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Jeff Smith, Volunteer
During a day hike up Mt. Adams in 1995, we had stopped at Crag Camp for a rest. I was impressed with the cabin and its location, but didn’t know much about the RMC at the time. In 1998, I was looking for summer work and my uncle, Mike Pelchat, got me an interview with Bill Arnold to be Crag Camp’s caretaker. While waiting for that job to start, I was introduced to Doug Mayer, who was looking for people for his spring chainsaw crew (due to the ice storm earlier that year). It wasn’t until then that I discovered what the club was about and began to meet all of the great people who volunteered for it. Tell us about your time as Crag Camp caretaker. What stands out during that time? Caretaking is definitely one of the best jobs that I’ve ever had. I remember wondering if I could adapt to “mountain life” since up to that point I was very used to “city life.” It turns out that I could easily switch between the two. I went from spending an 11-day shift at Crag Camp with no electricity, no hot showers, no refrigeration, and hiking miles every day to spending my 3 days off playing video games, eating fast food, and watching television. I worked with Andy Woods both summers up there and we definitely accomplished a lot. We took a lot of pride in our work and continued to come up with ways to improve the camps along with completing the daily maintenance and chores. We could schedule our projects to allow for plenty of time to explore the area as well. During one day trip I climbed Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Washington, and Monroe and still made it back to The Perch in time for nightly rounds. What was your best moment caretaking? I have many great moments from caretaking... from watching incredible sunrises from the Crag, to hiking over to Madison Hut for dinner, then hiking back using only the moon to light the way. However, I think my favorite moment was creating the first Cragstock trail crew and caretaker party with Andy. There were several old log books at Gray Knob and we discovered that a previous caretaker had hiked up a couple of lobsters for a special meal. We wanted to do the same, but decided to hike up 30 lobsters and make it an event! We had live music courtesy of Andy’s band, Wooden Toe, and everyone had a great time. Your worst? In 1998, Gray Knob had two toilets. There was a regular pit toilet for winter use, and a summer toilet that collected waste in a bin designed to be flown out and emptied by helicopter. Well, the bin was full and there wasn’t any money in the budget for a helicopter run, so Andy and I, along with and our Field Supervisor, Jack Bell, had to empty it by hand. I will never forget the moment of standing precariously on the edge of human waste while filling buckets and lowering them down by rope one at a time... Today’s caretakers have it easy!
I like how the club doesn’t go out and try to be the biggest and boldest mountain club. It just quietly keeps to its mission and embraces tradition. I’ve also always been impressed with the generosity and passion of the club’s members when a fundraising challenge comes along; whether it is to provide housing for the trail crew or to recover from a devastating ice storm. What do you enjoy most about being the RMC’s webmaster? I enjoy the creative freedom that I have with the site. My web design knowledge is limited, but I’ve learned a lot over the past 10 years, and continue to take pride with how the site is visually presented while keeping the information current and useful to visitors. About 100 people visit the site every day, with each person viewing an average of 3-4 pages within the site. Over the past year, the RMC web site has had visitors from 130 countries! I enjoy conducting the trail sign auctions and reading the caretaker journals as they come in. I also like the page that features a selection of logbook entries from the old Gray Knob cabin. If I can remember the story correctly, I believe a winter climbing accident had left Doug Mayer house-bound with a broken leg for several weeks. He spent the time going through dozens of log books from between 1906 and 1989 and selected the best entries. When the RMC web site was created, I was pleased to find out that Doug still had the digital copy of his work, so it could be added to the site. If there was one thing that you wish all RMC members knew about the club, about which they might not be aware, what would it be? I don’t think many members know that the RMC facilities are self-funded from overnight fees. If camp use goes down, then the ability to pay the caretakers and fund projects goes down as well. So, if you want to support the caretakers and the camps, the easiest way is to just hike up to your favorite RMC shelter and spend the night. Thanks for all you’re doing for the RMC! Any parting thoughts? I hope to contribute to the club for many years to come! I can’t wait until my daughter is able to hike up to Crag Camp. If she ends up wanting to be a caretaker, I’ll have to get Bill to set up another interview… Back to Table of Contents - RMC Newsletter, Summer 2009
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