Walter Channing Rice: The Hermit of Ampersand

When I was a senior in high school, I co-led a group of my mom's middle school students on a 3-day camping exploration trip near Saranac Lake. We set up our base camp at a campsite on Rollins Pond and spent the next two days hiking Adirondack mountains and enjoying the lake. Ultimately, we intended to climb the notorious brothers, Cascade and Porter, as well as Ampersand Mountain, which falls a few hundred feet short from the title of "High Peak," at a height of 3,352 feet [1]. My family had just gotten a new puppy, so my brother (who was also helping out) and I decided to take turns watching the puppy and assisting the group. On Saturday, my brother was with the puppy all day while I left camp with the middle school students, my mom, and one other teacher to meet up with a nature guide at the base of Ampersand Mountain.

2011 Topographic map of Ampersand Mt. published by National Geographic.

Ampersand was a beautiful and not-too-challenging hike, mind the mosquito population. It was my first mountain summit in a while, and standing on the top of Ampersand Mountain made me realize my love for summiting mountains. Ampersand has a rocky summit, and while it was windy, it was easy to run around on and large enough to have nooks and crannies to explore.

Photo of myself on the summit of Ampersand Mt. Taken by Beth Guzzetta, 2014.

Whist enjoying the sunlight and wind on the summit of Ampersand, a few of the students came across an interesting plaque. A picture of this plaque is shown below.

Plaque on top of Ampersand Mt. Unknown photographer.

Walter Channing Rice, the "Hermit of Ampersand" moved to the Adirondacks from California (and before that, Massachusetts) just 5 years into his life because his father heard from his friend, Paul Smith, that there was a job opening for a hotel manager in Franklin Falls, New York [3]. Growing up in the Adirondacks, the outdoors were engrained in Walter Rice. Rice's first job was as a full-time guide for famous scientist Dr. Edward L. Trudeau (who helped the cure for tuberculosis) [3]. In 1877, Walter Rice moved to Saranac, New York, where he married, bought some land, and became the town tax collector for the town of Harrietstown and served on the Village Water Board [3].

In 1911, the death of his wife lead Walter Rice back to his passion as a guide in the Saranac region [3]. Rice was said to have "entered into the happiest period of his life" in 1913 when the state appointed him fire observer at the summit of Ampersand Mountain [3]. Rice was said to have a "love for the solitude of the Mountain Peak" and was titled "Hermit of Ampersand" after his death at the age of 73 in 1924 [3].

Walter Rice was "portrayed the spirit of the Adirondacks, the love of nature and conservation of out heritage more than any other" and it was an honor to have stood where he stood [3]. When you see a plaque on the summit of a mountain, I urge you to look into the meaning behind the plaque because some stories are worth learning.

References:
[1] "Lake Placid, Adirondacks." Ampersand Mountain. Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism. 2016. Web. 6 April 2016.
[2] Franklin Historical Review Collection #3. Franklin Country Historical and Museum Society. Brushton, NY: TEACH Services, Inc., 2007.
[3] Rice, Steven Miller. "The Hermit of Ampersand Mountain." Franklin Historical Review, Vol. 15, 1978. Web. 6 April 2016.