Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Big day today with three challenging mountains so I started a little earlier than usual, departing at 7:15 a.m. First up was the iconic Camel's Hump, one of the five 4,000-footers in Vermont (all on the Long Trail, of course). Luckily, the weather was perfect.
After a 3.9-mile hike, I made it to the summit. Unlike Mt. Mansfield, which I hiked on a Sunday with all of the weekend hikers and sightseers, I had this summit mostly to myself. The views were breathtaking. Two younger hikers from Quebec were kind enough to take my photo in my usual "top of the world/reverse Titanic" pose. Days like this make the suck worth embracing.
Getting off of Camel's Hump was a little scary but I got through it. The only casualty was my surviving trekking pole. It snapped as I was negotiating the tricky descent. Like last time, I was able to find another piece of wood that would suffice. I now had a matching set of old school hiking sticks. I could only laugh because I'd cry otherwise. My high-tech poles were no match for the rugged north. They were super lightweight and now I knew why - because there wasn't much to them!
Ethan Allen was next and a lot of work. It didn’t have much of a view from the top given its height but nothing I could do about that. I continued on to Burnt Rock, which was harder than I thought it was going to be but still fun. A lot of rock scrambles and challenging steps. There’s even a rope tied to a tree to help get up and over one of the sections. Yikes! I got lucky with picture perfect conditions and some cool views but I can't imagine doing this descent in wet weather.
Finally got into camp at 4:45 p.m. at Cowles Cove Shelter. It was a long, hard day but a satisfying one. Days like this are why we hike.
