Rambling On...

by Mac Griffin

It is with a sad heart that I hiked out of Gray Knob last Monday, August 26th, 2013.

Back in the "real world", time seems to fly by at lightning speed, everyone hustling and bustling downtown, honks and curses from aggravated motorists, people traveling 90 miles an hour on massive five-lane superhighways, strip malls glowing their unearthly neon.  But as Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin once said in the song Ramble On,

"Leaves are falling all around, it's time I was on my way.
Thanks to you I'm much obliged, for such a pleasant stay.
But now it's time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way..."

Mt. Jefferson at Night from the Quay

I'll be off to hike the Long Trail in Vermont with my girlfriend in the month of September, and then headed up to Baxter State Park (Katahdin) and Acadia National Park, both in Maine, in early October, it seems I just can't get away from the woods and beautiful places.  But when it comes right down to it, I can't really think of better places to be for fall in New England.

A Hazy Sunset, but the burning ball of hydrogen really livened things up!

So, to all who've followed this blog, to all the RMC Trail Crew and fellow caretakers, to the RMC Board and RMC Members, to all those who stopped by Gray Knob and shared their stories with me and listened to mine, to those who shot the breeze at the Quay with me, and to those who listened to my horrible singing, but hopefully better mini-guitar playing, 'Cheers' for an amazing spring and summer!

Quay Gold, perhaps the coveted Aetherium...?

Take care everyone, and if you've never visited the RMC Camps, DON'T MISS OUT, they're the best in the Whites!

Sunkist

Happy Trails,

Mac Griffin

Cormac N. Griffin
Gray Knob Caretaker Spring/Summer 2013
mac1222@hotmail.com

FAREWELL TO CRAG CAMP

     By Hannah Marshall  

 

I rest on flat ground, far away from the dramatic landscape of the White Mountains. It has been three days since I walked out of the woods for the last time.  Three painfully long days, in which I've dreamed about when my feet might next carry me home to Randolph.  No matter what I do, no experience compares to the moments at Crag Camp when strangers become family in the frigid glow of sunrise on the ravine. 
   

  

I stumbled upon a 1920s-era tourist guide recently which read,

"New Hampshire is a state reclining with its head pillowed on high mountains and its feet washed by the ocean.  These elevated summits are the White Mountains... For beauty and general attractiveness it is believed nothing in our own land can pretend to rival it. There are, it is true, higher mountains, deeper valleys, broader lakes, more stupendous ravines; yet for that rare and exquisite combination of all the most salient and picturesque types of scenery, the travelled and untravelled alike award to the White Mountains an incontestable superiority."

  Until next time, from Hannah "Crag,"

Take Care!

In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods

The Golden Hours in the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods 

by Mac Griffin

Tangerine Dream

"When the magic hour arrives, my thoughts center on the light rather than the landscape.  I search for the perfect light, then hunt for something earthbound to match with it."

"There is no question that photography has played a major role in the environmental movement."

"The landscape is like being there with a powerful personality and I'm searching for just the right angles to make that portrait come across as meaningfully as possible."

- Galen Rowell

The Quay never ceases to amaze me for its almost unbelievable sunsets, sunrises, and even its daytime views.  Every night when it's clear (and sometimes even when it's not) I go out to the Quay for what the Crag Camp Caretaker and I call the 'Evening Program.'  Every night it's a new show, sometimes the drama is intense, other times an unexpected glow illuminates the clouds rosy pink purple magenta fuchsia grenadine tangerine at the very last minute in an enthralling plot twist.  And there's almost always an encore of the glowing halogen-white moon and the shining beacon of Venus bright as a pearl, both highlighted in the fading light of the cerulean blue upper sky.

So please enjoy some more sunrise and sunset photos from my last stint on the mythical and sublime Nowell Ridge... But please remember, words hardly do this place justice.  Looks like you'll just have to come to the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods for yourself.  Cheers!

Mordor?

Red Grenadine

The elusive Spacecar Narwhal floating by.... 

The sun actually set about two minutes before this,
and the yellow dots are actually reflections of the sun!

Of course, it's not always sunsets, these clouds really impressed me as well!

Thunderheads over the Kilkenny

But as it happened, last Saturday morning 8/3 I managed to drag myself out of the Caretaker's Room at Gray Knob and capture this absolutely stunning sunrise!

Facing East

Above the clouds for the sunrise is hard to beat!

 Thanks to all who took the time to check out these photos!  Happy Trails...

Mac

Cormac N. Griffin
Gray Knob Caretaker
Spring/Summer 2013

A Collection of Sunsets

Well, summer at Gray Knob's been great so far!  I thought I'd share with you a collection of sunsets I've taken from one of the most beautiful places in the world, The Quay.  To anyone reading this, I hope to see you up on Nowell Ridge before I head off to hike the Long Trail in September.

