Hikers camping near Lakes of the Clouds in July 1968

When this photo was taken in 1968 this was legal. On any given Saturday night in the summers of 1967 through 1970 there would be as many as 100 tents like these spread out all around the Lakes of the Clouds extending all the way over to Monroe Flats. Campers near the lakes used the toilet facilities at Lakes of the Clouds Hut. Campers out and away from toilets did not and with really awful results. Campers often built fires and/or used small gasoline stoves to cook on, they erected tents and dug drainage trenches around them, and they put down pads under their sleeping bags. They walked everywhere, indiscriminately across the tundra. They had come to enjoy the great outdoors and, for the most part, were unaware of the damage they were causing. A lot of us did not see the damage immediately, but all this activity and the sheer number of people engaged in it constituted overuse of the fragile alpine environment. Eventually it caused measurable degradation to the plant communities, water supplies, and the terrain itself. Unrestricted camping, particularly the over use of most-favored camp sites, caused sanitation problems and real environmental damage. Some damage was superficial and when the activity stopped the natural system bounced back but there were permanent scars.

Hikers erecting a haphazard shelter in the krumholtz on Mt. Washington, July 1968

These hikers are "roughing it", using an army surplus tarp as a tent. This was a popular practice when the picture was taken in 1968 as an impromptu but unsafe shelter for use above timberline in the White Mountains where the weather can become nasty quickly. At about the same time, 1968, due to technological innovations brought about by the Apollo Space Program and the Vietnam War there was a revolution starting to happen in new materials (ripstop nylong, nylon taffeta, eventually Goretex, Kevlar, etc), that brought affordable, lightweight, and durable back backs, wind and rain gear, footwear, tents, and sleeping bags that also helped to propel people into the mountains. These two men relied on a campfire for warmth because of the insubstantial shelter provided by the tarp so there net impact on this site was probably more destructive, at least potentially, than the impact made by the hikers with their mountain tent in the photo above.

Campfire debris next to the Crawford Path on Mt. Washington, July 1968

This is one of the consequences of camping in any area but in above-timberline areas a camp fire can cause immeasurable damage to fragile plant systems from the fire itself and by the process of procuring firewood. Another consequence of camping in above timberline areas is the repeated and concentrated use of favored camp sites which causes even greater impacts. As a result of the above timberline camping the USFS and the AMC, by 1973, had collaborated to create what we referred to as RUAs or Restricted Use Areas. Camping above timberline was no longer permitted, you could only camp 200 feet from any trail below timberline, and you camping near the huts was also prohibited. Along with the "Closed to Entry" sign in the photo above the RUAs were necessary safeguards protecting the overall environment of the WMNF.

Forest Protection Area designation to prohibit over-use of specific areas in the White Mountain National Forest, September 2008

The Forest Protection Area designated by this sign has replaced the Restricted Use Area (RUA) that was used in the 1970s. For the most part regulating the WMNF in 2008 is challenging but not as challenging, say, as regulating Yosemite National Park. And the discussion about the necessity of regulating the forest brings up the concept of the "The Commons", or more to the point, the "Tragedy of The Commons" as iterated by Garret Hardin back in 1968. I like to think of the White Mountains as The Commons. It is public land, afterall. It exists under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture which regulates all the national forest and that adheres to the catchy phrase: "Multiple Use" as its managment credo. One of the major threats to the WMNF, and the force behind the necessity of regulating the forest, is "over use" by anyone, any faction of users, and one has to say, looking at the huge numbers of people who come into the WMNF yearly, it IS well regulated and it is largely a healthy forest, a healthy ecosystem. A case in point: I was back bushwhacking in the Pemmigewasett Wilderness last Saturday, Columbus Day Weekend which is, weather permitting, one of the busiest days in the mountains if the foliage is peak (which it was), and as I was coming out late in the afternoon, just a few feet from the sign in this photograph, there was actually a moment of real gridlock at the junction of the Ethan Pond, Twin Way and Zealand trails. There were a 12-15 hikers bottled up but really only for a moment. A few minutes later and the spot was deserted. And more to the point, not a mile away and a few minutes earlier, I had come face to face with a large, mature, female, moose, a gorgeous critter if there ever was one, and not less than six feet away from me. That's a gift outright, an ephermeral moment, a chance encounter, a reminder of the beauty that's there surrounding us all. (And a bit of the wildness.)

Mt. Lafayette, August 17, 2008

I went up Lafayette last Sunday with my youngest daughter to visit some friends who work on the mountain. We ran across the ridge to Mt. Lincoln and I was reminded that the low stone walls you can see in the photo were not there when I was a kid. These walls have been carefully constructed to protect the fragile plant communities that survive here at 5000 feet and which include the rare Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentilla robbinsiana), by encouraging hikers to stay on the trails. No one, it seemed, paid much attention to the plants 40 years ago. Construction of the walls took place in the 1970s and 80's and are similar in intent to the two signs in the photos above: to help people be aware of their impact on the environment.

Mt. Lafayette from Franconia Ridge, January 2005

This photo was taken in January 2005 at the same spot that the one above was taken on August 17, 2008 and it shows the light snow of that particular January and how the snow is distributed by the wind on the ridge. If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it you can see the Franconia Ridge Trail as it follows the ridge crest and is defined by the stone wall that parallels it. The snow accumulation when the photo was taken was unseasonably light but you can see how the snow builds up in the lee of the wall system and offers a potential niche for plants. It's conceivable that the plants would be protected from wind along the lee of the walls and more moisture would be retained by the soil there due to the snow build up. The point I'm making is that the wall system was put there to keep hikers on the trail and to remind them of the flowers outside the walls but the walls might also help some of the plants, like Diapensia, remain established by providing a favorable micro-environment that wasn't exactly there before.

Photo of Mt. Washington from Franconia Ridge taken in January 2005 and showing where part of ridge system had eroded over eons.

This is an astonishing photo taken the same day as the one above it of Mt. Lafayette. That's Mt. Washington in the center background slightly higher than the summit of South Twin. To the left is Mt. Garfield with the prominent cliffs facing the camera. In the center of the picture you can actually see where a section of the Garfield-South Twin ridge has crumbled over thousands of years and probably with the help of a glacier, or two, and flowed like lava downhill. You can double click on the photo to make it larger and see more of the detail. By the way, I skied into the cliffs at the base of Garfield last winter (February 2008) and found them to be more than 100 feet high, and solid granite. It surprised me to find a few bolt holes drilled into the rock indicating that climbers had been there before me.