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Guidebook Helps to Access Remote Places in Maine

December 03, 2008 - WHITEFIELD — Take Deboullie – if you're prepared. Or Scraggly Lake, or the Unknowns.

Wheeling and tromping across thousands of miles of Maine's remotest points, Tom Hanrahan has been to those pristine patches and plenty more. While he doesn't mind being alone, he doesn't want the million-plus acres of Maine public lands to himself.

At the request of the state Conservation Department, Hanrahan has written a book, "Your Maine Lands – Reflections of a Maine Guide," to introduce Mainers and visitors to the wild and breathtakingly scenic preserves with which few people – Mainers included – have more than a vague familiarity.

"We want people to know about these places and to go and enjoy them," said Hanrahan, 53, a Princeton graduate whose resume includes working as a boxing writer in New York City and an inmate advocate at Maine State Prison. "They're public, forever. Forever is a very strong word, but these are locked up forever."

The master Maine guide's book is a series of first-person reflections on chunks of the state he regards as heaven on Earth that should be enjoyed by all who appreciate the outdoors. But he's also careful to point out they're not places for casual day-hikers, and are full of potentially mortal hazards that can turn an unprepared sojourner's foray into sheer hell.

The state has outright ownership of some 500,000 acres of public reserved land, plus conservation easements of nearly 1 million more acres that are protected permanently. These public lands are open to anyone to hunt, fish, hike, trap, cross-country ski, snowshoe, snowmobile or enjoy any other of a myriad of back-country activities.

And, as the burly, bearded author says in his book, it costs "not a dime" to enter and stay as long as you like.

Promoting these open spaces also plays into Gov. John Baldacci's "Take It Outside!" public-health campaign, said state Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan.

Take Deboullie, 22,000 acres of low rugged mountains and remote trout ponds in far northern Maine that are accessible from Portage or St. Francis. The Web site of the Conservation Department (www.state.me.us/doc/) includes a description of Deboullie and others, and maps that can be downloaded.

A few public reserved lands are almost urban in setting, such as Mackworth Island at the mouth of the Presumpscot River in southern Maine.

McGowan said maps on the department's Web site are being improved. But for now, Hanrahan said, don't think of heading off to one of the remote regions without an ample supply of topographical maps, not to mention other survival items he itemizes in his book.

By GLENN ADAMS, The Associated Press December 2, 2008


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