OUTING CLUB CABINS AND TRAILS
Few alumni realize the expansion of the Outing Club in recent years. The more spectacular features, such as the Winter Carnival and the ski-jumping attract considerable public attention, but the every-day life of the Club, the real heart of the movement, proceeds so quietly that its extent is overlooked. Practically every week-end during the college year finds the nearby cabins, used to capacity and others on the trail to more distant cabins.
In view of the fact that alumni will shortly be given the opportunity of joining the Club either as sustaining or life members, it has been thought advisable to show them something of the property in which they are acquiring an interest and the opportunities it presents.
Ten cabins are now owned and operated by the Club, another one is available for use and two more are to be constructed in the spring. To bring the situation more graphically to attention, the properties as they now exist will be described, not in the order of acquisition, but in the natural sequence of one following the long trail.
TUCKER CABIN
The start may well be taken at the Tucker Cabin on Happy Hill, nearest to Hanover, and the only cabin of the Club situated in Vermont. It stands on the east slope of the hill in a tract of 100 acres. The site was purchased and the cabin erected in 1913 with funds provided by Mr. Johnson and was named in honor of President-Emeritus Tucker. Happy Hill, which rises behind the cabin commands a wide sweep of horizon, across the White River to the Green Mountains westward, the Franconias in the White Mountain region to the north, and the New Hampshire hinterland to the east. The cabin, constructed with two wings, has a central chimney and fireplace and a porch facing the south and will accommodate 15 men.
The Tucker Tract, although more than a mile from the nearest occupied farm, is in reality the scene of earlier settlement, as the overgrown pasture, grassy cellarholes and old orchards testify. Water is supplied by a sizable brook behind the cabin and, if this should fail in the driest season, a never-failing spring rises near the road not far from the center of the tract. The whole situation lends a peculiar charm and restfulness.
The trail from Happy Hill to Moose Mountain, the next stopping place, drops down to the nearest settlement over abandoned roads and thence through Norwich, Hanover and Etna. There are numerous options on the route from Hanover to Moose Mountain, but the most romantic and perhaps the most beautiful is byway of the old Governor's Road, constructed for John Wentworth on the occasion of his first visit to Hanover in 1771. On an abandoned section at the gateway of this road the Class of 1871 proposes to erect an Outing Club cabin in the spring in memory of their classmate, Melvin O. Adams.
MOOSE MOUNTAIN
The Governor's Road continues over still used and long abandoned sections to Hanover Centre and thence over Moose Mountain to the east. On the west slope of the mountain and somewhat south of the old road, lies the oldest property of the Club. Originally housed in a hunting shack which the "owner, Dr. J. M. Gile, kindly allowed the Club to use, the holdings in real estate and cabins have now been largely increased; land to the extent of 60 acres is held; and three cabins and a lean-to are in almost constant use. The original camp has been rebuilt to house 4 men and contains a cosy fireplace. The second cabin, frequently remodeled, but first built with funds accumulated by Mr. Franklin P. Shumway, father of one of the early and energetic presidents of the Club, accommodates 20 men, and the newest and largest cabin in the chain, built with funds appropriated by the trustees, will take care of 20 men overnight and 100 for social purposes. This cabin, with its fireplace devouring four-foot logs, is fully equipped with all the up-to-date appliances and serves as headquarters for the famous Griggs parties. It might be said in passing that the cabins at Moose Mountain consume forty cords of wood a year. A never-failing mountain brook flows between the new cabin and the two old ones and one hundred yards upstream a small lean-to, with a rough fireplace in front, takes care of those who scorn a roof or tight walls when on the trail. In front of the cabins an artificial swimming-pool, deep enough for a real dive, has been constructed by student labor and offers a cold dip at any season of the year. These three cabins are the scene of almost nightly pilgrimages and the quantities of roast pig, chicken pies and strawberry shortcake consumed, each in their season, would seem incredible to the dyspeptic.
