The Hump Brook Tenting Area first appeared in the 21st edition of the Long Trail Guide Book, published by the Green Mountain Club in 1977 — a date that suggests it was established in the mid-1970s, during the period of most intensive effort to formalize backcountry management on the mountain. The 22nd edition (1981) and 23rd edition (1985) continued to describe the area, reflecting its integration into the standard infrastructure of the Camel’s Hump corridor.
The site occupies a forested bench alongside Hump Brook, roughly 1.5 miles from the trailhead and about 0.3 miles off the Dean Trail via a signed spur. The brook provides water; the surrounding mixed forest of yellow birch, sugar maple, and balsam fir offers shade and shelter. With 30 tent platforms and campsites, it is the largest dedicated tent camping area in Camel’s Hump State Park and the only one of its kind on the mountain — a fact that underscores its importance as the primary managed alternative to dispersed camping.
The tent platforms — raised wooden frames that lift campers off the ground, protect the underlying vegetation, and concentrate impact on a small hardened surface — represent the standard of care that the GMC and Vermont State Parks brought to backcountry camping in this era. A caretaker’s quarters serves the site seasonally, continuing the tradition of on-site educational presence that Ken Boyd pioneered at Bolton Lodge in the late 1960s. The caretaker collects a nominal overnight fee from campers, a practice begun across the Long Trail system in the 1970s to help finance the caretaker program.
"Tent platforms nearby. Water from Hump Brook. Caretaker on duty in season; fee charged."
— Long Trail Guide Book, 23rd edition (1985)
Long-Term Stewardship: 1990s to the Present
The Long Trail News chronicled the ongoing life of the Hump Brook Tenting Area through the 1990s and into the twenty-first century. References to the site appear in issues from 1990 through 2020 — a span that reflects not dramatic events but the steady work of maintenance, improvement, and seasonal stewardship that keeps a backcountry campsite functional year after year. Platform replacement, privy construction and relocation, trail rehabilitation on the heavily-used access spur, and periodic survey of ecological conditions around the site all figure in this record.
By 2015, bear problems had developed at Hump Brook Tenting Area, with hikers encountering bears repeatedly. In response to these conflicts, a steel bear box was installed at the site.
Sources
- Camel’s Hump State Park – Wikipedia. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel’s_Hump_State_Park.
- Vermont State Parks – Camel’s Hump. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://www.vtstateparks.com/parks/camels-hump.
- Long Trail News 1990 (1990). Green Mountain Club. 19.
- Long Trail News 1990 (1990). Green Mountain Club. 16.
- Long Trail News 1991 (1991). Green Mountain Club. 17.
- Long Trail News 1993 (1993). Green Mountain Club. 9.
- Ridgelines (Burlington) 1998 (1998). Burlington Section, Green Mountain Club. 3.
- Long Trail News 2000 (2000). Green Mountain Club. 11.
- Long Trail News 2002 (2002). Green Mountain Club. 6.
- Long Trail News 2003 (2003). Green Mountain Club. 10.
- Trail Talk (Montpelier) 2004 (2004). Montpelier Section, Green Mountain Club. 8.
- Long Trail News 2011 (2011). Green Mountain Club. 31.
- Long Trail News 2012 (2012). Green Mountain Club. 14.
- Long Trail News 2016 (2016). Green Mountain Club. 11.
- Long Trail News 2017 (2017). Green Mountain Club. 21.
- Long Trail News 2019 (2019). Green Mountain Club. 18.
- Long Trail News 2019 (2019). Green Mountain Club. 19.
- Long Trail News 2019 (2019). Green Mountain Club. 7.
- Long Trail News 2020 (2020). Green Mountain Club. 23.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 21 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1977. Pp. 64.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 22 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1983. Pp. 63.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 22 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1983. Pp. 88.
- Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book. 23 ed. Green Mountain Club, 1985. Pp. 67.
