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Reports from Committees .... Archivist News During the winter of 2004-05 I have completed several new transcriptional projects. The first, An Outline of Trail Development in the White Mountains, 1840-1980, presents a set of 15 color-coded maps and material about general trail development decade by decade, as transcribed from a manuscript prepared by the late Guy Waterman. It should be noted that the material on the White Mountains represents only one part of a much larger work that Waterman left behind providing sections on trail development in the regions of Katahdin, The Long Trail, Adirondacks, Catskills, Harriman Park, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Appalachian Trail. The second, The Building of Burnbrae: The Randolph, NH Diaries of George N. Cross, 1897-1899, describes turn-of-century Randolph milieu from the standpoint of the Cross family, as they turned Jerome Leavitt's old starch factory into the town's first summer cottage. The diary contains lots of great micro-historical information and an introductory essay by your archivist. The Cross diary will appear under the imprint of the Randolph History Project. I thank Laura Waterman and Hersh Cross for making the original materials available for transcription. I have prepared RMC Archive: Index of Scanned Photos, which presents an index of all the scanned photos in the RMC archive and includes contact sheets, accession codes, and keyed descriptions. I am also putting together a notebook of selected photos from the RMC archive that should give a sense of the holdings that we now have. Copies of this notebook and the Index should be available for viewing at the Randolph library next summer. In the summer of 2005 I will,
once again, bring my scanning equipment to Randolph. I invite
anyone who would like to give materials to the RMC or allow them
to be scanned, to get in touch with me to discuss details or
arrange a scanning session. I can be reached by email [abhudson@anthro.umass.edu];
Randolph phone [603-466-5509]; winter phone [413-256-6950]; winter
address [111 Amherst Road/Pelham, MA 01002]. Camps Report
Visitors to the camps were concentrated mostly on the weekends, as is usual for the winter. The caretaker reports that as many as half of the visitors were French speaking, reminding us that the northern Presidentials are as close to Montreal as Boston. This Spring Chris Fithian of Portland, Maine will be caretaking until June, when he then descends to the valley to join our trail crew. Chris is an avid backcountry skier, and is excited to be in such a great locale for spring skiing! Early season hikers who see telemark ski tracks high on Adams snowfields can bet that there's a pretty good likelihood they’re from Chris! This summer our Crag Camp caretaker will be Sondra Hope Berner, a student at Hampshire College. She spent the last year trekking in the Himalaya and loves the outdoors. Our other caretaker, Justin Ross, is coming from Maryland where he has been working at an outdoor outfitters. Justin will start Memorial day weekend at Gray Knob. They will make for a terrific team up there. Go visit with them this summer! (We can assure a extremely warm welcome if you happen to bring a few home-baked cookies...) One main project this summer will be an update to the privy at the Log Cabin. Volunteers, led by former winter caretaker Pete Antos-Ketcham, will be installing a composting toilet. If you are interested in this project or helping out in any way, contact the RMC via the web site or camps co-chair Al Sochard at 603-466-2273. If it’s been a while since you have stayed at one of the RMC cabins or shelters then why not plan a trip up this summer and enjoy our high camps in the Northern Presidentials? See you at the camps! Trail News Our 2005 trails season begins the very first weekend of June with National Trails Day on June 4. This year, we'll be putting the finishing touches on a new route for the Vyron D. Lowe Trail, which had to be relocated to reduce erosion. The new path starts at the Randolph spring on Durand Road and climbs gently, with switchbacks, to the Crescent Ridge Trail near Lookout Ledge. Along the way, it passes several scenic spots while avoiding the dreaded, muddy logging road at the top. We hope to have the trail open by mid-June. Watch for signs at the new location! If you'd like to join other volunteers and friends, see the work trip information elsewhere in this issue of the newsletter. That same weekend, our trail crews and caretakers will be wrapping up their three days of orientation. In past years, RMC has improved its trail crew orientation to include wilderness first aid training, Leave No Trace information, a visit with the US Forest Service, training on the use and maintenance of hand tools, a USFS-certified chainsaw training program -- even an overnight hike to an RMC camp. Recently, we've managed to schedule the orientation so our summer caretakers can join in as well.
