The 2025 field season was one of the more stable in my time, despite constant uncertainty concerning federal funding and operations during the government shutdown.
Special Projects
Senior Trail Technicians Andrew Muller, Matt Vezina, and Garrett Hogan started their season with emergency repairs at Clarendon Gorge Bridge. They then returned to their original schedule, building a fully accessible trail to Jean Haigh Cabin at Wheeler Pond. The woodshed and ramp to the rear deck are fully accessible, and with the privy also modified, users with a wide range of mobility can enjoy the facility.
The crew moved on to sill and porch repairs at Spruce Peak Shelter, installing logs the Brattleboro Section prepared last fall. Next they laid the groundwork for next year’s repairs to Taft Lodge, harvesting and de-barking logs near the Monroe Trailhead in Camel’s Hump State Park, in consultation with our partners at the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. They also supported the helicopter airlift of the logs to the lodge.
In June, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review was completed and plans approved to build an additional shelter at the popular Battell Shelter site to accommodate heavy usage there. August’s airlift delivered materials, and the crew began work immediately, concluding in October.
Finally, the senior tech team restored sills and replaced the floor at Beaver Meadow Lodge. Thanks go to the Sterling Section for their help on the project.
Dylan Norris worked with Project Coordinator Justin Towers to build a new deck, stairs, and ramp for Minerva Hinchey Shelter to make it ADA accessible, and to build a new woodshed at Bryant Camp.
Trail Work
We had two professional trail crews again in 2025. Returner Owen Maille and newcomer Jivana Esposito led the southern crew, and returner Molly Belvo led the northern crew. Both made progress on complex, multi-year projects, spending three-quarters of their seasons on one site.
First, the crew leaders spent a week finishing the south approach to the 2024-built Rootville Road Bridge, adding stone armor and drainage structures.
In two weeks the northern crew completed a turnpike begun on the Sucker Brook Trail in 2024. They then finished stabilizing Lost Pond Shelter, jacking up the shelter, removing its listing concrete piers, and setting the shelter on pressure-treated timber cribwork on pads of crushed stone, all done with hand tools in compliance with wilderness area regulations.
They spent their last 14 weeks relocating the Long Trail north of Route 118 on Belvidere Mountain. This was our first test of mechanized equipment to supplement hand tools. We bought a mini-excavator, and plan to train a few seasonal staff members each year so the excavator can work where it can reach the trail and it fits the character of the Long Trail System.
This is an important change in how we approach trail work. Machines are not practical everywhere, but they can reduce labor costs, save time, and reduce the repetitive physical and mental strain of building bench-cut trails by hand. The Belvidere reroute will be completed next year, with an anticipated opening by the end of the season.
The southern trail crew’s main project was installing a series of short relocations and trail hardening measures to reduce mud south of Risky Ranch Road. This comment from the U.S. Forest Service recognized the quality of their work:
“GMC crews have come so far in the quality of work in the past five to seven years. Wow. It’s really good work. I’m proud for you!”
They went on to four weeks on the LT north of Bromley Mountain, where they installed a staircase and a short relocation.
In our first 2023 flood recovery project, the southern crew built two stone staircases and a retaining wall just north of the MacArthur Bridge at Route 9. Their second flood repair project restored part of the side trail from the Lye Brook Falls Trail to the falls that a landslide had destroyed.
The Volunteer Long Trail Patrol (VLTP) spent its eight-week season just north of the Massachusetts line finishing a one-third of a mile relocation of the Long Trail-Appalachian Trail. We are coordinating the relocation with the AT Committee of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Western Massachusetts Chapter. It is scheduled to open in 2027.
Led by Lydia Yuhas and Eric Bakken, VLTP crews cleared brush, cut tread, and built stone structures on the relocation. The relocation will replace the notoriously muddy southernmost stretch of the LT — a long-term goal — by moving the trail to higher and drier soil on a sidehill, with proper drainage and a more sustainable layout. It also moves about 1,000 feet of trail from private land to the Green Mountain National Forest, furthering our land conservation goals.
Caretaker Program
Caretakers staffed busy summits and ponds, protecting vulnerable ecosystems as a long stretch of lovely weather in late summer and early fall attracted throngs of hikers. Dry summer weather eased the work of volunteers packing bark mulch to composting sites, and we completely composted 1,215 gallons of human waste, leaving no partially composted waste to overwinter.
Caretaker Supervisor Sarah Bailey and Visitor Services Manager Emily Mosher launched the new Volunteer Trail Steward Program, training volunteers stationed at the Mount Mansfield Visitor Center. The program was highly successful, augmenting the club’s staff and increasing visitor contacts at the top of the Stowe Toll Road, which attracts hundreds of visitors daily.
— Keegan Tierney, Director of Field Programs