[at-l] question

[Arthur Gaudet]

Wow, this is something new to me. I'd like to find a copy (print or digital) of
that work by Torrey. Torrey got involved with MacKaye in 1921 and became a local
promoter for the trail. But instead of just writing about it he became the force
to create the first new section of trail on the AT. From
<http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/pugsley/Torrey.htm>
http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/pugsley/Torrey.htm :
 
"By autumn, 1923, Torrey and Allis were ready to unveil the first six miles of
Appalachian Trail, running from the Ramapo River to Fingerboard Mountain.
Progress south continued at a rapid pace.  By January 4, 1924, Torrey's squads
had completed 20 miles of A.T., stretching from the Hudson to the Ramapo Rivers.
Then on November 18, 1924 Torrey surpassed all his past trail blazing records.
He led the Tramp & Trail Club in what he called a "Speed Special" clearing an
A.T. section through Sterling Forest, New York.  By day's end these A.T.
enthusiasts had cleared and blazed their way up and down peaks, around ledges,
through wetlands and over slippery, newly-fallen leaves, covering an astounding
twenty miles.  They ended the walk in darkness using flashlights."
 
While researching the 1936 Boy Scout hike I read his "Long Brown Path" column
for 1936 in the New York Post and acquired his "New York Walk Book (1934)". The
book details the construction of the Harriman SP trail system that spurred a
series of competitive hikes, some going very long distances. After Torrey's
death in 1938 a trail was dedicated to him on Long Mountain in Harriman SP. I
can't find my source, but working from memory I believe there's a trail from the
AT to Long Mountain that is called the Torrey Trail. Initially it was blazed in
brown paint, a rather poor choice, in homage to his weekly column "The Long
Brown Path". Evidently no one could follow the trail so the color was changed
shortly after!
 
You can read about his confrontation with Robert Moses in a wiki article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_H._Torrey  (a smoking stand was thrown,
Moses tried to choke Torrey, a very bad word was used!)
 
So I imagine the 1924 publication was part of the publicity effort on behalf of
the AT, it times well with the scouting and trail building activity Torrey was
doing right at that moment. Again, if anyone knows of a copy I'd appreciate
obtaining it. 
 
If my memory is working correctly I believe Bear Mountain in NY was in this
initial section. At this early date the promoters did a lot of hoopla and I seem
to recall some nice stone carvings in the rock at the top of Bear Mountain.
Perhaps it said the mileages to Oglethorpe and Katahdin? I haven't been there in
about 10 years so I should go again, anyone know what I'm talking about? The
carving was in a large flat horizontal slab at the very top of Bear Mtn. I hope
it's preserved with all the new trailwork and rerouting going on over there.
 
--RockDancer
 

  _____  

From: Jim Bullard [mailto:jim.bullard at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 7:24 PM
To: Mara Factor
Cc: rockdancer97 at comcast.net; At-list
Subject: Re: [at-l] question


On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Mara Factor <mfactor at gmail.com> wrote:


The Appalachian trail: From Maine to Georgia by foot trail, a little
hike of 2000 miles, along the skyline of the Appalachian ranges by
Raymond H Torrey (Unknown Binding - 1924)

There´s a lot of info googlable about Torrey but not much reference to
this publication.


What information I could find seems to suggest that it was an effort to
publicize and promote the trail rather than an account of a hike on it. Torrey,
along with Myron Avery was one of the early movers and shakers behind the AT and
Myron is recognized as the 1st 2000 miler. In any case this was during the
initial phases of laying out and building. There was no continuous trail yet in
1924. The book would be an interesting read though. Too bad someone doesn't
release it as a PDF.

Jim Bullard
http://jims-ramblings.blogspot.com/
http://members.photoportfolios.net/Jim_Bullard


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://patsy.hack.net/pipermail/at-l/attachments/20090723/b001afe3/attachment.html