setting the record straight on whitehouse landing camps

[Roland]

emerald: I tend to agree. But the fact remains. The importance of the trail remains an issue. There are those, though they won't disclose the fact easily, who believe all public land is suspicious. All public regulation of public land is suspicious.

I take a different view. I believe that public land, lawfully acquired, is as sacred as any land. And I believe that attacks on public regulation of public land in accordance with the laws of the nation, should be opposed.

Weary

Though people don't always agree with you, Weary, I recognize that without the efforts of people like you, there would be very little public land for recreation.

Thank you for all you do.

[berkshirebirder]

I believe that public land, lawfully acquired, is as sacred as any land. And I believe that attacks on public regulation of public land in accordance with the laws of the nation, should be opposed. --Weary

It's worth repeating.

[Skidsteer]

Seems to me the attacks are on the consistency of Public regulation of Public lands, not whether they should be regulated.

[The Old Fhart]

Skidsteer-"Seems to me the attacks are on the consistency of Public regulation of Public lands, not whether they should be regulated. "

Not so. You can't ignore this quote.

If it truly is "illegal" for them to have a sign then it is a bull**** law and deserves to be disobeyed. Just a bunch of bureaucratic BS. There are signs all along the trail, no reason not to have the tote road marked in some manner. My guess is the real reason is the Govt wants the land WHL is on and they are trying to drive them out. And some clueless folks wonder why there is so much resentment against the government. This is just a tiny example why.

[weary]

It's worth repeating.

Many thanks, and to you Roland. And all the others over the years who have taken what I consider a commonsense view of such matters.

I've been around a long time on this and other forums -- most of which predate the internet.

Over the decades I've been on the right and on the left. I've opposed public ownership at all costs, and I've recognized that private ownership is not a solution to all problems.

Frankly, my greatest effort these days is to simply ignore political divisions and do what I can to get kids outdoors and away from their internet games. Why? Because childhood is important. If one is not hooked on wildness by age 13, the odds are great that one never will be. And we need all the champions we can get. I was lucky. My parents made me walk my first mountain at age 4, and insisted that I continue to climb mountains for a decade or more thereafter.

At least, that's the message I will deliver next Tuesday, when Bates College, a little known Ivy league College in Lewiston, Maine, gives me an award for an alleged lifetime of environmental achievement.

They say I'll have two minutes, to summarize my achievements. Wish me luck this weekend as I attempt to summarize 70 years in 120 seconds. Ah, challenges. What would life be like without them.

Weary

[Lone Wolf]

is it just me or does the MATC seem like a bunch of elitist bullies? my donations will be going elsewhere. who really needs double privies with a cribbage board.

[Skidsteer]

Not so. You can't ignore this quote.

Isn't that the point?

There are signs all along the trail, no reason not to have the tote road marked in some manner.

[kanga]

The AMC and the MATC have a financial interest in promoting the AMC's three high priced B&Bs that used to be real woods camps like White House Landing still is. Therefore the freshcut AT intersecting trails and promotional signage to the AMC camps are just peachy keen with the MATC. By trying to force you out of business by killing your trade and not allowing competition, the MATC is doing the AMC's dirty work for them.
There should be laws against that.

it's worth repeating...



hey linda! i loved your place! it was like being home, only 1200 miles away. i hope y'all are doing great! give pooh bear some love for me.

[The Old Fhart]

Lone Wolf-"is it just me or does the MATC seem like a bunch of elitist bullies?"

Believe me, it's just you.

Skidsteer-"Isn't that the point?

There are signs all along the trail, no reason not to have the tote road marked in some manner.

Pay careful attention to the wording. The tote road may be marked, i.e., identified as a road, but you can't have a billboard advertising a private business on the road. No different than having road signs but banning billboards on the interstate. I hope that wasn't too subtle.

