December 30th, 2015 by Matthew Podolsky, WILD LENS
This is a very special BONUS episode of the podcast! We have been given permission by the Vermont Historical Society to air an archival interview with Catherine Robbins Clifford. Catherine was a member of the Three Musketeers – a group of three women who in 1927 became the first female hikers to complete the entire Long Trail.
The interview was recorded in 1987 for the Vermont Public Radio “Green Mountain Chronicles”, but only a few short clips from Catherine’s interview were actually included in the 3 minute radio spot about the history of the Long Trail.
Today we are releasing a much more complete version of this historic interview – a full 45 minutes of stories and conversation with one of the very first women to hike the Long Trail. While some of the stories that Catherine shares clearly come from a different time in history, many of the stories speak to the universal nature of life on a long distance hiking trail.
Catherine shares stories about difficulties encountered early on in the hike – we hear about getting lost, meeting people on the trail, setting up camp, and going into town to resupply. There are also stories that are clearly unique to Catherine’s experience on the trail – catching a view of Charles Lindbergh flying overhead, and stealing glimpses of newspaper headlines about their adventure.
All in all, it is a fascinating look at what it was like to hike the Long Trail end-to-end at a very different time in our country’s history.
Click link to article and Podcast: http://wildlensinc.org/eoc-051-the-three-musketeers-on-the-long-trail-in-1927/
