Herb Helms is in the middle of telling me about B-17 bomber missions out of England during World War II when he cocks his head at a sound I haven't heard. I follow him out the door and down to a wooden dock floating on Long Lake. Herb's son, Tom, is a novice with a mere 23 years' experience in these skies. He cuts the engine on a six-seater Cessna and coasts in.
Herb grabs a strut, secures the plane, and hustles off for the gas hose.
From a few thousand feet up, all you see is green expanse. The persistence of the trees really grabs you, a verdant onslaught that overruns every slope and mountain. This is wilderness on a scale you wouldn't believe still exists in the northeastern United States. Below us lies the largest park in the lower 48, almost three times the size of Yellowstone. Threaded by thousands of streams, rivers, and lakes, it holds more than 40 mountains over 4,000 feet.