Happy 4th From VT
Posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
One of the beauties of living in the small state of Vermont with its ancient, worn down, Green Mountains, is the accessibility of the highest peaks. In just a few hours from my back door, I can be standing above tree line on the highest summits in the state.
This accessibility has led to some wonderful traditions among Vermonters, such as watching the 4th of July fireworks from the top of Camel’s Hump. Camel’s Hump is one of the tallest undeveloped mountains in The East, and towers a good 3,000 feet above the pyrotechnics on Independence Day. From the bald summit, one can usually see a dozen or more fireworks displays at once. On a warm and clear summer evening, scores of families will make the hike to the mountain top to enjoy the view and celebrate the holiday.
On a 4th of July evening like we had this year, however, the gathered crowd was much smaller. At the foot of the mountain, visibility was barely 100 feet, and it only got worse as we climbed the muddy trail. The rain came and went, and the wind prevailed. By the time we reached tree line, the temperature was in the 40’s. The futility of our hike wasn’t lost on us. We knew we wouldn’t see any fireworks this evening; we could barely see 50 feet in front of us. We knew we would be wet and cold. But we also knew we would not be alone, and would have a GREAT 4th, despite the weather.
In all, a little over a dozen people showed up on the top of Camel’s Hump this year, three of them being me and my friends Sarah and Adam. We whooped and hollered into the wind. We shared a picnic while bundled in ski clothes, drank wine with mittened hands, and tried to listen for far off ‘booms’ of fireworks through the thick clouds and rain. As the dark thickened, we struggled to light soggy sparklers and grinned like idiots on top of our wonderful little mountain.
A few hours later, just a bit into the AM hours of the 5th, I was back in town, warm and dry in my bed and happy that we had celebrated another great 4th of July together.
Peter Wadsworth is one of Cloudveil’s Inspired Mountain Ambassadors. In his words: I’m a backcountry skier earning my turns among the weather-worn mountains of New England. I also trail run, climb, race bikes and even show up fairly regularly to a day job. But really, these other things are just enablers for backcountry skiing adventures away from the lifts and crowds.
