Tim Seaver
Well-known member
This is a fun loop to do from the Huntington side of Camels Hump, and much more scenic than scurrying up and down the Burrows trail. From the winter parking lot at the terminus of the Camels Hump Road (from Huntington Center), the Forest City Connector trail (.1 mi.) heads right across a stream, down a small hill, and crosses a bridge over a chasm where it links up with the Forest City Trail proper (From here it is 3.2 miles to the summit). Easy grades lead to the Long Trail and a warning sign about attempting to follow the trail in winter.
From here the trail winds through and over humps of various sizes with fantastic views of Mount Ethan Allen and to the south, and a great view of the summit face of Camels Hump as you approach its base. Thanks to the wet and wintry mix of the last snowfall, the trees had a good frosty coat, and the trail surface snow was pretty well bonded to the ice beneath it with few bare ice patches (we used screwboots). There are a few steep bouldery areas and slabs which could be interesting in deeper snow conditions along this part of the trail, but for the time being, a good amount of hiker traffic is keeping the route pretty well defined.
The LT comes to a junction where the Alpine Trail comes in from the right just below the summit block, which then is bypassed on the left (after a rather precarious step/reach around move) through a shallow groove that winds around clockwise and gains the summit from the other side. The summit was quite cold, but just as beautiful, with thick rime ice plastering every surface. As the windchill was pretty substantial on the summit, we boogied over the top and down the LT/N to the Burrows Trail junction, lounged in the sun for a good bit and then headed down the Burrows. Highly recommended!
Some pix from the day
basic overview map of trails on the hump
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