From Moose Mountain the trail turns north, paralleling the Connecticut River, but at a distance of six or seven miles. Over the shoulder of Moose Mountain it leads, then under Holt's Ledge, rising several hundred feet sheer from the valley and over a hill road abandoned scores of years ago through Quinttown, now only a memory, to the long level ridge of Cube Mountain. When the new cabin at Holt's Ledge is built, through the generosity of the Cummings Construction Company, an alternative route, shorter but more hilly, will lead through the notch west of the Ledge, where a break may be made in the rather long stage between Moose and Cube.
CUBE MOUNTAIN
The situation of Cube Cabin is peculiarly charming. A grove of old birches, close enough for shade and shelter but without obstructing the view, holds two cabins facing the west. In the foreground across the valley, rises the conical mass of Sunday Mountain in Orford and beyond are the forest-covered hills of Vermont. At the back the mountain rises some 1500 feet above the cabin and affords an unusual view of Mooselauke and the northern ranges.
The excellence of the equipment at Cube is due to the generosity of Mr. Johnson, patron saint of the Club. The older camp, with its generous fireplace and modern kitchen, is the only one boasting water piped to its very door and it is also the only cabin containing a real dormitory loft. The other cabin, also a gift of Mr. Johnson, takes care of the overflow from the larger cabin and at present houses the trophies collected by the Bait and Bullet Club, an organization affiliated with the Outing Club, whose aims are self-evident. The holdings at this point include 20 acres and the two cabins will accommodate 20 men.
ARMINGTON POND
From the Cube Cabin the trail again drops into the lowlands, following the roads and across pasture land to Armington Pond, the highest of the series of lakes, including Lake Tarleton and Lake Catherine. For a stretch of about two miles, long and narrow, Armington washes the slopes of Piermont Mountain. On still spring evenings the roar of mountain brooks across the lake is the only sound and in winter the wind whistling down from Mooselauke and the higher ranges. This is the only cabin of the series situated on still water and, in spite of its distance from Hanover, its register shows its popularity. Here, too, the name of Johnson is writ large, as it was through his generosity that the cabin was built. It is of the two-section type, living room and kitchen with partition between, and accommodates 10 men. Shaded by spruce and maples, it faces the rocky shore of the lake fifty feet back, the lot containing about two acres of land.
GREAT BEAR CABIN
From. Armington to Glencliff the trail leads through the wilderness. After passing the scattered farms above the lake, it plunges into forests where formerly cattle grazed in the pastures. Old highways, now overgrown with saplings but still lined by orderly stone walls and an occasional half-concealed cellarhole, prove an earlier population. But soon even these evidences of earlier residence disappear and at Webster Slide and Wachapauka Pond the country has known nothing but the lumberman's axe. From the top of the water shed the trail falls steeply to the valley and the railroad and thence through the village of Glencliff to Great Bear Cabin, so-called from the discovery of the tracks of a large bear in the neighborhood of the cabin during its erection.
Mr. Johnson is also the donor of this cabin, most spectacular in its situation of all the valley cabins. It stands on a shelf at the entrance to the Glencliff trail up Mooselauke facing the south and a confused tangle of hills and mountains. Just below lies the valley, through which runs the mountain division of the Boston and Maine where the double-header freight trains puff ceaselessly up on either side to the summit of the pass. In front is a broad expanse of forest-covered mountains, behind, forbidding and impressive Mooselauke.
Great Bear Cabin is of the same type as that at Armington Pond, except that the kitchen is not partitioned from the main section and the dimensions are slightly less. A covered porch on the south faces the distant view and serves as the gathering place after the evening house-cleaning is finished and pipes are lighted. Aside from being most spectacularly situated, this cabin shares with the Cube location, the distinction of being the windiest spot on the trail, Mooselauke Summit alone excepted. The gales sweep up the valley and down the slopes of , the mountain in constant buffets. This cabin which accommodates 10 men is situated on land belonging to the state sanitorium whose officials have been most considerate and friendly in promoting the interests of the Club.
