Interesting names of trails

[Davehiker]

Here’s a topic I was thinking about on a trip up Mt. Cube via the Kodak Trail. What is the origin of that trail’s name?

Most trails are named for a geographic feature of the trail. Ex:

Tuckerman Ravine Trail
Kinsman Ridge Trail
Franconia Brook Trail

A few in that class have an interesting twist:

Airline Trail (above tree line for much of its length)
The Valley Way (below tree line, of course!)
The Twinway
Martha’s Mile
The Subway (through the big rocks in the bottom of King Ravine)
Diagonal Trail (on Randolph Hill)
Pasture Path (also on Randolph Hill, it once passed through a pasture, but now it’s woods)

Others are named after the trail’s builder(s):
Edmands Path
Crawford Path
Lowe’s Path
Frost Trail (To Galehead, after Jack & Ruth Frost)
Semuhenna Trail (On Mt. Wachusett, in Central Mass. Here’s a kicker, It’s named for Anne Humes, spelled backwards!)

How about:
Chemin des Dames (after a road in France, made famous in World War I)
Fishin’ Jimmy Trail (for a character in a short story, or was he a historical figure?)
Six Husband’s Trail (named for six braves supposedly betrothed to Weetamoo, an Indian princess)
Wamsutta Trail (named for one of the six husbands)
Centennial Trail (On Mt. Hayes, cleared by the AMC in 1976, when the AMC was celebrating its centennial)
Bicentennial Trail (Also on Mt. Wachusett, also cleared in 1976, but named for the Nation’s bicentennial)
A to Z Trail (from the Ammonoosuc River to the Zealand River)
Lend-a-hand Trail (On Mt. Hale, after Rev. Hale’s charitable organization)

Does anyone know the story about:
Black Angel Trail (Carter Dome)
Rainbow Trail (also on Carter Dome)
Snapper Trail (Mt. Moosalauke)
Laughing Lion Trail (Evans Notch)
Kodak Trail (which brings me full circle)

My list is mostly in the White Mountains. Does anyone have other interesting trail names?

 

[Frodo]

How about Skookumchuck? Love to hear the origin of that one...

 

[David Metsky]

The Kodak trail goes over Eastman Ledges. Bad pun, blame the DOC.

Fishin' Jimmy was a real person, the Hermit of Lonesome Lake, real name James Whitcher. He was the subject of a short story by Anne Trumbull Slosson.

The Snapper Trail was named after Ed "Snapper" Harris, a Dartmouth student/alum who worked the trails on the mountain. He was mainly responsible for building the original Snapper ski trail. The new trail bares the same name but runs on a different route.

-dave-

 

[MichaelJ]

I always liked the trail name "The Diretissima" myself. I hope I spelled that right.

Oh, and the Profanity Trail on Mt. Mansfield.

 

[arghman]

Laughing Lion Trail (Evans Notch)

That one's an easy one, the cliffs on East Royce form a face that looks vaguely like a lion (I wouldn't call it laughing, but someone was creative); you can see it as you head northwards through Evans Notch on Rt 113, especially early or late in the day when the shadows are more pronounced.

I always liked the combination of the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down trails on Mt Skatutakee near the Harris Center in Hancock.

 

[el-bagr]

How about Skookumchuck? Love to hear the origin of that one...

With my interests in water sports and aboriginal etymology, this one frankly has me puzzled. Skookumchuck is a Salish (PNW native) word meaning “strong or turbulent waters” or "place where important waters meet", depending on the source. There's a native reserve (and hot spring) near Lillooet, BC named Skookumchuck, as well as a major standing wave (tidal bore) called the Skookumchuck Wave outside of Vancouver.

How this name got stranded on a mountain on the other side of the continent remains a mystery to me.

 

[chuck]

I remember a while back reading something about native American names of places around the country. There was lists of reoccurring names and their variations and then some explaination/translation. Like Hockomock was something like place of spirits or evil spirits and had various spellings around the country. There was something very close to skookumchuck and it basically meant place where...(forget what they called it basically described it as another human group) Bigfoot(s) were seen. Now I see info that it may come from northwest part of the country hmmmm?

