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View Full Version : Camel's Hump - which route?



illabelle
06-28-2019, 07:44
Leaving in a couple days for a few miles in NH/VT. Flying in and out of Burlington, so figured we'd include Camel's Hump as a half-day hike. Which route and why?
Thanks!!

Deadeye
06-28-2019, 08:43
Forest City/LongTrail/Burrows Trail loop. The scramble from Montclair Glen has great views of the mountain as you climb. As a half-day you'd have to move along at a good pace.

Slo-go'en
06-28-2019, 08:54
The easiest way is the Forestry trail from the Couching Lion farm site on the east side. The shortest route is the Burrows trail from Huntington Center on the west side. Both of these trailheads are at the end of dirt roads and maybe a little tricky to find. If you expect to do this hike in half a day, I'd use the Burrows trail.

The LT approach from the north is really long. The LT approach from the south is very steep, narrow and a bit of a rock scramble, but it can be part of a loop from Couching Lion, but I would suggest going up that way instead of down. It's always easier to climb up a rock face then down it. That would be more of an all day hike.

illabelle
06-28-2019, 09:05
Thanks for the recommendations and descriptions.

The Forest City/LT/Burrows loop looks pretty good. It's not clear what the length is. I've seen both 5 miles and 7 miles. Which is it?

Our "half-day" may be closer to 3/4 of a day. We'll be at the Velvet Rocks Shelter the night before. Hike 1.4 miles to Hanover, uber/shuttle to our rental car, then drive to Camel's Hump. Depends on how long all that takes.

Slo-go'en
06-28-2019, 11:40
According to my book, the total loop is 6.8 miles and will take about 6 hours of hiking, plus some time at the top.

The hike out to Hanover won't take long, it's really easy. Camels Hump is just off of I89, which is about an 60-90 minute drive from Hanover. Finding the trailhead might take a bit, hopefully you won't get lost.

Hikingjim
06-28-2019, 13:09
Thanks for the recommendations and descriptions.

The Forest City/LT/Burrows loop looks pretty good. It's not clear what the length is. I've seen both 5 miles and 7 miles. Which is it?

Our "half-day" may be closer to 3/4 of a day. We'll be at the Velvet Rocks Shelter the night before. Hike 1.4 miles to Hanover, uber/shuttle to our rental car, then drive to Camel's Hump. Depends on how long all that takes.

I have done from the Munroe side and this exact route from burrows as well. From where you're coming from, it's easier to access the Munroe trailhead off camel's hump road.
I liked this side better, but the route options are definitely more difficult and have more elevation gain.

I would say the camel's hump trail guide is fairly accurate with the distance for the burrows loop (around 6 miles). That one took me about 3.5 hrs + around 45 min at the top. I was going fairly fast, but I think 4-5 hours actual hike time is fairly reasonable for that option, but I can see it taking longer with some of the steep terrain

illabelle
06-28-2019, 13:25
Thanks so much, guys!
Now if I could just figure out how to control the weather... :)

Deadeye
06-28-2019, 15:38
Thanks so much, guys!
Now if I could just figure out how to control the weather... :)

Let me know the date - I'll take care of it.:sun

illabelle
06-28-2019, 16:40
Let me know the date - I'll take care of it.:sun
I'm holding you to it!!!!
Saturday, July 6, 2019

To be clear, what I want is cool temperatures, not cold, cloud cover but no rain, moderate breeze. Can you handle it?
And since you're being so generous, I'd appreciate it if you'd find a way to eliminate the bugs. That would be really special. :jump:bse:dance;)

illabelle
07-05-2019, 23:28
Forecast shows thunderstorms for tomorrow’s planned hike on Camels Hump. We have our rain jackets. Should we abort? Not sure just how exposed this climb is.

Slo-go'en
07-05-2019, 23:57
Forecast shows thunderstorms for tomorrow’s planned hike on Camels Hump. We have our rain jackets. Should we abort? Not sure just how exposed this climb is.

