Camel's Hump State Park is a state park in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. The park straddles the northern

Green Mountains The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is i ...

in an area bounded by Vermont Route 17 on the south and the

Winooski River The Winooski River (formerly the Onion River) is a tributary of Lake Champlain, approximately long, in the northern half of Vermont. Although not Vermont's longest river, it is one of the state's most significant, forming a major valley way from ...

on the north. As of 2017, the park covered a total of , making it the largest state park in Vermont. The primary natural feature in the park is

Camel's Hump Camel's Hump (alternatively Camels Hump) is a mountain in the Green Mountains in the U.S. state of Vermont. The north slope of the mountain borders the Winooski River, which has carved through the Green Mountains over eons. At , it is tied (with ...

, the third highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

in Vermont at . The summit of Camel's Hump, which is surrounded by of alpine tundra, is the focal point of Camel's Hump Natural Area, a protected area in the heart of Camel's Hump State Park.

Public access

Camel's Hump State Park has no phone, no visitor facilities, and no entry fee. The park is publicly accessible from numerous undeveloped parking lots and trails. The most popular access points are the Burrows Trailhead east of Huntington and the Monroe Trailhead south of

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

. In 2016, almost 26,000 visitors signed the trail registers at these two trailheads. Parking is also available along Vermont Route 17 at

Appalachian Gap The Appalachian Gap is a mountain pass in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The highest point of the pass is located in Chittenden County, about west of the boundary between Chittenden and Washington County. The pass is in the Camel's Hump St ...

in Buels Gore and along Duxbury Road west of Duxbury, but these parking areas are much further from Camel's Hump and therefore less popular. At the Monroe Trailhead, the Camel's Hump View Trail is a universally accessible trail with easy grades, a wide path, and several benches along the way. From the trail, there is a fine view of Camel's Hump to the west.

Trails

The

Long Trail The Long Trail is a hiking trail located in Vermont, running the length of the state. It is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States, constructed between 1910 and 1930 by the Green Mountain Club. The club remains the primary organiza ...

, a hiking trail running the length of Vermont, enters the southern edge of the park at Appalachian Gap along Vermont Route 17, winding northward along the ridge of the Green Mountains before reaching a footbridge that crosses the Winooski River on the park's northern boundary. This section of the Long Trail traverses the summit of Camel's Hump and other significant features: The southbound trail from the parking lot on Duxbury Road over the Bamforth Ridge to the summit of Camel's Hump climbs in , the largest vertical climb on the entire length of the Long Trail. The

Catamount Trail The Catamount Trail is a long-distance, Nordic ski trail that spans the length of Vermont, extending more than from the border with Massachusetts at Readsboro, Vermont to the Canada–United States border at North Troy, Vermont. History The tra ...

, a cross-country ski trail, enters the southeastern corner of the park along Vermont Route 17. It crosses the Long Trail at Huntington Gap approximately north of the park’s southern boundary, and then heads due north, skirting the western edge of the park’s lower elevations. The Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) maintains three snowmobile trails within the park: VAST 17, which is long, south of Camel’s Hump; VAST 17A, which is long, south of Camel’s Hump; and VAST 100A, which is long, south and east of Camel’s Hump. VAST 17 intersects both the Long Trail and the Catamount Trail at Huntington Gap. Phen Basin in the southeast corner of Camel's Hump State Park is a popular mountain biking destination. There are numerous trails in the area including the Chain Gang Trail and the East Loop Trail. Parking is available at the end of Bassett Hill Road and at the end of Stagecoach Road, both in Fayston.

Camping

Camping in Camel's Hump State Park is limited. Additional camping facilities are available at nearby Little River State Park. The Green Mountain Club operates two shelters (3-sided) and two lodges (4-sided) on the Long Trail (from south to north): Birch Glen Camp, Cowles Cove Shelter, Montclair Glen Lodge, and Bamforth Ridge Shelter. There is a nominal fee for overnight use of a shelter or lodge as well as a 2-night limit. Reservations are not accepted. Each shelter and lodge has at least one wooden platform nearby for campers. The only dedicated tent camping area in the park is the Hump Brook Tenting Area with 30 tent sites. Overnight use of the latter requires a fee. Primitive camping is allowed in Camel's Hump State Park below , away from trails, roads, and water, in accordance with state primitive camping guidelines and Leave No Trace principles.

History

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the forests of Camel’s Hump State Park were extensively logged. Except for some remote pockets at the highest elevations, Camel’s Hump was almost completely denuded by the end of the nineteenth century. To make matters worse, a great fire burned thousands of acres in 1903, sparing some of the forests along the western flank of Camel’s Hump but burning almost everywhere else. Many of the trees that now cover the eastern flank of Camel’s Hump had their start in the aftermath of that fire. About the same time,

Joseph Battell Joseph Battell (July 15, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was a publisher and philanthropist from Middlebury, Vermont. Battell is credited with preserving Vermont forest land including the land for Camel's Hump State Park. The Joseph Batte ...

, a publisher, environmentalist, and philanthropist from Middlebury, purchased over of forest land in the Green Mountains. In particular, in 1891 he purchased Camel's Hump along with of surrounding forest. In 1911, he sold these lands (for one dollar) to the State of Vermont. The deed declared: In accordance with Battell's wishes, in 1969 the Vermont legislature established Camel's Hump Forest Reserve and designated the state lands in the reserve as Camel's Hump State Park. An ecological area was created "to protect scarce and rare plants, to preserve the natural habitat, and to maintain the wilderness aspect" of the park. The ecological area includes the land conveyed by Battell in 1911.

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References