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Reports from Committees .... Camps Report This past winter was a fine one for our camps, thanks in no small part to our excellent winter caretaker, Will Kemeza. Will worked diligently throughout an exceptionally cold winter and could reliably be counted upon for solid advice, outgoing friendliness and a general great demeanor this past season—even when temperatures sunk to –25… for the third day in a row! Joining Will for a number of days was John Pereira, a graduate student from Antioch. John undertook a winter-long Field Practicum, studying the impacts of winter visitors to the Northern Presidentials. As part of the study, John also conducted a thorough survey of RMC guests. His collected data is currently being analyzed to determine the extent of the impact of winter hiking above treeline, and to get a better understanding of the skill and knowledge of the winter visitors. John already has two interesting findings: the majority of winters hikers (~70%) actually have less experience in the alpine zone than anticipated, and the area of greatest winter impact was around the shuttered Madison Hut, where broken krummholz and human solid waste were regularly found. A full report of John's study will appear in the winter newsletter. At long last, the snow in the mountains has melted away and the RMC camps are into another summer season. This spring, former RMC Trail Crew members Jenny Cleary and Anders Kraus caretook from April through May, with Field Supervisor Zach Gayne filling in during most of May. This summer, Jenny Cleary will be joined by first time caretaker Nathan Robinson. Both are sure to do a great job this summer. A fantastic new display is heading for the walls of Crag Camp. The bilingual, French-English display will feature an educational view of the alpine zone, and will provide helpful suggestions while hiking in the fragile environment. Special thanks to Steve Bailey, Doug Mayer, Brian Post and Eric Scharnberg for their help with this project, along with Kai Allen and Rebecca Oreskes of the US Forest Service. Funding for the project came from the newly established Guy Waterman Alpine Stewardship Fund. No major projects are scheduled for the 2003 summer season. The Log Cabin pit toilet will be converted into a composting toilet in 2004. Our cabin libraries received a much needed upgrade, as 30 new books were hiked up last month. Web Site This summer we will be continuing the online Trail Sign Auctions, but this time they will be silent auctions. Our eBay experimental auction this past March raised $570 in 7 days – not bad! If you're interested in acquiring a retired RMC trail sign, check the web site regularly during the upcoming months for our popular sign auction. As always, the RMC web site contains almost every possible bit of information you could want, whether you are planning a trip on RMC's paths, or to the camps. Please check there first for guidelines for using RMC facilities. If you have questions, many RMC members also check the online bulletin board and will respond with answers about everything from trail conditions to mosquito and blackfly updates! The RMC web site has been online for more than 4 years now and we’re always looking for ways to keep the site fresh and current. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to e-mail me at info@randolphmountainclub.org. Other board members can be reached via the "contact us" link on the site homepage. Trails Report Is it time for another trails season, already? Perhaps the trail work season seems to be upon us so quickly because last year’s trail crew worked all the way into November, building the new Pond of Safety paths. Both the newly-constructed Four Soldiers Path and Underhill Path will be open for business on July 1. We’re privileged this summer to have a Senior Trail Crew comprised entirely of members from last year’s Senior and SCA Crews. In fact, even our Student Conservation Association Trail Crew, which normally is comprised of new comers, boasts two returning members of the RMC community-- last year’s SCA crew member Rachel Hestrin will act as mentor, and Randolph’s own Roz Stever, Crag Camp caretaker for the last two summers, will be on the crew. The RMC’s Field Supervisor for this summer is Zach Gayne who comes to us after many seasons leading trail crews for the Adirondack Mountain Club. The major projects we’ll be tackling this year include the wrap up of a two-year, joint project with the US Forest Service on RMC’s Kelton Trail up to the Inlook Trail junction. If you haven’t been on the Kelton Trail in years, be sure to check it out this summer. Among other erosion control additions, you’ll find a beautiful, long staircase set naturally into a formerly eroded section of the path. The SCA crew, meanwhile, will be wrapping up the second of a two year state-funded grant on the Ice Gulch Path, the Peboamauk Fall Loop and the Cook Path.