Depends on when the storms hit, which would probably be early afternoon. The summit is very exposed, as is the decent on your proposed route. It would be quite dangerous anywhere along there in the mist of the storm. Especially if your caught on the south face rock scramble. The Crouching Lion approach via Forestry trail is better protected and quicker/safer to get back into the trees if a storm approaches. It is also the only trail to the summit rated moderate, all the other trails are rated difficult and very difficult. If your able to get a reasonably early start, you could probably pull it off, but that probably isn't possible starting at Velvet Rocks.

illabelle
07-06-2019, 06:25
We finished our section yesterday and stayed in white river Junction last night. An early-ish start is possible, and the forecast looks a little better. I can’t find the Crouching Lion trail on our map. Does it go by a different name?
Thanks for the help!

Deadeye
07-06-2019, 09:40
Sorry, missed the weather by a day... you should be here tomorrow!

illabelle
07-06-2019, 09:54
Sorry, missed the weather by a day... you should be here tomorrow!

At least you gave it a shot. We’re nearby. Going to give it a try and turn around if it gets scary.

illabelle
07-06-2019, 16:00
At least you gave it a shot. We’re nearby. Going to give it a try and turn around if it gets scary.
Six cars in the upper parking lot when we started walking about 10:30. I carried the pack for an hour then gave it to my husband when the trail got steeper. We made it to the viewpoint and ate some lunch. Just before getting there, a local couple on their way down strongly advised us not to try and go over the summit. From our lunch spot the summit looked quite intimidating. Despite a radar image that suggested the storm was another couple of hours away, the sky and the distant rumbling said otherwise. We did as advised and left the viewpoint with wind picking up. Soon we met three young guys on their way up. They were planning to turn around after the view also so no worries.
By the time we reached the forest city trail it began raining lightly. We hurried along. After a bit the distant booms and rumbles changed to the loud crackling of lightning somewhere above us. The rain intensified. We put our rain jackets on and splashed on down the trail. Rain lightened near the end.
And I counted fourteen cars in the parking lot.

4eyedbuzzard
07-06-2019, 17:49
Six cars in the upper parking lot when we started walking about 10:30. I carried the pack for an hour then gave it to my husband when the trail got steeper. We made it to the viewpoint and ate some lunch. Just before getting there, a local couple on their way down strongly advised us not to try and go over the summit. From our lunch spot the summit looked quite intimidating. Despite a radar image that suggested the storm was another couple of hours away, the sky and the distant rumbling said otherwise. We did as advised and left the viewpoint with wind picking up. Soon we met three young guys on their way up. They were planning to turn around after the view also so no worries.
By the time we reached the forest city trail it began raining lightly. We hurried along. After a bit the distant booms and rumbles changed to the loud crackling of lightning somewhere above us. The rain intensified. We put our rain jackets on and splashed on down the trail. Rain lightened near the end.
And I counted fourteen cars in the parking lot."Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." - Ed Viesturs

My daughter had a similar experience there a few years back. On their way down lightning struck several times up higher on the mountain and they were glad they made the "safe" decision.

illabelle
07-07-2019, 16:28
"Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." - Ed Viesturs

My daughter had a similar experience there a few years back. On their way down lightning struck several times up higher on the mountain and they were glad they made the "safe" decision.
It feels good to be back home and "safe."
I thought I'd share a couple pictures of Camel's Hump. The pictures are good, even if the quality isn't.
The first is taken from the ground as we were about to board - our first clear view.
45421
The second was taken from my window after the plane took off. The summit is silhouetted against the low-lying clouds in the valleys.
45419

By the way, I couldn't get them oriented correctly at first. Found this advice elsewhere and it seemed to work:

The problem when uploading pics from phones is the phone image files contain a code indicating the orientation. The vBulletin software used by HVAC-Talk doesn't recognize this code so for lack of any other instructions it will always post in landscape to save "whitespace".

When you do a minor crop to an image, it apparently changes the code to a width x height in the image file to one vBulletin understands, so then it will display it in the orientation you cropped it in.

Edit: Don't know why the thumbnails are showing up. Whatever...

Slo-go'en
07-07-2019, 20:00
Come back in the fall :)

Nice profile shots of the hump.