Thru-Hikers and Festival in Vermnot

"Willem Lange is a writer, storyteller and retired contractor who lives in East Montpelier. His column appears each week in the Living section of the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus." This week's column came out on 26 August 2007 and was titled "Yankee Notebook: True north."

Among the other things that Lange writes, he says

"August is the month that the Appalachian Trail thru-hikers pass through this part of New England, and meeting them and learning their trail names is always a pleasant experience. Vermont's 270-mile Long Trail was celebrated this week at a festival on the Vermont State Fairgrounds in Rutland. A section of the lawn beside the grandstand bloomed with bright-colored domed mountain tents, bluegrass music floated everywhere, and soft-spoken men and women in shorts and boots sat and swapped stories of life on the trail."

Gotta love those soft-spoken hikers.