Banana Trail????

I just got done reading an article in this months Back Packer Magazine called the "Trail Bandit". Its about this guy Bob Garrison originally from NH that has been cutting and maintaining trails illegally in the Virgin Islands since 1978.

At the end of the interview the last question is What's Next?

Answer= New Hampshire's Ossipee Mountains. " I was in my plane this past spring and and saw a beautiful, open granite ridge begging to be hiked. A little research with old maps told me there was an old, lost trail there called the Banana Trail. I plan on clearing it"

I tried to google Banana Trail using Ossipee range, just NH and just Banana trail and came up with zilch.

Anyone know where in the ossipee's he's talking about or have any more info on this.

Just curious.

Never heard of it. Considering the extensive conservation work being done to preserve the Ossipees, I hope this guy stays the heck away, or that if he does try this, they catch him and toss him in the poke.

MichaelJ said:

Never heard of it. Considering the extensive conservation work being done to preserve the Ossipees, I hope this guy stays the heck away, or that if he does try this, they catch him and toss him in the poke.

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I guess that in the virgin islands he is now working with instead of against the park rangers.

Maybe he will lobby to re-open this trail, and work with the state and rangers. From what i have read on other boards about cleaning up owl's head sign's ect, it does sound like the rangers are pretty serious about keeping the Ossippe's strictly a wilderness area.

I was just curious because i didn't find anything on google.

Mike

montvm said:

Maybe he will lobby to re-open this trail, and work with the state and rangers. From what i have read on other boards about cleaning up owl's head sign's ect, it does sound like the rangers are pretty serious about keeping the Ossippe's strictly a wilderness area.

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As far as I know, most of the Ossipees are conservation trust property - I don't think anything in there is WMNF - or for that matter WMNF wilderness.

The trust has opened a large amount of trails around Castle in the Clouds in recent years...my guess is that if he works with them and is willing to adopt the trail, they may be okay with it. There are a bunch of old carriage roads and bridle pathes in there.

Not sure where this Banana Trail is, but my guess is it's between Mt. Shaw and the old Whittier ski area.

I'd love to see an official trail to Black Snout (the real one, not the one on their map). I think I know where the trailhead is, but I don't feel adventurous enough to hike it yet.

Ah, working WITH ... that's another story entirely and one I could stand behind. To be honest, all I had to go on was the statement that he'd been cutting and maintaining illegally.

MichaelJ said:

Ah, working WITH ... that's another story entirely and one I could stand behind. To be honest, all I had to go on was the statement that he'd been cutting and maintaining illegally.

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Hey Mike,

I didn't mean to mislead you. The "Trail Bandit" was maintaining historic paths illegally for years and was threatened incarceration. According to the article he had been doing this for years in the Virgin Islands National parks, when there was a changing of guards, and he basically said that he would do the trail maintenance for free and under the parks guidelines.

As i said before, when i read the article i tried searching for the lost trail "The Banana Trail " and came up with nothing. He never says specifically where in the Ossipee Mountains this trail was.

Here is a link to this guys website http://www.trailbandit.org/news.htm
Here is a scan of the article sorry if its hard to read.



Mike

Sounds like he'll do the right thing if authorities work with him, but do his own thing if they don't see his point of view ... oy vey.