"Height-of-Land"...?

[^MtnMike^]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but what does the term "height-of-land" mean? I cannot find a written definition of this word anywhere yet I often see it used in hiking literature.

The context in which I have seen it used suggests a couple of meanings.
The best I can tell it's a region of land that divides watersheds
(i.e. continental divide).

Thanks,
^MtnMike^

 

[el-bagr]

Sounds like you've figured it out. It's where you stop going up and start going down (at least with regard to a linear path).

 

[Grumpy]

That's the way I've always understood it, too (as MtnMike and el-bagr).

G.

 

[Papa Bear]

Technically it is not a devide (boundary between two watersheds) per se, and usually it is not. It's simply the local high point on a trail. The term is generally used when a trail goes near but not directly over a summit. It's a short hand way of saying "this is as close as you will get to the summit".

For example when you follow the Long Trail south from Route 4 in Vermont you go over several heights-of-land but not the actual peaks. First you pass Pico Peak on the west and hit the height-of-land near where the cut-off trail heads off to the east (which is actually the old trail). Then you pass a few more heights-of-land near minor peaks until you hit the highest height-of-land south-west of Killington just past the Cooper Lodge and finally you pass just east of Little Killington at another height-of-land. In each case you are not passing from one watershed to another. In fact the only time you do cross a watershed devide is when you cross the Killington-Little Killingtol col.

An example in the whites is if you hike south on the Davis Path past Isolation. The height-of-land is just past the Isolation cut off trail. This is also not a watershed devide.

Pb