crazymama said:
I was hiking to MacNaughton this fall, starting at Upper Works, had crossed Indian Pass Brook, and was hiking along the section of trail that goes along the northwest edge of Henderson Lake. I stopped to take this picture, facing approximately southeast. Do you think this is Mount Adams?
Mount Adams??
Did you have a compass and map with you? I must assume so, otherwise you wouldn't be hiking in areas you do not know well. If so you could have figured out the answer for yourself pretty easily. Can you give me the compass azimuth to that peak in question? Just saying it is "southeast" is pretty broad.
OK, lets work through this exercise. With the information you provided, you have narrowed the view to from a short section of trail so I can guess where you were to within maybe a third of a mile. I'll pick an assumed point on the trail. From the information you provided and the photograph, I have drawn in an assumed view angle on the map.
Henderson topo view
You want to know if the prominent peak you see in the distance is Mt Adams. Here's how you proceed... you look for clues to your location, lots of them, then project what you should see from that assumed position. Get out your map and point to your assumed postion on the trail. We are assuming you are correct in that regard, as you are on a section of trail that parallels the lake shore (Henderson, we are sure) and you can see down the lake in a southerly direction. These are good clues to your exact location. In this case, since you have distant views, it makes sense to put the map down on the ground and orient (rotate) it to truth with the earth. You can do that with compass and knowledge of declination, or even easier just orient it to the lay of the land (Henderson Lake shoreline in this case).
Once you have oriented the map, you can start by pointing your finger at your location on the map, and lift your finger straight up in any direction (azimuth) and you should be able to relate what you see on the map to truth on the earth. It sounds complicated but in practice is really quite easy. It all falls into place now... water correlates to water, shoreline to shoreline, peaks and mounds and mountains and valleys on the map to the same on the earth - all in their proper relative directions on both map and earth.
Lets go to the graphic of the topo I made of the area. I tried to represent the angle of view of your photograph the best I could. From your description and the lay of the land, you are standing at (assumed) point A. It looks like the right side of your photo is looking at lots of water right down the length of Henderson Lake toward distant point C. Note that C is just off the water. The mystery mountain is in the middle at point B, and it seems to be not far off the eastern shore of the lake. See how closer peak B partially hides peak C? Continuing left from B in your photo the peak drops and then there is a rise up from a lowland area, and it continues on up off the view toward the left at D. Relate the photo to the map... what do you expect to see? I believe you are looking at the small peak labeled 642, on the east shore of Henderson Lake north of the outlet.
Ask yourself, does this all make sense, do all the clues fall into place? Why or why not? Now where is Mt Adams? If I was looking at Mt Adams, what would I expect to see? What compass azimuth is Mt Adams from my present position? Is there any closer terrain in the way? Is there other featured terrain on either side that would help me identify where I am looking? From the map you can see there is a short distance of relatively flat ground at the lake shore, then a triple peak (beyond BM 597.4), then Mt Adams some distance beyond with lots of slope leading up to the summit. Expect a portion of the lower slopes of Mt Adams to be hidden by the lower but nearby triple peaks. Imagine what those contour shapes on the map really look like in the real world, and how the shape and distance to Mt Adams look in relation to everything else you see.