MOOSELAUKE SUMMIT
The real mountain work on the .trail begins after leaving Great Bear Cabin. Through the thick spruce of the United States Forest Reservation it slabs up the slope to the stunted growth and the bare slopes of the summit. If the day is clear the Tip Top House is in view for a mile along the nearly level ridge of the summit, but if the clouds have settled down it does not loom, before the hiker until he nearly stumbles upon it. The Outing Club is greatly in the debt of the Woodworth brothers, of '97 and '07 respectively, for this notable addition to its holdings. One of the earliest mountain hotels in New Hampshire, it has been familiar to mountain lovers for more than sixty years. It was built solidly to withstand the gales and frosts of the upper levels and it has met the expectations of its builders. The deep-cut windows of office and dining-room command a view that is different from, but no less striking than that of any major peak in the White Mountains. The outlook to the north and east over the Franconia Range remains especially in the memory. The real estate here includes the whole summit of the mountain, a tract of land one mile in diameter.
The Tip Top House boasts of three stories, the two upper ones devoted to bed-rooms and accommodating 90 men over night. Members of the Outing Club visit this camp at all seasons of the year, in winter equipped with creepers and snowshoes, but necessarily the important use is in the summer and fall. The mountain is a favorite objective for parties of hikers from the many summer camps on nearby lakes in New Hampshire and Vermont. The Club serves as host to these enthusiasts during the summer months and through July and August there is scarcely a night on which a party from some camp is not sheltered here. During the summer of 1921 nearly 2000 persons registered in the club books and spent the night. Besides this numerous patronage, the active members of the Club are constantly coming and going. It is difficult to express adequately the appreciation of the Club for this unique property.
AGASSIZ BASIN
From Mooselauke Summit the trail again drops to the valley, past Jobildunk Ravine and over the timbered slopes and ruined logging camps of Mount Blue to the old beaver meadow in Kinsman Notch. Leaving the fantastic boulders and narrow caverns of Lost River, it comes to its official end at the romantic and geologically interesting Agassiz Basin. Here, beside the clear mountain stream and the deep potholes, nestles the northernmost of the cabins devoted exclusively to the Outing Club, another reminder of the generosity of Mr. Johnson. The smallest of all the cabins, but adequate to the demand because of its comparative inaccessibility, it lies at the gateway to the Franconia Notch and invites the tramper to continue his journey to the even higher Presidential Range. Placed on a tract of 12 acres, it will accommodate 10 men and is a tempting objective equally to the geologist, the sportsman or the hiker.
SKY LINE FARM
But the generosity of the friends of the Club has not stopped at this point. The enthusiast may continue through Franconia Notch, past the Old Man of the Mountains and the twin lakes, through the northern metropolis of Littleton and on. to Sky Line Farm, where he will again find almost a proprietary interest in the Chalet,-which the generosity of Mr. Johnson has reserved for his use, although the ownership is vested in the town of Littleton. This cabin will accommodate a party of six, as many as are likely to find it possible to reach so distant a point in the scant time available from college work.
This is but a brief and inadequate survey of the resources of the Outing Club, at the same time the opportunity of its members. Other organizations, the Ledyard Canoe Club, and the Bait and Bullet Club, having a more or less close affiliation with the Outing Club, own three other cabins which are devoted to a more specialized phase of outdoor life.
A rough tabulation will show that the Club owns ten cabins, with an immediate prospect of two more and 650 acres of land, some of it valuable woodland. It maintains 90 miles of trail and in the course of a year shelters several thousand persons. The following cabin statistics have been compiled for the college year 1920-21 and the pececling summer:
Number of Men Cabin Summer 1920 College Year Tucker - - - - - 125 734 Moose - - - - - - 677 Cube - - - - - - 40 304 Armington - - - - 192 188 Great Bear - - - 101 270 Agassiz - - - - 85 150 New Moose Cabin (55 parties, April 1-June 22) 1123 Mooselauke Summit Camp 1328 230 Totals - - - - - 1871 3676
The opportunity offered by this equipment cannot be overstated, and its returns to those who will use it are beyond estimate.
The Tucker Cabin at Happy Hill
After Supper in a Cabin
A Thanksgiving Ceremony at Moose Cabin
The First Cabin at Cube Mountain
Armington Cabin with the Pond in the Background
Great Bear Cabin and Mooselauke
View South from Great Bear Cabin Abandoned farm in foreground
On the Summit of Mooselauke
The Cabin at Agassiz Basin
Looking toward the Presidential Range from Sky Line