 

[Mad Townie]

My favorite trail name is a very common one: Firewarden's Trail.

No matter what mountain it's on, it always tells you the same thing about the trail--the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line!

 

[David Metsky]

My favorite was the "Slocumb-McDonald Trail to a Swamp that was once a Bog". Alas, we couldn't find enough wood for the sign.

-dave-

 

[woodstrider]

Trail Names

What a great thread!

Here's my contribution:

Trails named after People In the Catskills:
The Curtis-Ormsbee Trail named for two AMC members who died in June 1900 in a snow storm in NH

Burroughs Range Trail- named for the first person (white male) to climb Slide Mtn.

Dutcher Trail- Catskill guide who built this trail- also called The Step Trail


So true about the name "Firewarden Trail" The one in the Bigelows, Maine, comes to mind.

I think I will put up a related thread- the most boring or uninteresting trail name.

 

[Michelle]

In Georgia (off the AT) there is the "Chunky Gal Trail"
I swear!!! I even took a picture of it!

 

[post'r boy]

i got one!!

the "donut hole trail" it's in pa!
how 'bout.. the "fiery gizzard trail" it's in tennesee!!

 

[forestgnome]

Nice thread!

Nanomocomuck is a great word, isn't it?

 

[dms]

Nanamocomuck

Good one forestnome! Used to be on the 3k peak list, and there used to be a register on the summit, about 10 feet off the trail to the north. But, the new quad showed the col with Passaconaway to be less than 200 ft. On the list it was named the south peak of Passaconaway, Nanamocomuck was the name on the WODC map, a much better name for sure. It's a nice little peak on a great trail!

 

[sweeper]

Sound like a great addition to the 28th addition of the White Mtn Guide or anyother. A line at the start of the trail description telling where, who, why the trail was named.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Touch-me-not Trail, western Catskills that goes over a mountain by the same name. The mountain is named after the wildflower, but sounds like LNT taken to the extreme.
Humpty Dumpty Path, Shawangunks. An aptly named rock/boulder scramble, which connects with the Giant's Workshop, another rock/boulder scramble.
Shongum Path, Shawangunks. Interesting perhaps because Shon-gum (shawn-gum) is the correct pronunciation of Shawangunk (the spelling of which is the mystery).
Pecoy Notch Trail, northern Catskills. The name is a map typo. The notch was originally named Pecor Notch after a glass maker located in the plains south of the notch. We are probably better off with the typo.
Dry Brook Ridge Trail, western Catskills. The ridge and trail are named after the valley below. It was called the Drei Brucke Valley by German Palatine settlers because there were three bridges over the valley stream which is never dry.

 

[sweeper]

Sound like a great addition to the 28th addition of the White Mtn Guide or anyother. A line at the start of the trail description telling where, who, why the trail was named.

 

[Hillwalker]

Black Angel

Having once been the adopter of the Black Angel Trail, I researched that trail name in the early 80s. History states that there was a former slave who homesteaded in the Wild River area in the late 1800s. Up until the 20s maps of the area referred a large clearing as N----r Tom's opening. That may have been the clearing where his cabin stood and his fields carved out of the wilderness. Whether he was the "Black Angel" or not I never discovered, but who knows? Incidentally, the trail was complete from Spider Bridge to Carter Dome Height Col in 1928. The baked enamel mile markers sometimes found on this trail are probably of this vintage.

 

[Davehiker]

Sound like a great addition to the 28th addition of the White Mtn Guide or anyother. A line at the start of the trail description telling where, who, why the trail was named.

Sweeper - That's what I thought, too. It would be a shame to lose the origin for a trail's name just because it isn't well documented. Surely the WMG is a good way to document it!

 

[ChrisB]

And there is the occasional odd named thing along the trail...

Anyone know the origin of the "Hitch up Matilda" in the Dacks?

cb