Parking at Mt Wash. State Park- Massachusetts

On one hand the web site for the park says that wilderness camping allowed. On the other hand, the web site says Mount Washington Forest is open from sunrise to sunset.

Is overnight parking allowed at the parking lot in the State Forest Headquarters?

I would think so. There's tent sites about a mile in and the cabin just below the summit of Alander that's open to the public , so I guess they'd expect you to park somewhere . For what it's worth , I've seen hunters complete with campers stay overnight in that lot before . Try calling ?

Dave

lattinhill said:

There's tent sites about a mile in and the cabin just below the summit of Alander that's open to the public

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A local environmental group is trying to get the historic 80-year-old cabin removed. If you feel this is a mistake and support efforts to save what may well be the oldest surviving cabin of a fire lookout in MA, then you need to do something. Call and send an email to the MA state historical offices http://www.sec.state.ma.us/MHC/ and try to convince them it's a piece of history worth saving.

Do you know why are they trying to get it removed? It's a great place for sunsets without having to hike back down in the dark.

Thanks lattinhill. I did call but got an answering machine and no return phone call. Come to think of it, I called the Salisbury Town Hall (CT) to see if they put the jersey barrier up yet on Mt. Washington Road. They didn't bother to return my call either.

We were up there this past Sunday and the Jersey Barrier was dragged down into the Northwest Cabin parking area , so they may be getting ready to block the road . We were in a hurry & I wasn't paying much attention to the road south of the parking lot , but it " appeared " to still be open.

Dave

Not to completely hi-jack the thread, but I'd also like to know why the cabin is being removed.

Here are some pics of the cabin from 2005:
http://www.firelookout.org/towers/ma/mtwashington2.htm

The roof has been repaired since 2005 HERE

The Mount Washington Forest MAP still shows the old location of the camp sites on the Alander trail. They are now located further up off the north side of the trail. Nobody bothered our car when we left it overnight.

Overnight parking is allowed at the forest HQ (unless they've changed it recently, which I doubt.)

Backcountry camping is allowed off of the Ashley Hill Trail, but isn't allowed on the South Taconic Trail (AFIAK.) There are plenty of shelters on that section of the AT as well.

As for the cabin...
I've never stayed there. It has always creeped me out.

Remix said:

Thanks lattinhill. I did call but got an answering machine and no return phone call. Come to think of it, I called the Salisbury Town Hall (CT) to see if they put the jersey barrier up yet on Mt. Washington Road. They didn't bother to return my call either.

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I can almost guarantee they have. I haven't been up there in a while, but I recall it always being there by early Dec.

I'd plan on it being there if you're headed that way.

*edit: Or maybe not after reading lattinhill's post.

roadtripper said:

Not to completely hi-jack the thread, but I'd also like to know why the cabin is being removed.

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The same local group that got the Mt Everett firetower removed wants the cabin gone, they also want to stop all logging in MA state forests.

You would have to ask someone who wanted the Pemi suspension bridge removed why some people think that way.

Go visit the area and the cabin and you will understand the request for removal. It is a garbage filled, urine and crap soaked building that is about as nasty a building as I have ever been inside. Kids use it to party in and they trash it regularly requiring others to carry out the garbage and to try and clean it as well as possible. This is a wonderful natural area with no need for a human structure. There is plenty of camping just a quarter mile below the cabin and from the ridge one can reach a road or someones backyard in 30 minutes of brisk hiking in case of emergency. I know it is hard for some folks to accept, but in this case there is really no good argument for not removing the structure. It serves no purpose, is routinely abused, it is not a historical structure (1930?) and it is an eyesore that is falling apart. Removing it will not damage anyone's enjoyment of the area, nor put anyone in danger by its absence.
This issue has nothing to do with logging in Massachusett State Forests. That is a seperate, much more complicated issue. I do not belong to the organization of which Roy speaks and do not want to defend their agenda. I do believe in reverting as much public forest land as possible to a more natural state so that generations to come will have a few parcels of land that are as natural as areas as well used as Massachusetts forests can be.
If you do go on line to push for keeping the cabin please be sure to get up to the cabin once a year to carry out garbage and to pinesol the place. It either needs a lot of TLC from those who advocate for such structures or it needs to go. The course of advocating without action one way or another is irresponsible to users today and tommorow.
Happy Trails to All

I stayed there once years ago and have been a visitor in the last few years.

I would not be sorry to see it go. I'm not crazy about man-made structures in such beautiful and heavily used areas.

Apparently the cabin removal is being driven by Forest officials who agree that it's an eyesore and lack the funds to fix it. Perhaps they should rent it like the cabins on the Mohawk Trail.

Anyway here's some stuff on the history of the area from fire tower historian Bill Starr:

The private landowner realized the benefit of having the fire tower on Alander Mtn and entered into a lease with New York's Taconic State Park that opened the way of creating the fire tower station on Alander Mtn in 1928. For some unknown reason the park did not have their man on duty in the fire tower when the forest fire broke out in 1930. This so infuriated the landowner that he tore up the lease and told them to get out. The fire tower was completely dismantled and removed by late December of 1930. The land was later sold to the state of Massachusetts creating the Mt Washington State Forest.

The famous watercolor artist David B. Milne used the forests around Alander Mtn to inspire much of his landscape work and he kept an extremely detailed account of his activities in a journal. Mr. Milne returned to Canada in 1929 and never returned to the United States.

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