Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-08-25
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were frequent.
| For several reasons 1 turned into my
bunk shortly after getting my lunch out
of the way. Opportunity for sleep the
night before had been very limited. Be-
sides, the room was pretty solidly filed,
and the bunk, although destitute OF
springs and not very bountifully supplied
with boughs, was to be preferred to
standing in the crowd. was soon lulled
to sleep by the babel of voices, which
sounded like fashionable reception, and
out of which came disjointed fragments
-"I tell you, that beats Arcadia mix
ture"-"Well, Guy Shorey covered that
trip, and then went down through Tuck
erman's Ravine and into Carter Notch
the same day''-"Yes, Ned's making
good" and so on.
Although it rained through the even
| ing. those who were awake at midnight
saw clear moon shining directly in at
the open door, and in the morning the
sky above was clear as crystal. We
learned afterward that Oxford County
was under clouds, and the edge of the
cloud could be seen from the summit Of
Mount Madison in nearly all directions,
but the peaks around US were all In the
sunlight.
After breakfast the caretaker lined us
up and snapped his camera at us, as he
wanted a souvenir of his record crowd
for the season. Then the parties began
to take up the line of march for the day.
Twenty.three people In four parties
started over the trail which we had trav-
ersed the previous day in the other d.
rection. Among them were the two col
lege boys who came over with us, who
were intending to 60 down another way,
but thought, as the weather looked 30
we'll, they would try it again, and so
went back over the same route. They
all experienced the vagaries of White
Mountain weather, for within an hour the
ridges over which they would travel
were apparently all in the fog, though
how long they remained so we could not
tell.
Besides our party of four, two others
remained who were going down our way,
and as we had great abundance Of
time, we went up to the top of Mount
Madison, which is about 500 feet above
the Hut. Here we got the best view OF
the trip, though nothing was to be seen
in the distance. The near mountains
made an impressive spectacle. OF In
the northwest a portion of the town OF
Jefferson was to be seen, and directly
north the town of Randolph. To the
northeast dim cloud of smoke indicat-
ed the location of Berlin, but the great
extent of country in all directions was
hidden by the clouds and murkiness OF
the air.
Two hours was allowed for the three
miles and a half down the Valley Way to
the railroad, and we had some time to
spare. The descent Is about 1000 feet
from the top of Mount Madison, or $500
from the Hut, making quite a rapid
drop, along a much. used trail. Last win.
ter numbering operations were carried
on along portion of the trail, and the
first man who was over the trail in the
spring reported that 1t had been practi-
cally ruined, and that he should hardly
have been able to follow it If he had not
been very familiar with the locality.
Since then the Appalachian Club has
put on a crew of men who worked sew
eral days clearing the path of the logs
and slash that were left in it, and 1t is
now in good condition.
The cutting done on these northern
slopes of Mount Madison is one of the
things which have induced the endeavor
to have national forest reserve made in
the White Mountains. Looking from
the top of Mount Madison, we had OBJ
served on the lower slopes great brown
patches where the woods had been
stripped off clean, and in the cuttings
themselves there is an opportunity to
study subjects connected with forestry.
know little about cutting timber, but
it certainly seems to me that the meth
DDS used there are about as wasteful as
they could be. There is some magniti-
cent spruce growing on these slopes.
Some of it is ripe, ready to cut, ought to
be cut. Numerous trees which have
been cut are hollow hearted. But they
have stripped the ground, and within
sight of the path there are cords and
cords of spruce and hard wood lying
spruce poles of good size, old trees with
little hollow heart, and even some
good, straight, sound, clear butt cuts.
It may possibly be that this is because
they didn't clean up the winters cut,
though they certainly got out the bulk
of it.
At Appalachia, a flag station at the
foot of the trail, we took train on the
Boston and Maine for the six miles back
to Gorham, and came home on the after.
noon train. Though the weather was
far from ideal, the trip was an enjoyable
one even in the rain. The expense OF 1t
also was not large, as compared with the
less strenuous methods of seeing the
mountains by steam and team. And If
you are able bodied enough to 60 over
the mountains on foot you get lot out
of your trip that you can't get on
wheels. A. 4. +.