Tall Timber Camp was a private farm property on Old Turnpike Road in Mendon, Vermont, that served the Green Mountain Club as a tenting area and gathering place for more than half a century. Owned first by Craigue S. Perkins — GMC President in the 1950s and one of the Killington Section’s most prominent members — and then by his son Robert "Bob" Perkins, the camp hosted GMC Annual Meetings, the 1958 Intersectional, section outings, and trail work parties. The property’s farmhouse, barn, tenting grounds, and pond gave the club a versatile base near Long Trail Lodge. The Canty Trail to Blue Ridge Mountain began at the property’s edge, threading between the house and barn before climbing into the Green Mountain National Forest. Bob Perkins sold the property sometime before 2014, reserving a trail easement for the GMC, but the Killington Section subsequently relocated the Canty Trail trailhead entirely onto USFS land. The camp structures remain standing but are no longer affiliated with the GMC.
Setting
Old Turnpike Road — called Elbow Road in some sources — branches south from US 4 in Mendon, Vermont, passing through open farmland before entering the foothills west of the Coolidge Range. The road lies 3.7 miles west of the Long Trail crossing at Sherburne Pass and approximately 10 miles east of Rutland. At a point 0.5 miles from US 4, the Canty Trail — the GMC’s blue-blazed route up Blue Ridge Mountain — begins, having historically followed a lane across the Perkins farm before entering the national forest.
The property itself comprised a farmhouse, a large barn, open tenting grounds, and a pond. The pond was called Half Moon Pond and lay near a small rental cottage on the property. Together these facilities gave the GMC something unusual for a private member’s farm: a self-contained venue capable of hosting scores of campers, serving as a staging area for hikes to Killington, Pico, and Blue Ridge Mountain, and accommodating large Club gatherings that would otherwise have strained the Long Trail Lodge a few miles east on US 4.
The Perkins Family and the Camp’s Origins
Craigue S. Perkins lived in Rutland, Vermont. He was among the most active figures in the Killington Section during the mid-twentieth century — serving as GMC President in the 1950s — and his wife Mary (Leary) Perkins was the longtime editor of both the Long Trail News and the Killington Section’s Smoke & Blazes newsletter. Craigue was also the grandson of Arthur Perkins, a former mayor of Rutland; the family had deep roots in the area spanning seven generations. Their first child, Robert "Bob" Perkins, was born in Rutland on May 25, 1927. After a career in electrical engineering and computer science (he worked for IBM in California’s Silicon Valley), Bob and his wife Thelma moved back in 1983 to what he described as "a family-owned home and campground in Mendon" — the Tall Timber Camp property — where they lived in retirement. Bob was himself an End to Ender of the Long Trail, an active GMC member who led senior hikes, and for many years helped edit and mail out Smoke & Blazes. He died on April 6, 2025, at age 97.
The GMC shelter database records 1958 as the camp’s start year, marking the first documented appearance of Tall Timber Camp in GMC records. However, the Long Trail News for May 1958 used the phrase "are again offered" when announcing the camp’s availability for the Annual Meeting, suggesting the Perkins family had been opening the property to GMC members prior to that year.
The Woodwards’ Long Trail System Shelter History summarizes the camp’s function plainly:
Tall Timber Camp — This campground facility owned by Craigue Perkins in Mendon was used by the GMC as an overflow for many functions held at the Long Trail Lodge. It was noted in numerous invitations as being free to GMC members. It was a bring your own sheets, blankets, and food.
This characterization — free of charge, bring your own provisions — captures the spirit of the arrangement. The Perkinses offered their property as a gesture of hospitality to the club, not as a commercial enterprise.
GMC Annual Meetings and the 1958 Intersectional
Tall Timber Camp appears repeatedly in Annual Meeting announcements from the late 1950s. The Long Trail News for May 1958 carried the following notice alongside the agenda for the GMC’s Annual Meeting at Long Trail Lodge:
The facilities of the Craigue Perkins Camp in Mendon, known as Tall Timber Camp, are again offered without charge to members and friends who may wish to use the camp. Bring your own sheets, blankets and food. Anyone planning to come in Friday night, should notify Craigue S. Perkins, 129 Bellevue Ave. Rutland, Vt.
