FROM THE AMC ARCHIVES: View film footage from 1951-1953 “AMC AUGUST CAMPS”

In 2011, the National Film Preservation Foundation, an affiliate of the Library of Congress, funded an Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) grant to digitize film from the 1951-1953 AMC organized “August Camps”. The film is a 30 minute visual documentary of AMC’s promotion of outdoor life in New England the early 1950’s.  There is no sound.

The film can be watched here.A written list of scenes is included below to help follow film locations.

August Camp: The AMC organized its first “August Camp” in 1887 and has organized a camp almost every year since. For its first 100 years, most camps explored areas of New England.  However, as early as 1885, when it traveled to Banff Canada, August Camp has pitched its tents in the West.  Since 2005, August Camp has exclusively explored western terrain in the Rockies, Canadian Rockies and the Cascades.  The web site for August Camp describes the excursion “as a unique, nomadic adult hiking camp, essentially run by volunteers, immersed in nature, and bound by cherished traditions. Our camps today follow the same model as they did in 1887: fixed tent camps with daily climbs.” In its early years, “August Camp was influential in club affairs, exploring new territories and finding new hiking routes.” Per the same page on the website: “In its early days, August Camp was a group of hikers whose main purpose was to explore.  The goal of the first “camping-party” was to seek new routes to visit Mt. Katahdin, ME. The 1887 camp was comprised of 20 campers – men and women. Camp was a log shelter 20 feet long and required a two-day climb. Ladies hiked in tweed skirts.

August Camp, 1887

Per the August Camp web site, “In years following, that exploration continued to other regions beyond the White Mountains, the stomping ground of the first AMC members.   As they explored, August Campers often established good hiking routes. Early ‘trampers’ explored areas which would later become some of the fixed camps we enjoy today. The ‘1901 camp was a ‘try out’ for the permanent camp on Three Mile Island on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH. What is now Cold River Camp was also once an August Camp base.”

The attire, equipment and people reflect a much different period from today’s outdoor experiences and a much different AMC from its current makeup.  However, the passion for the outdoors and the desire to explore nature seem similar across eras.

National Film Preservation Foundation: “The National Film Preservation Foundation Act (PL 104-285, Title II), signed into law on October 11, 1996, charged the NFPF to “encourage, accept, and administer private gifts to promote and ensure the preservation and public accessibility of the nation’s film heritage” and authorized federal funds to advance this work. The NFPF started operations a year later as an independent federally chartered grant-giving public charity (federal tax identification number 52-2055624) and the nonprofit charitable affiliate of the Library of Congress’s National Film Preservation Board. The NFPF’s twelve-member board of directors is appointed by the Librarian of Congress.”

AMC 1951-1953 “August Camps” film scene annotation:

Reel 1: August Camp in New Hampshire North Country, Stark, N.H., July 28 – August 25, 1951

Sunrise and Tents with morning steam rising from them – Views of AMC August Camp site at Stark, N.H. – AMC August Camp Sign – Dining Tent – Campers in wind at Camp – Laundry station use – Campers preparing for a trip – Long Trail Sign – Views of the Green Mountains, Vermont – Hikers resting on a summit, eating lunch, with views of the scenery – Camels Hump, Gorham Ledge Sign – Hikers on a rocky cliff trail – Hikers resting on a summit, with views of Camels Hump, Vermont – Swimming at a pond/river – diving – Bugle call and meal scenes – Old barn below Percy Peak, N.H. – Meadow scenes, flowers, bees – Wading in a shallow stream – Crossing a stream while hiking – Rattle River Trail Sign – Ascending rock ledges – Hikers resting on a rock ledge, lunching – Views of the Northern Presidentials and hikers on the trail – Blueberry picking – Carter Notch Hut visit – Carter Moriah Trail hikers – Hikers on a windy summit along Carter Moriah Range, lunching – Trail flora – Osgood Trail hikers – Views north from the Northern Presidential Range – Canoes being unloaded from trucks and consultation of a river map – Boarding canoes and paddling – Sunset over the river – Loading canoes on trucks – Camp cooking over a fire – Swapping positions in a canoe with two paddlers – Swimming (possibly in the Upper Ammonoosuc River)

Reel 2: August Camp, Mount Katahdin Region, Maine, August 2 – September 1, 1952

Sandy Stream Pond Trail – Hikers on Mount Katahdin above tree line – Camp dining tent scenes and washing up – Scenes of camp – Crossing a narrow log bridge with overnight packs – Views of area peaks – Steam rising from Abol Pond at dawn – Morning cooking over a fire at a lean-to – Wind on Abol Pond – Knife Edge Trail sign – Hikers crossing the Knife Edge and hiking Katahdin, views from the summits – Katahdin summit sign – Pondside lunch – Lunch of a rock ledge – Scenery shots – A doe in the wild – Unloading food and gear from a truck – Windy pond scene and float plane landing – Ron Gower canoeing – Woman Putting on boots at tent – Hikers ascending a rocky trail – Lunch break on a summit and views – Katahdin overs swamp – Climbing a steep rocky trail with Ron Gower – Cathedral Trail sign with hikers passing by – Ron Gower and hikers at Hamlin Ridge Trail summit cairn – Cooking at a shelter and repairing the roof – Storm clouds – Hikers at a waterfall – Sunset from the shelter

Reel 3: August Camp, Kancamagus Forest Highway, Pemigewasset Wilderness, Waterville Valley Region, August 1 – August 29, 1953

Long-time August Camp Cook Charles Learned and a woman talking at camp – Young men cutting firewood – Campers in AMC August Camp site – Hikers in the Pemigewasset Wilderness – Consulting a map beside a fire tower (possibly on Mount Osceola) – Trail sign for the Wilderness Trail, Shore Pond Trail, Kancamagus Highway, Camp No. 16, and

Thoreau Falls Trail. – Hikers at AMC Zealand Falls Hut – Crossing a dilapidated wooden bridge – Crossing a beaver’s dam and views of a beaver swamp – Resting beside a river – On rock slabs, with views – Carrigain Notch views – Above Zealand Pond – Drinking from Zealand River – Views of Carrigain Notch from Zeacliff – Bondcliff Trail Sign and Hikers on Bondcliff – Zealand Falls