|
Sunday, March 5, 2006
Camping in the round
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Also on this page: YURT ALERT | |||||||||||||||||||||
BROWNFIELD — Stay where you play. That notion guided Erika and Patrick Fagan from Massachusetts to Maine two years ago, and inspired them to start a yurt lodging business. Why live in the suburbs, when you can reside on a mountain? Why camp in a cabin, when you can stare at the stars? Why exist in a box, when you can open your mind and free your spirit? The symmetrical nature of a yurt cuts to our emotional core. "There is something about the roundness of it," Erika Fagan said. Yurts have been used for thousands of years, including by nomadic tribes of Central Asia. Interesting then that those who come and go at Frost Mountain Yurts, a campground in Brownfield, instinctively play the nomadic part. "Seventy percent of the people, I don't see," said Patrick Fagan of his customers. "They just come, sign in, and go to the yurt. I made it that way so they could just drive in, go off, and be at peace." The circular shape is consistent in all yurts, part of the magic of this open ancient space. While the original yurts had a fire pit in the middle and a hole in the ceiling for smoke to escape, modern yurts are fueled by wood stoves at the wall. The design of the modern yurt is as much utilitarian as it is environmental or aesthetic. It melds into the landscape, sits above it, and looks out over it. "Everyone should be able to walk outside in their pajamas," Patrick Fagan said of these woodland dwellings. "It soothes your soul to see a view, have some space." The durable canvas cover, the tension band that holds the wood lattice wall, and wood frame rafters make a tight dwelling. Yet, distinguished by clean shapes, the wood frames and canvas ceiling let in light and create a transparent feeling. Through the wide window on a clear night, you can see the moonlight reflect off snow-covered tree limbs. These modern-day caverns also retain heat and dispel cold air. The yurt's aerodynamic shape makes the wind flow around it, rather than against it, points out Pacific Yurts in Oregon, which for 30 years has supplied outdoor recreation outfits nationwide. The Fagans first experienced yurts together about six years ago in Colorado. They found yurts to be so calming for the mind and body, Erika Fagan said, that it came instantly to mind when they first walked their mountain land in Brownfield. So they created a backyard vacation site on their 17 acres of woodlands to offer remote-feeling winter adventures to others. Now, when the Fagans want to truly experience the stars, they walk out of their mountain home to the warm, snug, wood-ash smells of their yurts. HIDDEN DWELLINGS While more common out west, yurts are offered at outdoor destinations around Maine. The Birches on Moosehead Lake has used yurts as a way to lure ice fisherman and please Nordic skiers for at least a decade, said June Ladd at the resort. "We really kind of tout it as a winter-camping option," Ladd said. "We get cross-country skiers mostly. They are on the cross-country ski trail on Brassua Lake. It's 6 miles out from the main lodge." While yurting in Maine is often done in the cold weather, it's a perfect introduction to camping. Many of the guests at Frost Mountain are youth groups and first-time campers. Yurt accommodations run about $70 to $85 and often are one price for a party. They sleep anywhere from four to eight comfortably. Bill Altenburg put up five yurts in 1987 in New Hampshire, near the White Mountain National Forest, and has filled them for nearly 20 years. "I've been putting up and taking down yurts ever since," said Altenburg, who runs Timberland Trails in Conway, N.H., (formerly Phillips Brook Backcountry Recreation). After moving his location on New Hampshire paper company land, this year, Altenburg has four yurts up and plans for 16 more. Already, he's booked through April. Yurts, he said, don't take long to fill. "People have an emotional reaction to them that is friendly, open and comfortable," Altenburg said. "Your ears open. Part of the reason you can hear through a yurt is they are acoustically transparent." The sounds of wind curling, snow drifting, and branches waving run around you. At dawn, you hear birds gliding about. Visitors to Frost Mountain find these sounds soon after driving up the parking lot, up a steep hill. Keys to two yurts hang on bark pegs and a book sits next to the container of local granola that's for sale. The deep plastic sleds under the simple counter are self-explanatory: Load one up, and trek into the woods. The basic wooden signs, reminiscent of those at Baxter State Park, point the way. If the way seems narrow and hilly, tall wooden walking sticks with bells sit by, offering a merry crutch. The yurts are furnished with natural forest products, made by Patrick Fagan, who loves to whittle. The yurts seem to be more of a calling that lured the Fagans when they found their land on Frost Mountain two years ago. The Fagans were looking to go north toward the mountains, away from Boston commuter traffic. They wandered into Brownfield, a town of about 1,000, like nomads in search of a better place. They wanted to live in a peaceful location, where they had only to go as far as their backyard to find it. They ended their search on a mountain within sight of the Presidential Range, with views too beautiful not to share. "Once the kids came along, we didn't want them growing up in a mall without playing with sticks in the brook," Erika said. "Now, we don't have to commute to play." Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
