Mount Flagg: Back to Camp
I have hiked this mountain every single summer since I was 7, but these hiking trips stopped due to COVID. Mount Flagg was the last of my cabin hikes that I needed to complete. If you have been following my journey, then you know that I have been trying to hike every mountain that was used as the namesake for a cabin I stayed in at my sleep away camp.
My last few hikes haven’t really gone according to plan, so I really needed a win, and that is exactly what I got from this hike. I had to wait until the current camp session had completed and all the kids had gone home because that is when they open the trail head. I also called ahead to make sure the trail was in fact open. All you need to do to hike this mountain is park in the camp Merrowvista parking lot and sign in at the farm house on the hill.
Everyone there is wonderful and so accommodating. Since I practically grew up at this camp, I was also given permission to walk around the grounds a bit. If you have extra time after your hike, I would really suggest you do this. I may be biased considering I am fourth generation at the camp and have been attending since my youth, but there is something about it that is purely magical.
The amenities in the camp are completely open to the public, including a bathroom and faucets to fill water bottles, so no need to stress about a lack of gas stations on your drive up. I completed this hike with one of my friends from home, Sarah, and my cousin, Tess, who recently had knee surgery. If you are worried about the difficulty of this hike, don’t be, it is beautiful and calm the whole way up. The beginning of the trail has a bit of an incline, but nothing too bad. It also showcases multiple streams and a small waterfall, so get ready for a few bridges and rocks to cross.
After about a mile and a half of hiking, you will get to what the camp calls “The Ledge”. Every year, cabins from camp hike up to the Ledge for an over night, and the view are just stunning. The Ledge is a great place to pause for a snack or lunch before continuing your hiking up the mountain. The trail is well marked, so it’s pretty difficult to get lost, but if you do, so go straight up and find the lean to, from there, you can continue your trek.
The camp site at the top of the ledge is brand new, I should know, when we came across it, members of the camp faculty were building a new lean to. After a few conversations with the staff, we continued our hike to the summit of Mount Flagg.
The beginning of the trail is pretty easy to find as it is maintained by the camp, but after a few minutes of hiking, the trail suddenly becomes grown over and pretty impossible to navigate. I don’t know if we hiked the correct trail or anything, but we just kept going where our map told us to and we ended up succeeding in finding the summit of Mount Flagg. We were all pretty tired and began our hike back down soon after we summited Flagg. The trek back to the lean to, however treacherous, was quick and painless and we quickly began the hike back down from the Ledge.
Considering how uneventful this hike was, I don’t have too much to write about, so this post will be shorter than the others on my blog. We finished our 5.2 mile hike in about four hours, maybe less, and we had quite a bit of time afterwards to wander around the camp a bit more, before leaving the camp grounds, you need to sign out on the sheet in the farm house, don’t forget to do that or they will go looking for you. When we got back in the car, we had plenty of time left to visit a few farmers markets we found on the side of the road, spend some time in Wolfeboro, and make a stop at Bailey’s Bubble, an ice cream store a few minutes from camp.
Overall, this hike was amazing and I was so excited to be back in the Canaan Valley and back at the place I grew up, Camp Merrowvista. If you ever need a nice cool down hike, or an easy over night, I would 100% suggest this mountain. If you need a bit of a longer trek, you can go on to Mount Roberts which is another 7 or 8 miles and stay in the hotel at the top (Castle in the Clouds). When you have finished your hike, spend some time at the camp
I am so glad that I got the opportunity to spend one more day at Merrowvista before the start of my Senior year. This hike has been a huge part of my life, and being able to show it to a few friends from home made it just that much better. I only had two hikes to complete after this one to make it to 100 miles, and this hike finished my cabin hikes. Before this summer, I didn’t think I would be able to reach my goal, but when I got this close, I realized I was actually doing it, I could complete the 100 miles before the summer was over.
Please do this hike if you have the chance, it is stunning and perfect. You won’t regret it.
For Those Who Wander 