Best name for a Natural Tract of Land

[garbanz]

Being in with a group of hunters we always made up names of natural terrain so we could relate to where we had been and go back to in later years. The PCT has many tracts with really neat names. When I get to the Indian Heaven Wilderness I think I'll do a double back flip!

[myakka_]

Tate's Hell State Forest

The story goes like this: Cebe Tate (a local farmer) decided to take his shotgun and his hunting dogs into the swamp in search of a panther that was killing his livestock. Supposedly he was lost in the swamp for seven days straight (although some stories say it was only four days), bitten by a poisonous snake and drinking swamp water to slake his thirst. Finally he emerged in a clearing near Carrabelle and murmured "My name is Cebe Tate and I just came from Hell!" Then he died. Since then (1875), that bit of dark and murky swamp has been known as Tate's Hell.

The story is gruesome, but you have to admit it is memorable.

[Hikes in Rain]

Wow! I did a lot of the hydrologic restoration of Tate's Hell in the past few years. The story (as best I know) is true. Amazing that someone else knows the story.

[fireneck]

Not PCT but this seems relevant.... Appalachian Trail Names has a brief story behind many gap, campsite, mountain, etc names. A great book to jog a thru-hiking memories.

[QiWiz]

I've always been a fan of Bumpass Hell in Lassen in CA.
Turns out it was named after a Mr. Bumpass who lost his leg there when he broke through a thin crust covering a super hot mud pit.

[Mags]

I always thought the Spanish place names are the best (even when translated in English). So dramatic!

Rio de las Animas Perdidas - River of Lost Souls (Durango)
Sangre de Cristo - Blood of Christ mountains

..and so on.