I had two people express interest, but one opted for an easier hike and the other had a last minute work emergency. So I was on my own and took my time, getting started at 9:50 AM from the Burrows Trail trailhead at the Camels Hump State Park. The weather was overcast with low clouds, very light snow, and temperatures in the 20s F.

When I signed in at the trail register I noticed that the person who had signed in just before me was planning the same route, but I never caught up. I took the cut over to the Forest City Trail and made pretty good time, reaching the Long Trail junction around 10:40 AM. From there I headed up the Long Trail, following a well broken trail that was probably made by someone who knew the trail, since it followed the Long Trail almost without error all the way to the cliffs on the south side of the Camels Hump summit.

The packed trail split three ways at one point where it appeared someone had gotten lost, but they had nicely laid sticks down spelling “LT” with an arrow pointing (correctly) to the right path. As I climbed higher on the side of Camels Hump I entered the clouds, and as I reached the base of the cliffs the wind, which had been very calm, picked up and became fairly strong at the summit (though not nearly as strong as I’ve seen it there).

I reached the summit at 12:20 PM, and as I started down to the hut clearing I had my first encounter of the day with another person, but I met quite a few more (maybe 8 or 10) on the way down Burrows Trail. The wind died down again below the hut clearing, and I got back to my car at about 1:20 PM.

David Hathaway.