cabot cabin

[pedxing]

It looks like the public comment period has just closed - but while at Cabot Cabin during my SOBO hike, I saw notice of a plan to put Cabot Cabin on a reservation system. I think this would be a loss to the Cohos trail as the availability of a shelter on an as needed basis is a real asset to anyone covering a distance. I had not planned on stopping at Cabot cabin for the night, but I reached the cabin a little later than planned and while stopping there for a break saw storm clouds moving.

I'm also worried about conflict between those who arrive at the cabin unaware of the reservation policy and in need of shelter and those who have paid to reserve the whole cabin.

www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/passes/proposed_fee_changes.php

[MtnMagic]

Thank you & glad you posted this important proposal. I believe we discussed this most important change last week on the trail. I did mean to write to the USFS and express my dissatisfaction on charging a honking $30 per night for this tiny cabin. Life got in the way.

It used to have a wood stove and a propane cooking stove. On the AMC bb around 2003, an idiot (imo) posted & bragged it was -20 degrees outside and he and his friend had the place up to 60. He used a whole winter's worth of stored wood AND didn't allow the cold stove to gently expand. They cracked the cast iron so badly the wood stove & metal chimney had to be removed, and the pipe-hole in the roof sealed.

When I visited the cabin several days before the beginning of your journey, I saw the old photo's, the propane cooking stove and tank were removed, & the USFS had stapled their rules, regulations, and the new fee proposal starting 1/1/10. Perhaps many others, as I wanted to, wrote to the USFS and expressed their concern, outrage, and a hearing on this matter.

In 38 years of hiking the Whites, I have seen countless times hikers in all seasons, arriving at the Cabot cabin with the expectation of staying the night for free. Temperatures +20 or -40 degrees, say on a weary winter in January seeking shelter, expecting shelter, needing shelter, only if you pay, is a far cry from the free use of the cabin that has existed for seventy+ years.

Input from everyone of us was needed and yes, public comment closed 8/1/09. Pray it doesn't happen. It just can't happen!