On the trails this year, our hardworking, diligent Field Supervisor Dan Rubchinuk will be back on the job for his second year in this role and his fifth season with RMC. Our crews will start with the usual two weeks of patrolling in early June, hiking the trails with chainsaws and axes to clear blowdowns, and hoes to clean the drainages of debris from the spring runoff. Following patrolling, the crews will spend the remainder of the summer finishing a two year project on the lower reaches of the Randolph Path. The US Forest Service will pay fifty percent of the cost of this project. The work will include installing waterbars, ditching, rock steps, and stairs to reduce erosion. The crew will be working primarily between Randolph Path's junctions with Sylvan Way and Air Line. Our second crew will wrap up a two year effort in the Crescent Range, performing erosion control on the Crescent Ridge Trail. Last summer, the crew substantially rebuilt the Mount Crescent Trail. Eighty percent of the funding for that project is covered by a State of New Hampshire, Recreation Trails Program grant. Trails Assistant Matt Schomburg will coordinate a series of work trips for the summer. RMC work trips are a fun way to get outdoors and lend a hand. We hope you can join us for a trip-- even if just for a few hours. You'll find the full rundown on a variety of work trips elsewhere in the newsletter.
Finally, this season marks the 10th anniversary of RMC's decision to upgrade its trails efforts and annually field two trail crews. Back in 1994, the club realized it was going to have to add a second crew in order to meet its commitment to both control erosion and still accomplish the basic trail work of cleaning blowdowns, cleaning drainages, brushing, blazing and building cairns. This season also marks our 10th year working with the Student Conservation Association. Our association with SCA has served the club admirably. SCA undertakes the recruiting, workers’ compensation insurance and much of the administration for three of our trail crew positions, relieving some of the burden from club volunteers. Working with SCA, RMC is still able to hire locally, whenever possible. Recent crews have included residents from Randolph, Jefferson, and Whitefield. As always, we actively seek anyone interested in joining the crew for future seasons. Anyone who is curious can join us as a volunteer for a day or two on the trails this summer. We hope everyone has a great
hiking season and we'll see you on the paths in Randolph or on
the high peaks! Web Site
This summer, we'll also be featuring a new RMC trail sign auction. The sign auction is one of the most interesting and popular aspects of the web site. We'll feature a dozen or so retired trail signs, from high on Mount Adams to short paths around town. Anyone can email us a bid. The auction uses a "silent bid" system, so be sure to put in your best bid possible! All the proceeds go to the RMC trails system—and help us pay for the materials for new signs. Our web site has grown significantly over the years. For those who haven't dropped by recently, some of the features include: - A message board to share information about RMC trails. - Articles from previous newsletters. - The recent interpretive guide to the Four Soldiers Path. - A version of the alpine display at Crag Camp. - A store with all RMC items, includes shirts, caps and—as soon as it's in stock in July—the new RMC map and guide. - Complete information on RMC's camps and trails. - E mail contacts for various RMC departments. We hope you'll come visit the
RMC online! If you haven't been, the address is easy to remember…
www.randolphmountainclub.org. Treasurer's Report The Club is in an expected position financially as we approach the busy summer season. We had a quiet winter; camps use is about average although the caretakers tell us the number of visits were down. We are posting a small profit as of March 31, and since that date, our annual appeal letter has gone out with the resulting influx of dues and contributions. Compared to last year’s budget, this appeal letter went out earlier and hence you can see the much greater income in both categories. A balance sheet is not included,
but we have about $1,600 in the bank, an additional $18,750 in
Club reserves, $28,000 in memorial reserves, and $17,000 in savings.
We have been busy trying to build up savings and reserves in
the event of unanticipated expenses.
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The
RMC camps had a peaceful winter season with no significant problems
or big weather stories to report this year. Our winter caretaker
was the ever-reliable Derek "Storm" Schott and his
faithful sidekick, his dog Gecko. One interesting item of note,
however, is that Derrick reported a significant redistribution
of weight experienced by the caretaking duo, with Storm reporting
a loss of nearly 40 pounds while Gecko, thriving in the cold
temperatures, net a gain of 5 pounds!
This
past winter, we received a boost to our trails efforts with the
addition of Dave Salisbury as Assistant Trails Chair. Dave worked
for many years as the White Mountain Trails Supervisor for AMC,
and is co-author of the book, The Complete Guide to Trail Building
and Maintenance. Many Randolph residents know Dave, who has lived
in town for nearly a decade. He is one of the single most experienced
trail experts in the White Mountains, and the entire RMC board
is delighted to have him lending a hand!
We
do hope you can mark the date of Friday night, July 8 on your
calendar. At 6 pm on that day at the Jones Cottage off of Cold
Brook Road, we'll have our annual RMC trail crew potluck. This
is always a fun evening, and a chance to visit with our hard
working trail crews, thank them for their work and chat with
other RMC friends. Bring a dish to share. For more information,
contact Trails Chair Doug Mayer via the RMC web site, or via
phone at (603) 466-5395.
The
RMC's web site is still going strong. This summer we'll be posting
RMC's weekly hike schedule, in a special RMC area for members
only. You'll also be able to check the site for updates on the
summer work trip schedule.