The Removal of Gorham Lodge.

In May 2001, Gorham Lodge was discovered to be listing. It was closed for the season and scheduled for replacement. Over the summer the listing increased. This hike was intended to remove the lodge by burning.

The weather was clear and cold. Temperatures rose from below freezing to perhaps 40 degrees at midday. There was no snow on the ground. The sky was deep blue and visibility was unlimited. There was a moderate wind from the west.

Six of us started at 8:30 at the Couching Lion parking area and hiked the Monroe Trail to the Hut Clearing, then north along the Long Trail to the Gorham site. Leo and Scott took the Burrows Trail to the Long Trail and Gorham Lodge. We assembled at Gorham at 10:45.

To forestall unplanned burning of the forest, we brought 3 5-gallon pails to be filled with water from the Gorham water source. We carried bow saws, axes, and shovels.

We cleared small spruce growing on the uphill side of the lodge for a distance of about 10 feet. The downhill side of the lodge was a steep rock face and the front was a 30-foot rock surface; both with no combustible material.

The structure had four components:

• The "basement," bounded by 3 sill logs. This was built on ledge and bounded by chinking rocks. We intended that all coals end up in this area.
• The horizontal wall, consisting of 4 logs. This section was essentially plumb.
• The upper wall, consisting of smaller logs placed vertically. These logs were loose and exhibited the most tilting.
• The roof, aluminum sheeting supported by rafters and 2x4-inch purlins about 2-feet apart. Collar ties kept the two faces of the roof together.

As the burning progressed, we observed that the roof contained hardly any combustible material and the foundation the most. All of the wood, though some of it rotten, was dry and burned easily. The chinking rocks provided an effective air supply to the bottom of the fire.

Following the suggestion of Eric S, we planned to ignite a fire on the back-left corner of the lodge. ("Left" means uphill.) We removed many of the vertical logs and placed them in a tepee in that corner. We wanted to prevent the lodge from collpasing downhill, to the right, where it might slide past the rock face and ignite duff and trees. Also, we wanted to minimize the number of logs which might fall out from the foundation area. When we were ready for burning, most of the right side was missing and large sections of the back wall.

At 11:35, after posing in front of the "No Fires" sign, we were ready to ignite the lodge.

We used about 3/4 gallon of kerosene and a copy of the Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus. Pete applied flame from a cheap cigarette lighter.

The fire caught quickly and ignited the tepee. In a few minutes, the fire had extended to the roof. In about one half-hour, the right half of the roof broke off and slid down the hill. The aluminum roofing sheets covered the 2x4 purlins and prevented any burning of adjacent trees or shrubbery. The left side of the roof gradually slumped into the foundation.

At several points, flames shot up from the and singed the 2 nearby spruce trees. These blazes were short-lived as there was little combustible material in the trees. The vertical pieces, with one exception, fell into the foundation. The one errant piece fell 2 feet outside the back wall. The fire itself was hot enough to make it uncomfortable to be closer than 20 feet. There were few wind shifts and the smoke rose quickly up the slope to the left of the structure. Thus, we could easily work on 3 sides.

Since the fire was very hot and consisted mostly of dry wood, it produced a minimum of smoke. It appeared that the smoke quickly dissipated as it rose above the treetops and encountered the westerly wind.

After perhaps an hour, we began shifting the sill logs in towards the middle of the foundation. We used shovels as pry-bars. Throughout, we tossed back any partially-burned material towards the center of the fire.

A bit later, what we thought was a fuel cannister exploded in the basement. (We hadn't inspect the basement area under the floor, but suspect that 20 years' of trash had accumulated there.) At the time the sill logs still formed an inpenetrible bulwark and the work crew was not in any danger.

After 2:30 pm we covered the foundation with the aluminum sheets from the right side. This restrained any embers from flying away. A bed of hot coals remained.

We left the site at 3:00, hiked back by the same route and arrived at Couching Lion at 5:00. Although it was getting dark, headlamps were not necessary.

The site was inspected the next day by the caretakers at Couching Lion.

Comments about the construction of the lodge.

• The structural weakness was primarily in the vertically-laid logs in the upper wall.
• Notwithstanding the tilt of the lodge, it turned out to be remarkably strong. The corner post nearest to point of ignition--the hottest part of the fire--remained standing for over an hour.

Effort: 8 people, 10 hours each (including travel); total: 80 hours.