Searching for the Moriah Skyline Trail

[NeoAkela]

I posted this recently in another hiking forum (http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32307) - thought it would be interesting to post it here as well! Since the original post, the consensus seems to be that this lost trail was the original eastern end of the Kenduskeag before it was named as such. But, feel free to draw your own conclusions!

I recently came to be in possession of a box of old photos, mostly pertaining to life in the service of the WMNF and USFS, some dating as far back as 1913. Many had detailed captions explaining where the photo was taken and when. Some had been colored with an old Kodak photo coloring kit. There was quite a treasure in old images of familiar places!

What struck me first in particular was one photo with the captions Porcupine Peak and the Moriah Skyline Trail. No amount of internet searching revealed any information on these names! Intrigued, I rooted through all the rest of the photos, coming up with 10 photos which all seemed related to this forgotten trail.

Attached are all ten photos, including a scan of the text on the back of the photo if there was any. Clicking on the photo will give you the high-resolution version.

If anyone can shed any light on the history or path of this lost trail, please let me know! :)





http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s01.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 01.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s02.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 02.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s03.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 03.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s04.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 04.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s05.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 05.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s06.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 06.jpg)

http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s06b.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 06b.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s07.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 07.jpg)

http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s07b.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 07b.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s08.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 08.jpg)





http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s09.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 09.jpg)

http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s09b.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 09b.jpg)






http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s10.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 10.jpg)

http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline s10b.jpg (http://www.stormravengraphics.com/Resources/cwwhiton/Moriah Skyline 10b.jpg)

[Snow Miser]

I don't know the answer to your question about the trail, but I loved looking at those old photos. Thanks for sharing them.

[spyboy]

I did a search on books.google.com for moriah skyline trail and found this:

The American review of reviews, Volume 56, July-December 1917

http://snipurl.com/ry4da [books_google_com]


Continued with my searching "outside the box" to my other 2 favorites for finding rare stuff:

www.flickr.com - nothing (sometimes you find maps and postcards scanned)


eBay was the last place I looked: http://snipurl.com/ry4kb [cgi_ebay_com]

Skyline Trail from Maine to Georgia (National Geographic) from the 1950's



So it seems (I'm guessing here) the Moriah Skyline trail was later absorbed into the Appalachian trail?




Kirk

[spyboy]

I found some USGS maps:

http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Gorham.htm

1893 - http://docs.unh.edu/NH/grhm93se.jpg
No trails shown

1937 - http://docs.unh.edu/NH/grhm37se.jpg
Moriah Ridge Trail, Kenduskeag Trail, Shelburne Trail

1937 - http://docs.unh.edu/NH/grhm37sw.jpg
Moriah Ridge, Moriah Brook

The 1942 map is similar

Also found this site:
http://whitemountainlosttrails.com/TheTrails.aspx

Kirk