A Hiking Club For Everybody
The Connecticut Section of the Green Mountain Club (CSGMC) is made up of members with interests in a wide range of outdoor sports. Most activities involve day hikes of three to six miles along the hiking trails in CT. Since our members cover a wide range of abilities, ages, and experience, a hike can range from an easy and short hike in one of central CT's parks to a more ambitious hike to one of western CT's mountains. However, the club's year-round activity schedule may include biking, canoeing, extended backpacking trips, and cross country skiing or snow-shoeing weekends in the winter. This allows for more ambitious activities as a member gains experience and acquires equipment.
History and Background
The Connecticut Section of the GMC was formed in 1969 and is one of 14 sections affiliated with the nonprofit organization "The Green Mountain Club, Inc.", located in Waterbury Center, VT. Members of the Connecticut Section are automatically members of the parent club. The parent GMC is "founder, sponsor, defender, and protector" of The Long Trail. Running from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border, the Long Trail is a 265 mile hiking trail which travels through the wilderness of the Green Mountain National Forest and over the high peaks of Vermont's beautiful Green Mountains. The southern 100 miles of The Long Trail is also part of the 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail.
Activities and Publications
Activities are planned and led by the club's members, although it is not a requirement to lead an activity.
The Trail Talk, the CT GMC newsletter, is published four times a year: January, April, July, and October. It contains reports by Connecticut Section members, as well as a current schedule of activities. The Long Trail News is a quarterly newspaper published by the parent GMC. Its articles focus on the Long Trail in Vermont.
Trail Maintenance
The Connecitcut Section of the Green Mountain Club assumes responsibility for maintaining twelve miles of the Long Trail in south-central Vermont. This trail section extends from the crossing of the Arlington - West Wardsboro Road at the East Branch of the Deerfield River, south to the summit of Glastenbury Mountain.
This section of trail also includes three overnight shelters. The northernmost, Story Spring Shelter, was built by the U.S. Forest Service in 1963. Further south, nestled in a saddle below Glastenbury Mountain, lie Caughnawaga and Kid Gore Shelters. Caughnawaga Shelter was built in 1931 by boys from Camp Najerog. Kid Gore Shelter was built in 1971 by members of the Connecticut Section, and is named in honor of Harold M. (Kid) Gore, late owner and operator of Camp Najerog.
At the summit of Glastenbury Mountain there is a fire tower originally built in 1927, and rebuilt for use by hikers as an observation tower. It is purported that from this tower it is possible to see more wilderness than at any other point along the entire Long Trail.