Column: AMC adds the Whitecap Highlands to Maine Woods Initiative

CENTRAL MAINE • October 3, 2026

The Alpine-like summit of 3,650-foot White Cap in the heart of the 100-Mile Wilderness affords one of the finest mountaintop vistas in all of Maine. To the north stands mile-high Katahdin and its neighbors in Baxter State Park. Looking south, the grand view includes the rest of the White Cap Range, the Barren-Chairback Range, Big Moose Mountain and so much more. Much of the land around the White Cap Range has been preserved by the Appalachian Mountain Club over the last two decades or so, to the tune of 130,000 acres. AMC now has its sights set on the Whitecap Highlands Forest. This 29,500-acre tract is a mix of fragile high-elevation terrain and cold-water stream habitat for Atlantic salmon and native brook trout. ~ Carey Kish