How many times have you heard this? Probably alot of timing, often imitating someone's grandfather...
This weekend I basically did this.
I got up early saturday morning at 7.30 am, after hitting the hay around 2am, to go hike Camel's Hump with my friends Kelsey, Reid and Pete.
Originally I was supposed to go snowboarding with a few friends at Bolton, but after finding out that my snowpants were too small ( I've had them since 6 grade and they JUST barely fit last year).... I had to run out to ski market and get a new pair, so I had no money to go boarding :/
Anywhos, I decided that a hike would be just as much if not more of a workout as snowboarding.



Fun Fact: Camel's Hump is the highest undeveloped mountain in Vermont, at a height of 4,083 feet!!
So, I put together a bunch of layers and laced up my-not-so-good-for-hiking winter boots ( they're not horrible but they are clunky) and jumped in the car.
We stopped at Dunkin Donuts on our way their to get some grub, and just about every other UVM student was their decked out in their snowboarding gear, eager for the opening weekend of bolton valley, stowe and jay peak!
We ran into this old guy who told us about when he hiked the mountain and had a snowball fight all the way to the top of the hill and found a kid with a boombox playing rock and roll music at the summit, apparently he didn't like it so he hiked back down.
1. I don't understand how you could have a snowball fight and still hike up the steep mountain for 3 and a half hours.
2. No person in their right mind would just be sitting on the top of that mountain in subzero temperatures blaring rock and roll, which you would definitely not be able to hear among all the wind.
3. WHO DOESN'T LIKE ROCK AND ROLL? HE must have been the outcast of his generation....

So anyways we got to the mountain at about 10am and began our climb, it was quite the trek up. Between the steep icy rocks and the winding trails, my legs were screaming about 3/4 the way up, but I was so determined to keep up with my friends and see the view from the top I couldnt give up, I wouldn't.

The snow got higher and higher as we went up, and we kept shedding layers of our clothes because we were working up such a sweat hiking. When we reached about .3 miles from the summit we looked at the posted thermometer, it was 2°F!!! It definitely did not feel that cold, but as soon as we go to the Summit the temperature dropped so fast!



The view was absolutely amazing, you could see for miles around!

After admiring the view we ate lunch back down near the thermometer. We then decied it would be faster and easier to go down the steep mountain if we ran, so we booked it!

We ended up making it down the mountain in 45 minutes, as opposed to the 3 1/2 hours it took to climb.



On our way back to the parking lot we saw a MOOSE! It was so cool! luckily it was a female that was grazing so we knew we werent in any danger walking by it.. Pete and I immediately grabbed for our cell phones to call our dads to tell them that we were staring at a moose, but we had no service (dang verizon...although I did have amazing service at the summit).

Thoroughly exhausted and starving we piled back in the car and came back to take warm showers and enjoy hot chocolate.

I can't wait to hike again!

_charlottesnowe