walkin' wally
12-17-2006, 16:35
From the Dec 6 issue of the Piscataquis Observer;
Fran Emmons staff writer,
"In addition to the existing Little Lyford Pond Camps, AMC has bought out the leasehold for the Chairback Mountain Camps on Long Pond and hopes in the future to establish two other sporting camps by buying out the leaseholds on Houston and Indian Ponds."
These ponds are located close to the southwest slope of Chairback Mtn. near the A.T.
Lion King
12-17-2006, 16:45
The man always trying to keep a hiker broke...
Fight the power and freedom camp!:D
From the Dec 6 issue of the Piscataquis Observer;
Fran Emmons staff writer,
"In addition to the existing Little Lyford Pond Camps, AMC has bought out the leasehold for the Chairback Mountain Camps on Long Pond and hopes in the future to establish two other sporting camps by buying out the leaseholds on Houston and Indian Ponds." [end Quote]
These ponds are located close to the southwest slope of Chairback Mtn. near the A.T.
The AT used to go through the door yard of the camps. The route was abandoned as part of the major relocation efforts of the 70s and 80s. A thousand acre public lot lies just to the north, part of 400,000 acres of public land that the state had preserved in the early 1800s and then forgot that it owned until the 1970s.
The AMC development is a good thing in my opinion. AMC, over the Maine Chapter objections, had originally proposed the construction of a new facility on the pond.
These are beautiful century-old camps in a grove of giant white pines. Commercial use ended decades ago and the camps became private compounds. The late Jim Erwin, a former attorney general, and Republican candidate for governor, owned them for many years. The most recent leaseholder is a Maryland lawyer, who has maintained a section of the Gulf Hagas rim trail.
I understand that the agreement that cancels the lease allows the former leaseholder limited privileges to continue to use the camps periodically. AMC bought the land encompassed by the lease three years ago from International Paper.
Weary, chair of the AMC Maine Chapter committee that deals with AMC plans for its Maine Woods Initiative.