By Marty Basch

Lean-tos are backcountry nation's roadside motels. Though they can serve as a destination, and even have desirable amenities like a rushing brook, fire pit with grate or a secluded ravine location, they are more appreciated as places of convenience found after a good day of travel.

Don't want to carry a tent? Head to a lean-to.

Three-sided shelters are also picnic spots for day hikers and shaded respites from the hot sun.

Like a motel, there are possible nocturnal nuisances. Hikers snore. Scurrying rodents play when the lights go out.

There are obnoxious neighbors who want to carry on all night long and infantile dunderheads who have trouble sharing.

In the end they are welcomed by those who use them and are also forested platforms for many relationships, stories and natural splendors under the stars.

Who’s in charge?

In New Hampshire, several organizations are lean-to stewards. The White Mountain National Forest, Dartmouth Outing Club, Randolph Mountain Club and Appalachian Mountain Club all manage White Mountain shelters. Many are free while others have small fees under $10 per person. A White Mountain National Forest recreation pass is needed to park at many of the trailheads, or there could be opportunities at trailheads to purchase a day or week pass.

Select state parks in New Hampshire and Vermont also have shelters that cost a bit more but depending on the size of the party can be quite economical. Those shelters are a lot closer to parking than their backcountry brethren and have use of the park's amenities.

Bush land lean-tos tend to have near-by water sources but hikers must be prepared to bring their own water. Often water is found after a short walk from the shelter and must be treated.

Typically the wooden shelters sleep between six and eight people.

Toilet facilities can range from pit toilets to doing it "over there". Hikers must carry out what they carry in.

Given the recession and the popularity of backyard vacations this summer, hike-to lean-tos are a low-cost option for the hardy set. They are also first-come first-serve. Many Presidential Range, Appalachian Trail  and 4,000 footer affiliated shelters can fill up quickly this time of year, particularly on the weekends. Yet there are some out of the way White Mountain National Forest lean-tos that may have a lower occupancy rate than others.

Choice spots

1. The Coppermine Shelter, which sleeps about seven, is located alongside rushing Coppermine Brook and is on the Coppermine Trail in Franconia. In a ravine on the side of Cannon Mountain, the shelter is also very close to Bridal Veil Falls, an 80-foot cascade. The benign trek in is about 2.5 miles.

2. Mountain Pond is situated in a quiet basin with the cone of South Baldface seen in the north and Jackson's Doubleheads set in the west. The shoreside lean-to sleeps six and is located about one-mile in on the Mountain Pond Loop Trail. The shelter is in an off-the-beaten path section of the national forest and reachable from Bartlett's Town Hall Road which leads to dirt Slippery Brook Road (also called Forest Road 17).

3. Another under-the-radar shelter is the Province Pond Shelter in Chatham near the Maine border. The trail, used by snowmobiles in winter, is often muddied and was an early mountain bike pathway. The shelter is on the edge of a pretty 12-acre pond about 1.6 miles in on the Province Brook Trail. The trailhead is off dirt Peaked Hill Road.

3. The lean-to at Sawyer Pond is a backcountry jewel. The shelters sits near water's edge on the western shore  in what looks like an amphitheater with landmarks like Owl's Cliff and Mount Tremont. At an elevation of some 1,937 feet, the pond is a destination for both hikers and fishermen looking for brook trout. Off Route 302 near Hart's Location on dirt Sawyer River Road (Forest Road 34), it's about a 1.5 mile jaunt in along the Sawyer Pond Trail.

4. The Three Ponds Shelter is located mid-way through a 5-mile relatively easy ramble using the Three Ponds Trail, Donkey Hill Cut-off and Mount Kineo Trail. The lean-to, which sleeps eight, is on the Three Ponds Trail. The shelter is on a small rise near one of the three ponds found along the hike near Rumney.

So fill up the backpack, bring food and water and get in a social state of mind for an overnight trip to a White Mountain shelter.