By Marty Basch

The GPS unit led to massive pileated woodpecker holes high up in a tree, barbed wire used as a property marker and a swooping apple tree by a warming hut.

The hand held navigational aid could have been used to find the extraordinary clearing but anyone staying in the yurt would have found it.

Nice view too

It is perhaps the crown jewel of views in New Hampshire State Parks, and until this year it had been cloaked.

From yurt Y-4 in northern New Hampshire's Milan Hill State Park an astounding panorama holds court on the horizon. For 180 degrees, the Mahoosucs with its notch, towering Mount Jefferson, Kilkenny Ridge and partially hidden Percy Peaks extend across the sky.

About 10 miles north of Berlin, the 102-acre park off Route 110B has been re-born and contains a fire tower with views across northern New England and into Canada, a campground with six new sites and four new yurts, cross-country ski trails maintained by the oldest existing ski club in the country and a new nature cache hunt designed by  children in the nearby 115-student Milan Village School.

The park, obtained by the state in 1934 from the Brown Paper Company, was closed to the public in 2008 for both construction and a timber operation. The yurts were installed, three pit toilets renovated and the well pump repaired.

Gotta go

"There is a demand and niche for the yurts," said Andrew Zboray, a NH State Park assistant to the regional supervisor. "They are a new innovative camping experience in the park."

The unheated yurts, roomy circular tents with wooden platforms and a domed skylight, come with a bunk bed, small table, futon couch and futon chair. The futons can be made into beds. Each yurt also comes with a picnic table and fire pit. Campers must bring their own light sources, cooking gear, portable stove and bedding. Toilets and running water are nearby. Three of the yurts are reached by short walks, while one is right by the road.

There was cell phone coverage.

These are the first within the state park system and the possibility exists for them to extend into other parks. Additional yurts maybe be placed in Milan Hill in the future.

The park is open from mid-May through mid-November, weather permitting. The yurts range in price per night between $43 and $50 depending on the season.

The park is close to paddling and fishing opportunities on the Androscoggin River and for hiking in the northern White Mountain National Forest.

Come winter, skiers and snowshoers can try the four miles of trails maintained by Berlin's Nansen Ski Club. In a partnership with the state, the club developed the Milan Hill trail network after its former location was designated for a federal prison.

Fire tower power

For now, visitors can scale the hilltop fire tower built in 1932 and used as a World War II air raid station.

They also can try a modern treasure hunt throughout the park developed by elementary school students down the road in Milan. The students, with help from NH Fish and Game, the Appalachian Mountain Club and parents, designed a nature cache odyssey, mapped it and printed a brochure available on the school’s web site.

Kids rock with GPS

Whereas a geo cache involves finding hidden objects, the nature cache is about finding natural and manmade objects from the fire tower to red and white pines. The field guide involves using coordinates to find 10 stations throughout the park. There are stone walls, an old cottage used by tower watchmen, signs of wildlife and clear-cuts to find. Each of the stations are numbered and located within the parameters of the park. The students also created a map for the ski trails.

"This was a perfect program to combine technology, science and writing," said principal Dave Backler. "This was a true hands-on project."

The students from Milan, West Milan and Dummer used GPS to map the coordinates, and wrote the brochure. The program also taught them woods skills, and discovery as they found old cellar holes and foundations from farmhouses once on the hill.

One student's great grandfather was born in a farmhouse on the hill. He was 100, and granted an interview before dying about one month later.

"The park is our little town's place," says Backler.

A little place that is growing.

One Tank Away

Milan is

*101 miles from Gaza, N.H.

*142 miles from South China, Maine

*181 miles from Peru, Vt.