Cool Mountain Country Trivia and Tidbits

[Driver8]

Thought it would be fun to start a thread where we can share random, interesting tidbits about the mountains of the northeast here. Doubtless the many people of great experience and knowledge of the hills here will have a fun thing or two to share. I'll start:

Of all the townships in White Mountain country, can you guess which is home to the largest number of 4000-footer summits (within the town or on its border with another town)? You might guess it'd be Bethlehem, which is home to 5 (Field, Willey, Tom, Hale and North Twin). Or perhaps Franconia, with 7 (Lafayette, Lincoln, South and North Twin, Cannon, Owl's Head and Garfield). But the town with the most 4Ks is Lincoln, with Liberty, Flume, the Bonds, the Kinsmen and Hancock within its confines, and Carrigain, South Hancock and the Osceolas on its border with Livermore, totaling 12 high peaks.

One of the things I love about Smith and Dickerman's 4000-footer "bible" is its many neat arcana about the mountains. This thread can be a place for us to add more of our own.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

The Hunt for Why Livermore Was Split in Two

http://www.saltyhikes.com/LivermoreSplit.pdf

 

[Driver8]

Too cool, Tom. I had wondered about that part of Livermore when looking at old UNH-owned USGS tops online.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

I assume everyone has this link.

http://www.whitemountainhistory.org/

 

[sierra]

In 1826 after day's of heavy rain in Crawford Notch the Willey family became nervous. Their home doubling as an Inn, sat on the steep slope's of the Willey range. Fearing a landslide, they ran to the barn and huddled together. The slide did come, but a cruel twist of fate and a large boulder, diverted the slide from the house and into the barn. The entire family was killed and buried. A few day's later, a party from Bartlett and North Conway came up to investigate the damage. They found a few of the family members bodies and saw the wreckage of their barn. While searching for the rest of the family, they heard a horrible howling. They looked over to a large boulder and saw the family dog standing up there just delivering a deathly howl, over and over. Hence the phrase, " A case of the Willey's"

 

[Driver8]

Thanks, Tom, will visit that page more than a few times, I expect.

Hadn't heard, Randy, of "the willies" or "willeys" originating from that famed calamity. Learn something new every day! Such terrible misfortune that they perished and their house survived, because of the big boulder.

 

[Driver8]

There's these pretty-well-known bits about my family's namesake (in which I wish I had a stake, but don't), Stratton Mountain, VT. It's the place where, as the stories go, the ideas of the Long Trail and later the Appalachian Trail were first conceived, and where, as well, the sport of snowboarding was first popularized by a major resort.

As I've read, the originator of the Long Trail, James Taylor, was on Stratton's summit tower, in 1910 or so, admiring the view up and down the Greens and beyond. He reportedly had the vision in his mind's eye of a giant walking the length of Vermont, stepping from high summit to high summit all the way to Canada. From these musings came the idea for the trail.

Benton McCaye, the father of the Appalachian Trail idea, as well, was atop Stratton admiring the vista when the thought came to him of a trail along the full length of the Appalachians.

 

[Billy]

Besides the Lincoln/Lafayette summit/ridgeline area, are there any places in the Whites from which a hiker (not a pilot) can see two AMC huts?

 

[TEO]

The word "adirondack"--translated into the English as "bark-eater"--is a Mohawk slur for the Algonquin.

 

[Driver8]

Besides the Lincoln/Lafayette summit/ridgeline area, are there any places in the Whites from which a hiker (not a pilot) can see two AMC huts?

Good question. Maybe Carrigain to Z and Mitzpah? Maybe from Mount Tom's northwest and southeast summit viewspots, though not the exact same location. I didn't look for Mitzpah from SE spot so can't say. Pretty awesome view of Z Hut from NW spot. Maybe likewise for Willey, but I haven't been there, so don't know. Maybe you can see Greenleaf from one or both Kinsmen, Liberty? Maybe South or North Twin to Galehead and Z. Can you see Madison Hut from Washington or Clay? Maybe you could get an angle on Carter huts from Madison summit?

 

[hiker0200]

The highest natural point in Barrington, NH is called Bumfagging Hill

 

[Driver8]

The highest natural point in Barrington, NH is called Bumfagging Hill

There should be a microbrew ale and a blend of coffee named for it.