Did the AT ever go through Dover, NH?

[Frogger]

Back in May '05, before I started my thruhike, I was walking around Dover, NH. Dover is probably 80 miles from the current AT. I found this marker on the ground. I had never seen an AT survey marker before, and I thought it odd that I would see my first one before I set foot near the trail. I forgot all about it until the snow around here finally thawed, and I went for a walk to locate it again. I thought that surely I must have been going crazy when I thought I saw it before. It couldn't be an AT marker. But sure enough, there it was just as I remembered it.

If you can't make it out that well, it is the same style marker as in this image: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...cat/508/page/1
The marker I found is much more worn down, but is very clearly an AT marker.

What's the deal? Why on earth is this in Dover, NH? Did the trail used to go through here?

Frogger

www.sobohobos.com
"It's a palindrome!"

[weary]

Back in May '05, before I started my thruhike, I was walking around Dover, NH. Dover is probably 80 miles from the current AT. I found this marker on the ground. I had never seen an AT survey marker before, and I thought it odd that I would see my first one before I set foot near the trail. I forgot all about it until the snow around here finally thawed, and I went for a walk to locate it again. I thought that surely I must have been going crazy when I thought I saw it before. It couldn't be an AT marker. But sure enough, there it was just as I remembered it.

If you can't make it out that well, it is the same style marker as in this image: http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...cat/508/page/1
The marker I found is much more worn down, but is very clearly an AT marker.

What's the deal? Why on earth is this in Dover, NH? Did the trail used to go through here?

Frogger

www.sobohobos.com
"It's a palindrome!"

As far as I know the trail never came anywhere's near Dover, certainly not since the federal government began buying the trail corridor. Equally mysterious is how the marker got so worn in just 30 years. The park service didn't begin to buy the trail until sometime around the early 1970s.

Either this is not an AT marker. Or vandals have been at work.

[Zzzzdyd]

Hey college freshman go over to the AT and bring back a marker and place it in this particular spot for 1000 points.......etc.....

or AT marker factory may be located in this area and one of the workers felt like having some fun ....


or it's a X files episode ............

[wyclif]

I'm a surveyor.

That is definitely an AT survey marker. What it is doing in Dover, I can't possibly tell you.

I reckon the above poster is on to something...they are not hard to remove and could have been moved by a prankster or else perhaps the surveyor ran out of "caps" and had a discarded AT cap in the truck.

But that's pure speculation. It is odd.

[Sleepy the Arab]

Where exactly in Dover?

[Singe03]

I'm not sure how this works honestly.

Does a survey marker definately mean the trail went through that area or is it possible that a route for the AT through or near Dover was surveyed and possibly rejected in favor of the current route?

Is it on natural stone or concrete somewhere, it looks like concrete, were it on a sidewalk or roadway, the wear is easily explained.

[wyclif]

Is it on natural stone or concrete somewhere, it looks like concrete, were it on a sidewalk or roadway, the wear is easily explained.

Nah, that's an aluminum survey marker stamped for the AT. My guess is 3/4" diameter:

http://www.berntsen.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1788

Wyclif the Surveyor

[Red]

Nah, that's an aluminum survey marker stamped for the AT. My guess is 3/4" diameter:

http://www.berntsen.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1788

Wyclif the Surveyor

i believe he was talking about the stone it was placed on...

[wyclif]

i believe he was talking about the stone it was placed on...

They are commonly set by drilling into stone or concrete. Most often they are mounted on a 2' piece of rebar (property corner pin).

[Frogger]

It's on a sidewalk, and seems in there pretty solidly. I doubt this was a prank, but more likely use of the wrong cap for the area.

[Frogger]

Where exactly in Dover?

Do you know Dover well enough to know where I am talking about? Or do you mean a more general description of the location?

It's sort of behind Smiley's pizza on Central Ave.

[peakbagger]

Back when the corridor was first surveyed in the Mahoosucs, there were several loose markers along the trail centerline and I encountered several on the corridor boundary that were loose. It appears as though rather than drilling the rock, the surveyor tried to "glue" them to the rock. This might have worked until a couple of freeze thaw cycles knocked them loose. I suspect that over the years these aluminum disks became good momentos and one of them was reset in Dover.

[Sleepy the Arab]

Do you know Dover well enough to know where I am talking about? Or do you mean a more general description of the location?

It's sort of behind Smiley's pizza on Central Ave.

Interesting. I'll have to check it out.