See Introduction below. The primary content of this post is this link to a reprint of Chapter 36 “Unification of the White Mountain trails” from the book Forest and Crag (AMC Books, 1989) by Laura and Guy Waterman. This chapter is reprinted with kind permission of Laura Waterman and AMC Books. Forest and Crag is the Waterman’s magesterial history of hiking and trailblazing in the Northeastern US. Chapter 36 is preceded by a chapter on the Long Trail and followed by a chapter on the Adirondacks region.
Introduction to Chapter 36 reprint
by Sam Demas
Huts and trails: you can’t have huts without trails, hut building usually follows trail building, and the presence of huts inevitably shapes patterns of hiking in a region. How does this work? The AMC’s system of eight huts and the network of trails in White Mountains of N.H. were developed concurrently. Chapter 36 of Forest and Crag (Appalachian Mountain Club Books, 1989) offers a fascinating look at how a cohesive regional trail system evolved over a period of about 20 years, 1910 – 1930 along with the AMC huts, the first in the USA.