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Guest Post – Little Explorers

08.27.2014 By: Eliza, MiniBury Founder

While we adjust to life as a family of 5, a few local bloggers kindly agreed to keep MiniBury readers entertained with tales and adventures from their own lives. Today Julie Barry shares the eighth installment of her series”Little Explorers,” reports on her hiking adventures with her husband and her two and four-year old. Take it away Julie!

IMG_2496

Trail: Mt. Abe

Distance: 2.6 miles up, 2000ish feet elevation gain

Level of Difficulty: difficult

Baby Jogger Access: no

Bikes Permitted: no

Of Interest to the Kids:  Battell Shelter, rock scrambling toward the summit

How to get there: From Bristol turn right onto Lincoln Gap Road.  At Lincoln Gap, hike north on the long trail.

More Info: Here

Our Experience: 

Our family is in the sweet spot for hiking.  Our oldest is a good little hiker and our youngest is happy to ride in the pack.  We can do a sort-of decent distance at a relatively decent pace.  But the kids both just had birthdays (they’re now 3 and 5) and I know our 3 year-old will soon want to be hiking herself.   Once that happens our family hikes will get shorter and slower again for a while.  So in the meantime, we’re trying out some longer family hikes.

IMG_2483Out of the trailhead the trail goes pretty steeply up a rise for nearly an hour, then the grade becomes more gentle for 45 minutes or so before climbing steeply up to the summit.  With two rest stops it took us about 2 hours 45 minutes to reach the summit.  

While the first hour of the trail was steep, there wasn’t much of the hand-over-hand climbing we’d found on other sections of the Long Trail.  Near the summit, of course, was a different story.  Our 5 year-old son was so thrilled with the long, steep sections of scrambling up bedrock that his enthusiasm was contagious.  As a result, our 3 year-old daughter insisted upon doing the last 1/4 mile of the hike herself, and indeed she did, pushing and pulling herself up rock faces with her little hands and feet, happily calling out “I’m a little rock climber!” again and again.

The views from the top are truly fantastic, even on our hazy day.  360° all around from 4000+ feet.   This is the first 4000-foot peak our son has done and boy did he sleep well afterwards!  We started this hike with a willingness to turn around before the summit (always a good idea when hiking with kids) because we weren’t sure if our son could do it and didn’t want tired little legs to result in falls and injuries.  But the rock clambering kept his interest and energy level up and he didn’t start complaining about being tired until we were about 30 minutes from the end of the hike.  A 5-minute piggy back ride and a quick snack perked him up.  Oh, and 30 minutes of improv-ing his favorite silly rhyming song.   Hope no one near us on the trail was looking for peace and quiet!

A little note: The Long Trail and the Battell Trail intersect at 1.7 miles, right before the Battell Shelter, (1.8 miles). It’s worth remembering this on the way back down since it would be easy to charge along down the trail, accidentally going straight and following the Battell Trail without remembering to hang a left to follow the Long Trail.

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Eliza, MiniBury Founder

Hello, I’m Eliza. I founded MiniBury in 2012 because I had a hunch that I wasn't the only parent in Addison County missing fun family friendly events. I love the challenge of finding and sharing information about our community to other parents.

Upcoming Events

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8:00 am Spring Wave Race @ Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Spring Wave Race @ Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Jun 3 @ 8:00 am – 1:00 pm
The spring open-water rowing season for all middle and high school rowing teams ends with this seasonal championship race at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Over 100 youth rowers from around Vermont and New England will [...]
9:00 am Middlebury Garden Club Annual Pl... @ Middlebury Town Green
Middlebury Garden Club Annual Pl... @ Middlebury Town Green
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Get your garden and house plants — annuals, perennials, vegetable starts, shrubs, and more — for the coming season. Plants are in pots and labeled by name, color and basic care. There will be a [...]
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Vergennes Saturday Playgroup @ Vergennes Congregational Church
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Little ones (birth to 5) and their caregivers get together to play, make new friends, and build a supportive family community. Complimentary coffee will be served for adults; BYO snacks. This playgroup meets every week [...]
10:00 am CVUUS Rhubarb Festival @ Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society Sanctuary
CVUUS Rhubarb Festival @ Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society Sanctuary
Jun 3 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Come celebrate all things rhubarb at this annual festival open to all at the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society. Buy pies, plants, seedlings, aprons, potholders, gently used books and scoops of homemade rhubarb crisp with [...]
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UVM Morgan Horse Farm Foal Day @ UVM Morgan Horse Farm
Jun 3 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Come meet the 2023 UVM Morgan foals as they are turned out with their dams. Excellent photo ops, bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the spacious grounds. Learn about a Morgan’s first year and take [...]
10:30 am Bixby Young Writers Club @ Bixby Library
Bixby Young Writers Club @ Bixby Library
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The Young Writers Club is held the first Saturday of the month in the Bixby’s Vermont Room. We will work on fun and informal writing activities. This program is recommended for elementary school-aged children.
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Brandon Extravaganza @ Estabrook Park
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Come out to Estabrook Park for a summer BBQ, brews, live music and games, brought to you by the Brandon Fire Department and Brandon Rec.
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Lake Monsters & Free Lunch @ Notte
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Two Brothers Tavern is teaming up with the Lake Monsters and Fiddlehead Brewing to raise money for the UVM Children’s Hospital. As part of this partnership, the Lake Monsters are bringing some of their professional [...]
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Kids Cafe Free Movie @ The Marquis
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Catch a kids’ movie for free in the Marquis cafe.
2:00 pm ‘Matilda Jr.’ @ Mount Abraham Union High School
‘Matilda Jr.’ @ Mount Abraham Union High School
Jun 3 @ 2:00 pm
This MAUSD Expanded Learning Program Middle School Musical features 6th, 7th, and 8th graders performing the classic Roald Dahl tale.
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