The same issue announced that the 1958 GMC Intersectional — the Club’s annual multi-day gathering — would be held at Tall Timber Camp itself:
This year’s Intersectional will take place August 16 and 17 at the Craigue Perkins’ Tall Timber Camping Area in Mendon, Vermont. This should prove to be a good camp base for some excellent hiking. A good program is in the works, so mark your calendar, and plan to attend.
The Intersectional drew 79 participants from across the club’s sections: 24 from the Killington Section, 13 Members-at-Large, 13 from the Burlington Section, 11 from the Worcester Section, 2 from the Brattleboro Section, 12 guests, and 4 from the Long Trail Patrol. The Long Trail News for November 1958 reported:
The Intersectional this year was held at the Tall Timber Camp grounds in Mendon, Vermont. The Killington Section, with John Martin as chairman, acted as host for the group.
Hikers fanned out from the camp to Killington, Pico, Blue Ridge, Tuckerman, and the Beaver Pond. After long days on the trail, swimmers cooled off in the camp’s pond. In the evenings, the big barn served as an assembly hall: the 1958 gathering featured a program of old lantern slides depicting Long Trail scenes from decades past, shown and narrated by George Storey of the Worcester Section.
The following year, the May 1959 Long Trail News again offered the camp for the Annual Meeting at Long Trail Lodge: "The facilities of the Craigue Perkins Camp in Mendon, known as Tall Timber Camp, are again offered without charge to members and friends who may wish to use the camp." The August 1960 Long Trail News — reporting on that year’s Annual Meeting — noted that "many of our members spent Saturday night at Craigue Perkins’ Tall Timber Camp, and enjoyed the fun of crowding around the stove for Sunday breakfast. Once more appreciation is extended to the Perkins’ for offering their camp to GMC’ers on these occasions."
The 1963 Annual Meeting, held June 1 at Long Trail Lodge, elicited a public thank-you from GMC President Ben Rolston in the August 1963 Long Trail News:
And once again our appreciation is extended to Craigue and Mary Perkins for offering us the facilities of their Tall Timber Camp.
The Canty Trail and the Camp’s Physical Layout
Beginning with the Long Trail Guide Book’s Edition 17 (1963), the Canty Trail to Blue Ridge Mountain appeared as an official side trail in the guide, with a description that placed Tall Timber Camp squarely at its start:
- CANTY TRAIL TO BLUE RIDGE MT. Maintained by the Green Mountain Club. The beginning of this trail on Old Turnpike Road is 0.5 m. from US 4 and 3.7 m. from the Long Trail crossing at Sherburne Pass. From Old Turnpike Road (0.0 m.), the trail follows a lane northwest, passes between the house and barn of Tall Timber Camp, crosses a small brook, and follows a field road into the woods (0.2 m.).
This language — passing "between the house and barn" — reveals the physical relationship between the trail and the camp. The farmhouse and barn defined the lane that hikers walked to reach the national forest above. Edition 18 (1966) and subsequent editions through at least Edition 20 (1971) revised the phrasing slightly, saying the trail "passes near buildings of Tall Timber Camp," but the camp remained the unmistakable landmark at the trailhead.
The Canty Trail itself climbed 2.4 miles from Old Turnpike Road to the summit of Blue Ridge Mountain (also called Blue Ridge), gaining extensive views of Pico, the Coolidge Range, Stratton and Dorset Mountains to the south, Herrick and Bird Mountains to the west, and the Adirondacks on the horizon.
Section Outings and Trail Work
The Killington Section’s Smoke & Blazes newsletter chronicles the camp’s sustained role as a trailhead for section outings. The May–June 1981 issue reported on a Blue Ridge Mountain hike led by Rob Carey on May 16, 1981:
In spite of cloudy skies we had a good turnout of nine hikers. We parked at Tall Timbers Camp and went up the Canty Trail. Many wildflowers were out, most of which were identified. As we neared the summit, we got into the fog or cloud, depending upon your point of view. During lunch at the top there were a few sprinkles and we had excellent close-up views of the inside of a cloud.
