THE MOUNTAINS OF NEW ENGLAND 



BY ALLEN H. BENT 



(Photographs by the Forest Service) 



T T seems to be generally recognized that playgrounds 

 ' are necessary adjuncts to our civilization and that 

 mountainous regions make the best playgrounds. Natu- 

 rally the hill places within easy reach of the large cen- 

 ters of population are bound to be used the most; but 

 the people who most need their health-giving ozone, 

 their beauty, their inspiration, do not always know 

 where or when or how to go. On one thing only are 

 they agreed, that vacations, like sugar-coated pills, are 

 easy to take. 



As Switzerland is the playground of Europe, so the 

 mountains of New York and New England form the 

 principal playground for the dwellers in the busy cities 

 of northeastern United States. The dwellers in our 

 northwest are fortunate in having Mount Rainier and 



conditions within easy reach. Emerson called Monad- 

 nock a "link in the Alps' globe-girdling chain". The 

 White Mountains and the other heights of New Eng- 

 land, are in the broadest sense a few more links in the 

 same chain, but more specifically they are a part of the 

 Appalachian chain, which begins with the heights of 

 Alabama and Georgia and ends fourteen hundred miles 

 to the northeast, with the Shickshock Mountains of the 

 Gaspe peninsula. The name Shickshock has a sort of 

 fascination about it and some day I hope to brave the 

 hordes of black flies and mosquitoes that are reported 

 to haunt the region and penetrate its fastnesses, for as 

 every traveler up the St. Lawrence knows. 



The mountains of Gaspe are fair to behold, 



With their fleckings of shadow and gleamings of gold. 



TYPICAL OF THOUSANDS OF SPOTS IN THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS IN NEW YORK 



This shows Whiteface, from Wilmington Notch. The forests comprise white pine, red spruce and hardwoods and the logs in 



the stream are white pine. Perfect recreation country in the East. 



the other snow-covered giants of the Cascade Range 

 for their holiday outings; but let us of the northeast be 

 content with what we have at least until the railroads 

 lower their fares a little. In winter and vacations at 

 that time of year are rapidly increasing we have Alpine 



The Taconic Range along the western border of -Mas- 

 sachusetts is the link that connects the Catskills of New 

 York with the higher peaks of northern New England. 

 Greylock the Saddleback of earlier days 3,535 feet, 

 in the northwestern corner of the state, is the highest 



