes from Specialized, Trek, and Electra.

Featuring a full service department, bike fitting, mountain and e-bike demos, and a kids trade-in, trade-up program. Hours: Mon.-Friday, 9am-5:30pm, Sat., 9am-5pm

ONION RIVER OUTDOORS

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20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736 | onionriver.com ORO is Central Vermont's premier bike, car rack, and outdoor gear shop. Friendly and knowledgeable sales and service. We carry Specialized, Niner, Rocky Mountain, Salsa, Surly, and Yuba, and a large variety of clothing and accessories, including Giro, Smith, Club Ride, Patagonia, and more.

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OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE

37 Church St., Burlington, VT 802-860-0190 | gearx.com Voted this year's MTBVT Best Bike Shop, OGE is a premier bike shop with knowledgeable, friendly and honest staff. We have affordable commuters from Batch Bicycles, gravel grinders from Marin, BMC and Niner, mountain bikes from Marin, Niner, Pivot, Rocky Mountain, Transition and Yeti. We also offer a wide consignment selection as well as a demo fleet so you can try it before you buy it. Our service department is capable of everything from tuning your vintage road bike to servicing your new mountain bike, and offers full Fox shock service. Come see us on Church St! Hours: Mon-Thurs 10-8, Fri-Sat 10-9, Sun 10-6

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POWERPLAY SPORTS

35 Portland St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-6557 powerplaysports.com North Central Vermont's Trek and Giant Dealer nestled in the heart of bike country.

Selling new and used bikes for every budget and every type of rider from beginner to expert. We service all manner of bike and sell tons of accessories and apparel. Bike rentals for the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail just 200 yards down the road.

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RANCH CAMP

311 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-2753 | ranchcampvt.com Ranch Camp is Stowe’s mountain bike base lodge and your hub for bikes, gear, and culture! Ranch Camp offers a full-service mountain bike shop, tap room, and fresh-casual eatery, featuring sales and demo bike from Specialized, Ibis, Yeti, Evil, Revel, and Fatback. Looking for top of the line mountain bikes and components? Got ‘em. How about local brews from new England’s finest purveyors of craft libations? You bet. And if you need a thoughtfully crafted grab-and-go meal for your ride, or a place to sit down and refuel afterwards, Ranch Camp has you covered. Best of all, Ranch Camp is situation trailside with its very own public access entrance into Stowe’s iconic Cady Hill trail network.

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SKIRACK

85 Main St. Burlington 802-6583313 skirack.com Locally owned since 1969, Skirack provides gear, clothing, expert fitting and accessories for all cyclists, with full service tuning and repairs...plus complete bike suspension service on most forks and rear shocks.

Designated one of America’s Best Bike Shops, Skirack is blocks from Lake Champlain. Open 8 a.m. Mon. - Sat. for bike service, car racks and rentals.

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STARK MOUNTAIN

9 RTE 17, unit b Waitsfield, VT 802-496-4800 Find us on Facebook

Located at the lowest spot in the Mad River Valley so you can coast in when you break your bike on a ride! 21 years of advise,directions and fixing anything that pedals. Thinking about a Yeti? Come ride one of ours,we have been selling Yeti since 2006! Hours: Tues-Fri 9-6*, Sat 9-4, and Sunday 10-2. *Close at 5 on Thursdays for the Shop Ride.

24 TYGART

57 Pond St. STE 1, Ludlow, VT (802) 228-5440 Info@tygartmountainsports.com, Tygartmountainsports.com

We are a full service bicycle sales and service center. We carry a wide selection of Scott and Kona bikes and a variety of accessories from Scott, Giro, Louis Garneau, Blackburn, Park Tools and others. We offer service and repairs on all makes and models including in-house suspension service, wheel building, and full bike build-outs.

