Mountain Explorations

Thank you for visiting my site.

"Mountain Explorations" includes pages of historical research and exploring by foot.

The "by foot" pages focus on specific bushwhacks in Baxter State Park, White Mountains of NH, and route finding in California and Oregon.

My "historical research" focuses on on logging and sporting camps on two watersheds, the West Branch of the Penobscot and the Piscataquis River. The logging commences with the first log drive on each waterway and ends with the last drive. The sporting camp history starts in the late 1880's. More material will be added as I complete it.

The Piscataquis River watershed material is at my website Maine Sporting Camp History: Piscataquis River Watershed; the link follows.

https://sites.google.com/a/maine.edu/maine-sporting-camp-history-piscataquis-river-watershed/

Please feel free to share the links to these websites with anyone you think might have an interest.

Bill Geller

108 Orchard Street

Farmington, Maine 04938

Note: all colored photos on this site are by Bill Geller. The camp ads are from the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad publication In the Maine Woods.

Newest material

Consult "subpages" of "Within Katahdin's Realm- an addendum of new information & corrections," a file attached to this site's "Within Katahdin's Realm: log drives and sporting camps" has the full text for the additions and corrections mentioned below for this text.

02-12-20 correction for "Katahdin's Realm," Chapter 8, p.164 (p.55 line 3 online version) In the first paragraph under "At Pockwockamus Deadwater" 4th line from bottom, Norman Wade should be Norman Waite. (courtesy of Ron who built the structure.)

09-25-2019 - additional information for "Katahdin's Realm," Chapter 2, p.31 (p.6 online version) The additional information is from the Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, August 11, 1874. The books includes surveyors' Norris and Irish notes about pine logs cut in 1824 in the Nollesemic area. The article expands upon that activity and names of the loggers and the volume cut.

03-14-2019 - correction for "Katahdin's Realm," Chapter 8, p.149 (p.14 online version) Members of their family, the Stetsons Spencers, had used it as dam tenders. The Everett Littles lived in the camp year-round for a while in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By the 1970s, it was still fairly solid, but it was not standing in the 1980s.

12-07-2018 - correction added for "Katahdin's Realm," Chapter 2, p.31 (p.7 online version) the fire of 1825 did not cross at Burnt Land Rips; it was between the outlet of Elbow Lake and the inlet of Quakish Lake.

09-09-2018 - correction added for "Katahdin's Realm," Chapter 11, p.181 (p.20 online version) Boynton camp location

07-28-2018 - another attempt on Mullen Mt - see Katahdin Area Bushwhacks

07-04-2018 - a section for additional information for "Within Katahdin's Realm: log drives and sporting camps"

02-01-2018 - "Within Katahdin's Realm: log drives and sporting camps" - a page of corrections for the online version

01-12-2018 - Piscataquis Watershed Sporting Camps - 4 chapters online with updated section c

01-10-2018 - Within Katahdin's Realm:log drives and sporting camps - new book on line with links

01-03-2017 - Oregon Wallowa Mountains - off trail route finding

06-20-2017 - My Appalachia article on sporting camps on the West Branch of the Penobscot

06-28-2017 - Two Articles on Katahdin Ascents

06-28-2017 - Log Drives on the West Branch of the Penobscot River: An Addendum to Alfred Hempstead....