Few trivia questions for the hiking historians

Was hoping someone might have answers to a few questions I have not been able to find answers to.

1. What event caused all the tree damage on the summit of Mt Tom?
2. How did Thunderstorm Junction (TJ) get its name?
3. Why is the cairn at TJ so large?

Thanks in advance

Dear Kerry,


The damage on Mount Tom may have been from the Hurricane of 1938 or of the Willey Slide of 1826. I do not know the other questions off the top of my head, I am glad to help you.

Regards,
RW

First off, I'm not a White Mtn historian. But the damage on Tom had to have been much more recent than the Hurricane of '38. Looks like ice storm damage to me...possibly from 1998. Or it could be thunderstorm damage from a severe storm.

As for the others, I thought someone told me Thunderstorm junction was named because the area is susceptable to lightning, but I would think all above treeline areas are susceptable.

grouseking

grouseking said:

...I thought someone told me Thunderstorm junction was named because the area is susceptable to lightning, but I would think all above treeline areas are susceptable.

grouseking

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It's my understanding that nearby Mt. Adams is known for spectacular lightning shows and the ability to make a hikers hair stand on end.

grouseking said:

First off, I'm not a White Mtn historian. But the damage on Tom had to have been much more recent than the Hurricane of '38. Looks like ice storm damage to me...possibly from 1998. Or it could be thunderstorm damage from a severe storm.

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The views (and blowdowns) on the summit are quite recent.

As for the others, I thought someone told me Thunderstorm junction was named because the area is susceptable to lightning, but I would think all above treeline areas are susceptable.

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Don't know about the name, but the cairn is at a major trail junction. The size is probably to improve visibility when there are several feet of snow. I have been up there when many of the cairns on Gulfside Tr were covered.

Doug

Thanks for the replies so far. The 26th edition of AMC guide, which was published in 98 references the damage, so I suspect it was before the publishing. Then someone else I was talking to recently had said the tree damage was due to the 38 hurricane which I believe occured too long ago.

Likewise I suspect the naming of thunderstorm junction had something to due with frequency or severity of t-storms but having been caught a couple times above treeline in a quick t-storm, it is pretty impressive anywhere and I wouldn't think any one area could be singled out.

Really just curious to know if the intuitive answers are the correct ones.

Thanks again all.

Could the damage on Mt. Tom be from the Ice Storm of January, 1998?
I wasn't hiking the Whites at that time, but I know it hit northern slopes in south western NH pretty hard.

NH_Mtn_Hiker said:

Could the damage on Mt. Tom be from the Ice Storm of January, 1998?
I wasn't hiking the Whites at that time, but I know it hit northern slopes in south western NH pretty hard.

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No, it's alot older than that. It may have be the result of a fir wave.

As to question #1, Smith & Dickerman in Four Thousand Footers of the White Mountains relate that the virgin spruce east of the Field-Tom col was "leveled" by the 1938 hurricane, and note that the trails of the Rosebrook Range were "devastated" as a result of that event. I remember that the Watermans in Forest and Crag attributed the loss of the Rosebrook Range Trails to the '38 hurricane, together with the reduced visitation due to WWII. Smith and Dickerman also state that the summit views have been "expanded dramatically in recent years by a summit blowdown patch."

Who knows?

Davehiker said:

As to question #1, Smith & Dickerman in Four Thousand Footers of the White Mountains relate that the virgin spruce east of the Field-Tom col was "leveled" by the 1938 hurricane, and note that the trails of the Rosebrook Range were "devastated" as a result of that event. I remember that the Watermans in Forest and Crag attributed the loss of the Rosebrook Range Trails to the '38 hurricane, together with the reduced visitation due to WWII. Smith and Dickerman also state that the summit views have been "expanded dramatically in recent years by a summit blowdown patch."

Who knows?

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Yes, all of us were on the right track with Kerry13's question!

I agree, the cairn is so big because it is a major trail junction, there is a similar one on the Boote Spur, although it is less of a junction over there (if it is even at a trail junction, I cant remember).

IIRC, the view from Tom was much more restricted when I started hiking the Whites in the mid-70s. So if my memory is correct, the tree damamge is more recent.

Doug

The cairn at Thunderstorm Junction is that big becauses it's concealing an Acme lightning generator.




Sorry, I couldn't resist.

NH_Mtn_Hiker said:

The cairn at Thunderstorm Junction is that big becauses it's concealing an Acme lightning generator.

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No, it's a piano under there!

I think the large cairn at "Thunderstorm Junction" was built in the early 1960s by an AMC Mountain Leadership group staying at Madison hut. One day the weather was bad, or for some other reason they didn't have much to do, so they built the large cairn. I don't think there was any particular reason for the name. A similar group built an even larger cairn on Mt Pleasant (now Eisenhower), but it was later dismantled for aesthetic reasons.

I believe the deadfalls opening the N & S viewpoints on Mt Tom occurred between March 1990 and March 2000. Somebody like HikerEd who climbed it a couple times every year might be able to pinpoint it more closely. Tom had no views the first few times I climbed it.

As for Thunderstorm Junction, there are a lot of place names in the AMC Guide that aren't known to the USGS such as Coppermine Col, Monticello Lawn, and Mt Lethe. Sometimes you can guess where the name came from but I don't know who named it. GF and I think the cairn used to be much larger but I've been too lazy to dig up a slide.

RoySwkr said:

I believe the deadfalls opening the N & S viewpoints on Mt Tom occurred between March 1990 and March 2000. Somebody like HikerEd who climbed it a couple times every year might be able to pinpoint it more closely. Tom had no views the first few times I climbed it.

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FWIW, there were views in summer of 1998...

I wonder if anyone doing trail maintanence up on Mt Tom might have knocked down a few of the already dead trees to improve visibility? It definitely looks like a mix of storm damage/fir wave etc.

grouseking

RoySwkr said:

As for Thunderstorm Junction, there are a lot of place names in the AMC Guide that aren't known to the USGS such as Coppermine Col, Monticello Lawn, and Mt Lethe. Sometimes you can guess where the name came from but I don't know who named it. GF and I think the cairn used to be much larger but I've been too lazy to dig up a slide.

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I first saw the cairn on a low visibility day in 1974--my recollection is that it was much larger than it is now.

Doug

From memory & I'll re-check my pictures but there was a restricted view back in 1995 when I first was on Tom.

Field & Tom was the first hike I did with anyone on a BBS & I have a couple of pictures of Chomp I can compare with from 01/1999. He was younger then too!

I don't think the current view is the result of a single event.

The Ice storm of 1998 was not really that much of an event up high where it was warmer, MWO had record warm days during the storm. Damage was scattered based on temperture of course, some places like the area around PNVC were hit hard but others were at lower elevations. From waht I remember, the birch trees took it real hard in the 1998 Ice storm.