Happy Trails,

Mac

Cormac N. Griffin
Gray Knob, Spring/Summer 2013

Alpine Ramblings

Abigail Adams 6.9.2013

I'm headed back into the mountains today, but before I hit the trail, I thought I'd put up share some of my photos from my last stint at Gray Knob.  I hope to see you on the trails in the Northern Presidentials this upcoming week! - Mac

View to the Six Husbands Trail 6.14.2013

Lowe's Path Sunset 6.9.2013

Sunset at the Quay 6.14.2013

The Perch and The Quay

Perch Path 5.26.2013 after a late-May snowstorm

"... wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure." 
— Paolo Coelho

The Quay 5.21.2013

"Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among the trees." 
— Edwin Way Teale

The Backyard

Crag Camp from Knight's Castle 5.23.2013

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn." 
— John Muir

Spur Trail looks more like a stream... 5.23.2013

"Cherish your wilderness." 
— Maxine Kumin

alpine azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens) near Star Lake 5.23.2013

"And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with love like that.
It lights up the sky." 
— Rumi

Diapensia (white) and Lapland rosebay near Star Lake
with Mt. Washington in the distance 5.23.2013

“The earth laughs in flowers.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Extreme Happiness - Cheez Doodles

For those of you who were wondering what is so special about the mountains and wild places, I really hope you check out this video.  Perhaps it's not so much the destination, as it is the reward for a safe return.  For Alex Gamme after 30 days skiing to and from the South Pole, his return brings a reward that is pure, confounding bliss.

I heard this on RadioLab, and for anyone who's spent a long time in the woods or the wild lands, I hope it rings as true with you as it did with me.  When's the last time you shouted you were so happy?  Enjoy!!!


Extreme Happiness:

- Mac

Owl's Head

Lincoln Brook Trail 5.29.2013

Franconia Brook 5.30.2013

I took a hike over to Owl's Head in the Pemigewasset Wilderness on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.  The flat Lincoln Woods, Franconia Brook, and Lincoln Brook Trails to the Owl's Head Herd Path were easy enough, although the water was running high at the river crossings along Lincoln Brook.  The steep ascent up the Herd Path brought beautiful displays of rhodora, with its pink flowers a highlight on a rather washed-out day.  The Owl's Head ridge was easily navigated to the summit, although many paths weave in and out around blowdowns. The evening was spent camping at 13 Falls Tentsite after a push through wet brush and puddles along the Lincoln Brook Trail. The following day a puddle-filled trek down the Franconia Brook and Lincoln Woods Trails, with a pleasant, pack-less detour to Black Pond, where West Bond and Bondcliff were in the clear under blue skies, rounded out the foray to one of the least-visited places in the Whites.  

Lincoln Brook Trail 5.30.2013

Although not RMC territory, I always enjoy exploring different areas in the White Mountains, and my hike to Owl's Head helped me remember the beauty and ease of a stroll along the Pemigewasset River, the ever-present sound of Franconia Brook while staying at 13 Falls, and the amazing diversity of terrain the Whites have to offer.  Of course, the Northern Presidentials are hard to beat... I look forward to my time back in the high peaks, amidst the sea of rocks.      -Mac

Painted Trillium by 13 Falls 5.30.2013

5.12.2013 The Quay

“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” 
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Undercast 5.9.2013 at the Quay

“When we accept small wonders, we qualify ourselves to imagine great wonders.” 
― Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

Nowell Ridge Undercast 5.9.2013

"Civilization no longer needs to open up to wilderness; it needs wilderness to help open up the still largely unexplored human mind."  David Rains Wallace, The Dark Range: a Naturalist's Night Notebook (1978)

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Home Is Where the Heart Is - Randolph, New Hampshire

Painted Trillium (Trillium undulatum) in flower
with Hobblebush leaves in the front

"I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown, to any paved highway, and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bread by cities. . . it is enough that i am surrounded by beauty.”

― Everett Ruess

Selected Quotes

“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come.” 

Jelaluddin Rumi

"I looked around at the wind-blasted peaks and the swirls of mist moving past them.  It was hard to take my eyes away.  I had been up on some of them, and I would be up there again.  There was something different to see each time, and something different from each one.  All those streamlets to explore and all those tracks to follow through the glare of the high basins and over the saddles.  Where did they lead?  What was beyond?  What stories were written in the snow?"

"It was good to be back in the wilderness again where everything seems at peace. I was alone.  It was a great feeling- a stirring feeling.  Free once more to plan and do as I pleased.  Beyond was all around me.  The dream was a dream no longer."

Richard Proenneke

One Man's Wilderness

"I can't explain it- at least not to people who have never experienced the magic lure and ancient power of the mountains, those who have never dreamed of trekking through and unknown land, and who are not, when seeing a picture of a beautiful mountain, filled with reverence and a sudden longing."

Goran Kropp

Ultimate High

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.  May your mountains rise into and above the clouds."

