Nundagao Ridge aka Lady Gaga hike 2/20/10

[Jay H]

Met up with JoeCedar for the ADK chapter hike of Nundagao ridge. Because I can't remember how many 'a's in the name, it just kept being refererred to as the Lady Gaga hike. Met at Joe's house at 9am for the really super long 5 minute drive to the trailhead to meet the rest. A total of 7 of us snowshoed from the snow plow turnaround on O Toole Road up towards the unmarked trail. We did it clockwise, ending up on Weston Mt before the nice downhill to Lost Pond and the end of the trail. I even was able to do a short buttslide on the descent..

Temps were up and down all day it seemed and so were the clouds, we had views towards Big Crow and Lost Pond on weston for one minute and none, the next. Hurricane firetower was clouded all day but we had good views towards the valley.. Owl's Head, Porter, the Brothers, Elk Pass, etc..

I have a bunch of pictures but stuck on my camera at home..

Thanks Joe for a nice short hike..

Jay

[Maria]

So did you all wear weird costumes in honor of Lady Gaga... looking forward to the photos. I know you did a short hike so you could nab all the good food at the gathering :razz:

[Jay H]

So did you all wear weird costumes in honor of Lady Gaga...

Don't I always? I do need Dean G's raybans though...:)


looking forward to the photos. I know you did a short hike so you could nab all the good food at the gathering :razz:

Worked quite well!

Jay

[JoeCedar]

I needed reins to hold Jay H back on this trip. He was so far ahead of the others. And he was too good at seeing randomscooter's tracks--took all the fun out of it. I only needed to pull him back once where he followed some bad tracks going up Weston Mountain.

Great having you, Jay.

BTW, the name Nundagao was contrived. Take Onondaga and move the first "o" to the end and change the second "o" to a "u".

Onondaga
NundagaO

[Neil]

BTW, the name Nundagao was contrived. Take Onondaga and move the first "o" to the end and change the second "o" to a "u".

Onondaga
NundagaO

Joe,
What about the origin of the name, "Soda Range"

[randomscooter]

Joe,
What about the origin of the name, "Soda Range"

It's a rearrangement of the letters in the name "Gonad Ears", an uncommon malady suffered by a few locals, caused by years of drinking water from tainted shallow wells.

[yvon]

Great seeing you Jay and Joe this weekend.

[Prino]

Jay! You were obviously "saving" yourself for the big ski on Sunday! :razz: :D

Great to see you again!

Phil

[JoeCedar]

Joe,
What about the origin of the name, "Soda Range"

I was reading the draft UMP for the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area, and they had a good historical overview, part of which is shown below. You can find the draft UMP for download on the DEC website HERE (http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4979.html). They don't mention the name Soda Range, but the similarity to the logging activity is obvious. It is interesting in the UMP that DEC did not use the word, Nun-da-ga-o anywhere, preferring to call it the Soda Range as on the topo maps. Names of Oak Ridge, Red Rock, Big/Little Crow, and Limekiln Mountain were on the first USGS quad of the area,"Ausable", issued in 1903 (which can be seen on the Univ. of New Hampshire site.

The earliest industries in the area included lumber and iron. Timber was cut for local sawmills
and for charcoal and potash production. According to the Sargent Commission map of 1884,
most of what is now the HMPA was logged for softwoods by this time. Likewise, much of the
hardwood timber was removed from the area to make charcoal and potash. Place names within
the unit such as Limekiln Mountain, Coal Dirt Hill, Potash Mountain, and Kiln Brook attest to
these practices. Charcoal was used at the numerous iron forges in the region and many
charcoal kilns were located in the area.
Much of the logging and charcoal production that took place in the HMPA was done by the J.
and J. Rogers Company of Ausable Forks. Started in the 1830s, the Rogers Company quickly
grew to be the one of the largest producers of iron in the country. By the 1860s, they were
producing over 6000 tons of iron and iron products a year (Unidentified Newspaper Article [from
Adirondack History Center archives]). In order to sustain this level of output, the company had to
consume large amounts of local resources. They had vast land holdings throughout the Ausable
Valley Region, including much of the land now contained in the HMPA, and timber was cut from
1000 acres of this land per year to supply the 1,600,000 bushels of charcoal needed to fire their
forges (McMartin, 1994). There was a large charcoal operation in the upper Glen (town of Jay)
which utilized hardwoods from the HMPA and the nearby Jay Mountain Wilderness Area (Plunz,
1999).
In the 1890s the J. and J. Rogers Company reorganized its industry from iron to wood pulp
products, and began cutting softwoods in the Ausable Valley and High Peaks Region. At this
time a large softwood lumbering operation was started in the upper reaches of the Glen,
including portions of the HMPA and the nearby Jay Mountain Wilderness Area. A flume was
constructed to transport pulp logs from the upper Glen to the East Branch of the Ausable River
where they could be floated to the Company mill in Ausable Forks. The flume was
approximately eight miles long (Reveille, 1957), and may be one of the longest ever constructed
in the Adirondack Region.

