Elevation: 2,242 ft (overall) 2,758 ft (total)
Time: 2:14 (Summit) 3:50 (Lodge) 4:41 (Total)
Trails: Burrows Trail, Long Trail, Alpine Trail, Long Trail, Forest City Trail, Connector Trail
I've been concentrating mostly on New England Hundred Highest (NEHH) peaks lately. Having not been on a 4000 footer for a while, I decided it was time to get back to them at least briefly. I decided to go back to Camel's Hump in Vermont. I'd been here only once before during my NE67 in one year attempt and it was a great peak. So I came back, but this time hiked from the western side instead of the eastern side. While doing the peak as a loop from the west, I decided to make a quick side trip to some of the plane wreckage on the mountain as well.
Nice gentle trail to start
I started up the Burrows Trail which eases into things smoothly, but it a bit rocky to start. Being a popular route up the mountain though, that isn't too surprising. It was predicted to be hot today, and it didn't take long before things were warming up. There wasn't much breeze in the trees either. The trail gradually works out of the hardwoods and into the softwoods. As it does this, it gets a bit steeper as well. As the trail steepens, it also becomes more rocky. It's still pretty good footing, just mostly over exposed rock.
Trail getting steeper and rockier
Just before the hut clearing, the trail levels off mostly with one quick and short descent just before the opening. The opening is a nice resting spot before the last push to the summit, and plenty of other hikers were making their way up and down through here. After a short rest and a few pictures, I headed up for the summit. The last hike to the summit starts with some steep stuff over rocky terrain. But soon it starts to come out of the trees and becomes a little less steep. Before long you are at the open summit and its 360 degrees views.
Coming out of the trees
At the summit it was a comfortable 65 degrees with a nice 10-15 mph breeze. A nice feeling after being in the trees. It was a bit hazy today, but the views were still quite nice. There was a decent crowd at the summit for a warm weekday. I talked with the head caretaker of the Vermont huts though, and he said it was about average. Significantly fewer than if it were the weekend.
View north from the summit
View east from the summit
View west from the summit
After spending nearly an hour at the summit, it was time to get moving again. I continued south on the Long Trail which loops around the summit some to avoid a steep drop off before crossing the bottom of it. After a short distance in the trees though, I headed down the Alpine Trail towards the plane wreckage. While I believe there is some wreckage right on the trail, I turned onto the first herd path that heads out to one of the wings. Most of the debris has been cleaned up or scavenged, but it's still kind of neat to see what is still there. It's sad though that the crash happened and as many people lost their lives as they did.
Large drop off on the southern side of the summit
Plane wreckage - Wing
Plane wreckage - Landing gear in the wing
Back on the Long Trail, I kept heading south. The trail descends steeply for a while before finally leveling off some. It's a bit rocky, but again footing was good. I saw more hikers through here than I expected since it was already part way into the afternoon. After the trail has leveled off for a while with a few views scattered along it, there is one last steep descent before the Forest City Trail. This descent also lead through a with very large boulders on both sides of the trail, making for a narrow passage between them.
Narrow boulder filled trail
Only about 100-200 feet past the Forest City Trail is the Montclair Glen Lodge and tent sites. A nice small hut/shelter where hikers can rest and sleep. I headed over too it took a break while checking it out. It's an interesting little shelter and about what I was expecting for something up on the mountains.
Montclair Glen Lodge
From the shelter back down to the car was an easy mostly gentle hike. It was a pretty easy grade headed down without many rocks. I was able to make good time through here and was at the junction with the Connector Trail back to the parking lot in what seemed like little time. There is an interesting bridge here over the brook, so I took some pictures. I then made my way down to the water so I could fill up the 2 now empty water bottles I had with cold water I would use back at the car to clean up my legs and dump over my head to cool down. And after a quick climb uphill to the car, I did just that.
Bridge on the Connector Trail
The hike went well today and I was glad to be back onto a 4K. I'm glad I did the hike in the direction that I did. While the other direction would have had a lot of easy or gradual inclines, it seemed like the steep parts would have been more tiring after the extra distance. All in all it was a good day even with temps back near 90 down at the car afterwards.
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
Google Earth representation of the hike
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