Last year, we tried a “Meet the Trail Crew” potluck at the Jones Cottage and it was a rousing success! We hope you can save Saturday evening, July 12 at 6 pm for our second annual dinner. This is a great chance to relax and visit with the folks who are working on RMC’s trails all summer long, along with RMC board members, other volunteers, and friends. Bring a dish to share and come for a few minutes, an hour or all evening. You’ll enjoy meeting our hard working, lively crew. “Many hands make light work” is absolutely true when it comes to maintaining our network of beautiful paths. Thanks this year to: Larry Jenkins, for his masterful work building new pack frames for the crew, Dennis Pednault for getting bog bridges to their respective trailheads and handcrafting high quality new swizzle sticks for brushing, Jon Hall for his cartography skills, and Irene Garvey for her help in meeting State of New Hampshire DES wetland requirements for our trail crew projects. Special thanks you to RMC board member Matt Schomburg for his consistent, reliable assistance on all trail matters. Last month, the RMC received some great news on the funding front as a $16,537 grant request to the state’s Bureau of Trails was funded in whole. The grant will allow the RMC to spend major portions of the next three summers performing valuable erosion control work on trails in the Randolph Community Forest-- specifically, the Crescent Ridge Trail, the Mount Crescent Trail and the Castleview Loop. Work on this project will start at the end of this summer. The RMC relies significantly on the state’s Recreational Trails Program for funding of our SCA trail crew. Later this summer, the RMC will have a new interpretive guide to the Four Soldiers Path available for all to read and enjoy. The project, funded by another State of New Hampshire trails grant, is being overseen by longtime interpretive specialist Clare Long. Volunteers include Dave Govatski, Gail Scott, Lisa Troy, Edith Tucker along with Ginger Beringer and Tim Sappington providing illustrations. Check the RMC web site for news about when this booklet is ready to go. As always, the RMC is on the lookout for crew members for the years to come. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 18 is welcome. To volunteer with the crew for a day or two, to get a sense of the work. Contact Trails Chair Doug Mayer for details. We hope you can join us for a day, or even a few hours, on the trails this summer! RMC Long Range Planning –
Update The winter edition of the RMC newsletter carried the report of the Long Range Planning Committee on its work last summer. Participating in the long range planning process was especially gratifying for the committee members in that we enjoyed getting to know other RMC members better, the board acted on our recommendation to improve communications with the membership at large by creating the newsletter, and we confirmed the existence of strong support for the club. Since the winter edition came out, the RMC board has decided not to pursue the purchase and development of Bowman Base Camp for reasons enumerated elsewhere in this newsletter. The discussion of the benefits of the Bowman Base Camp option stimulated thinking about long term needs/opportunities for the club. The possibility to locate such a facility on land elsewhere in town is currently being explored. Therefore, once the RMC Board articulates a specific plan, the Long Range Planning Committee will continue conversations similar to last summer which will seek your opinions on the pros and cons of establishing such a base camp and an endowment for the club. More later… Treasurer’s Report The Randolph Mountain Club finances are very strong beginning the year 2003. The Board has been strict in controlling expenses and keeping them within budgetary limits. The first column on the next page shows activity through March 31. The second column is the annual budget. At this point in the year, we should be about one-quarter of the way through our budget. Naturally, the Club experiences seasonal fluctuation. For example, camps income suffers from mud season and then is very strong in the summer and fall. As you can see, we had a very busy winter. We expend little on trails until summer when the trail crews get to work. The budget is in a good position at this time of year since the summer is when we see large outlays of cash for trail crew projects. Since this report was published,
we have recorded an additional $5,000 in revenue from dues and
general contributions. With good controls in place, I anticipate
the Club will meet its budget expectations and hopefully be able
to put extra revenues into reserves for future projects.
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The
loose ends we plan to tackle this year include continued recairning
on Watson Path and Castle Ravine Trail, and additional bog bridges
on Owls Head and the new Pond of Safety Paths. This year, the
RMC is also donating a day of trail crew time to assist the non-profit
Northern Forest Heritage Park in some efforts on its property.