Sucker Brook Shelter

In the early 1960s, the U.S. Forest Service planned to replace Sucker Brook Shelter, an older structure that had served hikers on the Long Trail in Vermont’s Division VII. Under the direction of District Ranger Evans E. Lutz of the Middlebury District, the Forest Service completed construction of a new shelter at Sucker Brook,
built by the U.S. Forest Service in 1963.

This fine new shelter, of pre-cut lumber construction, replaced the old Sucker Brook Shelter which had been built by the Lake Pleiad Section of the GMC way back in 1921.
The frame shelter, with bunk space for 6 to 8, was designed as a lean-to structure accessible to hikers on the Long Trail. Sucker Brook, crossing the Long Trail 80 ft. to the south, supplies the water, though water is found at Sucker Brook 50 ft further down the Sucker Brook Trail.

The shelter’s location placed it squarely within U.S. Forest Service-maintained territory. The portion of the Trail between Sucker Brook Shelter and Skyline Lodge is maintained by the Middlebury (College) Mountain Club for the USFS, though maintenance responsibilities have shifted over the decades. By 2014, the Bread Loaf Section of the Green Mountain Club maintained Sucker Brook Shelter to Emily Proctor Shelter, a responsibility that continued into subsequent years.

The shelter has been in use from 1963 to present. In 1983, volunteer trail workers observed that the Long Trail originally passed in front of the shelter, but the trail was later relocated to follow the ridge east of the structure, which proved to be better situated. In 2020, the shelter received improvements when the Sucker Brook Shelter privy received a long-desired upgrade, replaced with a more sustainable moldering system. The shelter continues to serve Long Trail hikers seeking overnight shelter in this section of Vermont’s mountains.

Sources

  • Long Trail News 1961 (1961). Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Long Trail News 1963 (1963). Green Mountain Club. 2.
  • Long Trail News 1966 (1966). Green Mountain Club. 8.
  • Ridgelines (Burlington) 1971 (1971). Burlington Section, Green Mountain Club. 2.
  • Ridgelines (Burlington) 1977 (1977). Burlington Section, Green Mountain Club. 1.
  • Long Trail News 1982 (1982). Green Mountain Club. 5.
  • Long Trail News 1994 (1994). Green Mountain Club. 11.
  • Long Trail News 2001 (2001). Green Mountain Club. 8.
  • Long Trail News 2014 (2014). Green Mountain Club. 20.
  • Long Trail News 2014 (2014). Green Mountain Club. 26.
  • Long Trail News 2015 (2015). Green Mountain Club. 24.
  • Long Trail News 2016 (2016). Green Mountain Club. 24.
  • Long Trail News 2019 (2019). Green Mountain Club. 32.
  • Long Trail News 2020 (2020). Green Mountain Club. 15.
  • Long Trail News 2020 (2020). Green Mountain Club. 14.
  • Long Trail News 2020 (2020). Green Mountain Club. 30.
  • Ridgelines (Burlington) 2021 (2021). Burlington Section, Green Mountain Club. 4.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 17 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1963. Pp. 40.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 18 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1966. Pp. 40.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 19 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1968. Pp. 40.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 20 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1971. Pp. 44.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 21 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1977. Pp. 51.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 21 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1977. Pp. 50.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 22 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1983. Pp. 50.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 22 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1983. Pp. 87.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 22 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1983. Pp. 49.
  • Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 23 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1985. Pp. 55.
  • Woodward, Paul & Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History. 2nd ed. Green Mountain Club, 1999. Pp. 103.
  • Woodward, Paul & Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History. 2nd ed. Green Mountain Club, 1999. Pp. 103.