By 1991, Craigue Perkins had died (his son Bob referred to him as "my late father" in a 1997 issue). The property remained in family hands and continued to anchor the Canty Trail, but the camp’s future was uncertain. A fall 1991 Smoke & Blazes work party report on Blue Ridge Mountain noted survey flags on the property and added a cautionary note:
We hope the bottom part, across Craigue Perkins’s Tall Timbers Camp land, will remain open to the hiking public despite the many new survey flags we saw. (The top part is Green Mountain National Forest.)
By 1997, Bob Perkins — then involved in Killington Section trail work — installed a new trail register at the start of the Canty Trail. He wrote in Smoke & Blazes Volume 50:
The trail also has a new register just north of Tall Timbers Camp. My late father made it about thirty years ago, and I thought it was about time to put it to good use.
This passage fixes Craigue Perkins as the maker of the original register (circa 1967) and confirms Bob Perkins’s continued stewardship of the trail and the camp property into the late 1990s.
Sale of the Property and Canty Trail Relocation
By the early 2010s, Bob Perkins had sold the Tall Timber Camp property. The GMC database records an end year of 2014 for the camp’s active association with the club. When the property was sold, Bob Perkins ensured that the Canty Trail would not lose access by reserving a trail easement in favor of the GMC. The Killington Section’s Smoke & Blazes for Fall 2014 reported:
When Bob sold the former "Tall Timber Camp" property a few years back, he made sure to reserve a trail easement in favor of the GMC for the Canty Trail.
Bob’s parents are described in the same article with particular warmth: "Craigue was GMC’s President in the 1950s, while Mary served as the longtime Editor of both the Long Trail News and of our Smoke & Blazes."
Despite the easement, the lack of a proper parking area on Old Turnpike Road had long been a difficulty for hikers. The Killington Section collaborated with the U.S. Forest Service and the Town of Mendon to address this by relocating the Canty Trail trailhead to a point where USFS land reached the road and where a small pull-off could be created in the highway right-of-way. The new trailhead, which opened in November 2014, moved the trail’s start away from the former Perkins farm and entirely onto federal land — eliminating the need to cross private property and substantially reducing wet and boggy trail conditions in the first section. Funding for the trailhead fill came from the Killington Section’s Kirk Fund. In a 2016 Smoke & Blazes trail work report, the former camp property continued to be referenced as a landmark: "I had the bright idea of retrieving a loose sill that had been dropped off down by the Tall Timbers Camp."
Location
Tall Timber Camp is located on Old Turnpike Road (also known as Elbow Road) in Mendon, Vermont, approximately 0.5 miles from US 4. The junction of Old Turnpike Road and US 4 lies approximately 3.7 miles west of the Long Trail crossing at Sherburne Pass and approximately 10 miles east of Rutland. The estimated coordinates of the camp are approximately 43°37’30"N, 72°53’W (approximately 43.625°N, 72.883°W), based on the guidebook descriptions. Precise GPS coordinates require field verification.
Photos
One photograph of Tall Timber Camp survives in the GMC collection (photo ID 9575, 2013). It shows two hikers pausing at the camp’s rental cottage on Half Moon Pond during a winter outing. The cabin is a dark brown wood-sided structure with white-trimmed windows; the frozen pond is visible through the trees behind it.
Sources
Green Mountain Club (GMC). GMC Shelter Database, Shelter ID 000308.
