Simple Parking Pass Question - No debate please...

[iagreewithjamie]

Lincoln Woods, I just remembered. I think that was the only place I used the last pass I bought, which proved to be a waste of money.

It's never a waste of money. I think of it as contributing to the forest, even if I don't use it.
Besides, seeing an AMC sticker on someone's car is one thing... but seeing the WMNF pass let's me know they are kindred.

 

[Stash]

Mods - Please close. Drift has started. THanks.

 

[David Metsky]

I'm not going to close the thread but wanted to remind folks to keep discussion based on the facts of the program, not the whys and wherefores. OK everyone?

 

[JCarter]

I think you're right. Am quite sure the toilets there are locked in winter, and as Becca points out - the USFS isn't supposed to collect fees unless they provide toilets (and a few other amenities).

I've done several Feb/March hikes starting at the Crawford Connector lot, and I don't recall the toilets being locked in winter. Vaults work at any temperature.... Of course, we know my brain is a terrible place to store facts. My only problem at that lot was the one time I showed up too early in the morning after an overnight snowfall and beat the plows

 

[TJsName]

Note the original question. I've ben using the yearly pass for quite some time and seeing fee tubes covered as I park..

I'm not sure if you're looking for the 'do I really need one' (i.e., is it in enforced) or 'am I supposed to have one'. Regardless of tube coverage, I would use the the USFS site as a guide, which lists everything out here:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/whitemountain/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5187652

The places that have a fee in winter are:

Great Gulf Wilderness Trailhead
Beaver Brook Ski Trails
Crawford Path Trailhead
Beaver Brook Trailhead (in Kinsman Notch)
Hancock Overlook (Hancock Trailhead)
Lincoln Woods Trailhead
Livermore Road Trailhead
Rumney Rocks Day Use Area
Welch-Dickey Trailhead
4th Iron Dispersed Camping
Champney Falls
Covered Bridge Day Use Area
Diana’s Baths Day Use Area
Downes Brook/ UNH Trailhead
Oliverian Brook Trailhead
Rocky Gorge Day Use Area

 

[bikehikeskifish]

19 Mile Brook is most definitely maintained in winter. 19 Mile Brook Trail to the hut is very well traveled in winter.

And it lists "Crawford Path Trailhead" under both "maintained" and "not maintained"

Tim

 

[madmattd]

They definitely check/charge at the lots in winter. Some were covered up and removed from the fee system "permanently" last year (Spring perhaps?), such as the North Twin Trailhead (that one's tube was been pulled out of the ground this year in fact). But I've never seen one closed up for winter that is open during the summer. LinWood, 19MBT, Hancock, Beaver Brook, Greeley Ponds (Kanc), etc all still require payment through the winter, and the lots are maintained. I know of a few folks out there that have gotten fined for not paying during winter.

 

[David Metsky]

And it lists "Crawford Path Trailhead" under both "maintained" and "not maintained"

I wonder if that's for the trailhead on 302 versus the trailhead on the Mt Clinton Road.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Could be, Dave. The one on 302 is the state lot for Jackson? That one is not a fee parking lot, if we're thinking of the same one.

Matt - I have definitely seen the 19MBT tube plastic-wrapped in the past, but the lot is surely always plowed.

Tim

 

[TJsName]

19 Mile Brook is most definitely maintained in winter. 19 Mile Brook Trail to the hut is very well traveled in winter.

And it lists "Crawford Path Trailhead" under both "maintained" and "not maintained"

Tim

Ha, I missed that first time. I suspect they are failing to make the difference between the Crawford Connector lot (not maintained) and the Crawford Depot lot (maintained, although it might be state land on 302?). Perhaps the definition of 'maintained' means more than just plowed. Either way, I think this site is a helpful guide for this type of question. I had never been to it until I tried answering this question. I never paid attention to the tubes because I've always had a sticker.

Note: It also lists the sites where the tubes were removed (here: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/whitemountain/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5281515), which confirms a bunch of other posts on this thread.

 

[JCarter]

Ha, I missed that first time. I suspect they are failing to make the difference between the Crawford Connector lot (not maintained) and the Crawford Depot lot (maintained, although it might be state land on 302?). Perhaps the definition of 'maintained' means more than just plowed. Either way, I think this site is a helpful guide for this type of question. I had never been to it until I tried answering this question. I never paid attention to the tubes because I've always had a sticker.

Note: It also lists the sites where the tubes were removed (here: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/whitemountain/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5281515), which confirms a bunch of other posts on this thread.

I dearly wish the usfs would put dates on web pages labelled "proposal". Many of the locations proposed for removal haven't had fees in several (many?) years. Cherry mtn rd, haystack rd camping, gale river rd camping, but the increases don't seem to have taken effect. So I doubt this list has any real relation to fee changes in the last year or so.

 

[RoySwkr]

I cannot remember *EVER* seeing a fee tube *NOT* taped/covered in winter at any of the lots that usually charge... I might be forgetting something, tho. Since they generally don't have the rest rooms open in winter (except for Lincoln Woods), I think they cannot charge.

Do you have a pass hence don't check? They charge at groomed ski touring lots (Beaver Brook, Depot Camp, Lincoln Woods, etc), Kanc lots where you can drive to LW for restrooms (East Pond, Greeley Ponds, Hancock, etc) and other places that get a lot of hikers such as 19Mile Brk.

NH state parks can be worse - sometimes you have to park on the highway because the park is unplowed and gated, but when you walk in the fee tube is waiting