[at-l] article on new hut system in Western Maine

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob C.)]

"...Normally I might agree, (with opponents of a new hut system proposed to be
built on each end of the Bigelow Preserve) but I’ve stood on Avery Peak of the
Bigelows just off the Appalachian Trail, not far from a couple of over-used
outhouses and a cabin..." says a supporter of the system.

 The "overused outhouses and cabin" are the Avery Col campsite. If the hut
 system is successful, the "huts" would at least triple the use of the already
 overused campsite and trail system on the mountain. The hut to hut system
 stretching to Moosehead Lake is purely a dream, designed to catch the
 imagination of supporters. In fact, only two huts are proposed one on the
 southern border of the preserve and one on the north, connected by a series of
 trails bordering the Bigelow preserve and running through the preserve, serving
 what essentially is a commercial enterprise.

  MATC directors voted unanimously -- or almost unanimously (I don't have my
  notes of a long meeting handy) -- to oppose the plan last Friday, for these
  and other reasons.

  Weary