Camp Dodge Trails Center
Located just north of Pinkham Notch Visitor Center in the heart of New Hampshire’s White Mountains region, Camp Dodge has been a crucial part of trail stewardship activity since the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) days of the 1930s. At the start of World War II, Civilian Public Service hosted conscientious objectors, providing alternative work in exchange for military service. The U.S. Army used the property to test cold-weather gear for the Korean War around the 1950s, and the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) occupied the property from 1974 to 1982, renaming the facility Camp Dodge after former AMC huts manager Joe Dodge.
In 1982 AMC began leasing Camp Dodge from the U.S. Forest Service through a special-use permit to house its trail crews and volunteers. For nearly four decades, Camp Dodge has been the seasonal home of AMC’s White Mountain Volunteer Trail Crews, as well as an educational space for a variety of trail-focused programming, such as AMC’s trail adopter program. More recently Camp Dodge has led both teen and adult volunteer crews weekly through the summer months, primarily working in the White Mountains, but also offering work trips in a variety of spaces in Maine, such as the Maine Woods, Baxter State Park, and Acadia National Park.
In 2019 Camp Dodge received a much-needed renovation to the facility, transitioning from a volunteer center to the hub of the AMC’s North Country trails operations. It serves as basecamp for AMC’s professional trail crews, AmeriCorps crews, volunteer programs leaders, backcountry caretakers, research interns, camp facility staff, and some Forest Service employees.
Camp Dodge’s renovation not only expanded AMC’s capacity to build and maintain trails and backcountry campsites, but it has also created a regional trails center where all land managers, trail organizations, agencies, and volunteer stewards can come together to learn and share best practices and standards. As a designated trails center, Camp Dodge now offers a variety of trail skills training programs and events to trail enthusiasts throughout the northeast and beyond.