[Jay H]

Quickly reading JoeCedar's response on the origin of the name "Soda range": Would it have something to do with "soda ash", used in the making of paper, potash, and as an alkali?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvay_process#Uses_of_Soda_Ash

Jay

[Jay H]

Home.. finally some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/NundagaoRidge2202010

[ajtiv]

So Jay were you out of the woods for an afternoon ice cream before the gathering?
It was great seeing you
Al

[Jay H]

Got out around 3pmish, a stop at Stewarts for gas and lunch (for sunday) but no ice cream. I was saving room for the Ark gathering. :)

Jay

[PA Ridgerunner]

I was reading the draft UMP for the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area, and they had a good historical overview, part of which is shown below. You can find the draft UMP for download on the DEC website HERE (http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4979.html). They don't mention the name Soda Range, but the similarity to the logging activity is obvious. It is interesting in the UMP that DEC did not use the word, Nun-da-ga-o anywhere, preferring to call it the Soda Range as on the topo maps. Names of Oak Ridge, Red Rock, Big/Little Crow, and Limekiln Mountain were on the first USGS quad of the area,"Ausable", issued in 1903 (which can be seen on the Univ. of New Hampshire site.

The earliest industries in the area included lumber and iron. Timber was cut for local sawmills
and for charcoal and potash production. According to the Sargent Commission map of 1884,
most of what is now the HMPA was logged for softwoods by this time. Likewise, much of the
hardwood timber was removed from the area to make charcoal and potash. Place names within
the unit such as Limekiln Mountain, Coal Dirt Hill, Potash Mountain, and Kiln Brook attest to
these practices. Charcoal was used at the numerous iron forges in the region and many
charcoal kilns were located in the area.
Much of the logging and charcoal production that took place in the HMPA was done by the J.
and J. Rogers Company of Ausable Forks. Started in the 1830s, the Rogers Company quickly
grew to be the one of the largest producers of iron in the country. By the 1860s, they were
producing over 6000 tons of iron and iron products a year (Unidentified Newspaper Article [from
Adirondack History Center archives]). In order to sustain this level of output, the company had to
consume large amounts of local resources. They had vast land holdings throughout the Ausable
Valley Region, including much of the land now contained in the HMPA, and timber was cut from
1000 acres of this land per year to supply the 1,600,000 bushels of charcoal needed to fire their
forges (McMartin, 1994). There was a large charcoal operation in the upper Glen (town of Jay)
which utilized hardwoods from the HMPA and the nearby Jay Mountain Wilderness Area (Plunz,
1999).
In the 1890s the J. and J. Rogers Company reorganized its industry from iron to wood pulp
products, and began cutting softwoods in the Ausable Valley and High Peaks Region. At this
time a large softwood lumbering operation was started in the upper reaches of the Glen,
including portions of the HMPA and the nearby Jay Mountain Wilderness Area. A flume was
constructed to transport pulp logs from the upper Glen to the East Branch of the Ausable River
where they could be floated to the Company mill in Ausable Forks. The flume was
approximately eight miles long (Reveille, 1957), and may be one of the longest ever constructed
in the Adirondack Region.

Joe, this is entirely too long for my short attention span...I preferred Scooter's "Gonad Ears" response. :D

Nice pictures, Jay. Really gives a sense of wildness of the place.