white house landing

[johnny quest]

i stayed overnight at white house landing on my failed sobo and was so impressed with the place! i think its a great place for resupply and rest. is there anyone on here associated (or not) with the maine atc that can explain why they wont allow decent signage/directions to getting there?

[Red Hat]

As I understand it, signs are not allowed on any property controlled by the ATC, unless they are signs made specifically for trail use (mileage). Since most of the area between the trail and WHL is ATC corridor, there has been a feud over the signs put up by WHL. My opinion is that small signs, such as the arrows I saw this July, aren't a big deal. But I know it is a major controversy and you should get lots of responses.

[Lone Wolf]

is there anyone on here associated (or not) with the maine atc that can explain why they wont allow decent signage/directions to getting there?

it's just a nit-pickin' power trip thing. if the place was owned by someone well known in the so-called "trail community" you can bet there'd be good signage

[Lone Wolf]

As I understand it, signs are not allowed on any property controlled by the ATC, unless they are signs made specifically for trail use (mileage).

but there's lots of unofficial signs and stuff all over the trail. some dude in vermont bolted a box with a register in it to a tree so hikers can thank him for the sodas he leaves scattered in a stream. nobody says anything about that cuz he's part of the "community"

[johnny quest]

i should have been more clear. i meant if the maine atc put a regular directional sign like they currently have on the trail, pointing to the whitehouse landing dock and giving mileage that would solve everything as far as signage went. nothing more.

ive already heard a few opinions from folks on the trail. some said it was because whl was out to make money off the trail. some said that the matc didnt want to give up the illusion of the 100 mile wilderness.

one quote from a nobo i met named Greenwood:
"the first lie you will learn about the 100 mile wilderness is that its not wilderness."

[weary]

i stayed overnight at white house landing on my failed sobo and was so impressed with the place! i think its a great place for resupply and rest. is there anyone on here associated (or not) with the maine atc that can explain why they wont allow decent signage/directions to getting there?

Except for Baxter State Park, and a few parcels of state "public reserved lands", like the Mahoosucs, Bigelow, and Nahmakanta, the trail in Maine is all owned by the National Park Service, which sets the basic rules for what is allowed. ATC has no significant role. For the most part, ATC interprets NPS rules, for the 30 maintaining clubs, based on park service directives, and the law preserving the trail that was passed by the US Congress.

MATC tried for years to work with the owners of the White House Landing. We explored a number of alternatives that would have served both the hiker need for information and White House's need for business. WhiteHouse insisted on doing things there way. Our pleas for cooperation were ignored.

Maintainers took down numerous blaze orange signs to the business. Replacements were put up almost immediately. Finally, when all our efforts for years to work out a compromise failed, we notified the Park Service ranger in Harpers Ferry.

Apparently, he worked out something with the business. I haven't investigated further. The situation is out of the hands of MATC and now rests with the National Park Service.

Weary

[Wilson]

i stayed overnight at white house landing on my failed sobo and was so impressed with the place! i think its a great place for resupply and rest. is there anyone on here associated (or not) with the maine atc that can explain why they wont allow decent signage/directions to getting there?

how did you find the place?

[max patch]

how did you find the place?

Now thats a great question.

The directions are obviously adequate.

[johnny quest]

good question.
i knew it was somewhere nearby but the term used in the directions, "tole road" evidently is a widely defined thing. i came to what i considered a grownover trail crossing the a.t. at a right angle. the matc or nps or someone had the normal redwood-colored routed direction sign pointing to landmarks north and south. i figured this was it but none of these told me for sure that this grown over trail was the one to whitehouse landing's trail. but someone had draped a denim shirt over a branch there. my spidey sense told me this meant something. so i took off down the trail. several times i thought i might be wrong and almost turned back but finally i got to the lake, and the boat dock, and the air horn.

[johnny quest]

Now thats a great question.

The directions are obviously adequate.

are you saying they were obviously adequate for you to find it?

[Jim Adams]

some said that the matc didnt want to give up the illusion of the 100 mile wilderness.

one quote from a nobo i met named Greenwood:
"the first lie you will learn about the 100 mile wilderness is that its not wilderness."

You can slack pack the entire 100 mile wilderness if you want to.
It used to be a wilderness...now it's just a name.

geek

[superman]

When I got to the intersection where I would have gone to the right to White House landing, I cooked a ramen and hiked on. I thought I saw a sign or something that told me where WHL was. Maybe it was written in the dirt with all the other notes hikers left? I have nothing for or against WHL, it had been a long hike and I was looking for Katahdin.

[MOWGLI]

Like Superman, I pushed on by.

There was a day when folks pushed through the 100 mile wilderness without resupply. Now people slack pack the area, have folks bring them resupply, and what not. I have nothing against the WHL. Stumpknocker says they are the finest kind.

But where have all the backpackers gone?

[chief]

Like Superman, I pushed on by.

There was a day when folks pushed through the 100 mile wilderness without resupply. Now people slack pack the area, have folks bring them resupply, and what not. I have nothing against the WHL. Stumpknocker says they are the finest kind.

But where have all the backpackers gone?

They're probably off chasing the HYOH illusion!

[weary]

You can slack pack the entire 100 mile wilderness if you want to.
It used to be a wilderness...now it's just a name.geek

It's always been just a name. The term "100-mile-wilderness" was coined by Steve Clark, a former editor of the MATC guide to the trail in Maine, to warn hikers that there was no easy resupply between Monson and Abol Bridge.

Steve went on to become one of the most important leaders of the Appalachian Trail system in history. He has served as President of MATC, the only person to ever chair two ATC biennual conferences, one of the first ATC honorary lifetime members, chair of the committee that blocked the construction industrial wind towers a mile from the trail .... The list could run for pages.

I've done the "wilderness" all kinds of ways. Going straight through, carrying food for ten days, partial hikes as a trail maintainer, partial hikes as an overseer of three fifths of the 100 miles, as a hiker with a nine-year-old, who had a brother bring in fresh steaks to the AT crossing of the Jo Mary Campground Road, as a visitor to the new AMC facilities and trails at Little Lyford POnd and the Chairback Camps, as a section hiker from the Jo Mary road with two kids in tow, both north to Katahdin and south to Gulf Hagas, as a day hiker and an overnight hiker exploring Gulf Hagas....

All were great hikes through a great and wild section of Maine. I recommend them to all.

Weary

[Shutterbug]

All were great hikes through a great and wild section of Maine. I recommend them to all.

Weary

I have hiked all over the country and the 100 Mile Wilderness is still at the top of my list. I have hiked all or parts of it 5 different times. I enjoyed every hike.

[Lone Wolf]

It used to be a wilderness...now it's just a name.

geek

when was that?

[rafe]

I enjoyed the heck out of the 100-mile wilderness in September 1990. WHL wasn't there, or if it was, I was unaware of it (it's not mentioned in the Philosopher's Guide.) What road crossings there were, were dirt roads with no traffic. No cars, no trailheads. Walking south, I encountered maybe half a dozen nobos each day, and that was it. Wilderness? I dunno, but it sure felt wild. Nothing in the southernmost 650 miles of the AT came close to the experience of the trail between Abol Bridge and Monson.

[woodsy]

when was that?

Before Paul Bunyon arrived with Ol Blue and his big AXE.

[emerald]

You don't really want to go there, do you?