Must Be a Story Here?!

[1HappyHiker]

There must be an interesting story behind this. On 14-Jan-2012, my friend Marty were hiking along the Martha's Mile trail. We spotted a rope that was hanging from a tree branch which was I'd guesstimate was about 25 ft off the ground. Hanging from the end of this rope was a hand mirror. Go figure!

There's probably a ton of comical explanations for this.
(I don't suppose this "hanging mirror" thing is a technique used by . . . I dunno . . . hunters, bird-watchers, etc??)

 

[gaiagirl]

Something like this MIGHT keep hawks away from a songbird nest if there was one within the branches .... The question is, who would have cared enough to make the attempt. But, there is probably some other explanation that has nothing to do with this . Someone wanted the woods to demonstrate better feng shui???? Honestly, I have no idea .....

 

[Tim Seaver]

That is odd. No idea what that could be for.

But the real reason I am posting is to direct people to your blog so they can see the amazing pictures you took that day:

http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/2012/01/cold-crispy-and-colorful-day-on-cherry.html

Simply gorgeous lighting and clouds!

 

[KRobi]

The mirror is puzzling. Is it tied at the top or just looped (like the mirror was a weight they threw and it looped around? Though even that wouldn't give me a clue.

Take the advice posted by Tim Seaver and visit John's Blog. Those photos are worth the trip!
When I try to explain why I hike (and especially winter hike) to the people I work with (they think a day at the mall is hiking), I am going to refer them to these photos and then they'll realize what they are missing.
Ken

 

[ColdRiverRun]

If you want I could make up some stories.

The handle looks like it is the type with a cord hole loop in it, someone probably used to to throw up a bear bag and got it caught like you see in many places.

 

[Raven]

Possibly used to signal someone from high up on the tree as opposed to from the ground? Maybe signaling friends in a non-emergency situation?

Maybe a vain Canada Jay worried about its figure?

 

[1HappyHiker]

@Tim: Thanks for the link to my Blog . . . very kind of you!

@ KRobi: Yes, the rope appeared to be looped around the tree limb, rather than tied to it.

@ColdRiverRun: The "bear bag" theory seems to be a likely scenario.
Don't know why the person didn't retrieve the mirror.
Not knowing why it was there, we didn't make an attempt to free the mirror, but it appeared to be retrievable with a bit of effort.

 

[peakbagger]

My guess is someone trying to set up a bear line using the mirror as a weight. The rope got caught up on somewhere and rather than dropping the tree to get the rope out they left it ?

 

[DougPaul]

Look at the tree in the picture--it is hardly a good tree for hanging a bear bag. And readily available rocks and/or sticks make better weights than a mirror for throwing a line.

The only reason I can think of for hanging a mirror would be to catch a passing animal's or human's attention. (However it would not be very practical for signaling to a specific location.)

Or it could be to see if they can trigger a thread on a hiking BBS...

Doug

 

[Andrew]

John,

I had been meaning to contact you about this since seeing it this summer, but figured you already knew.

Lindsay and I noticed a flash from it while on Owl's Head, and looked around when we got back close to it.

There was a bit of brush cut back from the area even a bit of a trail from Martha's Mile. Our best bet was a bear baiting site that could be returned to, or possibly viewed from the opposing slope?

Some of the other ideas may be more plausible.

One of these days I need to communicate with you about the ancient homestead remnants we found off the Cherry Mountain Tr.

 

[1HappyHiker]

Hey Andrew . . . thanks for your comments.
Hmmm! I wonder if the "hanging mirror" (plus the little side trail you mentioned) is something that was done after I'd finished my 2011 summer maintenance on Martha's Mile. Regardless, this winter-sighting was the first time I'd seen it.

And yes, whenever you get a moment, I'd love to communicate about the homestead remnants you found off the Cherry Mtn Trail.

 

[loanshark]

Hey John, just outstanding photos. The last one looks like a forest fire.