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail News (May 1958). Green Mountain Club, 1958. p. 1. [Annual meeting notice: "The facilities of the Craigue Perkins Camp in Mendon, known as Tall Timber Camp, are again offered without charge…"; 1958 Intersectional notice: "Craigue Perkins’ Tall Timber Camping Area in Mendon, Vermont."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail News (May 1958). Green Mountain Club, 1958. p. 3. [Intersectional announcement: "This year’s Intersectional will take place August 16 and 17 at the Craigue Perkins’ Tall Timber Camping Area in Mendon, Vermont."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail News (November 1958). Green Mountain Club, 1958. p. 2. [Intersectional report: "The Intersectional this year was held at the Tall Timber Camp grounds in Mendon, Vermont. The Killington Section, with John Martin as chairman, acted as host for the group. Attendance total was 79…"]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail News (May 1959). Green Mountain Club, 1959. p. 1. ["The facilities of the Craigue Perkins Camp in Mendon, known as Tall Timber Camp, are again offered without charge to members and friends…"]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail News (August 1960). Green Mountain Club, 1960. p. 2. ["Many of our members spent Saturday night at Craigue Perkins’ Tall Timber Camp, and enjoyed the fun of crowding around the stove for Sunday breakfast."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail News (August 1963). Green Mountain Club, 1963. p. 1. [Annual Meeting: "our appreciation is extended to Craigue and Mary Perkins for offering us the facilities of their Tall Timber Camp."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book, Edition 17. Green Mountain Club, 1963. p. 37. [Canty Trail: "passes between the house and barn of Tall Timber Camp."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book, Edition 18. Green Mountain Club, 1966. p. 37. [Canty Trail: "passes near buildings of Tall Timber Camp."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book, Edition 19. Green Mountain Club, 1968. p. 36. [Canty Trail: "passes near buildings of Tall Timber Camp."]
Green Mountain Club. Long Trail Guide Book, Edition 20. Green Mountain Club, 1971. p. 40. [Canty Trail: "passes near buildings of Tall Timber Camp."]
Carey, Rob. "Blue Ridge Mountain." Smoke & Blazes (Killington Section, GMC), Vol. 34, No. 2 (April–June 1981). p. 4. ["We parked at Tall Timbers Camp and went up the Canty Trail."]
Smoke & Blazes (Killington Section, GMC), Vol. 44 (1991). p. 16. ["We hope the bottom part, across Craigue Perkins’s Tall Timbers Camp land, will remain open to the hiking public despite the many new survey flags we saw."]
Smoke & Blazes (Killington Section, GMC), Vol. 50 (1997). p. 20. ["The trail also has a new register just north of Tall Timbers Camp. My late father made it about thirty years ago, and I thought it was about time to put it to good use."]
Smoke & Blazes (Killington Section, GMC), Vol. 61 (2008). p. 2. [Treasure Hunt: "Perkins (Craigue) Tall Timber Camp" identified as landmark on Canty Trail.]
Griffith, Barry. "Canty Trail Access Improved." Smoke & Blazes (Killington Section, GMC), Vol. 67 (2014). p. 3. ["When Bob sold the former ‘Tall Timber Camp’ property a few years back, he made sure to reserve a trail easement in favor of the GMC for the Canty Trail."]
Walter, Larry. "’Put the Trail to Bed’ Work Day." Smoke & Blazes (Killington Section, GMC), Vol. 69 (2016). p. 7. ["I had the bright idea of retrieving a loose sill that had been dropped off down by the Tall Timbers Camp."]
Woodward, Paul and Joanne. Long Trail System Shelter History, 2nd edition. Green Mountain Club, September 29, 1999. p. 151. ["This campground facility owned by Craigue Perkins in Mendon was used by the GMC as an overflow for many functions held at the Long Trail Lodge."]
GMC Shelter Database. Photo ID 9575 (2013). ["Taking a break to check out Tall Timber’s rental cottage on Half Moon Pond."]
"Robert Perkins." Rutland Herald, April 16, 2025. Obituary. [Bob Perkins (May 25, 1927 – April 6, 2025): first child of Craigue and Mary (Leary) Perkins; retired from IBM in 1983 and "moved back to a family-owned home and campground in Mendon"; End to Ender of the Long Trail; active in GMC, led senior hikes, helped edit Smoke & Blazes.] https://www.rutlandherald.com/obituaries/robert-perkins/article_795335c6-c0a6-5304-9173-9fcab8a77967.html
