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Sunday, July 28, 2002
Scenic and serene
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Perhaps that explains why during three warm, basically dry late June days of driving, hiking and fishing the 50,000 acres of the White Mountain National Forest that bumps into Maine, it at times seemed like I had the place all to myself. "None of the Maine portion of the White Mountain National Forest gets heavy use," said Pat Nasta, an assistant ranger with the Androscoggin Ranger District of the National Forest. "People who come to the Maine portion tend to know that, and they are looking for a quieter experience." Frank Ruehl, who has been coming to Hastings Campground from Maryland with his wife, Janet, and two daughters since the mid to late 1980s, fits that profile. "It's quiet, serene," said Ruehl on a Wednesday morning while planning a late breakfast and a hike for the day. "You don't have any trailers right next to you where they've put out lawn ornaments. Some years we've come up and been the only ones here" at the campground. The forest offers plenty to do. State Route 113, which follows Evans Notch through the national forest from Gilead to Stow, crossing over to New Hampshire in sections, is one of Maine's most scenic drives. Dozens of hiking trails of varying difficulty offer outstanding views. The Maine section has two campgrounds, Hastings and Crocker Pond, and three others sit just over the line in New Hampshire. The fishing in sections is good to great. The rivers and streams have some good swimming and wading holes. Bicyclists use Route 113 for touring and the dirt roads and some hiking trails for mountain biking. Hobby mineral collectors use several areas. In winter, there are several snowmobile trails, including parts of Route 113 itself. And a self-guided auto tour describes how the forest evolves. That doesn't mean no one uses the Maine section of the national forest. Although no one knows exactly how many do use it. "There's no gate, no fence," said Nasta, "so there is no way to know." But a recent survey conducted in the entire White Mountain National Forest shows 2.7 million users per year. That is lower than the figure of 6 million to 7 million that is usually given, but the recent survey counts only people who get out of their car to do something and not those who just drive through. The person who did the survey told Nasta that about 15 percent of those visits would occur in Maine, which comes to 405,000 visitors per year. Camping and hiking are the two most popular activities. Camping The campgrounds for the past several years have been run by Pro Sports, a private corporation, under contract with the U.S. Forest Service. The fee at the five campgrounds in the Evans Notch region is $12 a night. There is no electricity or running water, but there are outhouses and water pumps. Dell Tower, a Pro Sports employee who was testing the water at the Hastings campground pump, said Pro Sports has been doing work with the White Mountain National Forest for 10 years and operating the campgrounds for a bit less than five years. Sara Parker, who is employed by Pro Sports as the host at Hastings Campground, says that what people who camp at Hastings do changes with the seasons. Early on, it's hikers who like being out in the cooler weather. Then come the fishermen. And once school is out, it's families. For them, the campground is an inexpensive place to stay and play, and they often take day trips to Santa's Village or Storyland in New Hampshire. During the three weekdays I was in the national forest, the seven camping sites at Crocker Pond were empty each day. About 10 of the 24 sites at Hastings were occupied. Parker said 14 of the 24 sites at Hastings are available by reservation at www.reserveamerica.com, while the other 10 are available on a first-come, first-served basis. She said there were a lot of reservations for the coming weekend. Nasta said camping is allowed most places in the national forest, unless signs specifically prohibit it. The national forest office on Route 2 in Bethel provides a list of areas where camping is prohibited.
Hiking The variety of trails in the Maine section of the White Mountain National Forest is amazing. Several loop trails bring you back near your car without retracing your steps. Others head from one spot to another, often connecting with other trails. Some are steep and head to the top of mountains. Others follow riverbeds or railroad tracks, and are gentle. The national forest office in Bethel has sheets describing most of the hikes, and you can buy for $4.95 a DeLorme map showing and describing 250 hikes in the White Mountains. During my three days, I completed two loop hikes and spent some time walking out and back on other trails. My first hike was quick, on the Albany Notch trail near Crocker Pond. Nasta had told me a beaver dam is used as part of the trail, and that the area is popular with school kids. I thought I would check it out, and enjoyed it. Next I climbed Caribou. Caribou and Speckled mountains are the most popular hikes on the Maine side, although that varies. "If 'Backpacker' magazine does a story on Baldface (just over the line in New Hampshire) everyone wants to do Baldface," she said. I chose the Caribou loop because it was shorter than Speckled, 6.3 miles with an estimated time of 4.5 hours. I carried a canteen with a quart of water Ð leaving a 20-ounce Moxie bottle filled with water in the car for when I got down Ð and a global positioning system trail tracker. I also took three granola bars and bug repellent. The hike started well, following Morrison Brook, crossing it a number of times, seeing a lot of small waterfalls and crossing streams entering from the various sides. After 2 miles along Morrison Brook and 2.4 miles from the start, I came to Knees Falls, a 25-foot drop. It was an OK falls, but it mostly was a chance to sit down and rest. But what was more spectacular, just 100 or so yards beyond, was