Camel's Hump State Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Camel's Hump State Park |
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View from the summit of Camel's Hump looking southward.
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| Type | State park |
| Location | Vermont, USA |
| Nearest city | Burlington, Vermont |
| Area | 21,224 acres (8,589 ha) |
| Created | 1969 |
| Operated by | Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation |
| Open | All year |
| Website | https://vtstateparks.com/camelshump.html |
Camel's Hump State Park is a large state park in Vermont, USA. It covers over 21,000 acres, making it the biggest state park in Vermont. The park is located in the northern Green Mountains. It stretches from Vermont Route 17 in the south to the Winooski River in the north.
The most important natural feature in the park is Camel's Hump. This mountain is the third highest in Vermont, standing at 4,085 feet (1,245 meters) tall. The very top of Camel's Hump has a special area of alpine tundra. This is a unique environment where only small, tough plants can grow because of the high altitude and cold weather. This area is part of the protected Camel's Hump Natural Area within the park.
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Visiting the Park
Camel's Hump State Park is a wild and natural place. It doesn't have a phone, visitor centers, or an entry fee. You can get into the park from many different parking areas and trails.
Popular Starting Points
The two most popular places to start your adventure are the Burrows Trailhead near Huntington and the Monroe Trailhead near Duxbury. In 2016, almost 26,000 people visited these two spots! There are also other parking areas, but they are further from Camel's Hump.
Easy Access Trail
At the Monroe Trailhead, you can find the Camel's Hump View Trail. This trail is about 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long. It's designed to be easy for everyone to use, with gentle slopes and a wide path. There are benches along the way where you can rest and enjoy a great view of Camel's Hump.
Exploring the Trails
The park is a hiker's paradise with many trails, including parts of two famous long-distance trails.
The Long Trail
The Long Trail is a very long hiking path that goes all the way through Vermont. About 21 miles (34 km) of this trail run through Camel's Hump State Park. It starts in the south at Appalachian Gap and winds north, crossing the summit of Camel's Hump. It then continues to a footbridge over the Winooski River at the park's northern edge.
Here are some of the interesting spots you'll find along the Long Trail within the park:
| Distance northbound | Feature | Approximate altitude | Distance southbound | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| miles | km | feet | m | miles | km | |
| 21.0 | 33.8 | Winooski River Footbridge | 315 | 96 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 18.7 | 30.1 | Parking lot on Duxbury Road | 400 | 120 | 2.3 | 3.7 |
| 18.1 | 29.1 | Gleason Brook Bridge | 580 | 180 | 2.9 | 4.7 |
| 16.0 | 25.7 | Spur to Bamforth Ridge Shelter | 1,970 | 600 | 5.0 | 8.0 |
| 13.6 | 21.9 | Junction: Alpine Trail | 2,930 | 890 | 7.4 | 11.9 |
| 13.2 | 21.2 | Gorham Spring | 3,400 | 1,000 | 7.8 | 12.6 |
| 12.8 | 20.6 | Hut Clearing Junction: Burrows Trail Junction: Monroe Trail |
3,800 | 1,200 | 8.2 | 13.2 |
| 12.5 | 20.1 | Camel's Hump | 4,083 | 1,244 | 8.5 | 13.7 |
| 12.3 | 19.8 | Junction: Alpine Trail | 3,800 | 1,200 | 8.7 | 14.0 |
| 10.8 | 17.4 | Wind Gap Junction: Allis Trail Junction: Dean Trail |
2,800 | 850 | 10.2 | 16.4 |
| 10.6 | 17.1 | Montclair Glen Lodge Junction: Forest City Trail |
2,670 | 810 | 10.4 | 16.7 |
| 10.4 | 16.7 | Junction: Allis Trail | 2,890 | 880 | 10.6 | 17.1 |
| 9.6 | 15.4 | Mount Ethan Allen | 3,688 | 1,124 | 11.4 | 18.3 |
| 8.5 | 13.7 | Mount Ira Allen (east slope) | 3,460 | 1,050 | 12.5 | 20.1 |
