Camel's Hump, Sunday 11/02/2008

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bikehikeskifish

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On Sunday, Ed "OldMan" and I hooked up to hike Camel's Hump. The road to the state park was in fine shape although the first trace of snow appeared along the final stretch. Someone had put 20-30 jack-o-lanterns on the bridge over one of the bigger streams. I don't imagine many trick-or-treat-ers head up there, but it was cute anyway.

The first bit of trail, up to the Dean Trail Jct. is relatively flat, through open woods of mostly hardwoods (primarily birch) and with the leaves down, it was fairly easy to see the surrounding ridges. While there was only a trace of snow in the parking lot, the ground was covered shortly up the trail by about 2" or so. Sunny areas clearly had less, and the trail itself was mostly dry leaves with an occasional spot of mud. At 1.3 miles, the Dean Trail splits off to the left toward Wind Gap.



Just before Wind Gap, there are two ponds. The lower, or first one, was slightly bigger, and was frozen over (although I didn't test the thickness of the ice.) Above the pond, the Camel's Hump cliffs are clearly visible. To the left is a pair of cliffy bumps which form the north wall of Wind Gap. Speaking of wind, this was the only place aside from the summit that there was even a breeze, and it wasn't much of a breeze. I hiked in short sleeves most of the way up because there was no wind. Climbing over the cliffs above Wind Gap was challenging given the snow and ice, but not enough to require traction, just thoughtful placement of one's steps. In fact, we barebooted all the way up with no problems.

From the cliffs, there are excellent views to the Worcester Range, and of course to Camel's Hump. Also visible is Mount Ethan Allen, which forms the southern wall of Wind Gap. We weren't high enough to see beyond the Allen's yet.



Camel's Hump is visible for a while from route 89 while heading northwest. The steepness of the southern edge is apparent even from a distance. As you approach it it looks most foreboding, but the trail winds around to the west and takes a steep, but not impossibly steep, route to the top of the hump.



From the top you can see Mount Mansfield to the north, and Mount Ethan Allen (et. Al.) and Ellen and Abraham to the south. The Whites are clearly visible to the east (Moosilauke, Osceola, Kinsman Ridge, Franconia Ridge, The Twins, and the Presidential range) to the naked eye. The camera didn't like them, however :(. To the west the ADKs stand behind Lake Champlain, including the NY highpoint, Mount Marcy. Whiteface dominates the ADK view, however, as it did from Mansfield.

At the summit we had lunch, took photos and chatted with many other hikers. We decided to head down the Monroe Trail after discussing the bomber crash site with a local who informed us there wasn't anything left to see, really. About half-way down to the jct. of the LT and Monroe, it became obvious we should put on traction, and so out came the Stabilicers (Ed) and the microspikes (me). Ahhh... much better. I hope that all the folks we saw ascending in sneakers made it down safely. It wouldn't be my choice. Clearly the Monroe trail is the popular way to go - we saw many folks here, compared to 1 on the way up Dean.

About half way between the Monroe/Alpine jct and the Monroe/Dean jct., we took off the traction, as the remainder of the way down was more wet than icy. All in all, it was 8-ish miles and 3232' (according to Ed's GPS) in 5 hours and 10 minutes or so. Nice to see an undeveloped peak in VT ;)

All photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/568439560CPBOCj


Tim
 
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hey Tim

nice report on a great peak!! Glad you had such a clear day there as I agree... the Vermont VFTT are excellent encompassing the Daks, Whites and the Greens from an intersting perspective..I did not visit the crash site this year but last year we did and there was a pretty good chunk or fuselage there..I'll try to send you off a pic....
 
I had visited the crash site earlier this year with skimom, gillian, mookie and some others. I think we had headed south from the peak on the LT to reach the trail that passes the crash site...we saw a wing section i guess or part of the fuselage...can't remember really. What i do remember was that we weren't too impressed...to each his own. Camel's hump is a sweet peak with some serious views...great report!!!
 
So...

that's what it looks like! Great Tr and pics, guys! Every summit I've ever been on in Vermont has been fogged in. Said then I'd go back to this one, now I'm sure.

KDT

PS: C'mon, doesn't Old Man's avatar look like me? Huh? Huh?
 
You don't have to...

OK, he has a better smile and no hair on his cheek's, but otherwise...

kevin.jpg


:)

KDT
 
The Whites are clearly visible to the east (Moosilauke, Osceola, Kinsman Ridge, Franconia Ridge, The Twins, and the Presidential range) to the naked eye. The camera didn't like them, however.
Excellent TR, Tim!
And I can soooo relate to the camera sometimes failing to capture what the eye is seeing. Guess that’s why we have a kajillion brain cells to store the images in our head.
 
This is the best image of the Whites.



The most prominent is Moosilauke. You can almost see the Presidential Range and Big George on the horizon towards the left... Google Maps says that Washington is ~75 miles away, while Whiteface is ~50. I'm sure the direction of the sun has some impact too, plus it is just a mere Canon P&S camera.

Tim
 
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