Tripoli Road

Since Townsie & I got a late start from Keene on Saturday, we decided to climb Mt. Tecumseh instead of going further north. Traveling along Tripoli Rd., we saw dozens of campsites mostly with multiple tents. Is there a map or description of campsites?

Also, as we were heading down Tripoli Rd. toward 93 after the hike, we were stopped by N. Woodstock's finest for going 41mph in a 25 zone. I didn't notice any signs but I just got a warning.

See this link - scroll down to the bottom.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/recreation/camping/developed_campsites.html

You may want to call one of the offices listed here for info on paying for the site as they are first come first serve.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/contact/index.php

as an aside; I was talking to someone in Lincoln on Sunday and he was pronouncing it "Triple Eye" Road.
I'd assumed it was pronounced "Trip-O-Lee".
Bueller ? Bueller ?

I believe SherpaKroto - master of mountain pronunciations told me once that it is in fact "Triple Eye" - I cannot even mention any of the names of any trails in Baxter State Park near him - I am never even close to getting the names right!

tripoli rd camping

the camping along tripoli rd is "roadside backcountry" there are no bathrooms, showers, or water. It's where Woodstock and Lincoln Police send campers that want to party. There are small villages there some weekends. I've seen around 20 tents at one gathering. Looks like quite the time out there.

tripoli is diatomaceous earth. It was dredged out of east pond in the early 1900's. it was sold as a silver polish.

Chip said:

as an aside; I was talking to someone in Lincoln on Sunday and he was pronouncing it "Triple Eye" Road.
I'd assumed it was pronounced "Trip-O-Lee".
Bueller ? Bueller ?

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I've friends who live in Thornton, and they pronounce it "Triple Eye".

trip-pol-lee

JOD said:

It's where Woodstock and Lincoln Police send campers that want to party. There are small villages there some weekends.

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It did look like party central. I guess that explains the police presence.

Traditionally it has been known as Triple-Eye Road, as that's how the mineral that was extracted from there was pronounced. It's commonly referred to as Trip-oh-lee Road, but that's a relatively recent change.

Definitely "Triple-Eye" in local parlance.

And definitely party-central on weekends. It seems like whole neighborhoods in Boston uproot and come to the woods en masse. The smell of ganja is sometimes heavy in the air. We've had one whacked-out kid play chicken with us, swinging some major kung-fu moves till we threatened to creep right over him.

Thanks for the heads-up, Duane. I drive the Tripoli Road as often as once a week, and when there's no traffic (no campers), I often let the speed creep up toward 40 -- the shudder-bumps smooth out if you go a little faster.

JOD said:

the camping along tripoli rd is "roadside backcountry" there are no bathrooms, showers, or water. It's where Woodstock and Lincoln Police send campers that want to party. There are small villages there some weekends. I've seen around 20 tents at one gathering. Looks like quite the time out there.

tripoli is diatomaceous earth. It was dredged out of east pond in the early 1900's. it was sold as a silver polish.

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And, lots of bears.

DrewKnight said:

Definitely "Triple-Eye" in local parlance.

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Must be a local thing. tripoli and Tripoli are pronounced the same, according to Webster;

tripo·li \tri-pa-lē\
noun
a usually light-colored, very finely divided, essentially siliceous material consisting either of weathered chert or siliceous limestone: used as a polishing powder
Etymology: Fr, after Tripoli, town in Lebanon (or ? Libya), from which it was orig. imported

Tripoli Definition
Tripo·li \tri-pa-lē\
former Barbary State on the N coast of Africa
seaport & capital of Libya, on the NW coast: pop. 858,000
seaport on the NW coast of Lebanon: pop. 200,000

I’ve traversed the Tripoli road on many occasions and it would be the last place I would want to camp. It is not known for having a nice relaxing camping experience. Do yourself a favor and find another place.

DrewKnight said:

Definitely "Triple-Eye" in local parlance.

And definitely party-central on weekends. It seems like whole neighborhoods in Boston uproot and come to the woods en masse. The smell of ganja is sometimes heavy in the air. We've had one whacked-out kid play chicken with us, swinging some major kung-fu moves till we threatened to creep right over him.

Thanks for the heads-up, Duane. I drive the Tripoli Road as often as once a week, and when there's no traffic (no campers), I often let the speed creep up toward 40 -- the shudder-bumps smooth out if you go a little faster.

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I pronounced it that way to Steve Smith and he corrected me. He might know.

deanmacg said:

I pronounced it that way to Steve Smith and he corrected me. He might know.

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Maybe it's a north-south thing. I was corrected half a dozen times on the Waterville side of the notch for saying it like I was singing the Marine hymn (that's the only way I ever heard it before I moved here). I finally gave up and went with Triple-Eye.

I do not, and will not ever, say "Kan-ka-MANG-gus", however.

There was a very entertaining thread about local pronounciations on VFTT last year, linked here From what I understand, an abrasive coupound called Tripolite was mined from the East Pond area in the 19th century. Thus, Triple Eye road was born. I've heard locals call it both ways. Like Moosi-lauk or Moose-laukey. Tomato, tomahtoe. Etc.

Another vote for Triple-eye, and I can't agree with Dave Metsky that the pronunciation is changing.

Though I knew about the polishing compound, I always figured it might also be another example of xenophobia, a la BERlin and MIlan.