VILLAGE SPORT

25 SHOP

511 Broad St. Lyndonville, VT 802-626-8448| villagesport shop.com

Family owned and passion driven since 1978 we are a 4 season shop with 2 convenient locations. Focused on making everyday your best day with full service bike shops, rentals from Specialized, Transition, Pivot, LIV, Salsa and Giant, and bikes for every type of rider,. Looking for a new ride, new gear, replacement parts or a quick snack we got you there too. Ride in and out of our Trailside shop (2099 Darling Hill Rd) or stop in to our town store (511 Broad Street) on your way through we look forward to seeing you! We are #CovidConscious

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WATERBURY SPORTS

46 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT

802-882-8595 | waterburysportsvt.com A full service bike shop selling Trek and Giant bikes in one of Vermont's most convenient locations. Nestled in downtown Waterbury a short distance from the Perry Hill MTB trails, WBS services all bikes and can handle any repair you might have. We also have a fleet of demo bikes and and an excellent selection of parts and accessories.

Open 7 days a week!

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WEST HILL SHOP

49 Brickyard Lane, Putney, 802-387-5718

westhillshop com West Hill Shop turns 50 this season, and welcomes Amy and Zach Caldwell as the third round of owners since the shop was founded in 1971. Some things are changing.

Most things are staying the same. And Covid makes the rules for this year, like last year. Visit us to see what's happening and check out our lines of all types of bikes from Cannondale, Giant, Mondraker and more.

We have e-bikes in stock.

MAY 2021 | VTSPORTS.COM 33

ENDGAME

THE FIFTH SEASON

MUCH MALIGNED, MUD SEASON MAY CLOSE THE TRAILS. BUT IT CAN ALSO OPEN YOUR MIND. BY LEATH TONINO

It's a time to stay off the trails. But stomping around in the open farm fields is just fine.

B

egin with a definition. Mud season is a phenomenon of northern climes; a transition from brittle winter to soft spring; a period characterized by snow melting in the mountains, rain falling across the valleys, and ground that has been frozen solid for six months finally (albeit slowly) thawing out. The thaw proceeds top to bottom, exposed surface to hidden depths, which means an impervious horizon of ice-fused soil—a plate, basically, a pan—underlies the newly liquified upperworld for a number of weeks. This in turn means oversaturation, runoff with nowhere to run—copious mud, voluminous mud, catastrophic mud that can, on occasion, recall the artist Hokusai’s famous woodblock print of a curling, boatdwarfing ocean wave.

Accurate enough. But besides the nod to Hokusai, that’s a rather technical approach to understanding a non-technical, not-in-the-dictionary, widespread colloquialism. Mud season, also referred to as “the fifth season,” is less rigorous science than messy culture.

Accordingly, it asks for a sweeping survey, a wide-ranging appraisal.

Crack a beer on an aimless Friday night—click—and enter an internet search for “mud.”

Here are F-350s mired to their axles, sedans sunk to their bumpers. Here are peanut butter roads chewed, swallowed, and spit out by some road-masticating,

34 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2021

road-regurgitating giant. Here are boots of all imaginable makes and models, clogged culverts, 20-degree nights and 55-degree days, tentative daffodils. And here, too, are words heaped atop words, so many garden blogs and tourism blogs and gear blogs and, oh mercy, my achy laptop eyes!

“Isn’t very appealing,” the bloggers blather. “Grunts of frustration,” note the home-bound mountain bikers and trail hikers. Dogs are invoked—their dirty paws, the need to constantly towel off shaggy, dragging, dripping bellies— and for every happily-befouled canine there’s a corollary gripe about stained carpets. “Difficult,” the blatherers persist. “Miserable.” One particularly enthusiastic lady from Vermont goes so far as to drop “evil” into the mix.

Granted, mud season is by her account a “necessary” evil, but still. Evil?

That’s preposterous. Come along with me, dear reader, and I’ll show you a different version of the slop.

