Forest and Crag, 2nd; A History of Hiking, Trail Blazing, and Adventure in the Northeast Mountains

by Laura and Guy Waterman

• ISBN13: 9781929173488
• ISBN10: 1929173482
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Appalachian Mountain Club Books

Summary

The definitive history of the mountains of the Northeast is now back in print. Exhaustively researched and superbly written, and now featuring a new introduction by author Laura Waterman,Forest and Cragis a classic of outdoor literature. The late Guy Waterman and his wife Laura were pioneers in promoting preservation of wild places and backwoods ethics. They spent a decade researching and writingForest and Crag,drawing together widely scattered sources on the history of the White Mountains, the Green Mountains, the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and beyond. The struggles of early pioneers in America's first frontier wilderness, the first ascent of every major peak in the Northeast, the creation of the Appalachian Trail, the golden era of the summit resort hotels, the unforeseen consequences of the backpacking boom of the 1970s and 1980s-it's all here in one comprehensive volume. Lovers of adventure and the outdoors will hail the return of this classic history of the mountains of the Northeast.

Author Biography

Laura Waterman is a former editor at Backpacker magazine and a pioneer in women's technical climbing.

Guy Waterman, who passed away in 2000, was a former speechwriter on Capitol Hill. Together they wrote numerous articles on the outdoors, as well as the popular books Backwoods Ethics and Wilderness Ethics.

Table of Contents

Figures and tables	vii
Illustrations	xi
Preface	xiii
Preface to the First Edition	xvii
Acknowledgments	xxiii
Abbreviations	xxvii
Introduction; The mountains	xxix
PART ONE. Mountains as "daunting terrible": Before 1830	1	(68)
1 Darby Field on Mount Washington	7	(8)
2 Ira Allen on Mount Mansfield	15	(6)
3 The Belknap-Cutler expedition to Mount Washington	21	(8)
4 Alden Partridge: The first regionwide hiker	29	(8)
5 The Crawfords of Crawford Notch	37	(12)
6 The Monument Line surveyors on Katahdin	49	(8)
7 Janus on the heights during the 1820's	57	(12)
PART TWO. Mountains as sublime: 1830-1870	69	(76)
8 The first mountain tourists	79	(14)
9 Katahdin: A test for the adventurous	93	(8)
10 The Adirondacks at last	101	(10)
11 The mountain guides	111	(8)
12 The Austin sisters and their legacy	119	(6)
13 The elder Hitchcock and Arnold Guyot	125	(6)
14 Wintering over on Moosilauke and Washington	131	(14)
PART THREE. Mountains as places to walk: 1870-1910	145	(198)
15 The pleasures of pedestrianism	151	(10)
16 Adirondack Murray's Fools	161	(6)
17 The younger Hitchcock and Verplanck Colvin	167	(16)
18 The first hiking clubs	183	(12)
19 The first mountain guidebooks	195	(4)
20 The first trail systems	199	(10)
21 Three Adirondack trail centers	209	(14)
22 Randolph	223	(10)
23 Other trail systems	233	(10)
24 Trails that failed	243	(12)
25 Backcountry camping in the eighties and nineties	255	(6)
26 Pychowskas ascendant	261	(12)
27 Death in the mountains	273	(6)
28 Trail policy issues	279	(8)
29 J. Rayner Edmands and Warren Hart: a study in contrast	287	(10)
30 The last explorers	297	(10)
31 The conservation movement	307	(8)
32 The first mountain snowshoers	315	(10)
33 Winter pioneering on Mount Marcy	325	(6)
34 The first mountain skiers	331	(12)
PART FOUR. Mountains as escape from urban society: 1910-1950	343	(214)
35 The Long Trail	351	(24)
36 Unification of the White Mountain trails	375	(16)
37 The Adirondacks become one hiking center	391	(10)
38 Baxter State Park	401	(8)
39 Metropolitan trails	409	(22)
40 Connecticut's blue-blazed trail system	431	(12)
41 The proliferation of hiking clubs	443	(14)
42 Backcountry camping in the twenties and thirties	457	(8)
43 Trail maintenance comes of age	465	(10)
44 Regionwide consciousness	475	(10)
45 The Appalachian Trail	485	(26)
46 Superhiking	511	(14)
47 The Bemis Crew	525	(6)
48 Katahdin in winter	531	(6)
49 Snowshoes versus skis: the great debate	537	(10)
50 Depression, hurricanes, and war	547	(10)
PART FIVE. Mountains as places for recreation: Since 1950	557	(114)
51 The backpacking boom	563	(12)
52 Environmental ethics and backcountry management	575	(14)
53 Backcountry camping in the seventies and eighties	589	(6)
54 The clubs cope with change	595	(8)
55 Northeastern trail systems mature	603	(8)
56 New paths for trail maintenance	611	(16)
57 Points of controversy	627	(12)
58 Peakbaggers and end-to-enders	639	(12)
59 The "school" of winter mountaineering	651	(10)
60 The winter recreation boom	661	(10)
Epilogue	671	(2)
Appendix: Mountains over 4,000 feet in the Northeastern United States, their elevations, and first known ascents	673	(6)
Glossary	679	(8)
Reference notes	687	(172)
Selected bibliography	859	(4)
Index	863	(22)
About the authors	885	(2)
About the AMC	887	(1)
Leave No Trace	888