Hunger Mountain and White Rocks; Vermont Hike
Total Mileage: 6.1 Miles Directions 44.371988,-72.640110
Total rise: 2,133′ Facebook
Hike Time: 4-5 hours My Pintrest
Significance: Views ALL FIRE TOWER PAGE
Printable map
Here is some of what you need to know: Their is another access point that comes up the east side of the mountain, the waterbury trail is an up and back hike (4.4 miles round trip) and the trail head directions are here. The hike that I describe is the Middlesex trail.
1. Scroll the mouse over the altitude line to see where it lines up on the map
2. Click on the flags for more information
3. Click on the pictures to make them large
Turn left from the utility road onto the trail, a cairn marks the entrance
From the parking area follow the trail for a short distance to a T intersection and make a left onto an unmarked utility road. Follow the unmarked road for about 0.8 miles until you see another trail that turns left into the forest.
You are now on the path to the top of the mountain; you will notice by the map above that this is a lollipop loop so up ahead you can decide to do Hunger or White Rocks first, I went with White Rocks. So from the utility road interesection to White Rocks you will climb about 1200′ over 1.7 miles.
A view of Hunger Mountain from White Rocks
If you look closely at the map you will see a short spurr trail will take you to the top of White Rock; Here you will find some mandatory rock scrambles as you follow the blue blazes to the summit. Was it worth the trouble? When I saw how far away Hunger looked to be from WR I was not thrilled and the views were about the same from both mountains, but I love hiking from mountain to mountain so I have no regrets. Now onto Mount Hunger.
Camels Hump to the left
The trail between the mountains was very wet, planks and such helped keep me dry but really my GTX boots saved the day in the end. The traverse is a mild 0.8 miles with an elevation gain of about 500′; Those gains happen over the last 0.6 miles of this stretch. Walking along these high elevation mountains in the north is always a pleasure; Their was not a soul in site, green moss covered much of the ground and the spruce grows in abundance.
The top of Mount Hunger is rocky and wide open for some incredible views. South-west of the summit is Camel’s Hump, just to the right of that is the not so distant high peaks of the Adirondacks. To the Right of that is the 44,444 acre Mt Mansfield State forest which has the states highest mountain plus Stowe ski resort; here is where I first saw and understood what they meant my the “forehead, nose, lips, chin and adams apple” of Mount Mansfield. Awesome stuff. To the East are the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
Camels Hump with the High Peaks to the RT, Click on pic to enlarge
Screenshot from my Peakfinder app
From L to R- forehead, nose, chin, adams apple
Remember this is a part of the larger Skyline trail of the Worcester Range. you can traverse to Stowe Pinnacle, Mount Worcester and a few others; at the far end of the range is a cool fire tower on Elmore Mountain.
To continue the loop follow the blue blazes down the back side of Mount Hunger; expect a steep descent down a bare rock surface (would it be easier to come up this side of the mountain first? I don’t know.) You lose 770′ over 0.5 miles, it is a total 2.7 mile 2000′ decent back to the parking area. One area shown in the picture below has a rope help you down. I took it slow, carefully and had no problems.
Mount Hunger has to be on your list of places to go; the views are awesome, you will love the woods, and the small towns around the state are all worth visiting. Check out nearby Spruce Mountain and Owl’s Head Fire Towers; Killington and Equinox mountains are further south and worth checking out.