Take the Champlain Valley, on a random Tuesday afternoon. The sky a low gray ceiling, a sagging tent of clouds held aloft by skeletal hardwoods. We suit up in the shabbiest jeans, shabbiest flannel shirt, shabbiest wool cap, and hopscotch the puddled driveway, aiming for a marshy, nondescript creek that hides in a crease beyond fields of stubble corn. Damp bramble hedge (duck and weave). Rusty barbed wire fence (depress and step). Staggering, stumbling, filthy

from toes to waist, we tingle with the recognition that this excursion requires no automobile, no money, no phone, no fuss. The fields are lumpy and juicy, patched yellow with last autumn’s dying and green with vernal growth. The fields are gentle, untouched by wind. At last, creekside, we settle the denim to a mossy log and gaze into the crosshatched mystery of broken reeds, bent rushes, tattered cattails.

Honking geese. Happiness. Not ecstasy, not pumped, jazzed, or gonzo— just plain, mundane, quasi-boring happiness. Gray-sky happiness. Muddymargin-of-the-season happiness.

Happiness that is solemn, almost sad.

I was raised in Vermont’s mud, yes, but I was also raised by Vemont’s mud (insofar as places, like good parents, provide children with opportunities to explore and experiment and expand).

Thus, my affinity for the fifth season is familial, cozy. Life commences with primordial ooze. Fecund glop is the prima materia. I crawled from the womb of mother mud at the dawn of creation and will eventually, inevitably, return to the sweet suffocating embrace of my muddy father. Feeling this in my blood and bones—feeling it there by the mellow, melancholy creek beyond the bland, beautiful fields—I have to scratch my chin and wonder: Why the disparagement? Why the blogosphere’s perverse yearning for spick-and-span muddlessness?

A partial answer goes as follows: hobbies and pastimes; action sports; chasing the gnar and pursuing the stoke; this insane, egoistic, regrettably prevalent notion that nature is a playground, a Disneyland established and maintained so that we can get an adrenaline buzz, get an Instagram photo, get exercise, get our rocks off however we idiosyncratically please without being inconvenienced by “crappy conditions.”

During the limbo of mud season, hiking and biking trails are closed (a principle of Leave No Trace is to travel on durable surfaces), and the rural byways that could, theoretically, lead to some great new sexy adventure are, well, talk to that road-chomping giant, that elemental monster with peanut butter dripping down his chin. Furthermore, the weather is erratic, sleety then rainbowed, blustery then calm, and this meteorological iffyness tends to kibosh weekend plans.

In sum, mud season rejects anthropocentrism and its (dystopian) fantasy of a world at our beck and call, a world responsive to our scheduling needs, a world tailored to nonstop easy enjoyment. For this reason, people dislike it. For this reason, I love it.

There are other reasons, of course. I love it because of raccoon prints. I love it because of invigorated waterfalls. I love it because of drizzled-upon Holsteins, their glittery eyelashes. I love it because the kitchen’s Crockpot bubbles cheerily when I return home. I love it because the heavy, tread-clotting, thick and sticky mud slows me down, both physically (strolling the stubble fields) and mentally (schemes, dreams, aspirations, ambitions).

Evil? Mud season? As Shakespeare quipped, sounding exceedingly Zen: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” My thinking makes mud season a gateway, a portal to the intricate, textured, moody, dynamic earth; the nearby earth of budding plants and squawking nestlings and flowing muck; the ever-present earth that we frequently miss in our headlong rush toward excitement elsewhere.

We’ll get to hiking and biking and all the rest in due time, I promise.

Leath Tonino is a native of the Champlain Basin and the author of two essay collections about the outdoors, most recently The West Will Swallow You (Trinity University Press). A different version of this essay appeared in Adventure Journal Quarterly.

AN EVENT TO BENEFIT

THE VERMONT FOODBANK

AUGUST 7, 2021

More Vermonters than ever don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

The good news is that you can help!

The Point to Point, powered by VSECU, is a cycling and running event to raise funds for the Vermont Foodbank and support their mission to fight hunger in Vermont. To meet this unprecedented need, our goal this year is to raise $200,000. Visit thepointtopoint.org to learn more.

HELP FIGHT HUNGER

www.thepointtopoint.org

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