Recommended Reading?

[Undershaft]

I just finished rereading The Last Season by Eric Blehm. It's an excellent book about a backcountry Ranger who went missing while on patrol in King's Canyon National Park. I enjoyed it very much(again), however I can't really relate to the High Sierra's. I'm looking for some books in a similar vein, but set in the northeast. From what I understand, lots of people have vanished in the White Mountains never to be seen alive again. Are there any books out there that tell their stories? I'm also interested in legends, tall tales, and folklore regarding the mountains in New England and the people who live there. Hiking lore is a fascinating topic to me, but I don't recall coming across any books that are focused on the northeast mountains. I'm hoping the VFTT community can recommend some titles for me to check out. Thanks in advance!

 

[NewHampshire]

Two come to mind "History of the White Mountains" by Lucy Crawford and "Tales told in the shadows of the White Mountains" (can't remember authors name off hand) is another.

Brian

 

[Tom Rankin]

Not Without Peril is mostly about misadventure in the Pressies.

At the Mercy of the Mountains is another, but about the ADKs.

 

[Nadine]

Not Without Peril is a good read.
Lost on a Mountain in Maine is a short read about a Katahdin misadventure.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is about his AT adventure.

 

[sardog1]

"The White Mountain Reader," edited by Mike Dickerman and published by Bondcliff Books. Excellent intro to the history of the area, with sections on "The Scenic Mountains, "Historical Perspectives," "Incidents in White Mountain History," "The Golden Years of Tourism," "Logging the Forests," and "Mountain Explorations."

 

[Undershaft]

Great suggestions! I've heard of a couple of those titles and I will look for all of them. Funny you should mention A Walk In The Woods, I just plucked that off the shelf and was rereading the parts where Bryson hikes in New England. Keep the suggestions coming. I'm between jobs right now and I have lots of spare time for reading.

 

[Ridgewalker]

If you want to read the life of Ethan and Lucy Crawford in dialog form, check out "Crawford's Horn Winding."

"Not Without Peril" has one chapter devoted to the vanishing of John Keenan in 1912. A '40s Appalachia did a chronicle of deaths on the Rockpile, of which included the numerous vanishings of people.

John Hubbard Spaulding wrote a book called Relics of the White Mountains which includes myths and folklore of the area.

 

[Toe Cozy]

For some Vermont-centric tales, check out some of the books by Joe Citro.

I really enjoyed reading both Good Morning Midnight and Losing the Garden. Both about Guy Waterman.

Chimney Pond tales:Yarns told by Clayton Dudley by Clayton Hall is full of tall tales. Most enjoyable when read out loud with the best Maine accent you can muster.

Happy Reading

 

[Pamola]

Chimney Pond tales:Yarns told by Clayton Dudley by Clayton Hall is full of tall tales. Most enjoyable when read out loud with the best Maine accent you can muster.

Amen! This book was my staple for bedtime stories as a youngun. No one could spin a yarn like Leroy (not Clayton) Dudley.

I still remember a couple of lines that stuck out.
"He made coffee so thick you could pour out a yard of it and stand it in a corner."

I've been modeling my joe after this ever since.

 

[WhiteMTHike]

The Last Season is one of the best books that I have ever read. Not Without Peril is a close second and like others in this thread, I'll also suggest it.

 

[hitmann]

Great books. Another good one is BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE by Aron Ralston. What a story!

 

[Jay H]

I enjoyed The Last Season very suspensful and a captivating mystery. I first read it in the somewhat cheesy Outside magazine. A lot of that is fluff but every now and then, they do a really good snippet of an article and is probably how I first heard of that book and many others.

Jay

 

[Silverfox]

Howard Frank Mosher has an excellent group of books based on life in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont..tall tales about hiking hunting fishing and the diverese characters who live there..with enough fiction and enough historical truth to make it interesting

Danial Doan, the last Backpack..details an adventure in the Mahoussics by some OTHH worthy hikers.. infact there is a relation to a couple of our current climbers...a down and dirty book that captures the esscence of hiking in the rough and wild New hampshire rain forest....

those are novels of sorts..hard to beat Dickerson's books about the Whites as well...

enjoy

 

[Undershaft]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Hopefully I'll be getting up to the mountains next week (finally) and I'm looking forward to bringing some new reading material with me. I found a couple of the suggested titles in the bookstore and I'm going to try the library tomorrow.

 

[Stan]

There is no shortage of good suggestions as this frequent topic comes up. However, I picked up a book that I thought would be handy solely for reference and I've come to enjoy reading it immensely in bits and pieces.

The Appalachian Trail Conference guide to building and maintaining trails has given me a new perspective on trails. For better or worse, I always took them for granted but having a better understanding of the design, layout and construction behind them, I can now enjoy them in a different manner ... ranging from "great job" to "what were they thinking".

 

[bcskier]

Joe Dodge

I recommend Joe Dodge "One New Hampshire Institution" by Bill Putnam as a must read for fans of the White Mountains.

Here is a Lou Dawson review: Joe Dodge

Phil L.

 

[Adk_dib]

I picked up a book from Lake Placid bookstore called "Merle's door, lessons from a free thinking dog"

http://www.amazon.com/Merles-Door-Lessons-Freethinking-Dog/dp/0151012709

I am a sucker for a good dog book. Add hiking to it and I'll buy it.

 

[Pat T]

From the Adirondacks...

Christine Jerome's "Adirondack Passage" is about the canoe travels of Nessmuk (in the 1800s) and Jerome in the 1990s--very interesting and well written combination of history and contemporary outdoor writing.

"My Life with Noah" is about the Adirondack hermit, Noah John Rondeau who lived for years in the Cold River area.

Pat T

ps Don't we usually have these threads when the weather is not conducive to hiking? March? April? November? rainy August?????