Mile 8.8 — Division 7 — Elev. 2450 ft

Built in 1959 by the Middlebury Mountain Club, Middlebury College’s oldest student organization, this lodge located 100 feet behind the Voter-White shelter served Middlebury Snow Bowl skiers in the winter, and Long Trail hikers the rest of the year.  The Cabin had double walls, a big stove. and its 16′ x 24′ dimensions could accommodate 36 campers.  

Unfortunately, the Middlebury Mountain Club’s hospitality was abused by vandals, and by 1966 Montpelier Section member, Marion Gorham, reported the lodge to be in poor condition.

The Green Mountain Club attempted to attenuate the slow destruction by including Worth Mountain Lodge in its Adopt-A-Shelter Program.  Finding volunteers proved difficult but in 1980 Herb Reed, Director of the program announced:

Brian Fitzgerald and his wife of Poultney, who recently returned from a stay in Alaska , are our latest adopters. They took on the mammoth job of adopting Worth Mountain Lodge. That has been bypassed this summer by hikers because of its sad and unsanitary condition. Hopefully arrangements can be made with the Middlebury Mountain Club, which owns the building, to upgrade it.

By 2011, continued vandalism, improper use, and an unstable foundation forced the club to decommission the lodge.  It was replaced by Burgin Lodge, a locked cabin, closed to hikers. 

Reed, Herb. “‘Job Well Done’ By Shelter Adopters.” Long Trail News, November 1, 1980.

Gorham, Marion. “Montpelier Section” Long Trail News XXVI, no. 1 (1966): 3.