On July 20th, with two other mountain climbers, I started from the brow
of Mount Œta, and at nine o’clock descended to Rattlesnake Swamp and
the secret haunts of Showy Reginæ. We crossed the stream over the log
bridge, and followed up the old Joe Larabee path; passing around the
southern ledge of the Domelet to the Dummy Road watering-trough. The path
was densely overgrown with bushes, and impeded with heaps of tree-tops.
However, we finally came out to the Exford Clearing and the White Oaks
Road beyond. At the watering-trough, a road turns to the right hand
through Rocky Hollow, leading to the Coal-Bed, or Chip-Bed, as it is
known. We sauntered along the shady path of the Hollow until we came to
the clearing, where loggers in winter haul and pile their spruce and
hemlock logs for later milling. From this station, four roads branch in
various directions. We took the northeast path, and were soon climbing
steadily toward the clouds. On a previous occasion, during March, I had
ridden on a logger’s sleigh to the summit. The snow, then about four feet
deep, covered fallen trees, over which, during summer, it is almost
impossible to walk. In winter, the hardened, encrusted snow spreads a
clear, smooth surface for walking, far above impassable barriers and
tangled brush. In its summer garb, the road was strangely confusing to
me. It was rocky, and intersected by sun-dried brook beds, which the
melting snows had guttered in spring.
Rocky Hollow Road is available for horse and carriage as far as Logger’s
Depot, and northward to the Dummy Road. The trees along this vale are
chestnuts, beech, yellow, white, and black birch, white oak, black oak,
maples, and various flowering bushes, such as azalea, mountain laurel,
and shad trees. As one ascends, the trees become dwarfed and gnarled,
and many abnormal forms occur among the yellow birch. As we neared the
summit, the yellow birch trunks assumed great size, while their tops
were scraggy and dwarfed by the winds and storms. Higher up, we found
little but spruce, hemlock, and balsam-fir; the trees and bushes became
low-lying,—hugging the rocks for protection from the winds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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