Camel's Hump (4,083 ft) 8-5-16

Distance: 6.48 mi.
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

Mt. Monadnock (3,165 ft) 7-27-16

Distance: 9.59 mi.
Elevation: 1,832 ft (overall) 2,489 ft (total)
Time: 3:24 (Summit) 4:30 (Park HQ) 5:58 (Total)
Trails: Ravine Trail, Pond Loop Trail, Birchtoft Trail, Red Spot Trail, Pumpelly Trail, White Dot Trail, Poole Road, Hinkley Trail, Birchtoft Trail, Pond Loop Trail

After a week driving around Maine for vacation, I stuck close to home for my most recent hike. With the personal goal of re-hiking all the trails on the Mt. Monadnock map in the upward direction again, it was time for a longer loop hike on the mountain with trails I haven't been on for a while. I wanted to get a number of trails checked off, so I started from the Gilson Pond trail head, since I could easily link a few together there. It's also the trail head I probably hike from the least, so it was time to get back there.

The first trail I wanted to hike was the Ravine Trail. A short little trail that is used very little and most people probably don't even know exists. To access the end that is lower in elevation, I needed to walk through the campground to get to the loop that goes to the remote campsites. You'll follow this path until just after the first remote campsite (tent pad on your right) where the trail starts on the left. Normally this trail follows a bit of a brook, but with the dry weather lately, it was a few spots of standing water today. This trail is only 0.29 miles, so pretty quickly I was at the junction with the Pond Loop Trail. Planning to hike this trail on the way back, I headed left to get to the start of the Birchtoft Trail. While going around the lake, I noticed a deer along shore where I would soon be going past on the Birchtoft Trail. I made sure to be quiet in hopes that I would be able to get close to it. I didn't bother getting my camera out though.

Ravine Trail

Starting out on the Birchtoft Trail, right where expected, the deer heard me coming and ran away from the pond. Unexpectedly, she stopped right next to the trail giving me a great view of her. The trail starts off very gentle even as it leaves the pond. Good footing and just a gentle incline. A nice way to warm up. After a few turns and some small ups and downs, I got to the junction with the Hinkley Trail which I planned to hike back on later today. After here it gets a bit more steep, but it's still not bad. Shortly before the end is the steepest section, just before it levels out and comes to the Cascade Link which you'll follow for less than 100 feet to the start of the Red Spot Trail.

Elevated rock along the Birchtoft Trail

The Red Spot Trail starts off easy as well, gradually getting steeper. As it goes up, it also becomes more rocky. For one section it's a pretty constant rock hope from one small rock to another. A little later it gets steeper and goes through a section of large rocks and then over some open slabs. Ample trail markers do well guiding you over the open areas so you go back into the trees in the correct spot. There weren't as many blueberries through here today as I was expecting. It was pretty hit or miss, possibly due to the dry weather. Near the top of the trail, you start going in and out of the trees again while the trail almost levels out just before the Pumpelly Trail. From here it's a pretty short hike over open rock to the summit.

Large rocks on the Red Spot Trail

Nearing the Pumpelly Trail

The summit was less crowded than I expected, but it was a weekday and the temperature has been a bit high this week. While at the summit, it was a comfortable 76 degrees with an 8 mph breeze. For my decent, I headed down the White Dot Trail instead of going back down the Red Spot. I normally avoid the trails from the park headquarters, but I was hoping Falcon Spring would be running and I could top off my water before making my way down to the Hinkley Trail. I made quick work of the decent passing a few descending hikers and some groups coming up. As I neared Falcon Spring, I could hear a number of people and took that as a good sign it was running and others were topping off as well.

Summit view north

Summit view west

White Dot Trail

After some refreshing water at the spring, I continued my quick descent down. There were either a number of groups headed up, or just one huge group. There must have been 100 people all right near each other as I neared the park headquarters. I was glad to be headed the other way. Passing right through the parking lot, I headed down the side of Poole Road until I got to the Hinkley Trail. The trail isn't obvious as there is no parking and the sign is around 100 feet into the woods, but if you are looking for it, you should be able to find it.

Falcon Spring

The Hinkley Trail is a nice lesser used trail. It's mostly flat for the entire length and follows a brook for a while. Today the brook was pretty much dried up though and not as nice as normal. Today the 1.21 mile hike up the trail went by pretty quickly and I was soon at the Birchtoft Trail again. I hiked back down to the pond again in quick time also. Then I turned left and headed back around the pond so I could hike the Pond Loop Trail again. The loop is around 3/4 of a mile with no real ups or downs as it follows the edge of the pond just off shore. Once done, I headed back along the campground roads to the parking lot and my car. Time for a nice rest after a nearly 10 mile hike on a hot sunny day.

Start of the Hinkley Trail

Hinkley Trail

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

Google Earth representation of the hike