Transcendental Monadnock - Who's "Ainsworth"? (11/18/06)

[Amicus]

We couldn't get to our NH camp for the weekend, so the promise of a fine Saturday made me decide to hike Monadnock. The ninety-minute drive from Metro Boston isn't bad, and the one other time I'd hiked it, about 25 years ago by a route I can't exactly recall, the weather had been windy, cold and overcast.

The ranger who collected my $3 at the State Park on Poole Road in Jaffrey assumed I was with a large AMC group that was gathering as I parked, at 9:00 a.m. Just as well I wasn't, since I was in a bit of hurry and they were still milling around, waiting for the last arrivals.

I scooted up the White Dot Trail, passing a number of solo hikers and small parties, ascending and descending (some dawn worshippers among the latter?). The Trail was a bit wet, and the bare upper slabs reminded me of Chocorua, but considering the deplorable amount of rain lately, conditions seemed good.

Today's forgotten object was my gloves, and my hands were numb blocks at the summit, which was wonderfully clear but cold and with a stiff breeze. Two senior hikers were admiring the Boston skyline (Scudder's map says binos are required for that, so the visibility must have been exceptional), when I reached the summit. After they left, I had it to myself - a rare treat on a nice Sat., I gather - for a couple of minutes before some young guys ambled up from the S and W.

One of the themes of Scudder's View Guide is to develop a few key "reference peaks" as you become more familiar with the summit skylines all around NH. Ascutney in VT was my new one for this hike, a dramatic pile that looked much closer than its 44 miles, to the NNW. Of the two supreme NH reference peaks, Kearsarge couldn't be missed at 37 miles NNE, but Washington was an uncertain smudge at 105 miles. Lafayette was distinct at 94 miles, however.

The White Arrow Trail south was mostly steep but scenic rock-hopping for the 0.6 mile I took it, before diverting SE on the Amphitheater Tr. The latter had no trail-sign, but "To Side Foot Tr." in white paint on the rock face pointed the way. I soon passed Side Foot Tr. and came to the Smith Connecting Link, which I followed south to Bald Rock. This fine vista, which I had to myself, gave me a clear view 500 feet up to the summit, now seething with dozens of hikers.

From here, the superb Cliff Walk (which is like it sounds) took me over the Seats of Emerson, Thoreau and Ainsworth, in that descending order. These are three rock promontories with stirring views east, toward Concord, capital of the Transcendentalist universe. At the intersection of Amphitheater and Smith, I had met a hiker who must be a regular - he mentioned that he had summited on Friday also - who told me that Emerson and Thoreau generally got no higher than their "Seats" - the summit either failed to interest or intimidated them.

We've all heard of Emerson and Thoreau, great writers and the leading "New England Transcendentalists," but who was Ainsworth? Google yielded no obvious candidate. Might it have been Wm. Harrison Ainsworth, a Victorian Gothic novelist (The Specter Bride was one of his most famous tales) and mentor of Charles Dickens? He was a contemporary of Emerson and Thoreau, and if he ever visited the States, it would have been natural for one of them (or maybe Hawthorne) to take him on a tour of their favorite mountain.

From Ainsworth Seat, I took the Lost Farm Trail east - mellow open woods and stone walls. The Parker Trail brought me full circle and to the day's only water crossing - a wooden foot-bridge over the outlet of the Poole Reservoir - a handsome old-stone mill-dam.

This 5.3-mile loop (2,025 vertical feet) had a lot of variety for a moderate exertion, but I can see from the map that this trail-laced summit offers almost infinite permutations.

 

[David Metsky]

Possibly Laban Ainsworth? It would seem to fit.

-dave-

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Transcend, Def.:
exceed: go beyond; "She exceeded our expectations"; "She topped her performance of last year"

So a "Transcendentalist is someone who doesn't settle for just hiking Owl's Head, they bag it as part of a Pemi Loop...right?

 

[Amicus]

Possibly Laban Ainsworth? It would seem to fit.

-dave-

Yes, the Reverend Ainsworth would seem to fit (which shows that Google doesn't know everything). I would have preferred the author of The Specter Bride, nonetheless.

NH_Mtn_Hiker: That's s decent definition of "transcendental," and I certainly would have done the Pemi Loop when I bagged Owl's Head, but was with a bunch untranscendant plodders, you know. One of these days - but I won't post a Report of that one. That would be bragging.

 

[brianW]

"The Monadnock Guide" by Henry Ives Baldwin (sorry out of print) has Ainsworht's seat named for (as Dave mentioned) for Rev. Laban Ainsworth the 1st settled minister of Jaffery. Also noted is that hi heirs donated 200 acres on the southside of Monadnock to Jaffery. I can only assume that this is part of the land protected in the area. -brianw

 

[RoySwkr]

Also noted is that hi heirs donated 200 acres on the southside of Monadnock to Jaffery. I can only assume that this is part of the land protected in the area. -brianw

I'll let someone else check the facts on this, but as I recall the minister was given a land grant which might have included the summit which was generally considered worthless. Sometime later after a hotel and toll road were built, the proprietors got the idea that if they owned the summit they could charge toll regardless of what path hikers took. They secretly filed a spurious deed to take advantage of a NH law that any deed unchallenged for 10 years was assumed to be valid. Somehow town officials found out and tracked down the heirs and acquired a genuine deed. Later the SPNHF acquired a tract to the N of the summit, as far as I know it has never been determined which tract actually includes the summit.

 

[brianW]

My unerstanding (from reading "Annals of the Grand Monadnock") was that the owners of the hotel did indeed fill "squatter rights" for the summit (a few acres of) and land going up to the summit for a "toll" trail. Selectmen from Jaffery discovered the court filings a few years before the land would of been the hotels and stopped it going through.

A portion of the trail went through the land that was donated by Ainsworth's heirs. This was, how I read it, the main stumbling block for the hote owners claims.