| 7.0 | 11.3 | Burnt Rock Mountain | 3,168 | 966 | 14.0 | 22.5 |
| 6.4 | 10.3 | Junction: Hedgehog Brook Trail | 2,800 | 850 | 14.6 | 23.5 |
| 5.5 | 8.9 | Cowles Cove Shelter | 2,520 | 770 | 15.5 | 24.9 |
| 4.1 | 6.6 | Huntington Gap | 2,217 | 676 | 16.9 | 27.2 |
| 2.6 | 4.2 | Birch Glen Camp Junction: Beane Trail |
2,020 | 620 | 18.4 | 29.6 |
| 1.3 | 2.1 | Molly Stark's Balcony | 2,900 | 880 | 19.7 | 31.7 |
| 1.1 | 1.8 | Molly Stark Mountain | 2,967 | 904 | 19.9 | 32.0 |
| 0.3 | 0.5 | Baby Stark Mountain | 2,863 | 873 | 20.7 | 33.3 |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | Appalachian Gap | 2,377 | 725 | 21.0 | 33.8 |
One part of the Long Trail, from Duxbury Road to the summit of Camel's Hump, involves a huge climb. Hikers gain 3,683 feet (1,123 meters) in just 6.2 miles (10 km). This is the biggest climb on the entire Long Trail!
Other Trails
The Catamount Trail is another long trail, about 300 miles (480 km) long, used for cross-country skiing. It also passes through the park. It crosses the Long Trail at Huntington Gap and then goes north along the western side of the park.
For winter fun, the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) keeps three snowmobile trails open in the park. These trails are VAST 17, VAST 17A, and VAST 100A.
If you like mountain biking, Phen Basin in the park's southeast corner is a popular spot. You'll find trails like the Chain Gang Trail and the East Loop Trail there.
Camping in the Park
Camping options in Camel's Hump State Park are limited. If you need more camping facilities, you can check out Little River State Park nearby.
Shelters and Lodges
The Green Mountain Club manages places to stay along the Long Trail. These include two three-sided shelters and two four-sided lodges. They are called Birch Glen Camp, Cowles Cove Shelter, Montclair Glen Lodge, and Bamforth Ridge Shelter. There's a small fee to stay overnight, and you can only stay for two nights. You can't make reservations ahead of time.
Each shelter and lodge also has wooden platforms nearby where you can set up a tent.
Tent Camping
The only dedicated tent camping area in the park is the Hump Brook Tenting Area. It has 30 tent sites, and there's a fee for staying overnight here.
You can also do "primitive camping" in the park. This means camping away from trails, roads, and water, below 2,500 feet (760 meters) in elevation. You must follow state guidelines and Leave No Trace principles to protect the environment.
Park History
The forests of Camel's Hump State Park have an interesting history.
Logging and Fire
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, most of the trees in the park were cut down. By the end of the 19th century, Camel's Hump was almost completely bare, except for a few remote spots at the highest elevations. To make things worse, a huge fire in 1903 burned thousands of acres. It spared some forests on the western side of Camel's Hump but burned almost everywhere else. Many of the trees you see today on the eastern side of the mountain grew after that fire.
Joseph Battell's Gift
Around the same time, a man named Joseph Battell bought a lot of forest land in the Green Mountains. He was a publisher and cared a lot about nature. In 1891, he bought Camel's Hump and over 1,100 acres of forest around it.
In 1911, he sold these lands to the State of Vermont for just one dollar! He wanted to make sure the mountain and its forests were protected forever. The deed he signed said that the trees should not be cut, except to build paths, and that the whole forest should stay in its natural, "primeval" state.
Because of Joseph Battell's wishes, the Vermont government created the Camel's Hump Forest Reserve in 1969. They also officially named the state lands within it Camel's Hump State Park. A special "ecological area" was set up to protect rare plants, natural habitats, and the wild feeling of the park. This area includes the land that Battell gave to the state.
