Things that make you go........... hmmmmm

[mavs00]

I'm always amazed at some of the things you discover while bushwhacking in the backcountry. Not always at WHAT you find persay, but certainly WHY is it there and HOW did it get there.

I've been finding some pretty cool things lately . I can't be the only one, can I. I know our beloved Postr' Boy (who's not here to defend himself ) found the ultimate oddity in the woods last year, but I'm curious if anyone else ever finds anything that really made you wonder "How in the heck did that get here?"

I'll go first: recently, while bushwhacking a ADK100 Highest peak I came across this...

For those that can't tell, it's a full size, cast iron stove. It's gotta weigh a few hundred pounds. Now there are tons of old camps and logging refuse from "day's gone by" scattered about the Adirondacks, but what made this one odder, was it's location. It was less then a couple hundred feet below summit of the peak, somewhere around 3400'. It was also at least 1.5 miles and 1500 vertical feet above the nearest (seasonal) road. There are NO trails anywhere near this mountain.

It location so close to the summit is odd to me, as there are significant cliffs nearby. There was never a firetower on this peak so it not from an observers cabin, and it's never had a trail as far as I know (its a true bushwhack peak). It's too remote and high up to have been a hunting camp. Given it's weight, it must have been carried up this far by horse, but we found NO evidence of an old logging road and the terrain wasn't very "horse friendly". VERY ODD INDEED.

Any feasable explanations out there? Or just share your own "Odd finding".

 

[Neil]

Tim! You found my stove! Thank you so much. I hope you took a waypoint so I can go and get it. I never noticed when the thing slipped off my pack and I when I realized it was gone I felt guilty as all get out about littering. Please PM me the coordinates if you have them.

 

[Davehiker]

Somebody wasn't using their best LNT ethics!

 

[Barbarossa]

I believe mules and donkeys can handle steeper terrain than horses. Donekys are more sure-footed, but mules are extremely strong.

Confirm or deny? The farmers in my family went diesel three generations ago, so I am a little rusty with the details.

 

[post'r boy]

mmmmm.....whackin'!!!

can't wait to push through the bush again!!! first up,saddleball mtn in massachusetts in around 2 weeks time!!!! yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!

 

[Papa Bear]

When I did my buswhack down off of Owls Head (to the east) last year, I didn't find the East Ridge, but I found this:


click for full sized version

I think old timers remember this sign. Pretty cool.

 

[ADK Rick]

Tim - Nice post, made me smile thinking about my late uncle...he always marvelled at how you saw shopping carts in the damnedest places and he swore that someday he would leave one on top of Marcy just for the fun of it. Tongue in cheek of course but I havent thought of that in years.

ADKRick

 

[Sherpa John]

When I did my buswhack down off of Owls Head (to the east) last year, I didn't find the East Ridge, but I found this:


click for full sized version

I think old timers remember this sign. Pretty cool.

HILARIOUS!

 

[Doc McPeak]

Tim, almost the entire adirondacks were logged up to 3500' or so ... the end of the worthwhile tree line. So, at some point there were hundreds of people crawling all over that peak you hiked. Lots of whiskey was drunk up there too. As for horse friendly terrain. Go watch a couple of westerns where they ride horses down slopes steeper than any Adirondack slide. I think they used horses fot the vast amount of all the early hauling.

And ADKRick, nice avatar. I was just up on that summit about four hours ago. Nice and suntanned from all those glorious open summits along the great range. What a day!

 

[rondak46]

Research and reflection

Tim, did you check the old maps at the UNH website?

http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm

This kind of thing fascinates me. I realize that it could not be less interesting to others.

This is one of my problems with LNT. Not that I advocate leaving hunks of cast iron in the back country; nor do I encourage leaving shopping carts or grafitti on the top of Mt. Marcy.

I do wonder, however what the world would be like if our ancestors at Lascaux caught on to LNT too early, or Anasazi LNT cops at Newspaper Rock took it too far.

I love stumbling upon an old fire ring in the most unlikely places. And, as pathetic as it may seem to some, I like to picture in my mind, a fire ring that I have left deep in the mountains that will be waiting for me years or decades from now should I, or anyone, decide to visit, or chance upon it.

Mike

 

[lumberzac]

Tim, did you check the old maps at the UNH website?

http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm

This kind of thing fascinates me. I realize that it could not be less interesting to others.

This is one of my problems with LNT. Not that I advocate leaving hunks of cast iron in the back country; nor do I encourage leaving shopping carts or grafitti on the top of Mt. Marcy.

I do wonder, however what the world would be like if our ancestors at Lascaux caught on to LNT too early, or Anasazi LNT cops at Newspaper Rock took it too far.

I love stumbling upon an old fire ring in the most unlikely places. And, as pathetic as it may seem to some, I like to picture in my mind, a fire ring that I have left deep in the mountains that will be waiting for me years or decades from now should I, or anyone, decide to visit, or chance upon it.

