The Green Mountain Club urges hikers to stay off muddy and high-elevation trails lacking extensive snow or ice cover.
Rain and melting snow at higher elevations cause wet and muddy conditions on many of Vermont's hiking trails. When hikers tramp on saturated soils, they cause irreversible erosion and damage to the trail and surrounding vegetation.
“Every step not taken on a wet hiking trail today helps assure a stable tread-way tomorrow, and reduce future costly tread repairs,” said Will Wiquist, executive director of the Green Mountain Club. “Please help prevent soil erosion by staying off the trails during mud season.”
Colleen Madrid, forest supervisor for the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests, agrees: “It is important that trail systems are given adequate time to drain properly and to dry up some before they experience heavy use this season. Staying off trails that are still wet and muddy reduces the need for additional maintenance and helps to minimize trail re-routes and erosion,” she said.
Hiking trails on land managed by the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation and Green Mountain Club are closed until Memorial Day. Hikers are also strongly discouraged from using hiking trails in the Green Mountain National Forest.
If you do hike during mud season, bear these tips in mind:
• Walk through the mud, not around it. If a trail is so muddy that you need to walk on the vegetation beside it, turn back, and seek an alternative area to hike.
• Hike in the lower-elevation hardwood forest (unless it is muddy) with southern exposure (south-facing slopes dry out first in spring). Avoid the spruce-fir (conifer) forests at higher elevations.
• Watch your footing on snow and ice. Be prepared for slippery and snowy conditions no matter how warm it is at home.
• Bring a warm extra layer, as mountaintops are chilly year-round, and Vermont's weather can change quickly ... and pack an extra pair of dry socks.
• Stay hydrated and bring food for long hikes.
Generally, along the route of the Long Trail, the national forest exists south from Mt. Ellen in Warren and the state parks and forests exist north of Appalachian Gap in Buels Gore, in Chittenden County, including more than 25,000 acres conserved by the Green Mountain Club.
The Green Mountain Club relies on roughly 1,000 volunteers annually as well as dozens of seasonal trail crew staffers and summit and shelter caretakers to keep up with the enormous task of maintaining more than 500 miles of Vermont hiking trails.
The club is the founder and maintainer of the 272-mile Long Trail, and maintains the Appalachian Trail in Vermont and a new trail in the Northeast Kingdom.