It has a caretaker this summer named Geoff who maintains the composting privy, educates hikers, collects the $5 fee for staying the night. Montclair is a cozy cabin, obviously the worse for wear, that is scheduled to be rebuilt this month by the Green Mountain Club. I clumped into the shelter (with dry boots!) and had a big meal of Gouda cheese and bread to elevate my brain function before filtering water and setting out my gear for the night. decent to Wind Gap and Montclair Glen Shelter about 1.5 miles north: more steep, slick rock and chancy footing.īy the time I made it to Montclair at 5:45 pm, I was exhausted. Scary staff, but perfectly safe if it’s not raining and you keep your cool.Įventually, I made it to tree line and started the 1,100 ft. From the summit, the trail drops steeply as it winds down to tree line and I found myself hugging the talus on the mountain’s edge to avoid falling down some big drops. I was still concerned about the weather so I didn’t linger on Camel’s Hump and started my descent. There are a number of easier side trails up to the summit and I met a couple that took some photos of me at the top. It’s just as well I suppose, because I needed the extra hand to claw my way up the grade.Īlthough the weather was warm, the wind was really whipping on top of the summit, so I put on my rain shell to stay warm since I was soaking wet with sweat. I huffed and puffed my way up this part, and snapped a hiking pole, breaking a fall.

On this stretch the rocks are extremely slick with water running over them, but I figured, I’d rather climb up here than down. Still, I wouldn’t want to hike this ridge in the rain.Īfter the ridge, there is a steep one mile ascent to the summit of Camel’s Hump. However the rocks are still fairly dry making the hike challenging, not impossible. From here to the summit, the trail is more of a rock scramble than a hike and I found myself using a lot of rock climbing moves to make headway.īamforth Ridgeline has a sawtooth pattern with many precipitous ups and downs over rocky escarpments covered with scrub trees and alpine vegetation. This lasts up to the junction with Bamforth Ridge Shelter, at the base of Bamforth Ridge. The ascent from Duxbury Road gets steep immediately, but at least you’re still walking on dirt and mud where the footing is fairly good. Camel’s Hump is a bald summit (left peak in picture above), well above tree line, and I wanted to get up and over it before the inevitable daily rain storm. Breadloaf a few weeks prior, I’ve become increasingly wary of hiking the high peaks in thunderstorms. From here, the ascent to Camels Hump requires a 3,700 foot climb over a distance of 6.3 miles.Īrguably, the southbound traverse of this section is slightly harder than hiking it northbound, but after my lightning and hail experience on Mt. From here, it was a 3.2 mile walk down Duxbury Road which runs parallel to the Winsooki River at an elevation of 326 ft, the lowest point of the Long Trail. I started this section at the Jonesville Post Office off Rt. The ascents were very difficult, steep and wet, and my average pace was just slightly more than one mile per hour.ĭay 1: Jonesville to Montclair Glen Shelter: 11 milesĭay 2: Montclair Glen Shelter to Appalachian Gap: 10.8 This hike was by far the hardest hike I’ve done on the Long Trail so far. I just got back from a 22 mile southbound section hike on the Long Trail that featured a climb over Camel’s Hump (4,083 ft), one of the top three highest peaks in Vermont.

Editch gap overloop hike