Mike

I was with Tim on that hike and I checked out that site (it’s a great resource) when I got home because I was curious. The 1903 map (survey 1893) doesn’t show any buildings or roads within a mile of where this artifact sites. At some point I want to go back and see if there is anything else in the area. The area was definitely logged at one time based on the size and types of trees in that are in the area.

 

[spencer]

this was found surprisingly far into the woods in nowhere's-ville ME.

spencer

 

[masshysteria]

Two thoughts come to mind Tim. The stove is probably the remnant of an old logging camp, so more than likely, it was brought up there when snow was on the ground. I know you've seen the old movies at the ADK Museum in Blue Mnt. Lake, where the huge sleds of logs are being pulled down the mountains with horses and mules. It's very fascinating stuff!

Which brings me to my second thought. In those days, men were men. They weren't afraid to get their hands dirty, or break a sweat. Hauling that stove up to that location would have just been part of another days work. I'm not sure that would happen in modern times.

The lack of a noticable path or road is probably due to the fact that the hauling of the logs was done while the ground was hard, leaving less of a mark on the land. In the days before skidders, logging was alot less intrusive on the terrain. Great picture!

 

[Rik]

this was found surprisingly far into the woods in nowhere's-ville ME.

Wow. She's in surprisingly good shape!

 

[jbrown]

Going along in the same train of thought as masshysteria, my great-great grandfather, Earl Covey, hauled a cast iron stove not unlike that one many miles back into the woods when establishing a logging camp.

He built Covewood Lodge and the Big Moose Chapel. I am told that when building the Lodge, he would not just cut timber and make it fit, he would look for the perfect tree for the job he wanted done and use it, as evidenced by the arch over the doorway in this picture with a shot of the ceiling in the living room too.

Men were really men back then. Makes me want to go bushwacking!

 

[spencer]

Wow. She's in surprisingly good shape!

Hey, keep your eyes to yourself. She was one of my field workers for the summer.

by the way, I've found several stoves out and about, although never in the shape of the one Tim found. I've found them while bushwhacking for hiking purposes, but more often, they've been while working out in the industrial forest.

and I might have mentioned this a week or so ago, but I came across a full-on logging camp from the 30s when I was whacking around in Baxter a couple of weeks ago. I'm not telling where, but it was wicked cool.

spencer

 

[mavs00]

Thanks everyone. This area had been heavily logged in the 1800's (and later further denuded of vegitation in the 1903 fires). Likely it's left from a old lumber camp. I just found it odd to be so high and close to a summit. There are significant cliffs that block what would typically the common approach. You can whack up em', but no horse, mule or Ox would make it

Here's another oddity. While strolling (bushwhacking) along in much milder terrain (2700' level) of another ADK100, I came upon this, in the middle of nowhere.

It's the cast iron legs & side of an old stove (or tub) that were 6' above the ground stuck in tree. The only thing we could think of was that the material was lying on the ground and this tree started growing up around it. While doing so, it lifted both items of the ground and elevated them to the present location at about 6' high. Pretty nifty as well

 

[Rugger]

I have found at various times in Vermont, mostly late 60's, mostly in the hills rather than high up:

Teddy R. Campaign button (Steel square with a slot on top)

Dualing pistol (metal parts only, wood long ago rotted) in a stone wall in Plymouth, Vt. at the site of my great great grandfather's grown over farm.

American made bayonet from Revolution (buried completely except for a half inch of the ring, which I happened to trip over) I think it was Reading, Vt.

About 10 crates of stolen U.S. Army dynamite. My younger brother and I got to ride in the half track when they went in to recover it, really cool when you are 12-13 years old. Apparently it was stolen in the 1950's. Stockbridge, Vt.

Only thing I ever saw at old lumber camps were LARGE piles of Black Label and Kruger empties, especially on the old road up to Mendon Peak.

 

[JJD]

When I did my buswhack down off of Owls Head (to the east) last year, I didn't find the East Ridge, but I found this:


click for full sized version

I think old timers remember this sign. Pretty cool.

That's so funny, my buddy was just telling me about that sign the other day. I'll have to send him a link to that pic.

 

[Papa Bear]

It's the cast iron legs & side of an old stove (or tub) that were 6' above the ground stuck in tree. The only thing we could think of was that the material was lying on the ground and this tree started growing up around it. While doing so, it lifted both items of the ground and elevated them to the present location at about 6' high. Pretty nifty as well

I thought trees grew from the top. In other words a point on the tree at a given height, stays at that height (as the tree gets taller and fatter) and growth comes from new sprouting at the top. That seems to be what I have noticed for old chains and nails stuck in trees - even painted trail blazes. So trees don't "lift things up" (except for Jack's beanstock ).

Anyone know for sure? Spencer must know!

This would imply somone stuck the thing up there when the tree was at least that high and presumably strong enough to take the weight.