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Reports from Committees .... Camps Report It was a slow winter this year at the RMC camps. We had a lot of rain in November, lots of snow in early December, bitter cold in January, and then a mix of warm and cold in February and March. The inconsistent weather plus the lack of substantial snowfall during the first three months of 2004 added up to a decrease in the number of overnight guests at Crag Camp and Gray Knob. “Thank you” to our recent caretakers. Last year, Matt Cittadini finished the summer season with the senior trail crew and then spent two months caretaking at Gray Knob. Adam Hale was our brave winter caretaker this year, spending over five months in the mountains. Dan Rubchinuk, our 2004 Field Supervisor, is currently the spring caretaker. For the upcoming summer season, Matt McEttrick (2002 & 2003 senior trail crew) will be switching jobs to become the Gray Knob caretaker, and newcomer Jeremy Loeb will be at Crag Camp. A special thanks goes out to
the fill-in caretakers from the past few seasons: Chris Campbell,
Cammee Campbell, Pete Ketcham, Al Sochard, and Tracy Blanchard.
Everyone knows that summertime is a great time to visit an RMC
shelter, but why not consider a trip during the spring or fall
seasons? There are fewer bugs, cool temperatures, beautiful snow-peaked
mountains in the spring, and amazing foliage colors in the fall.
Best of all, the cabins rarely fill to capacity during the spring
and fall, and there is a good chance that, if you hike up on
a weekday, you’ll be the only one there! (Of course the
caretaker will be there, but the extra company will be welcomed!) Web Site More and more people are joining the club, renewing their memberships, and ordering RMC merchandise online through our web site — these three aspects of the site are becoming very popular features. From November 1, 2003, to March 31, 2004, $655.50 worth of merchandise and memberships had been ordered through the web site. Not a bad start! If you do encounter any problems during the ordering process, please report them to the Webmaster (info@randolphmountainclub.org). Another trail sign auction will begin in June. You can view retired trail signs and read details about each sign via a link on the web site home page. It will be a silent auction again, so be sure to drop by and place a bid. Trails Report This summer, RMC’s trail
work will take place on a wide variety of paths, representative
of the range of hiking opportunities we have on our network of
trails. Our two crews will start in early June with two weeks
of patrolling, during which winter’s blowdowns will be cut
from the paths and all our waterbars and ditches cleaned. Both crews will also take care of routine brushing and blazing on our paths, as needed.
One major change we’ve made this year is the elimination of the “first-year” and “senior” trail crew designations. Instead, we will simply have two crews consisting of crew members with a variety of levels of experience. We’ve made this change to bring our newer crew members more quickly up to speed on necessary trail skills. Now, each crew will perform all levels of trail work — whether it be basic maintenance like brushing or blazing, or advanced work like building a rock staircase. Your club is currently exploring the possibility of building an “accessible” trail somewhere in town. "Accessible” trails feature gentle grades, even and stable footing, and are usually about three feet wide. They are designed for hikers with vision, balance, or mobility impairment, but these trails can also be enjoyed by all hikers—even very young children who might not yet be capable of tackling more traditional paths. This past fall, the RMC board established an accessible trails committee of Chris Lake, Doug Mayer, Matt Schomburg, Al Sochard, and Sarah Tupick. Over the winter, the committee met with Peter Jensen, a regional expert on the design of such paths. During the summer, we hope to explore several possible routes for a short, half-mile or less, accessible path in the area. In July, RMC will release a free, interpretive guide to the new Four Soldiers Path. The guide is being written with help from more than a dozen RMC members and is overseen by local interpretive experts Dave Thurlow and Clare Long. Copies of the free booklet will be available at the July 4 Tea. Funding for the project was provided by an educational grant from the New Hampshire Bureau of Trails. A number of volunteers have been hard at work during the past few months. Tami Hartley and Regina Ferreria have been busily stenciling more than 60 new trail signs, which the Brockett family has been painting. Al Sochard has been updating our trail crew handbook, Matt Schomburg has arranged the summer work trips, and Jon Hall is working away on improvements to the next edition of the RMC map which will be out in the spring of 2005. A word of thanks is in order to the fine group of these and other members and friends who support our paths with their financial donations or time. In a small club such as RMC, such collective support is imperative. Together, we are stewards of one of the best networks of paths to be found anywhere. I hope you can find plenty of time this hiking season to enjoy them. Treasurer's Report The Randolph Mountain Club finances are very strong beginning the year 2004. 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. We had a very busy winter, but the cold in December and January of this past winter reduced revenues compared to last year. Likewise, we will have very little expenditure for trails until the trail crews get to work, shortly. This is a good position at this time of year, since the summer is when we see large outlays of cash for trail crew projects. This spring, we have seen tremendous revenue from dues and general contributions, which were anticipated. This puts the club in a position to set aside money into our savings account for later use. I would like to personally thank everyone who has been so generous in their contributions and prompt response to our dues appeal this spring. It is due to the goodness of all of you that RMC is able to do all that we do. The board has been strict in
controlling expenses and keeping them within budgetary limits.
With good controls in place, I anticipate the Club to meet its
budget expectations and, hopefully, be able to put extra revenues
into reserves for future projects.
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This
year, our trails work will be led by Field Supervisor Dan Rubchinuk,
who will also oversee the efforts of our camps caretakers. Dan
has three years of experience with RMC and was on our 2002 fall
trail crew, which constructed the new Four Soldiers and Underhill
Paths. Other returning crew members include Rachel Hestrin, Laura
Conchelos (niece of Randolph’s Dave and Dodie Willcox),
and Randolph’s Roz Stever. Aaron Parcak returns for a record
sixth year with the trail crew. All told, RMC’s trail crew
members will have 16 seasons of experience!