Our Philmont 2025 crew, the "Snazzlefarkles", completed a 7.5 mile hike on the AT last Sunday. This was another training hike as we prepare for our 9-day trek in New Mexico this July. We completed a third section of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut, now having hiked just over 24 miles, which is about half of the CT portion of the AT. For this hike, we trekked through fresh hard packed snow the entire day, which was beautiful but challenging.
The initial section was steep and the going was slow, but as the day progressed we picked up our pace. It was a long but memorable hike, and as the sun started to descend we were all looking forward to some rest. As we approached the final section of the hike, we realized we were still at noticeable elevation, with only a short distance left. "Sketchy" was the term coined by Mr. O'Neil for what lay ahead, a steep descent over snowy rock covered terrain. With hiking poles, traction cleats, and careful steps, we made the careful climb down. This led to an "ice chute", a rock crevice with packed snow and ice on the walls. You can check out the video below as, one by one, we crossed this amazing geologic feature. From that point, it was a much easier finish towards our destination. With smiles on our faces and some sore muscles, we headed home to Newtown.
This was a memorable hike and we look forward to our next trek on the AT. Thank you to Mr. Hoyack and Mr. Linnetz for the great pictures, and to Henry and Mr. Linnetz for organizing this hike.
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