Mead Wilderness Base in the White Mountain National Forest: summers of 1964 through 1968

Seven of a group of 53 cleaning up in the Ellis River at Pinkham Notch at the end of a weeklong trek to Mt. Washington in 1967.

The White Mountain National Forest and Mead Wilderness Base, a New Hampshire Daniel Webster Boy Scout Council camp, was my home for the summers of 1964 through 1968. The camp was at the east end of Sandwich Natch at the foot of Mt. Israel and within the National Forest. Those are five summers, which are still with me, provided a foundation that I have continued to rely upon in my outdoor adventures 55 years later. The council paid me for what I loved most, backpacking and helping others learn how to have fun in that setting.

The burro trip became so popular a second week was added in 1966. For this week I became a pack animal, as one failed to leave Mead Base.

The camp program in 1964 formed around six one week periods. Scouts arrived on Sunday and left on a Saturday. Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before church were our preparation times for the following week. Each week had a particular focus. Three of the weeks were each devoted to basic camping skills, requirements of the different scout ranks, and included a backpacking overnight at places like Black Mountain Pond with the return via Mt. Israel. Survival skills were the focus of another week; highlighted with a day of living off the land at the end of the week. The other two weeks were weeklong excursions; one hiking with burros in the Beebe River drainage and on to Flat Mountain Ponds, and the other, a trek across the Sandwich Range to Mount Chocorua, which in 1966 became a trek to Mt. Washington.

Photo Credits: Thank you to the scouts who gave me these pictures back in the 1960s.

Both the link and the attached file below connect you to a history of the camp and some of our experiences during those years.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hIiLbxPySI7FOUlrr5DKbIBk2np2OErV/view?usp=sharing

The following is an updated version of the above. The changes are: Dave Hammond is the full name of the warden; Barbara Alosi was Brian's wife; Glenn Levesque joined the ranger staff in 1967. Spacing matters are improved.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2ejVbswYnhnYaKN6Bj8pj256nOguEvL/view?usp=sharing

The second attached document is the same as the link.