Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-19
THE LONG A

THE LONG TRAIL.
The completion Of thirty-nve miles of
the Long Trail over Killington, pIco.
Camel and Horrid, Is no sooner an ac-
complished fact, than work Is begun at
the other end on the glorious stretch of
wilderness lying between tho Hump and
Lincoln mountain.
n crew of woodsmen left this city
Tuesday under the direction of Nh. r. NJ.
Ross Of the State forestry service to be-
gin the work of making this link OF the
trail. Thu task Will probably take up
wards of q month to complete. In this
way, quietly and unpretentiously, the
greatest mountain pathway in America Is
being carved out.
1t was fortunate for the Long Trail
that the state forestry department imme-
diately appreciated the value of this UNI
%dcrtalting as an auxiliary in the fight
against forest fires, in providing a beat
for hre-wardens to follow with conven-
lent l%ookouts along the route, and in
Opening up a way over which men can
be rushed to fight sucn fires as may be
found. The camps must be equipped and
provisioned by private subscriptions
which the Green Mounthin club collects.
But the direction Of the work and a good
deal Of practical help is contributed by
the forestry department.. Furthermore
when a link of trail Is once opened up,
the fire-wardens tramping too and fro
over it, prevent It's becoming o|bliterated.
This IS a great work, the finding of a
path, the building of a very allur1ng kind
Of road. Rome built roads and they have
lasted into a day when Rome is not
Rome. The native red-men of this CONT
nent built trails and to-day many of
them have become the steel highways
over which locomotives run their race
with time. A road or trail is more than
a thing in the external world. 1t is some
thing that gets its place deep in the
brain of man. And the passion for the
Long Trail is a primeval instinct. As
long as there are men there will be those
who use the open road. As long as there
are men there will be those who travel
on their feet, for-as a magazine writer
puts it-"men We're born with legs and not
cylinders" As long as there are noun
tains, forests and streams, something in
the breast of every man will respond to
the lure of them-or long to respond.
Not very many will walk the whole
length of the Long Trail, But many will
be attracted by the fame OF this unique
thoroughfare to tramp over parts and
to find release from city cares and tolls
in the shade Of the Green mountains
which it traverses, And the men and
women who come here to climb and
tramp the Long Trail will bring many
others content to lift up their eyes unto
the hills without lifting up their car
cases. For the men and women who
walk are the men and women who write
and talk, and in their wake come others
who build homes and help develop the
community. Even from the narrowly sell
fish point of view We can never be amiss
in making the most of Vermont's attrac-
lions as a place to live in and in OPEN
ing them up for others.
The Long Trail will be there when our
pY,o ,I ono cn,,r - -, a-,, -, ~. l.-
of the road and the thirst for the I'M
usual and venturous. The hills and rocks
and streams are touched very gently by
time. 1t will be the same trail that Is
now so rapidly nearing completion crawl
ing serpent-like through the Intervening
lowlands under big-bodied, ancient
naples ana sunlit hemlocks, over cush-
iony moss and prattling streams with the
maiden-hair fern bending above them,
climbing up through pines and above the
pines to the shade of giant spruces, and
yet again climbing above the tall spruce
through slashes in which briars grow
rampant and berries rlpen with no one
to pick them, through thick growths of
scrub-spruce over lodges and across fis-
sures to sun-hathed SUBMITS where the
nakedness of the rock is covered only
by a matted growth Of the Labrador tea,
and where the world stretches out on
either hand like an etched and penciled
scroll up-turned on the farther edge to
meet the sky.
It is a great work and a lasting one.