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Alligator
08-08-2013, 12:43
So about 15 years ago my buddies and I were hiking in Maine and took the side trail out to Mt Abraham. We knew it was a former fire lookout. When we got to the summit, there was some interesting rock art and the little rock cave shelter. We wondered why the shelter was so small. The rock art was tall and I think may have had an arch. I don't have any pictures as far as I know, but I found a trip report (http://summithikinginnewengland.blogspot.com/2013/07/65-mt-abraham-maine-july-5-2013.html) that has a picture.

Later in the trip, we stayed at one of the shelters where the local maintainer was at that weekend. It happened to be Dave Field, who if you didn't know was recently inducted into the AT Hall of Fame. Dave had a lot of interesting history to tell. He and his sister(?) I think he said helped build the shelter we were staying in, one of the bat floor shelters. We asked him about the rock art. Here's how I remember the story.

Dave said that some time prior to our hike, like maybe the 70's or 80's that the fire warden's trail had gotten really overgrown and not used. I don't remember if it was him and another guy or just some other crew had gone out to scout the trail in order to open it back up. Anyway, he said it was a bushwhack to the summit. He says when the crew got there, they were presented with the new rock art as well as some nude women who had set up the art. They were commemorating some celestial event and maybe even waiting for the mother ship to pick them up. I think he said they put the little rock shelter in too but I am not particularly clear on that, they may have just been using it. That's the gist of it:D.

Not a picture I took.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRz-pqwcjT0/Ud_3WmKEgGI/AAAAAAAAC1A/7OGXkhwlxaE/s400/IMG_2046.JPG
Anyway, got any history on the human artifacts found on or near the trail?

BirdBrain
08-08-2013, 13:20
I have no clue who built these, but they are not uncommon in Maine. Little Jackson has a nice one on top of it too. I do not have pictures. I had assumed they were modern and offered a place to escape the wind. The tower remnants are quite common too. Avery, Moxie Bald, and Chairback come to mind. I too am curious now. Are they old or modern?

T.S.Kobzol
08-08-2013, 13:34
I remember about 15 years ago there we met some religious sect people on Mt.Madison who also were in the news at the time. Maybe it was Heaven's Gate... not sure... but they had a special day on which they were going to selected mountain peaks from which they believed they would be taken by a spaceship eventually ... or something like that.

Alligator
08-08-2013, 13:49
I remember about 15 years ago there we met some religious sect people on Mt.Madison who also were in the news at the time. Maybe it was Heaven's Gate... not sure... but they had a special day on which they were going to selected mountain peaks from which they believed they would be taken by a spaceship eventually ... or something like that.Yeah Heaven's Gate was right around that time, Hale-Bopp I think was the comet? The ladies in Dave's story were from before that event, it may have been for a conjunction of planets (there was a notable one in the 80's). He may have given us the approximate date too but I don't recall.

Another Kevin
08-08-2013, 17:37
The shelter you describe sounds eerily parallel to one that I know about.

On the side of the summit rock on Slide Mountain in the Catskills, there's what remains of a tiny little rock shelter (as shown in this picture from around 1900)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Stoddard-1.jpg
(source: wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_Mountain_%28Ulster_County,_New_York%29))

John Burroughs is known to have slept in it, (http://www.catskillarchive.com/jb/heartsouthern.htm) at some time before 1910. There is now a plaque in his memory, about where the hikers in the picture are tending their fire:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6591620665_4a4a33534a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/6591620665/)
Cathy at summit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/6591620665/) by ke9tv (http://www.flickr.com/people/ke9tv/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6591568973_13674ba4c4_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/6591568973/)
Slide Mountain summit plaque (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/6591568973/) by ke9tv (http://www.flickr.com/people/ke9tv/), on Flickr
(Excuse the image quality - as you can see, it was snowing when I took those pictures.)

Just as with Mt Abraham, Slide Mountain is the former site of a fire tower, removed in 1965, nothing of which remains but a couple of concrete footings. The outlines of the observer's cabin and of two lean-tos can also be traced with some difficulty. The lean-tos were destroyed in 1975 when the State forbade camping above 3500 feet elevation (except in winter and emergencies).

Mags
08-08-2013, 19:28
Go to the Colorado Plateau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau). Plenty of "How did it get here???" type buildings and remnants.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/8885065106_e641055d17.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8361/8426092200_a3f2c39f4e.jpg

Kookork
08-08-2013, 20:03
I am no AT expert but aren't these structures the remnants of shelters and primary buildings made by people who used the trail way before it was named AT. There was no guide book or manuals though. They knew about the next shelter just if they have heard it from another hiker/walker of the trail . I am talking about as old as First Nations and as late as the first groups of settlers.

Hill Ape
08-08-2013, 22:17
pmags, the pics of the colorado building, is that from the chaco people? those folk knew more about the movement of the planets than anyone for hundreds of years, there is a great documentary on them

and the cabin ruins on the trail. was the CCC active in that area? i'll do some research. they were notorious for building things that weren't official projects

Driver8
08-08-2013, 22:17
A couple of well-known additions on the A.T. are old hotels on Lafayette's and Moosiluake's summits:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/401714_4148478673227_1516303002_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/457652_4009534159701_1004315017_o.jpg

And this is the foundation of the old fire lookout cabin atop Mt. Garfield:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/401714_4148478673227_1516303002_n.jpg

Driver8
08-08-2013, 22:23
Oops - pasted Lafayette link twice. Here's what's left of Garfield's cabin:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/59010_10200169388380384_99192301_n.jpg

Old Hillwalker
08-09-2013, 07:18
23253Hotel on Lafayette

Mags
08-09-2013, 08:40
pmags, the pics of the colorado building, is that from the chaco people? those folk knew more about the movement of the planets than anyone for hundreds of years, there is a great documentary on them



Yep. That is Chaco Canyon in NM. Cool place. Reminded of ancient Rome in many ways (temples, markets, even remnants of trade roads). The wife and I went there between Christmas and New Year's and had the place pretty much to ourselves. A bit cold, though. :) (-7 F at night. My beer turned into slushies! :D)


The top photo is actually from Dinosaur NM in Utah and is from the Fremont people (http://www.nps.gov/imr/photosmultimedia/photogallery.htm?id=F0729EFC-155D-451F-67FEDA7F057AA3A0).

Wise Old Owl
08-09-2013, 21:24
Curious Driver8, how tough would it be for you to find the old "Before" images?

Sarcasm the elf
08-09-2013, 21:38
Go to the Colorado Plateau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau). Plenty of "How did it get here???" type buildings and remnants.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/8885065106_e641055d17.jpg




When I see images like this, I can imagine a scene, many centuries ago where the inhabitants are complaining about the no good kids and all the graffiti they are leaving in the shelter cave. :D

Driver8
08-09-2013, 21:50
Curious Driver8, how tough would it be for you to find the old "Before" images?

Hmmm. Hadn't thought about it, WOO. Those are pics I took. An image search probably would yield good results.

zippyd8
01-12-2019, 23:18
Cool post!!