Mount Camel Hump

Oct 3, 2020

 The Western Massachusetts outdoor group came out of its hibernation as coronavirus pandemic had brought everything to a halt. We decided to leave for Vermont, to do the camel hump trail that is located near Huntington, Vermont. We decided to do a 6 mile loop via Burrows Trail.

Eight of us decided to join the hike this time. We made reservations at Best Western plus at Waterbury Vermont. I decided to leave with Dr Zubair Kareem and we met at the mosque to offer Friday prayers and then left directly from there. I parked my car at the mosque. Zubair Bhai shares my passion for local cafés and coffee places and we decided to have lunch and coffee at Eselon Cafe  in Hadley. I realized that it was an awesome choice as we feasted on Mediterranean salad with hummus and sipped on our coffees. We then set out for Vermont. The discussion was enlightening as expected and I greatly benefited from the intellectual depth of my companion. I’ve always felt that you meet some people in life for a reason. It is hard to describe but sometimes it feels like that you are destined to meet people in your lives with whom you share a special bond or lineage. There is something to be said about energy. We are, after all made up off energy. Some people espouse positive energy and you always feel energized after spending time with them.

As we neared Vermont we were so caught up in our discussion that we missed our exit which would cost us another 30 minutes. Both of us did not mind the drive as the fall foliage was at full display here in Vermont. We made it to our final destination and the best western hotel was surprisingly better than most of its contemporaries. Perched majestically on the top of the hill, the hotel looked amazing, especially with clouds flying low. Mountainous and hilly areas always remind me of my time spent growing up around Murree and Nathia Gali.

Checking in was a little hard due to surprisingly long lines. The people from Vermont are amazing and welcoming. After checking in, we were soon joined by Qasim. He’s a great young man and was going to be my roommate as well. Next up were two of the Habib brothers. Beating to their own tune they are always the life of the party and reminder of why Lahoris  are special people.

We decided to have dinner at local Pizza shop and feasted on chicken wings and vegetable pizzas. Zubair Bhai ordered the Zubair special with pineapple which turned out to be pretty good. We were later joined back in the hotel by Masih Bhai, Atif Lala and Fahim Kazi. They drove up from Longmeadow and ended up having dinner at Battleboro where they were able to enjoy some desi cooking at an Indian restaurant. We were all able to gather at Lala’s room at night and made plans to leave early the next day and have breakfast at the motel.

All of us were up on time. As usual the staff continued to be excellent keeping up with the Vermont tradition for niceness. Our hostess offered us egg and cheese sandwiches without Sausage and ham. Having had breakfast we decided to leave quickly to get our lunch sandwiches at a local deli called crossroads. It was on 52 Main St. and was a nice main street café as well. We had our picture taken and then set out to the trail head which was about 30 minute drive. The Vermont countryside is exquisite. If there is Jannah then it must be close to Vermont countryside. I discussed with Zubair Bhai how we would both love to live there and maybe have a farm at the back. Amazing thing about Vermont is that even in rural Vermont you are able to see signs for progressive causes like Black Lives Matter, and even smaller homes have renewable energy sources as far out as our trail head.

Reaching the trail head we decided to leave immediately to give us ample time to reach the top. Qasim suggested that we do a counterclockwise loop. We followed his advice and as we started going up we quickly fell and into a rhythm. It seemed like everybody was ready to resume hiking after a long time. It was a rainy day in the beginning and everything was slightly wet. There were clouds everywhere as we ascended and it was not that slippery in spite of the water and we felt that weather was actually good and were enjoying the hike and the cool breeze. Due to the rain in the morning we also did not encounter many hikers earlier on. We made a few stops as we went up enjoying the fall foliage and the clouds blowing past us. The hike itself seemed a bit easier than our previous hike up Mount Mansfield.

There were parts of the hike where it became rocky and we had to actually do some climbing which in hindsight was fun as well. We all acknowledged Allah’s blessings on how lucky we are to be able to do these things together. Several members of the group were over 50 and did better than even the younger members of the group. As we reached the top we decided to take a detour. We split up into two groups. Myself Zubair and Bhai and Qasim decided to take a detour to go visit a place where a World War II plane had fallen down. We were able to find the wreckage and it was a surreal moment to be near a piece of history. We could only imagine what had gone through the pilots mind when the plane actually crashed at the site.  We quickly made our way back and join up with the rest of the crew who had already made it up to the top of the mountain and were chilling out. We had 360° views of the valley. The sun had come out by Allah’s grace and it was an amazing site. We could see the Green mountains with Lake Champlain not too far away. The fall foliage was especially beautiful at this time. At the top we also meant a lot of younger hikers which seem to be local students.

 We all had our lunch at the top of the mountain and enjoyed the scenery. We descended quickly in the descent wasn’t hard. We met more students along the way as we made our way down to the parking area. It was one of the easiest descents so far. As soon as we got to our cars, we decided to quickly drive back home so we can be with our families in good time. I was already planning our next trip as we came home.

As Zubair bhai drove me into an empty parking lot at our mosque, I was relieved to see that my car was parked without any overt damage. As I looked into this beautiful structure that is the house of Allah in Western Massachusetts, I could imagine how it would be for decades from now. I saw a young man playing basketball and I’ve envisioned a time when the community center will become home to the youth of the future.

Keeping up with tradition we all shared our pictures after we got home. After all the memories we made together are what life is all about.