Cohos Trail Outdoor Center / Hiker Hostel survey

The good folks at the Cohos Trail Association are conducting a marketing survey to see interest in a Outdoor Center / Hiker Hostel.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc50qq1cm__byh79caYTCOUfCzJyTE23LoMw1pmjEqn-wRKBw/viewform

It takes a few minutes.

Brian

No doubt the results will be used to apply to the Tilotson Foundation for funding

Thanks for posting Brian. The more survey responses TCTA receives the better. The information will be incorporated into an ongoing feasibility study that is focused on a future building, its location and who might want to use it.

I filled out the survey about a week or so ago.

I think the key is that the CTA really, really needs to listen to the outdoor community here, and not repeat some of the major mistakes made by the AMC and also Maine Huts & Trails. Specifically, I hope that they don't grow to focus too heavily on wealthy donors and that they are very selective about where they place any new structures, especially if people are going to pay for them. The Maine hut system put a few huts in only moderately desirable locations and they've had major issues filling those huts up. Their financial losses have been tremendous.

I filled out the survey but don't know how much help it will be, most of my answers in the last 12 months were zero. I would like to use CTA resources more but it hasn't been possible during the pandemic.

RMC went through a lot of discussion and soul searching prior to building Stearns Lodge, their trail crew headquarters. Some members were insistent that they needed a clone of Pinkham with bunkhouses and private rooms for visitors. No doubt if they did a fundraiser they would have had the bucks in short order. The realists, volunteers who actually kept the club running resisted that approach as the reality is its very hard to run an organization with physical assets as a strictly volunteer effort. If not for some very dedicated volunteers and support from the community RMC barely skirts having to hire full time year round employees. There is a lot of paperwork to support seasonal employees that does not go away, if it not done the effort will grind to a halt. Ultimately Stearns lodge has no public accommodations and most of the general publid do not even know where it is.

In the case of a hostel, there are very few if any built and operated to life safety codes that ever make money. Ultimately paid staff would need to run it and that is the doom of many small organizations. Sure CTA may get a big check from the foundation, but it is likely upfront capital and three years of funding with the expectation that the enterprise will be self sustaining after that. The North Country is littered with the remnants of programs that could not self sustain once the grant ran out. Ultimately volunteers burn out and there are no guarantees that new ones can be found to step into their places.

I thru-hiked the Cohos Trail in 2017, north to south. That was long before COVID made hiking the thing it is now. The trail was virtually non-existent in sections, and blazes were few and far between, and inadequate. It was really challenging, I have to admit. After the first night, my buddy lagged behind and I was alone, and I used the map, the guidebook, and my compass constantly. (Now, of course, people just whip out their phones).

To get to the point, the good people at the CTA have built a lean-to or two more since then, the trail, I am told, is now nicely blazed, and there are some much-needed bog bridges in place.

I was grateful for the B&B halfway through, operated by the woman (who, at least at the time), was the CTA treasurer. I left a box with food supplies there before we drove up. I did laundry, re-packed, she cooked a wonderful dinner. There was WIFI, and appreciated re-entering humanity for a night.

But with that, I never felt the need for more facilities than we had. I stayed at a motel just off Waumbek. Those two nights (out of my eight) were the only times I was camping in a tent or at a shelter.

It's remote out there! But that's part of the problem, I just don't think there is a demand for another facility. I think for most people, they go to the mountains to check off their 52 With a View lists or whatever, and then they head back down.

But it is good to ask!

B the Hiker said:

I thru-hiked the Cohos Trail in 2017, north to south.

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How did you work out logistics of getting there? Have you used two cars?

Not sure who B used but Trail Angels in Berlin NH https://www.trailangelshikerservices.com/ has been mentioned by a few folks as a resource. Not cheap but for someone flying into Boston, they can take Concord Trailways bus up to Gorham or Pinkham, stay the night and then get picked up in the AM and get a ride to the northern terminus, they would drive right by a resupply point. The southern terminus across from the Notchland Inn is a 15 minute ride north to Highland Center or 20 minutes south to Glen NH to catch the Boston bus, easy hitches or you may be able to arrange something with Notchland Inn to catch the bus in the AM in Glen.

Give it a few years and if Les Otten has his way and there will be the "hostel" facility to end all hostel facilities at the Balsams. My guess is various small business will pop up to move skiers around and one of the connections may be to the Berlin airport (no demand for commercial flights) but if the Balsams goes there will be private planes flying into Berlin that will need transport the passengers to the Balsams.

iAmKrzys said:

How did you work out logistics of getting there? Have you used two cars?

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I hopped on the Cohos Trail website, and by coincidence, there happened to be another guy starting the same time I wanted to, and he offered a ride. (His mother lived in Franconia, I believe).

If memory serves, I left my car at Subsig, and they met me there and drove us to the start. Leaving a car at the southern terminus is easy. The northern terminus is challenging in many ways. At least when I did the hike in 2017, it was a cellphone deadzone. So I would recommend north to south, leaving a car at the end and getting a lift to the start.

ATT is putting in a lot of First Net Cell towers, cell coverage is rapidly expanding in the north country. No guarantees but the ATV traffic is also driving cell coverage. My guess is it has expanded significantly in 5 years.

peakbagger said:

Not sure who B used but Trail Angels in Berlin NH https://www.trailangelshikerservices.com/ has been mentioned by a few folks as a resource.

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Thanks for the link. Perhaps I will use it some day. I have used a car service out of Berlin, NH before but I am not sure if they are still operating.

B the Hiker said:

I hopped on the Cohos Trail website, and by coincidence, there happened to be another guy starting the same time I wanted to, and he offered a ride. (His mother lived in Franconia, I believe).

If memory serves, I left my car at Subsig, and they met me there and drove us to the start. Leaving a car at the southern terminus is easy. The northern terminus is challenging in many ways. At least when I did the hike in 2017, it was a cellphone deadzone. So I would recommend north to south, leaving a car at the end and getting a lift to the start.

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I looked up some guy's trail journal from his Cohos hike in 2021 and he mentioned several times that he was calling home, so perhaps the phone service improved recently.

iAmKrzys said:

Thanks for the link. Perhaps I will use it some day. I have used a car service out of Berlin, NH before but I am not sure if they are still operating.

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I was just on their website and assuming it is up to date they had 4 shuttle services listed with contact info. I've been considering this trail for awhile now (I think B The Hiker's trip posts awhile back were what got my interest in the first place actually) but have found the website very basic. It seems geared toward buying their resources more than providing the kind of details you typically see on "through hike" websites (which is fine). I hadn't got too far in the planning phase because it sounded like the trail network was still pretty vague and there was a lot of road walks along it. Sounds like that has been changing a lot recently.

The Cohos Trail Founder, Kim Nilsen is not part of the VFTT community, but he wanted me to post this after I sent him a link to this thread. I hope it sheds a bit more light:

Very nice to see the thread about the Cohos Trail building survey and our effort to gain information from folks who are at the heart of the hiking community. As you may know, we are a small nonprofit without deep pockets, so receiving feedback via the survey from people who are out there – tramping the trails and staying in all sorts of facilities from tent platforms to full-service huts – is more than a little important to us. We do not have a crystal ball, of course, so we are looking to trekkers of all stripes to fill in our blind spots, to enlighten us. We really do want you to help us discover what path to go down in our effort to create a facility that everyone will want to and can afford to stay in overnight.