Chapter I: Foreword

The author wishes to express his thanks to the editors of the "Boston Evening Transcript" for permission to reprint in this volume matter originally contributed to the columns of that paper; to Mr. Frederick Endicott of Canton, Massachusetts, for permission to reproduce his photographs of "Sunrise on Mount Washington," "Clouds Cascading over the Northern Peaks," "Fog on Mount Cannon," and "Lafayette from Bald Mountain"; to the Appalachian Mountain Club for the shelter of cosy camps so hospitably open to all wayfarers; and to many mountain people, especially those who dwell summers in the tiny hamlet on Mount Washington Summit, for unassuming hospitality and friendly guidance.

CONTENTS

Page

I. Up Chocorua 1
II. Bobolink Meadows 17
III. Climbing Iron Mountain 32
IV. June on Kearsarge 48
V. Rain in the Mountains 64
VI. Carter Notch 79
VII. Up Tuckerman's Ravine 96
VIII. On Mount Washington 112
IX. Mount Washington Butterflies 128
X. Mountain Pastures 144
XI. The Northern Peaks 160
XII. The Lakes of the Clouds 175
XIII. Crawford Notch 191
XIV. Up Mount Jackson 206
XV. Carrigain the Hermit 222
XVI. Up the Giant's Stairs 238
XVII. On Mount Lafayette 252
XVIII. A Mountain Farm 268
XIX. Summer's Farewell 284
Index 299

ILLUSTRATIONS

Sunrise from the summit of Mount Washington _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

"The smooth highway over which thousands of automobiles
skim in long summer processions from
Massachusetts to the Mountains" 2

"You realize the grandness and beauty of this outpost
sentinel of the White Hills" 8

"The shadowy coolness of evening was welling up and
blotting the gold of sunset from the treetops" 16

The Glen Ellis River at Jackson, New Hampshire, Thorn
Mountain in the distance 20

Down the Wildcat River, over the brink of Jackson Falls,
Moat Mountain in the distance 24

"From nowhere does one get a better view of Kearsarge
than from this little cairn on the plateau which is
the summit of Iron Mountain" 44

Sunset over Iron Mountain and Jackson, seen from Thorn
Mountain 46

Kearsarge and Bartlett, seen from Middle Mountain,
near Jackson 48

From Eagle Mountain one may see Kearsarge, blue
and symmetrical in the distance, peering over the
shoulder of Thorn 50

Sunset light on the Southern Peaks, seen from the summit
of Mount Washington 64

Clouds on Mount Washington, from the Glen Road,
Jackson 78

Carter Notch seen over Doublehead from Kearsarge summit 80

"Always climbing by easy gradients toward the great V in
the Carter-Moriah Range" 84

The Appalachian Mountain Club camp in Carter Notch 90

"The snow arch at the head of Tuckerman's Ravine
holds winter in its heart all summer long" 96

"Then the shadows are deep under the black growth
that spires up all about the little placid sheet of
water, though it still reflects the sapphire blue of
the clear sky above" 100

The Appalachian Mountain Club camp in Tuckerman's
Ravine 104

"The giant is awake, has tossed his bed-clothes high in
air, and is striding away along the notch behind
their shielding fluff" 108

"It all depends on what winds Father Æolus keeps
chained, perhaps in the deep caverns of the Great
Gulf, or which ones he lets loose to rattle the chains
of the Tip Top House" 112

"The more distant valleys were deeply hazed in this
amethystine blue, but the nearer peaks and plateaus
stood so clear above them that it seemed as if one
might leap to the Lakes of the Clouds or step across
the Great Gulf to Jefferson in one giant's stride" 118

"Dawn on the mornings of those days was born out of
the sky above the summit, as if the fading stars left
some of their shine behind them" 120

Butterfly-time on Mount Washington, the summit seen
over the larger of the Lakes of the Clouds 128

The fantastic lion's head which, carved in stone, guards
the trail along Boott's Spur toward the summit cone
of Washington 136

"Semidea persistently haunts the great gray rock-pile
which is the summit cone" 138

"The stocky, square-headed, white-faced cattle may well
feel themselves superior to these beings far below
who groom and feed them" 144

Mountain Sandwort in bloom on a little lawn near Mount
Pleasant on the last day in July 154

Clouds on the Northern Peaks, Mount Adams seen from
Mount Washington summit 160

"Where the path swings round the east side of Jefferson" 164

Cataract of clouds pouring over the Northern Peaks into
the Great Gulf, seen from the summit of Mount
Washington 168

"Dwarfed firs, beautiful in their courage, set spires along
portions of their borders, dark, straight lashes for
clear blue eyes" 182

Spaulding Lake at the head of the Great Gulf, Mounts
Adams and Madison in the distance 188

"Profile of Webster," looking toward Crawford Notch
from the old Crawford farm-house site 192

"Where railroad, highway, and river draw together and
touch elbows in passing through the gateway of the
Notch" 198

"Just below the nick of the Notch you may see where
the Silver Cascade and the Flume Cascade hurry
down from their birth on Mount Jackson, and farther
down the vast slope of Webster" 202

In the heart of Crawford Notch, the summit of Jackson
on the distant horizon 204

"As if giants had carved a huge, preposterous figure of
a flying bird there for a sign to all who pass" 224

"Nor is this to be said in any scorn of the lumberman.
He bought the woods and is using them now for the
purpose for which he spent his money" 232

"My way to the Giant's Stairs lay over the high shoulder
of Iron Mountain, where the road shows you all the
kingdoms of the mountain world spread out below" 238

"From the top tread of the Giant's Stairs one sees half
of the mountain world, the half to southward" 248

"On the way the gray brow of Mount Cannon looks in
through the gaps in the foliage" 256

Profile Lake, Franconia Notch, and Mount Lafayette
from Bald Mountain 264

"Such beauties as these the mountains set daily before
the eyes of the man who hewed out the highest farm
in New England on the high shoulder of a westerly
spur of Wildcat Mountain" 270

"The Glen Boulder has a George Washington nose, a
Booker Washington chin, and the low forehead of
the cave man" 288

The Crawford trail along Franklin, Mount Pleasant in the
distance 294

"The world was blotted out in a gray mass of scudding
vapor that gradually became black night out of which
by and by rain came hissing" 296

WHITE MOUNTAIN TRAILS