a tributary of a smaller stream that came down a large cliff. Another excuse to stop and rest. Then I kept slogging along and came to the end of the Caribou trail, which really occurs at the junction of Bog Brook Trail which heads toward Route 2 in Gilead and Mud Brook Trail, which heads back to the car. But you're in the middle of nowhere. And the trail description says you still have 0.6 miles to the summit of Caribou. I had to stop to rest twice before I came to what I thought was the summit of Caribou. It was ledge and the trail started going down. Trees growing among the ledge blocked them to an extent. I thought they couldn't cut them down because it was the wilderness area. But it was an excuse to rest. After going downhill for a bit, the trail on the ledge starting going up again. This time there were few trees and a lot more ledge, and I knew I had hit the summit because there was a brass marker in the rock telling me so. Another excuse to stop and rest. And I actually had enough energy after a while to walk around the ledge a bit, looking at the view and feeling the breeze. In the wilderness area, the trails aren't as clearly marked as elsewhere in the national forest. And while I was never in danger of getting lost, my male pattern blindness kicked in and it often took me a few seconds to find either yellow dashes painted on rock or piles of rock showing where I should be going next. When I started down, I had about one swallow of water left in my canteen. I made good time down the Mud Brook Trail, stopping occasionally to splash my face with water from the several streams that crossed the trail. The water was cold and refreshing, and I was tempted to drink some, but didn't. I got back to the car 3 hours after I left it, cutting an hour off the estimate in the pamphlet. Not bad for a 56-year-old guy. During the entire walk, I saw five people. A mother and grade-school children were in the parking lot, and I doubt they took the entire loop. They were leaving and they didn't look tired. And I met a college-age man and woman heading up Mud Trail when I was about 20 minutes from the end. Except for those people, I had the mountain to myself. The next day I walked about a half-mile up the Highwater Trail, which has a great pedestrian bridge over the Wild River. I had taken this trail before while fishing, not knowing it was a hiking trail. My legs were tired, but I took the Roost Loop, 1.8 miles and moderate difficulty. Some of the hiking seemed more difficult than moderate, but my legs were tired from the day before. Once you get to the summit, there is a sign that says simply "VIEW" pointing down the hill. Your legs are tired. It's a steep bit, and you know that if you go down that steep pitch, you are going to have to come back up. But the trip is worth it. You can see the Wild River, a section of Evans Brook, the entire flat opening that was farmed first by a runaway slave named Tom and then became the logging village of Hastings. And the breeze was wonderful. Patte Brook The signs used to say Patte Brook Multi Use Demonstration Area, and I always wondered what it was, but they have disappeared. Now it is the Patte Brook Auto Tour, and you stop by the national forest office to get a pamphlet. I spent probably three hours doing it, but that included the hike on the Albany Notch trail. The thing that I found most interesting about Patte Brook is that it is a tributary of the Crooked River, which feeds Sebago Lake and ends up in the Presumpscot River in Portland. I knew that the Cold River, in the southern end of the national forest section of Route 113, flowed into the Saco and the Wild River flowed into the Androscoggin. But I didn't know there was a third river source in such a small area. The 11 sites on the auto trail include a moose-viewing site (I didn't see any there), a waterfowl marsh, a glacial bog, apple trees gone wild, an abandoned field returning to forest, a small dam and abandoned homesteads. "We are going to have to redo this," Nasta said. "Some of the things the tour says you see, you don't see anymore. We have to freshen things up a bit." Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. And, it was easy on the legs. Fees For the past five years, The White Mountain National Forest has charged parking fees at trail heads, swimming holes and other popular areas. You can pay $3 fees at the site by dropping the cash in an envelope, but those are good for only one day and for the one site. For $5, at any national forest office, you can get a weekly pass good for all sites. For $20, you get an annual pass and for $25 you get an annual pass for two vehicles in the same family. "(The fee program) was initiated by Congress as a way that would get some revenue that would stay on site to help with maintenance of the recreation facilities," Nasta said. "More than 80 percent of it goes right back to the land, and all of it stays local. We use it to fix foot bridges and other items." The most popular hobby mineral collecting site is at Deer Hill, on a road that goes from Route 112 to Evergreen Valley. The three sites are all within a half-mile of the road. Nasta said the area had been closed to collecting for a year, because there had been a lot of damage with diggers not filling their holes. There is a $3 daily or $10 for 10 days fee for hobby mineral collecting. There was no one at the sites when I dropped by. New Hampshire For the purpose of this story I stayed on the Maine side of the state line, but a regular visitor should ignore the boundary. The Wild River, Basin and Cold River campgrounds are the equal of Hastings. Many of the hikes go from one state to another, and some good ones off Route 113 are entirely in New Hampshire. The best swimming spot on the Wild River is about a half-mile over in New Hampshire. The wilderness is a state of mind, not a state of the nation. Staff Writer Tom Atwell can be contacted at 791-6362 or at: tatwell@pressherald.com
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