Northern Frontier Section of the Green Mountain Club
Summer 2022 Newsletter

Summer Greetings Everyone!

Our Summer work and hiking season has begun and we had a successful annual section meeting/potluck on June 5th. Twenty-one members attended and we heard about and discussed our section's work, finances and communications. We also re-elected all of our incumbent officers and added a new communications officer to the slate. Brooks Sturtevant volunteered and was elected for the job. With his help, we'll quickly let our members and the community know about our events and outings, as well as the Green Mountain Club's advice for trail conditions throughout the year. You'll see this information on your email, our newsletter, our area Front Porch Forum and our NFS website www.gmcnorthernfrontier.org. Our NFS outings will also be posted on the GMC Google calendar. Many thanks to all who attended and brought their ideas, good company and food! Thanks Remi Gratton for being our grill master; we all had a good time.

Our NFS trail adopter walk-throughs and shelter adopter visits will be completed fairly soon, if not already. No major work needs to be done on the shelters this year. In August, the GMC Long Trail Patrol work crew will be improving the trail south of Route 242, from Gilpin Mtn. to Bruce Peak. You may remember that last year, they built waterbars and a large stone stairway just north of Route 242. They also worked south of Route 242 to Gilpin Mt., installing stone steps and a filled-in treadway through a muddy area. They'll continue that work to Bruce Peak this year. So far this summer, water is in good supply on our section of the LT and hopefully that will remain. If dry conditions occur (like last summer) we will need to supply bottled water to a few locations. Last year, those were Atlas Shelter, Shooting Star and Jay Camp. That water was essential to hikers and very much appreciated!

Since COVID started in 2020, a few big changes have happened in the GMC and the Long Trail/AT. There was a substantial increase of hikers and use of the trail, so the club had to respond with more maintenance and repair. A backlog of projects needed to be addressed and the GMC has raised much money and done lots of work improving or replacing shelters, privies and the trail. The GMC began holding monthly Zoom meetings for the section leaders and section trail officers in order to keep us informed of their work and for us (section leaders) to tell the GMC about our sections' work. With more work and activity on the trail, more communication to members has been necessary, so the GMC has begun monthly Zoom meetings with the sections about communication methods and issues. I have attended those meetings and now Brooks has started to attend them. So far these Zoom meetings have been very helpful.

A reminder to all volunteers who work on the trail and shelters: After you do your work, submit a volunteer work report to the GMC by going to greenmountainclub.org and click on "volunteer", then "volunteer report" and type in your information. When you submit the report, a copy of it is immediately emailed back to you. For trail work, please email this copy to our trails officers (Jeff and Cathy Miller) and president (Ken Whitehead). For shelters, email it to our shelters officer (Russ Ford) and president (Ken Whitehead). It's important for the GMC and our section to know the latest work that we accomplish and what needs to be done. Many many thanks to all of our volunteers who lend a hand in keeping the Long Trail wonderful. Your work is essential.

Last winter, I contacted Bernie Sanders' office to ask about the proposed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (U.S CBP) surveillance towers to be located along the Canadian border. I received a copy of a letter which Senator Sanders, Senator Leahy and Representative Welch sent to the head of U.S CBP. They urged him to hire more patrol officers in lieu of installing the intrusive towers and they noted that there were vacancies of patrol officer positions along the border. I haven't heard any more information since then.

This summer and fall, our section is scheduling outings and at least one work day. The schedule is on the next page, but we can add to it throughout the hiking season. If there's an outing (hike, bike,paddle) that you would like to volunteer to lead, please let me know and we'll get it on our calendar. Thinking ahead to this winter, we'll also need volunteers to lead snowshoe or ski trips, so please let me know if you're interested.

I wish you good hiking and good health this season and hope to share time with you on our outings.

All the Best,

Ken Whitehead - President NFS

Facebook page for GMC Northern Frontier Section

• Facebook page for:  GMC Northern Frontier Section

About GMC Northern Frontier

The Northern Frontier Section of the Green Mountain Club maintains the northernmost section of the Long Trail, from Hazen's Notch (Route 58) north to Journey's End at the Canadian border. The Northern Frontier section is the most remote part of the LT and includes some of it's most challenging terrain.

The members of the Northern Frontier section maintain 18.7 miles of trail and five shelters (from south to north): Hazen's Notch Camp (2,040 ft.), Atlas Valley Shelter (2,220 ft.), Jay Camp (2,205 ft.), Laura Woodward Shelter (2,800 ft.), Shooting Star Shelter (2,260 ft.) and Journey's End Camp (1,550 ft.).

The Northern Frontier Section includes (from south to north) Hazen's Notch (1,780 ft.), Bruce Peak (2,900 ft.),
Buchanan Mountain (2,940 ft.), Domey's Dome (2,880 ft.),
Gilpin Mountain (2,920 ft.), Jay Peak (3,858 ft.), Big Jay
(3,800 ft.), Little Jay (3,600 ft.), Doll Peak (3,409 ft.),
North Jay Peak (3,400 ft.), Carleton Mountain (2,670 ft.)
and the northern terminus of the Long Trail at the
US/Canadian border (2,100 ft.).

Our section includes Jay Peak, Vermont's 8th highest mountain, Big Jay, Vermont's 12th highest mountain, and Laura Woodward Shelter, the highest overnight shelter on the Long Trail north of the Lamoille River.