Camel's Hump 9/11/07 Mansfield 9/12/07

[KD Talbot]

After deciding that I was done "Peak-bagging" and was going to take my time hiking, we went to Vermont and bagged two peaks. Camel's Hump on 9/11 and Mount Mansfield on the 12th.

I have to say, I can draw a lot of similarities between Mansfield and Mount Washington. There are ways of getting to the summit other than hiking. There is an Auto Toll Road, though it is really just a drive uphill through the woods. Nothing like the MW Auto Road with it's precipitous drops as those who have driven it are aware of. There is another way, too, though it is not as glamorous as The Cog. There are gondola rides like at Wildcat that bring you within a half mile of the summit, where there is a nice restaurant. Not sure how their chili is. At least anyone riding up this way still has to make a difficult 1/2 mile climb to the summit ridge and further to the high point on "The Chin". So, the result is there are many people on the summit that didn't climb to get there, and most are as unprepared to be there as the ones on MW.

Also, like MW, Mansfield has the largest alpine zone in the state, and they go to great lengths to protect it from careless hikers and their dogs, who are required to be leashed. Emma and Jude were not thrilled, but endured to placate me. Although it stands almost 1800' lower than MW, the rock formations and vegetation reminded me of the Rockpile. There was Bigelow Sedge and Diapensia, to name a few.

The views from here are fantastic, also. To the west lies Lake Champlain and further away the Adirondacks. Of course, we could see none of this on our climb, it was completely socked in. That's why they built an Auto Road, so we could go back the next day and check out what we missed on our climb.

Though it's no Mount Washington, it's still a pretty cool place, certainly worth the climb, as was Camel's Hump. The major difference between the two is that Mansfield has all of the aforementioned amenities, along with a ski area and a huge condo development in the valley, whereas Camel's Hump has none of the above, making it much more my type of place than Mansfield.

Trip reports and pictures here:

http://ghostflowers.com/white_mtns40...hump91107.html

and:

http://ghostflowers.com/white_mtns40...ield91207.html

KDT

[Tim&Val]

Beautiful pictures - in the fog and out! I especially like the wildflower pics. I love your trail reports. They're very introspective.

Valerie

[KD Talbot]

It's always good to hear someone's reading and enjoying!

KDT

[Steve M]

It's always good to hear someone's reading and enjoying!

KDT

I always read your trip reports. The only thing that would be better would be being there with you guys!

[Brad]

It's always good to hear someone's reading and enjoying!

KDT

Don't worry. We read and enjoy.

[spyboy]

Great article and photos!

Camel's Hump was my very first hike year ago (when I lived in Vermont).

I see you took a picture of the plaque of the air crash, but did you know the wreckage is still up there (somewhere). It's very deteriorated now and I believe overgrown. I never did find it when I hiked up there.

A fun drive is to take the road from Stowe up through Smuggler's Notch to the other side (where the ski resort Smuggler's Notch is) and then drive back down towards Burlington. Up in that area is the quintessential Vermont, rolling hills, red barns, pine trees, etc.

I've lived in all 3 (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine) and even though it's a relatively short distance across the 3 states, they vary greatly in scenery, which I really enjoy.

New Hampshire is still my favorite, north of the Lakes Region. That's why I moved back here!

Kirk

[Gorque]

Great photos. I hiked up Mount Mansfield sometime in the early 80's with a group of friends. It was probably my first hike up a hill of any signifigance, occurred during the height of leaf season and the weather was outstanding.

[billysinc]

Great stuff as usual Kevin.

We did end up hiking Waumbek on Saturday. Even though it was a steady rain the thick coverage kept us from getting really soaked. It was pretty peaceful with the raindrops falling and no wind, we met a few nice folks along the way and hung out and chatted on top for a bit. We heard there were some nice views from the rockpile on top of Starr King but the cloud cover was just too low to see anything. Because of that our pictures were limited to just a few for the scrapbook.

[KD Talbot]

Nice job, Billy! I forget. You must be close to having them all, aren't you? You didn't miss much in the way of views, even the views from Starr King are limited. Pretty good of the Northern Presi's and surrounding valley. The hike is so easy you can always go back. It's a real nice snowshoe trip, and you'll see more without the foliage.

KDT