Peak Bagging Dilemma

[Brownie]

My guess is that the group of white clothed monks was from the Aetherius Society which believes Mt. Adams is one of it's 19 holy mountains.

bcskier

WOW!
How on earth did you ever find this group?
I have always wanted to know more about those folks and why they go there.
What size robe am I?
Just kidding, its a real special place for me too, just dressed the way I am.

Brownie

 

[Brownie]

Mt Adams one of 19 Holy Mountains

OK,
I have just read a bunch more about these Aetherius Society folks.
This is WAY cosmic..if you are into that, and I certainly can be at times.

This next UFO segment had me raising an eyebrow

I just hope I don't get alien abducted up there some day.

I am moving this post over to the general board for new topic of interest.

Brownie

 

[forestgnome]

. To me list are fine as they lead to to different places but if they are your only source of motivation you are missing the most critical aspect of mountain travel. Which is the love of the mountains

Very well said.

Jim Lombard mentions roping off areas to keep people out. PLEASE be careful with this idea. I know you are concerned with proptecting the alpine vegetation, but this is rash. There are people who would like to see the entire Presidential Range, from treeline on Mt Madison all the way over to Mt Pierce, roped off. Imagine the sight of a pair of ropes along the entire ridge. I want my not-yet-born children to enjoy the magnificent beauty of these mountains. I don't want anyone to have to imagine what it looked like before it was decicrated.

Sorry if this sounds alarmist, but I have experienced people who passionately want it all roped off. I'm not kidding.

 

[MattC]

The approach in the ADKs includes signs about alpine vegetation along the trail somewhere between 4000' and 4500', and also summit stewards on the most popular peaks. This educational approach seems to have helped at least somewhat over the years. The Adirondack Mountain Club's High Peaks guide also explains about the alpine vegetation.

What is the approach to educating the public about alpine vegetation in the WMNF? Do you NE folks think it has helped?

Matt

 

[Tom Rankin]

The approach in the ADKs includes signs about alpine vegetation along the trail somewhere between 4000' and 4500', and also summit stewards on the most popular peaks. This educational approach seems to have helped at least somewhat over the years. The Adirondack Mountain Club's High Peaks guide also explains about the alpine vegetation.

What is the approach to educating the public about alpine vegetation in the WMNF? Do you NE folks think it has helped?

Matt

I think the signs are placed in the ADKs just before the threatened vegetation is encountered. I just read that there are only 85 acres of alpine conditions in all of NY State. But, thanks to the stewards program, it is recovering and getting better.

(Ironically, there is a metal plaque on the summit of Marcy that has 'cleaned' the rock below it of lichen, moss, etc. I assume it's due to leaching out of metals that the plants could not tolerate. The steward hinted that the plaque may not be there all that much longer).

There are stewards in VT and rangers in Maine at the summit of Baxter. But last summer, when finishing the 48's, I do not remember meeting any stewards. I've heard that they are up there though. We met rangers on the trails, and a few stopped at summits to talk to us, but it was not their job to be stewards.

There are signs in many places up on Mt. Washington, and the hut croos (especially the naturalists) talk about staying on the trail.

 

[sierra]

small signs is as far as I would go, as much as ropes would help, the idea of "roping off" wildereness contradicts everything about wilderness.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Thanks for the link to the Aetherians; I had almost forgotten about them. Back in the 1960s on my first trip to Mt. Adams (a day loop from the old "horsebarn" lean-to in Tucks), my brother, a friend, and I encountered a guy in a long black cloak chanting on the summit; he offered us a peanut butter sandwich, covered with black flies. We declined the sandwich, as it was very late in the afternoon, and we had a long way to go over Madison and back to Tucks via the Madison Gulf Trail and the Raymond Path. Years later my brother commonly met these same folks on one of their "power points" in Oregon.