Up on the top of Owls Head you'll get a great view.

[arghman]

While doing some online research for hiking trails, I ran across a website that sounded kind of odd. And repetitive. And odd. And repetitive.

I have no idea how they are autogenerating (!) these listings, it must be from some USGS gazetteer of locations/descriptions. Anyway, it's a scream to read; here's some examples:

edit: based on feedback below, I have removed the links. You'll have to reconstruct them yourself if you want to see them. [GOUT] == http: // www dot goingoutside dot com and [MAXT] = http: // www dot maxtrails dot com

from [GOUT]/lake/107/1073985_Lakes_of_the_Clouds_New_Hampshire.html:
If you want a little side trip, try Huntington Ravine.

from [MAXT]/trails/1004997_The_Link_New_Hampshire.html:
Why not climb nearby Mount Jefferson but if you want to get up a bit higher try climbing Mount Sam Adams.

from [GOUT]/lake/107/1074126_Eagles_Lakes_New_Hampshire.html
Up on the top of Owls Head you'll get a great view.

from [MAXT]/trails/1004802_Goose_Eye_Trail_New_Hampshire.html
Can’t wait to get out in nature, Goose Eye Trail in Coos County, New Hampshire is such a great place.

from [MAXT]/trails/1004826_Ice_Gulch_Path_New_Hampshire.html
Ice Gulch Path is a fun place to hike for the whole family. Spending too much time indoors got you down? No problem, Ice Gulch Path in Coos County, New Hampshire is a great place to go.

and my favorite so far:
from [GOUT]/lake/107/1074992_Star_Lake_New_Hampshire.html
Star Lake is a lake worth visiting. Go for a hike on the Restricted Ledge Trail. While staying at Star Lake you could always explore Pinkham Notch. An excursion to Ice Gulch is always fun. Had enough of Star Lake? Lakes of the Clouds is just a stonethrow away. Star Lake is right by the Gulfside Trail. The Sylvan Way Trail offers hiking at it's best. Hiking is a popular thing to do around Star Lake, Edmands Path is a good local trail. Take a hike on the Wamsutta Trail. Huntington Ravine is a nice place to check out not far away. Up on the top of Mount Randolph you'll get a great view.
Why not climb nearby Mount Jefferson. Mount Franklin is a great place to go up on if you want more of a bird's eye perspective on everything here around Star Lake. Why not take a refreshing hike along the Pine Link Trail. Star Lake lays in the shadow of the White Mountains. Madison Gulf is a great place to explore. Going for a hike on the Ravine Path is always a great adventure. If you want to get a better view of the area you could always climb Millen Hill. Don't leave Star Lake without first going for a hike along the Short Line. The view from the top of Boott Spur is worth the climb. You get a great view from the top of Mount Dartmouth.

 

[grouseking]

HAHAHA! This is hilarious. Nothin like saying that Star Lake is a stone's throw away from Lakes of the Clouds!

grouseking

 

[danno]

yikes! that's a funny site! All sorts of new things to do and places to visit while on my hikes. I can't wait!

 

[grouseking]

My favorite is the easy "jaunt" to Hawthorne Falls!

grouseking

 

[sardog1]

Let's not forget the invaluable gear advice, e.g.:

TENT:
- There is very small difference between expensive tents and cheap tents. A 300 dollar tent is about 10% better than a 30 dollar tent, if you are planning an expedition to climb K2 the extra spending might be worth it, but anywhere below 12,000 feet a cheap tent is just fine.


(Considering the slightly odd syntax used, the dropped articles, and the occasional subject--verb incongruities, it appears to me that a troop of Romanian monkeys is pounding away on the keyboard . . .)

 

[cbcbd]

This is great. Sounds like someone filled out a MadLibs for mountains:


Climbing (mountain) is great exercise.

(mountain) is a great place to go up on if you want more of a bird's eye perspective on everything here around (lake).

(location) is just a stonethrow's away.

