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I've always been curious about the various "Negro" features around the Adirondacks. Negro Hill next to Mt Gilligan (east of Route 9 going toward E-Town), Negro Creek, Negro Lake, and others are also scattered around the 6 million acres of the ADKS. I wonder if the origins of these names were racist in nature.
Lastly, I suppose Indian Head could be found inappropriate or objectionable as well since it was named for the feature that looks like a stereotypical Native Amercian in profile.
We could just use numbers instead of name, since everything just about insults everybody in today’s, snowflake society. Marcy could be Mountain #1. Or, we could names from Star Wars. Darth Vader mountain. Palpating Hill. TK-421 Mountain. Han Solo Falls.
I'm not going to "woke" these down for fragile ears (although understandably the N-- mountain didn't need to be listed in long form), because this isn't Gender Studies/CRT 101. We all know the topic and can read maps. Admittedly some of these are a stretch but in the right or wrong context...
FoulHooked Don't get me started! Anyone working in higher ed, even medically based higher ed in my case, has had to bear witness to the absolute absurdity of this new sensitivity over language and the lack of students' understanding of context; ie.: "are we discussing a topic or am I intentionally insulting you as an individual?" Its gotten to the point where instructors have to issue trigger warnings prior to discussing basic human anatomy or regionally common diseases, lest some student try to make a federal case (not an exaggeration) by saying that institutions are asserting preset gender roles or promoting racial stereotypes, etc. This is part of the reason I provided map links with each of my responses. If this thread were to come up in somebody's Google search, as our threads frequently do, the terrain features listed without points of reference would be enough to at the very least cause an influx of new members who only joined so they could hijack every thread by calling us all racists and anti-LGBTQ+'ers. Seems far fetched, but sadly its not.
An aside note, "woke" culture has been actively labeling hiking itself a racist activity due to the assumption that its a predominately white hobby/sport, and supposedly intentionally seeks to exclude POC from hiking clubs, public land access (AMR, you aren't helping AT ALL), and the idea that gear/clothing companies market to a predominately white clientele.
So yep, there was a reason for my snarky preamble.
Your second paragraph is an interesting topic and perhaps worthy of a thread of its own. I know there has been efforts and initiatives to make the ADKs a more inclusive and welcoming place. I'm not quite sure what progress has been made during the pandemic though. I would be interested to hear more. It really doesn't take an anthropologist or a trained eye to see that the hiking community is lily white though. The annual tourism reports from ROOST bear this out as do looking at any photo from any trail or summit in the Adirondacks. But the reasons for this are far more complicated and nuanced and the solutions more difficult than just recognizing the issue and rolling out a welcome mat. It could take generations to make any headway. That said, I have never witnessed any overt racism directed at specific individuals while hiking. I can't imagine the hiking community excluding anybody who wanted to participate or intentionally driving folks away. I think the only requirement for inclusion is the desire to hike and then showing up to do so. But I have seen (and mentioned in a few trip reports here over the years) seeing some things that bothered me in certain corners of the Adirondacks. Confederate flags, graffiti depicting Nazi inconography, and other imagery are bothersome. Those don't make me feel welcome and I'm a white guy, so I can't imagine how the folks who are the targets of those symbols feel, but I can fully understand why they would be hesitant to stick around in a place that openly espouses such views. It's not everywhere but when I see it as I drive around I always wonder what's bubbling under the surface in these places. Changing the racial composition of any sport or pasttime is a daunting task. I can't think of one that has pulled it off to any degree. Golf and tennis saw some bumps with the global superstardom of Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters but those are extreme examples and once in a lifetime types of talents. Hiking has no global stage nor any superstars in Nike commercials to be role models. It would have to be a grass roots effort to get a more diverse crowd involved with the sport. Honestly, I wouldn't have the slightest idea where or how to start the process.
I have problems with the "space" when commenting on a post like I am here. I use an underscore (e.g. @firstname_lastname) for the space. Sometimes it works and the tag shows up and the person gets a notification he/she has been mentioned in the thread. Sometimes it doesn't and it just shows up as a character string that may never be seen by the intended tagee. But I have no idea why it does or doesn't work. Seems rather hit or miss.
However, for a new post in the thread (not a comment under somebody else's post) I type the @ then the name up to the space and a possible list of names on the forum pops up on the screen pretty consistently. I then just select the name I'm looking for from that list and the tag is inserted in the post.
To summarize, and using your example, when I type Jay in a comment nothing happens but when I do that in a new post the list of Jays on the forum pops up.
Tom beat me too it. Big Rosy Bone Knob is indeed a cool peak and also on the Knob list..
The trustees of the reservation here in MA I believe have or in the process of renaming Squaw peak on the very popular Monument Mtn property in Great Barrington...
I have no idea if it's in-process or done but I know it's being renamed.
Jay
Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long cold rest.
You get your chance to try in the twinkling of an eye:
Eighty years, with luck, or even less.
-Pink Floyd
not sure if it is official with the USGS (or whoever the appropriate org is) but it is official on the trustees side of things. i've seen the signs and website changes.
I've never included the ADKs in the Knob list but there are a couple in the catskills. My memory is rusty and my maps are not handy but there is Hiram's Knob by Rider Hollow trailhead and a few other knobs.
There is also a Nose list... Anthony's Gertrude, etc. but this isn't all just catskils but the 'Gunks and Harriman, of course
Hmm. Pretty tame list Here's some hair raisers for you... (courtesy of Gripped Magazine)
Squaw's Tit, near Canmore, Alberta, usually just called "The TIt".
Same area: Chinaman's Peak. Name since changed, but still called the old name.
Trail names like The White Imperialist, Naked Teenage Girls, No Tickee No Laundry, Chinatown.
Just yikes. But....
They're working on it....
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