Edward Abbey

"Who can leap the world's ties and sit with me among white clouds?"

Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums

Thanks for Following Randolph Mountain Club's Backcountry Blog!

The Quay 5.27.2013

Hello, I would just like to say thank you to any and all who visit this new Randolph Mountain Club (RMC) Backcountry Blog.  In our ever-connected world, sharing the sublime beauty and "The Worst Weather in America" is now only a touch away.  I hope you continue to follow RMC Caretakers throughout the seasons, and throughout the years, and that these entries inspire new adventures, conjure up old memories, and encourage you to get back to one of the most astounding and intricate landscapes on the planet, the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Be sure to read former RMC Caretaker Blogs on the RMC Website as well!

Happy Trails,

Mac Griffin, Gray Knob Caretaker, Spring/Summer 2013

For the most detailed information about RMC, please check out RMC's website at:

http://www.randolphmountainclub.org

Here's some basic information about RMC:

The Quay after a Memorial Day Snowstorm 5.27.2013

Our Mission StatementThe purpose of the Randolph Mountain Club is to promote enjoyment of the
Randolph, New Hampshire area through hiking, trail development, upkeep of camps
and shelters, and sharing the collective knowledge of its members.

The Randolph Mountain Club maintains a network of nearly 102 miles of hiking trails, principally on the northern slopes of Mount Madison, Mount Adams, and Mount Jefferson in the Presidential range of the White Mountain National Forest, and on the Crescent Range in the town of Randolph, NH.

The Quay with Spring Snow 5.27.2013

RMC's trails are maintained through the joint efforts of volunteers and a seasonal, paid professional trail crew as well as a part time fall trail crew.  The RMC also maintains two cabins, Crag Camp (capacity 20) and Gray Knob (capacity 15); one lean-to, The Perch (capacity 8); and one Adirondack-style shelter, the Log Cabin (capacity 10). There are also four tent platforms at The Perch. All camps are available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. A caretaker is in residence at Gray Knob throughout the year and during the summer months there is a second caretaker at Crag Camp. RMC's facilities are located on the White Mountain National Forest, and operate under a special use permit issued by the U.S. Forest Service.

The Randolph Mountain Club is guided by a volunteer Board of Directors, who also perform many of the day to day tasks of the club. The Board meets every other month, throughout the year.

Quay Path, you're almost at Gray Knob! 5.27.2013

Home to the Randolph Mountain Club is the valley bounded by the north slope of the Presidential Range and the south slope of the Crescent Range in beautiful New Hampshire. These are some of the highest peaks in the Northeast, and are at the heart of the northern half of the White Mountain National Forest.

Log Cabin Cutoff 5.27.2013

Traveling through the heart of the White Mountain National Forest, US Route 2 bisects Randolph valley, and offers outstanding views of the rugged Presidential Range, including Mounts Madison, Adams, Jefferson and Washington-- the famed "Home of the World's Worst Weather."  Crisscrossing the Crescent and Presidential Ranges are 100 miles of trails maintained by the RMC. The RMC trail system is one of the densest and most interesting trail systems in the country, offering short walks to lovely cascades, waterfalls, ledges and viewpoints, pleasant and relaxing forest paths, as well as the challenges of the mighty Presidentials.  The RMC offers members and friends a free hiker's logbook for recording a challenging feat; hiking all 100+ miles of RMC trails. If you have completed your logbook, please send us a photo and you'll appear on The RMC 100 Wall of Fame!

Randolph Path 5.27.2013

The Randolph Mountain Club maintains four shelters in the Northern Presidentials: Gray Knob, Crag Camp, The Log Cabin and The Perch.

All of our shelters are open year-'round. If you are planning on visiting an RMC shelter, please review the information on your intended destination, and please read our general guidelines. These resources should answer all your questions regarding RMC's facilities.

The camps are extremely busy on Washington's birthday, Victoria Day (Canadian holiday), Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day weekends. The US Forest Service tent platforms, off the Valley Way on Mount Madison, is another available option, when RMC shelters are likely to be busy. Reservations are not accepted at any of our shelters; usage is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Amphibrach and Monaway Junction 5.27.2013

If space is not available, be prepared to camp. In order to protect the areas around the shelters from overuse, the Forest Service has designated the area within a quarter mile of RMC shelters as Forest Protection Areas. There is no camping permitted within a Forest Protection Area.

The RMC relies on visitors to carry out their own trash and to help keep the cabins clean. RMC facilities are built on the White Mountain National Forest and operate under a special use permit, in partnership with the US Forest Service.

To support the caretakers' wages and to maintain the camps, fees are charged on a per person, per night basis. If a caretaker is absent, please mail fees to the Treasurer, c/o Randolph Mountain Club, P.O. Box 279, Gorham, NH, 03581. You can help the RMC keep its fees low by paying your fees and by becoming a member.