Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to serve as the Crag Camp fill-in caretaker. After two seasons on the Randolph Mountain Club's summer trail crew and two springs spent as the Gray Knob Caretaker, I was looking forward to exploring the trails in their summer glory (without a 70 lb pack!) and chatting it up with the colorful summer guests at the camps.
I had just completed a long summer backpacking trip and was nowhere near as beat up as I was after a summer spent on trail crew, so I decided it would be prime time to try out the ‘Mount Adams Challenge'. I chatted with Doug Mayer about his idea when he was first cooking it up during my first summer (2014) on trail crew. We did a Prezi traverse together, winding through some of those little used RMC paths on our way up. I loved the idea of stringing together these trails in order to make the typically relentless Whites style trails a bit more gradual and runnable, but was never able to get to it during my trail crew years. Fortunately for me and the RMC camps, caretaker Carl had everything dialed and my duties consisted of talking to guests, collecting their fees and exploring the immediate area.
I packed an empty propane bomb down from the camps early Tuesday morning, then met RMC Field Supervisor Cheryl for a bit in the valley. I got to the Valley Way trailhead at just about noon, took a photo at the base and then headed up. I've never hiked this section of the Valley Way before, as the Camps and Madison Hut Croo take some RMC shortcuts to minimize the amount of day hikers they see for their first mile or so. I was surprised to discover it is a rather pleasant section, following some water features and is runnable up until the turn onto Brookside. I was reduced to power hiking on short sections of Brookside and was already trying to minimize the times I checked my watch so I wouldn't realize that I surely had more than an hour of suffering ahead of me! I finally reached the Watson junction and enjoyed the brief downhill before worrying I was lost, but was happy to cross the Valley Way and head up Scar. I love this mossy section of trail. This was the last bit I truly enjoyed before being reduced to a crawl on steep sections of Air Line. The view of the Ravine was spectacular as always and I turned on to Gulfsides' pavement (thanks Edmands!) at 1:15. I was really hoping to break 1:30 and reached Thunderstorm Junction with 6 minutes to spare. I scrambled through the relentless rockpiles of ankle breakers and baby heads to reach the summit just under my goal! It was a beautiful day up top and I enjoyed a Snickers and some water before marching back down the Camps. Thanks for the inspiration!
