The Future of the Northern Maine Woods... (Gorham, Millinocket: purchase, construction)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The last low slung vehicle I owned was an Austin Healy 100-6 nearly 50 years ago. It was a convertible and I rarely rode alone. I doubt that any Austin Healy ever went up the Golden Road.

We were camped on Lobster Lake years ago when a float plane came in and dropped off a father and two sons with a lot of camping gear still in cardboard boxes. The float plane flew back to Greenville leaving the family. Those folks were way, way out of their element. My young sons helped them put up their tent, inflate their air mattresses and assemble their Coleman stove. We left in the morning. I hope they enjoyed their week.

I was the training director of the Maine Professional Guides association back in 85 and 86. I used to teach parts of the guide course. Guiding is mentoring and reassuring; some of which I try to do here on these pages. It is telling people they are going the right way, doing the right ting and sometimes that they are having a good time. I had a lady in a party one time on the Allagash. She was quiet and after supper one night she was sitting on a rock on the riverbank. I walked down and there were tears running down her cheeks. I was afraid she was miserable.

"What's the matter?" I asked. She turned to me and said, "It's so beautiful" and started to cry. She was overwhelmed by it all. We take what we have for granted. Some people have no idea that a place like Maine really exists. We belong here and we will not be driven away.

[cebdark]

Youtube amazes me. See if you can watch this video without throwing up because the camera is bouncing so much, and then you'll see what it's like to ride the tote roads.


Remember, this is in the winter when the road is frozen and hard. In the spring, there are places that defy adequate description.

Another consideration is the amount of work (not to mention money) it would take to put in decent "National Park" quality roads up there.


YouTube - Golden Road - Useless Road

[msina]

The first 20 seconds or so of that look very similar to the roads by my home. Give or take a crater or two.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by msina

The first 20 seconds or so of that look very similar to the roads by my home. Give or take a crater or two.

I actually thought it looked pretty tame compared to some of the woods roads my DH has tortured me with...er, ah...taken me over throughout the years.

[msina]

Originally Posted by reloop

I actually thought it looked pretty tame compared to some of the woods roads my DH has tortured me with...er, ah...taken me over throughout the years.

LMAO!!!! Yep, I imagine that's so. I live on one of these roads and I'm very happy but, we don't have to travel them daily, we go "to town" every couple of weeks or so. It also keeps the "traffic" slow.

[beltrams]

Originally Posted by kellysmith

If a ford Focus was a good way to get around in that country, why do most woodsmen who travel those roads put 10-ply tires of their four wheel drive pickups to travel those roads? I guarantee that area is not one to try to access with a ford Focus. Regular tires won't stand up for any length of time. Definitely no place for your economy car...but try it you might like it!

Folks, for those that doubt Kellysmith's words, just know that the Maine Forest Service trucks often carry not one, but two and sometimes three spare tires, even *though* they use some pretty tough tires. (Whether they're 10 ply exactly or not, I don't know, however.)

A Ford Focus' low ground clearance, and ordinary tires especially, won't cut it. You're headed to places *hours* off of the pavement and well out of cell phone range.

(I know I'm mainly preaching to the choir on this, but just *in case* anybody was going for that Ford Focus.....)

[Zarathu]

You're missing my point.

It wasn't about driving through the deep rutted back roads in a ford focus wagon with two kids to camp in some place deep in the woods. It was about the idea that most people who will be traveling as the gas prices rise will be people who drive cars that get good milage. Camping with a couple of kids in a place like the deep north woods without weapons in a ford focus is a recipe for disaster, from both large animals and from crazy two legged animals, let alone the transportation equipment which is likely to malfunction. Heck, I wouldn't even hike the appalachian trail without a concealed handgun, regardless of whether my permit was good in the state or not.

The second point I was making is that it takes awhile to built up the required campgrounds with amenities or other stuff that tourists need and that the North Woods is unlikely to provide those things very quickly except maybe at the outskirts.

And the third point I was making is that the north woods has to compete with tourist places which combine special scenery like Yosemite or such things as beaches and mountains together along with standard tourist attractions like Acadia.

As far as I'm concerned, the North Woods is a poor choice for a national park. What's her face Quimby has some other devious purpose that nobody really knows.

But If I did go in there, I'd drive my Jeep Wrangler, certainly not a ford focus, along with my S&W 357 mag. heck, in my paranoid period I used to carry a giant Crocadile Dundee knife in Acadia!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"What's her face Quimby has some other devious purpose that nobody really knows."

Two words: Rural cleansing.

[arctichomesteader]

Someone said earlier in this thread something to the effect of "what's wrong with just Quimby's 70,000 acres being a park?"

Well the answer to that, is with any park, the NPS will be given authority to expand the park, in many park areas they've wedged themselves into regulating areas not even near the park on the off chance it might effect the park, and then there's the law enforcement ranger types like with this incident in Alaska (I suppose at least now they're not burning people's homes down like they did in the 80's): Feds defend aiming shotgun at elderly Alaskans on Yukon River | Alaska Dispatch

Why would anyone want that?

[phitethepwr]

It's interesting and educational to get all these viewpoints.

Mainebrokerman, Thanks for the link to the coalition- that seems like a pretty decent outfit.