Tag Archives: hiking

The Story of Puzzle Mountain!

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So two weeks ago, I was working on a blog post. I do that quite often these days, since there are three blog posts a week to write.

And I was looking for a way to refer to not only the many puzzles available to solvers these days, but how they would rank in terms of importance and popularity. I settled on the following:

Crosswords sit comfortably at the apex of the proverbial puzzle mountain, atop worthy also-rans like word searches, cryptograms, and Sudoku.

And when I went looking for images to use for “puzzle mountain” to illustrate my point, I was flabbergasted to discover that there is, in fact, a Puzzle Mountain.

[The view from atop Puzzle Mountain. Image courtesy of Guthook Hikes.]

I immediately wanted to know more. Where was it? How tall is it? And how did it come to be called Puzzle Mountain in the first place?

Some questions were easier to answer than others.

Oxford County, Maine, is the home of Puzzle Mountain, part of the Mahoosuc Range. It’s a 3.2 mile climb to the peak of the mountain, and it takes approximately three and a half hours to reach the summit, assuming you’re not misled by the false peak known as Little Puzzle Mountain.

The mountain is part of the popular Grafton Loop Trail, which is included in several top lists of the best and most scenic hikes in Maine.

According to Maine Trail Finder, “The Grafton Loop Trail leaves the parking lot and ascends to the open summit of Puzzle Mountain after passing several ledges with fine views of the Bear River Valley, the Mahoosuc Range and the Presidential Range beyond.”

[The start of the climb to the top of Puzzle Mountain. Image courtesy of 1 Happy Hiker.]

But why is it called Puzzle Mountain? I still had no idea.

I had to search high and low across the Internet for this information, since most sites were focused on either the hiking aspects of the mountain or some of the local stores. Apparently, the strawberry rhubarb pie at the Puzzle Mountain Bakery is to die for.

I eventually discovered the answer to my question in Steve Pinkham’s book The Mountains of Maine: Intriguing Stories Behind Their Names, which detailed the curious anecdotes and history behind the names of many Maine landmarks.

As the story goes, according to Pinkham:

An old man from Bethel was once out hunting on the mountain and became hopelessly lost. In descending a ledge, he dropped his ax over the lip to a shelf below to avoid any accident while he climbed down. Upon reaching the spot, he was amazed to see the head of the ax apparently wedged into solid rock. Taking a closer look, he found that the hatchet was embedded in a soft rock that he quickly figured to be plumbago or graphite.

Cutting out a sample, he carried it home, dreaming of money he could make by selling the mineral to pencil manufacturers. The story goes that he spent the rest of his life trying unsuccessfully to relocate that deposit and the mountain was subsequently named Puzzle Mountain because he never did find where the deposits were located.

And that, fellow puzzlers, is the story of Puzzle Mountain. Weird. You’d think there was some connection between the graphite and the pencils so many puzzlers use to solve puzzles! That’s where I thought the story was going, anyway.

Perhaps, one day, a member of the PuzzleNation team will scale the heights of the mountain and proudly place the PuzzleNation flag at the summit.

Until then… it’s still fun to think about, isn’t it?

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5 Questions with PuzzleNation Programmer Mike O’Neil

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Welcome to 5 Questions, our recurring interview series where we reach out to puzzle constructors, game designers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and puzzle enthusiasts from all walks of life!

It’s all about exploring the vast and intriguing puzzle community by talking to those who make puzzles and those who enjoy them! (Click here to check out previous editions of 5 Questions!)

For the entire month of August, I’ll be introducing the PuzzleNation readership to many of the members of the PuzzleNation team! So every Thursday this month, you’ll meet a new name and voice responsible for bringing you the best puzzle apps on the market today!

And I’m excited to kick things off with Mike O’Neil as our latest 5 Questions interviewee!

Mike is part of our dynamite programming team, maintaining the high level of quality we know PuzzleNationers expect of us and helping push us into new puzzly arenas. A musician and long-time video-game fan as well, Mike is enthusiastic, sharp, and immensely capable, part of the well-oiled machine that makes PuzzleNation a brand to watch!

Mike was gracious enough to take some time out to talk to us, so without further ado, let’s get to the interview!

5 Questions with Mike O’Neil

1. How did you get started with puzzles and games?

I’ve been a video-game addict my whole life, so when I got to college I eventually decided to make them for a living. Puzzles and puzzle solving have always been a part of being a big-time gamer, so I’ve been puzzle solving since I got the gamer bug as a kid, though my favorite magazine-type puzzles are word searches.

2. Programming, puzzles, and music all demand a strong sense of balance and flow to create an immersive and productive experience. As a musician, does that ever influence your work in unexpected or insightful ways?

I would say that it’s more of the opposite, where programming has influenced my musicianship. The biggest common feature of all three is patience, so growing up solving puzzles was good training for practicing guitar.

Also, working on a piece of music can actually be like solving a puzzle because every person is different, so I often need to “solve the puzzle” to figure out exactly how I’m going to be able to pull off a particular riff/lick/lead/etc, which could be radically different from how the next person would do it.

3. What do you do in your off-time? What helps you relax or mentally recharge after a long week of puzzling?

My biggest off-time activities are video games and music, though those can all be a bit mentally challenging and not often the greatest unwinding activity. If things get really heavy I often do some urban hiking around NYC. It’s very stimulating and can last for hours (I once walked all 33 miles around the perimeter of Manhattan. My feet hated me for a week.)

4. What’s next for Mike O’Neil?

What’s next is working with the PN team to get more and more types of puzzle apps out there. Crosswords are great, but we have so much potential with our tools and team that the sky’s the limit. I’m looking forward to seeing what we come up with.

[Crosswords ARE great! Have you checked out the Penny Dell
Crosswords App for both iOS and Android devices? /shameless plug.]

5. If you could give the readers, writers, programmers, aspiring game designers, and puzzle fans in the audience one piece of advice, what would it be?

One piece of advice is to make sure that the solution you come up with for your current problem is the best one, not necessarily the fastest or most slick. When I was mentoring students back at the Electronic Arts Academy, my main goal was to make sure that they don’t start implementing solutions for simple tasks with the super fancy, super complicated-type things you do in school. A good general rule is to imagine someone has to take over your work the next day, so make sure it’s easily understandable.

A huge thank you to Mike for his time. I can’t imagine a better way to introduce a month of PuzzleNation-fueled interviews and content!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!