 

[DSettahr]

I would bet that it is someone's bear hang attempt. Even though the canisters have been required for 6 years now in the Adirondacks, you still see plenty of bear hang graveyards in the vicinity of lean-tos and campsites... little bits of rope, tangled up and caught high in the trees. This looks pretty similar.

I agree, a poor tree to do it in... but I can't imagine that the kind of person who carries a hand mirror on a backpacking trip has all that much skill in the woods anyways.

 

[walker]

Mirror, Mirror, On the Tree, Who's the Fairest of Them All

I'm wondering if it wasn't suspended underneath a balloon for some reason (maybe for visual tracking) and floated into the tree line, because I can't think of any good reason (or bad for that matter) why someone would carry a hand mirror up a trail, tie it to a rope, and throw it into a tree.

Then again, I can't think of any good reason why someone would carry a canoe up a mountain either. (Unless you do it at a corporate outing to build team spirit).

Or, maybe it's there to piss off the local Gray Jays.

See you on the trail, (checking yourself in the mirror)....Walker

 

[DSettahr]

Believe me, a lot of people can't go without having a mirror. Stereotypical to say, yes, but a lot of women are uncomfortable being in the woods for an extended period of time without one. Think along the lines of girlfriend or wife that has been dragged into the woods at the insistence of their boyfriend/husband.

Working with teenage girls in the woods, this becomes especially apparent. When they don't have mirrors to use, they flock to every opportunity to catch a reflection of themselves, whether it's in the rear-view mirrors of cars parked at a trailhead, or their reflection in the water at a lake or pond. Even some teenage boys will do it too.

It wouldn't at all surprise me that this mirror was carried by someone into the woods for the purpose of looking at themselves. It probably happens a lot more than most of us realize.

 

[Andrew]

Good points. But also consider some light cutting and an occaisonally used 'trail' was beaten out towards the mirror. Although I should have looked closer at the cut marks to get an idea of how long ago.

 

[nietzschescat]

If someone was so attached to looking at themselves in the mirror that they carried it all the way up the mountain, they probably wouldn't toss it into a tree and leave it there. Is it visible from another mountain? Maybe someone was just trying to confirm what they were looking at from another mountain and hadn't figured out how to do that with a map?

This is all very interesting.

 

[Little Rickie]

There must be an interesting story behind this. On 14-Jan-2012, my friend Marty were hiking along the Martha's Mile trail. We spotted a rope that was hanging from a tree branch which was I'd guesstimate was about 25 ft off the ground. Hanging from the end of this rope was a hand mirror. Go figure!

There's probably a ton of comical explanations for this.
(I don't suppose this "hanging mirror" thing is a technique used by . . . I dunno . . . hunters, bird-watchers, etc??)

I wonder if the person(s) that set up this spoof is a member of this forum?

 

[erugs]

I'm wondering if it wasn't suspended underneath a balloon for some reason (maybe for visual tracking) and floated into the tree line, because I can't think of any good reason (or bad for that matter) why someone would carry a hand mirror up a trail, tie it to a rope, and throw it into a tree.

That's what I was thinking as I pondered this last night... Some kids doing an experiment with a balloon and the mirror dropped off. What a coincidence to land trailside, though.

 

[DSettahr]

If someone was so attached to looking at themselves in the mirror that they carried it all the way up the mountain, they probably wouldn't toss it into a tree and leave it there. Is it visible from another mountain? Maybe someone was just trying to confirm what they were looking at from another mountain and hadn't figured out how to do that with a map?

This is all very interesting.

I don't think they left it there intentionally... I think they tried to use it as a weight to throw a bear rope up there, intending to recover the mirror once the rope was secure. Unfortunately, the rope, and the mirror, got stuck (25 feet off the ground according to the original post!).

The kind of person who would carry a large mirror like that in the woods = probably not the most skilled backpacker. And someone who isn't the most skilled backpacker = someone who is likely to get a rope caught in a tree while trying to do a bear hang!