[Lone Wolf]

Believe me, it's just you.

wrong scooter. buncha picayune BS for sure. MOST will agree

[Skidsteer]

Pay careful attention to the wording. The tote road may be marked, i.e., identified as a road, but you can't have a billboard advertising a private business on the road. No different than having road signs but banning billboards on the interstate. I hope that wasn't too subtle.

So name it "White House Landing Tote Rd." and move on.

[TD55]

What the heck does all this have to do with cooking burgers?

[Alligator]

So name it "White House Landing Tote Rd." and move on.

What the heck does all this have to do with cooking burgers?

I think there's a move to change the Chunky Gal Trail to the Wendy's Trail.

[Lone Wolf]

What the heck does all this have to do with cooking burgers?

the MATC tries to market the "100 mile wilderness" as just that even though it's no where near a wilderness so a little sign pointing towards food and lodging ruins their fantasy

[Tinker]

Camp Mom/ Linda:
Thanks for your hospitality during my Hundred Mile Wilderness hike in Sept. 2008. I'm one of the two that your old rotten birch almost fell on during the passing of a tropical depression.
It was nice to have a big burger, though I had enough food for the rest of the trip, and, since I'm a snorer, it was nice of you also to reduce the rate for one of your private cabins so I could let others rest peacefully.
Regardless of whether you have a sign or not, I'm sure that all of the "non-official" "thru hikers guides" will list your place as one not to miss.
Also: Thanks for letting me use your canoe to paddle out into the lake for some quiet spiritual time.
My stay there will be a fond memory as long as I have memories .

[weary]

is it just me or does the MATC seem like a bunch of elitist bullies? my donations will be going elsewhere. who really needs double privies with a cribbage board.

Well we have out idiosyncracies, but most of us go out weekend after weekend, year in and year out to cut trailside brush, remove blowdowns, raise money for caretakers, build bog bridges, and do the thousand other things a trail needs.

I'll let you decide whether we are elitists. I do know that the overseer of the 55 plus trail miles in the area of White House Landing works as a union laborer in a Maine paper mill, punching a time clock daily. He and his wife don't just supervise. They take care of several miles of trail by themselves. By my definition, he is a very rare human being. Does that make him an elitist in your book, Lone Wolf?

MATC has only a single parttime employee. Whatever gets done in Maine, gets done by a couple of hundred volunteers. A couple are college professors. Many, I suspect, from years of observation, have never seen the inside of a college.

I think if there are elitists in this debate, it is folks like you, Lone Wolf, who, as I recall, once confessed to living mostly on the proceeds from your oil company stocks.

Weary

[Tinker]

I think it would be a major disservice for the MATC NOT to indicate that emergency help could be had by traveling down the road and sounding the horn at the boat dock.
I met a LOT of unprepared hikers in the Hundred Mile "Wilderness" who might have had emergency situations if they got caught in bad weather.
If it is true that the AMC is signing side trails to their properties and services near the trail without the condemnation of the MATC, this particular situation smacks of elitism and hypocrisy, (and possibly monopoly?).

[Alligator]

They've got a video.

[weary]

So name it "White House Landing Tote Rd." and move on.

Had anyone requested a trail sign saying "White House Landing Tote Road," I suspect MATC would have had our sign volunteer make one.

Instead multiple blaze orange signs kept appearing without notice, were removed by MATC volunteers as the national park and ATC regulations require, only to mysteriously reappear, again and again. I don't doubt for a minute the reports from many hikers, praising White House Landing.

I do suspect that the businesses squabbles with MATC are the result of Bill's own doing, or rather, his failure to do the ordinary things most businesses need to do in a complex society, like talk to your neighbors.

Weary

[Tinker]

They've got a video.

That's a bit different than advertising via signs along a "wilderness" trail.

Does the AMC have signs directing hikers to their "camps" (resorts, if they'r typical AMC lodgings) along the AT in the "Wilderness". If so, the MATC should be all over them for it.

That's the question I'm asking.

A video on a website is fine by me (but so is a sign on the AT announcing the White House Landing camp).

I'm looking for inconsistencies in logic here.