Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-08-09
A Summer Trip.
FROM BURLINGTON TO BOSTON, THE BEACH AND
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

Summer Trip.
FROM BURLINGTON TO BOSTON, THE BEACH AM
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
no. v.
+ BURLINGTON, July, 1878.
DEAR FREE Pass My last letter CLOSED
at the Glen House. Next morning, at s
with sincere reluctance, we bado farewell tC
that delightful spot. to that best of noun,
tain houses and its courteous host, and
started for the top of Mt. Washington by
the carriage road This commences within
100 rods of the Glen House, and is eight
miles long. 1t is good turnpike road
with a grade OF twelve feet to the hundred
Our vehicle was a two-horse covered Con
cord wagon, and for the passengers the
ascent was as easy ard comfortable a. any
eight miles Of riding over good country
road. though, of course, it was longer in
point Of time We made about two miles
an hour, taking four hours sor tho ascent
but We found nothing tedious about it. For
the first half of the ascent the road winds up
amid the forest, which shades the road and
shuts out the prospect. After three miles,
the trees begin to dwindlc and grow fewer
in numbers and in variety, and at the end
of the fourth mile the road energies from the
woods upon the bare mountain side; and
thenceforth there is no obstruction to the
glorious views on every hand.
Passing the ''llalf-way House. where
most visitors make brief stop to invest in
mountain curiosities" (curiousiy shaped
roots and specimens Of crystals) and spruce
| gum, the road winds along the verge Of tho
deep ravine which divides Mt. Washington
from Mt. Clay, and both the near and dis
tant views are of striking grandeur. The
day was uncommonly clear-our driver de-
Glazed that he had not seen tho hills beyond
the Androscogg;n valley so plainly any day
this season-and the outlook down the val
ley OF the Peabody river. and beyond into
the valley oil the Andro,coggin, was fine.
But the rearer sights claimed more ex
cited and absorbed attention. Right across
the great ravine, and sweeping up grandly
from the CULTS below, rise the peaks of JEFF
fersou, Adams and Madison, the lowest OF
which is 400 feet high, and all three are
visible rom bIse to crown. Climbing
higher,v passed the head of the rayine and
looked of into the enormous gorge, Known
as the "Great Guli' or the ''Gull of Mexi-
CO. Its Of no use to try to describe these
tremendous chasms-sinking thousands Of
feet, between slopes channeled by the gla-
ciers in distant ages. scanned by the later
mountain torrents: and clad in hues OF
purple, gray and green, made richer and
more varied by the moving cloud-shadows-
and | shall not attempt it.
Towards the top, the road winds round to
the northwest side of the mountain. and
gave US fine look eff to the west into the
AmmonoosuC valley, and view of the Twin
Mountains and other heights toward Bethle
hem, as well as of the tops of Mounts Clay.
Jefferson, Adams and Madison, on which
We now began to lock down. Along here
We came in sight OF the track Of the Mount
Washington Railroad; and passing near
the pile Of stones which marks the spot
where twenty odd years ago poor Lizzie
Bourne and her companions Cher uncle and
cousin) climbing the mountains on foot
were overtaken by the night and fog and
where she sank and died from fatigue and
exposure few rods from the summit
House noting also the rock by the side OF
which the skeleton and watch OF an old gem
tleman from Wilmington, Delaware, were
found year after he lost his way on the
mountain top-we drove up to the platform
of the Summit House. OF the carriage
road have to say, that it il, in fine wealth
er, the finest of the two ways by which
mos. visitors reach the mountain top.
The railroad, with its cogwheel locomotive
which slowly pushes You up the sharp
we stern slope of the mountain, perhaps
gives you the most novel sensations, as well
as some peculiar and very fine views and
it is well worth while to make one trip, up
or down, over it; but the eastern side Of
tho mountain is the finest side and the
carriage road, with more prolonged
pleasure. and more deliberate views. gives
you the grander sights of mouutain maguif-
icence. There is q finer ascent than either.
for the pedestrian or horseman, VIZ, by the
old bride path, from the Crawford House
over the submits OF Mounts Clinton,
Pleasant, Franklin and Monroe. But this
takes bali day and an amount Of cxertiOn
which nowadays few care to expend.
We had, On the whole, a remarkable alter
noon on the Summit, in point OF weather.
To the west, indeed, a veil OF smoke and haze
hid the Green Mountains, and VIC could see
little beyond the Connecticut valley; but
to the east the air was pretty clear-clearer
than the average OF tolerably clear days, so
that We saw Sebago Lake. which is but ft,
teen miles from Portland and the Ocean
and the day was an astonishingly still one.
The wind blows here, when it docs anywhere:
and twenty mile gale in the world below,
up here becomes hurricane Of hundred |
miles an hour, under which the stout chains |
which anchor all the houses Of the little
sway before the blast But this day was a.
still as d still iay in Burlington. The an
emometer on the signal station, which is
buzzing round like mad. actually |
csme to a standstill. and was motionless,
ave an occasional languid revolution, for
hali-hour at time. The air was cool,
mercury at i6) though it was a hot day i'll
the valleys below and the absence OF wind
made it especially enjoyable.
The pedestrian party Of Boston boys, to
which | have alluded in former letter,
,amped near tho Glen House the night be-
ore. and starting an hour or two before We
lid reached the summit before W.. Their
light miles uphill tramp before dinner
evidently had not tired them. for they start
ID right after dinner for Tuckerman'S Riy-
ne. This " mountain colosseum IN am
,hitheatrc of rock, with walls a thousand
eet high, hoored with snow blown in
hundred feet deep in Winter, and lasting
through August-is reached by n descent Of
thousand feet or more and tramp OF Il
nile, from the top. The boys came back, a
title tagged, but not used up. in lcss than
hree hours They found a snowicd some
wenty feet thick, sixty odd wide and over
50 feet long. tunnelled through the centre
y the stream with an arch of ten or twelve
eet span.
The sunset was worth a paragraph. The
Ghole west was shrouded in haze,
trough which tho sun sank, to al
appearance, below the western horizon.
But soon CLEAN of red appeared
GLOW the line of the apparent horizon.
which must haye been Il stratum of cloud
hanging above tho Adirondack, and in a
CIV minutes the sun resppeared, ball OF ,
ed hot iron shading off to deep purple,
eemingly below the horizon; or rather ,
eeming to be beftpeen the beholders and the