Three children ages 14, 12, and 11 spent last night lost on Camel’s Hump before rescue crews found them at dawn today.

Search crews located the three missing children safe and uninjured just before 6 AM today Friday, July 11. They were found in wooded terrain about half a mile from their camp. Crews escorted the children off the mountain, and they are being reunited with their families.

Additional teams that participated in the search effort overnight included New England K9 Search and Rescue, North Country Search Dogs, the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team, and the Vermont Air National Guard.

State Police reported earlier that first responders were searching near Camels Hump in Duxbury following reports that three children are unaccounted for after going for a hike Thursday afternoon, July 10, on the Long Trail.

Two boys, ages 14 and 11, and a 12-year-old girl were taking part in an organized camp and set out on a trail off Duxbury Road in Bolton for what was expected to be a 30-minute hike at about 4 p.m. Thursday. After they failed to return in about 90 minutes, camp personnel began a search, and they called the Vermont State Police at 6:20 p.m.

Numerous assets from multiple agencies were mobilized. They include the Vermont State Police Search and Rescue Team and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program, Waterbury Backcountry Rescue, the Camels Hump Backcountry Rescue Team, the Vermont Department of Public Safety Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR VT-TF1), and DPS’s search and rescue coordinator.

Teams entered the woods from multiple locations and established a command post. To ensure smooth search operations, the Vermont State Police requested that members of the public and the news media give crews space to work and avoid the area.

At 4,083 ft (1,244 m), Camel’s Hump is tied with Mount Ellen for the third-highest mountain in Vermont, after Mt. Mansfield and Killington Peak.

Waubanaukee Indians first named it “Tah-wak-be-dee-ee-wadso” or Saddle Mountain. According to Wikipedia, Native Americans were the first to note this mountain’s distinctive shape, calling it Moziozagan, meaning moose’s shoulder. Samuel de Champlain’s explorers in the 1600’s called it “lion couchant” or resting lion. The name “Camel’s Rump” was used on a historical map by Ira Allen in 1798, and this became “Camel’s Hump” in 1830.

The park came about as an original gift of 1000 acres including the summit from Colonel Joseph Battell, who originally bought Camel’s Hump to preserve the wooded mountainous view from his home. In 1911, care of the mountain was entrusted to the State Forester who managed with the aim to keep it in a primitive state according to Battell’s wish.

In October 1944, during World War II, a B-24J bomber on a training mission crashed into the side of the mountain near the summit. One flyer, tail gunner Robert Wilson, 18, survived and, although severely disabled, later became a successful lawyer in Denver, CO. While most of the plane was salvaged and removed, portions of the wreckage (principally a wing section) still remain. The Alpine Trail passes by the site.