If you're in a climbing mood you may want to go up on (mountain).

Climbing (mountain) is great exercise.

 

[chuck]

I seen those before too. There seems to be one for every area of the Whites. I always wondered who wrote those and why. Put them all together to make a new list.

 

[--M.]

I think "autogenerate" is the key. I'm intrigued by the idea of a board game to deconstruct the program that results in these back-to-back statements.

Now what was really helpful was knowing where the good beaches are, near Lakes of the Clouds, Coos County, New Hampshire!

"ROTFLMAO"! [It was a "stonethrow" away!] Hyuck.

 

[dreamstream]

Adds that get paid for hits! The page has lots of words that get picked up by search engines, which helps get the hits. Then a few tenths of a cent per hit and your in bussiness.

 

[Double Bow]

LMAO big time!!!! Absolutely hilarious! Best hiking site I've seen in a long time (VFTT excluded).

"White Mountains is a great place to go up on if you want more of a bird's eye perspective on everything here around Lakes of the Clouds."

I couldn't agree more!

"Had enough of Lakes of the Clouds? Lost Pond is just a stonethrow away."

That's quite an arm you've got there!

"Going for a hike on the Whitehouse Trail is always a great adventure."

Ya' don't say? I'll have to go back there soon. I must have missed something.


I wonder if any "newbies" come across this site and actually believe this stuff! I'm inclined to agree with the Romanian monkeys (or is that The Romanian Monkies) theory. It seems to follow there usual style...

 

[McRat]

I'm glad 'Boston Harbor Islands' is the closest national park to Gorham.

Thanks for the chuckles arghman.

Wait until this site starts showing up in search engines. I can imagine some really perplexed newbies on the trail.

 

[dr_wu002]

Wait until this site starts showing up in search engines. I can imagine some really perplexed newbies on the trail.

? it does show up on Search Engines. I've searched for Hawthorne Falls before and when this site came up I was like, WTF?

-Dr. Wu

 

[nartreb]

DreamStream is right. It doesn't take much to become a high-ranking search result for a term like "ice gulch trail", and Adsense can be set up to pay per "impression" - even if search engine users realize they've been conned and leave the site immediately, the site owner collects revenue. Arghman, could you edit your posting to give the URLs as text instead of actual links? The search engines crawl VFTT, and links from here have measurable effects on site rankings since VFTT itself is a high-ranked site for most New England mountains and related topics.

Edit: my personal favorite: "Don't leave Lakes of the Clouds without first going for a hike along the Watson Path."

 

[dreamstream]

These things can grow like cancer, even just talking about it here draws atention to it, as nartreb says posting the links gives web bots another way to link up to the site and raises it's status in some search engines.

Don't feed the monster.

 

[arghman]

Arghman, could you edit your posting to give the URLs as text instead of actual links?

done. thanks, hadn't thought about that. Too bad google doesn't have a "-stupid_websites" option.

 

[bill bowden]

I tried Adams Slide Trail

This one is a classic. It's not quite as good as the Falcon guide to New England Rock Climbing which took verbatim exerpts from other guidebooks and used them more or less randomly.

My best comparison is to a soemthing from Monty Python or Benny Hill.

 

[chuck]

I have come upon these writings before but the were linked some campgrounds and seemed to be their own site. But I can't find them now.

 

[smitty77]

Huntington Ravine not that far away? For who?
I sure hope no one is really following this information to plan a vacation. Won't they be pissed to find you can't "camp" at either of the lakes mentioned. You can certainly stay there, but it will cost you.

Thanks Arghman, good stuff.

 

[pedxing]

HAHAHA! Nothin like saying that Star Lake is a stone's throw away from Lakes of the Clouds!

grouseking

Well... maybe someone should alert the pitching scouts for the Red Sox!?

 

[Kevin Rooney]

My hunch is that the person(s) who wrote that stuff actually knows the WMNF rather well, and it's done tongue-in-cheek.