Appalachian Mountain Club
Encyclopedia
White Mountains (New Hampshire)
The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...
in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
to Washington, D.C. The AMC's 90,000 (as of 2005) members mix outdoor recreation
Outdoor recreation
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity is leisure pursuits engaged in outside, especially in natural or semi-natural settings out of town...
, particularly hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
and backpack
Backpack
A backpack is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders, but there can be exceptions...
ing, with environmental activism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
. Additional activities include cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
, whitewater and flatwater canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
and kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...
, sea kayak
Sea kayak
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spraydeck...
ing, sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
and bicycle riding. The Club has about 2,700 volunteers, who lead roughly 7,000 trips and activities per year. The organization publishes a number of books, guides, and trail maps
Trail maps
A trail map is a map used to aid in navigation and can symbolize an assorted amount of information of a particular area or contain only a single representation of the data it represents.- Overview :...
.
History
The AMC was founded by Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Professor Edward Charles Pickering
Edward Charles Pickering
Edward Charles Pickering was an American astronomer and physicist, brother of William Henry Pickering.Along with Carl Vogel, Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. He wrote Elements of Physical Manipulations .Pickering attended Boston Latin School, and received his B.S. from...
, who invited fellow Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
academics and vacationers to form a group interested in mountain exploration. The group helped map the White Mountains and in 1888 built the first of eight High Huts in the range, modeled on Alpine
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
shelters.
In 2003, the AMC purchased 37,000 acres (150 km²) of land east of Moosehead Lake
Moosehead Lake
Moosehead Lake is the largest lake in the U.S. state of Maine and the largest mountain lake in the eastern United States. Situated in the Longfellow Mountains in the Maine Highlands Region, the lake is the source of the Kennebec River. Towns that border the lake include Greenville to the south and...
and southwest of Baxter State Park
Baxter State Park
Baxter State Park is a large wilderness area permanently preserved as a state park, located in Piscataquis County in north-central Maine. The Park was established by 28 donations of land, in Trust, from Park donor Percival P. Baxter between the years of 1931 and 1962, eventually creating a Park of...
, along the 100-Mile Wilderness
100-Mile Wilderness
The Hundred-Mile Wilderness is the section of the Appalachian Trail running between Abol Bridge just south of Baxter State Park and Monson, Maine, USA. It is generally considered the wildest section of the Appalachian Trail. This section of the A.T. is crossed by several logging roads and is...
portion of the Appalachian Trail, as part of their Maine Woods Initiative. It has converted a portion of the purchase to a nature preserve, logged a portion, and runs a sporting camp called Little Lyford Pond camps
Little Lyford Pond camps
-Early history:The camps were opened in 1874, bordering the West Branch of the Pleasant River in northern Maine in the United States. They included a maine lodge and 13 cabins as well as satellite camps for housing loggers. The camps are a 2.2 mile hike from Gulf Hagas and a 5.2 mile hike from the...
about two miles (3 km) off the trail. The Club is considering purchasing more sporting camps in the vicinity.
Organization
The AMC headquarters is located at 5 Joy St. in Boston. The club has a small paid staff; however, most activities are run by volunteer members of geographic twelve chapters. The most prominent is the Boston chapter, with others in New Hampshire, Connecticut, NY-NJ, Washington, D. C. and elsewhere.The High huts
- Main article: High Huts of the White MountainsHigh Huts of the White MountainsThe High Huts of the White Mountains are a series of eight mountain huts in the White Mountains, in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, owned and maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club. Modeled after similar huts in the Alps, they are positioned at intervals along the Appalachian Trail, allowing...
The AMC owns and maintains a series of eight mountain huts in the White Mountains. Modeled after similar shelters in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
, the various huts hold from 36 people to 90 people. Hikers may reserve bunks; at most huts dinner and breakfast are included with an overnight fee.
Although extremely popular, the huts are also controversial, facilitating thousands of hikers entering the back woods and environmentally sensitive areas above tree line. Four years and an environmental impact statement were required to get the huts' permits renewed by the U.S. Forest Service in 1999.
The Four Thousand Footer Club
A committee of the AMC administers the Four Thousand Footer Club (FTFC). Anyone who has climbed to and from each of the 48 New Hampshire Four-thousand footersFour-thousand footers
The term Four-Thousand Footers refers to a group of forty-eight mountains in New Hampshire at least 4,000 feet above sea level...
is eligible to apply for membership to the club. Members are given a patch and new inductees are invited to attend a yearly celebration dinner. The FTFC also recognizes individuals who complete the New England Four Thousand Footers (of which there are 67) and the New England Hundred Highest
New England Hundred Highest
The New England Hundred Highest is a list of the hundred highest summits in New England, used in the mountaineering sport of peak bagging. The list is a superset of the New England Four-thousand footers, with the same requirement that each included peak must have of topographic prominence .The...
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National Register of Historic Places
The Club's Ponkapoag CampPonkapoag Camp of Appalachian Mountain Club
Ponkapoag Camp of Appalachian Mountain Club is a historic camp of the Appalachian Mountain Club in Randolph, Massachusetts.The camp was built in 1920 and added to the National Historic Register in 1980.-References:...
is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
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