peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
http://www.concordmonitor.com/Outdo...s-Lookout-Ledge-is-a-thing-of-beauty-10779671
One of the side benefits of the new woodlot is that I now own a portion of a very old RMC trail. When Randolph was first being occupied by hikers in the 1800 even before the Boston And Maine railroad came through town, the Ravine House on Durand road was in business hosting hikers. I expect many more recent hikers in the whites may have run into references to the Ravine House which is now a grassy park with a couple of trailheads across from the Ravine House Pool. I expect like myself they envision a AMC hut size facility. In actuality it was much bigger. This blog has a lot of info and pictures of the complex http://north-country-chronicles.blogspot.com/2012/01/ravine-house-closer-look.html. Most of the major trails from the Northern Presidentials funneled to the Ravine house site but when RT2 was relocated away from Durand Road, the Appalachia parking lot was built and lower portions of these trails were relocated to end up at Appalachia to avoid private land. Prior to its existence as a parking lot, Appalachia was one of the several local train stations serving Randolph and would be the typical spot where guests from Boston would arrive.
In addition to the major routes that crisscross the Northern slopes of Madison, Adams and Jefferson, there is an extensive network of local trails that run to many points on the southern facing slopes of the Crescent range. There was another major tourist accommodation up on Randolph Hill Road which is occasionally referred to in older references as the Mt Crescent road and it led to a high plateau on the hill ending at the Mt Crescent House http://north-country-chronicles.blogspot.com/2010/05/comings-and-goings-of-life-in-randolph.html .Unlike the current era of folks heading up from Boston for dayhikes or weekends, many of the guests of the two hotels stayed for the season which traditionally started around July 4th and ended on Labor day. Cars didn't really factor into the early equation so walking by trails was the way of getting around town. There was a friendly rivalry between the local lodgings but the Ravine house was the most central and most trails led to it with secondary trails being built to access the eastern part of town. The guests tended to be a lot of academics from the Boston area and many eventually bought land from the local farmers who originally owned much of the land and had local builders with a distinctive style build them summer residences. Many are still within the same family and some are only used a few weeks or months each year. As these summer places got built, many more local trails appeared to access areas of the eastern town as they were populated. They remain as convenient walking trails to locals and a vexing challenge to those working on redlining. These trails do access a lot of beautiful and interesting local features and on occasion have the "big view" like Lookout Ledge but are far more likely of interest to those who want to get away from the crowds and want to see nature up close.
These days accommodations in Randolph are far less available, there are a few Air BNBs, a older set of tourist cabins in the western part of town and a older small "hotel" at the junction of RT2 and Randolph Hill road. Dartmouth Outing Club has Billings lodge which may be available on occasion. The locals still use the trails and RMC has various social activities all summer but in general these trails get far less use and in general the population of the town is definitely fitting in with the statistical trend on Northern NH which is old and getting older.
One of the local trails, Ledge Trail,that apparently was quite popular with the Ravine House guests was the trail from the Ravine House to Lookout Ledge, It was deservedly so as its a well graded but somewhat steep old road for the majority of the route once it gets past what I believe are newer relocations to keep it off some of the fragmented parcels of the old Ravine House property. I can speculate that it may have been a carriage road for much of its length until the last short climb up to into the softwoods and Lookout Ledge. The trail is still used to access Lookout Ledge but it appears that the Pasture Path from the end of Randolph Hill road is far more popular as the elevation gain is far less. The Ledge trail runs through what was once a very impressive mature northern hardwood stand that was severely damaged by the ice storm of 1998, many of the older trees still stand as stark reminders of what once was and new growth has moved in, unfortunately that means a very closed canopy. As the trail starts to get a bit steeper it crosses over the east boundary of my lot and then cuts across a corner of the property and eventually diverges out of it to a trail junction before rambling along the shared Randolph Town forest Boundary. I expect more than few hikers get confused by the two different blaze colors used along this section and possibly a few keep following the blue town forest property boundary blazes instead of the trail blazes that head up slope. It unfortunately doesn't have any Lookout Ledge views in the summer but in the winter with the leaves down it does have many impressive views into Kings Ravine and some similar panoramic views south.
Worth checking out if you have some spare time one day. Lookout Ledge is great short winter hike although the Pasture Path approach is generally broken out more often. I personally usually like to take a trail up and just head down slope through the hardwoods and break trail down to the road and walk back to the trailhead.
One of the side benefits of the new woodlot is that I now own a portion of a very old RMC trail. When Randolph was first being occupied by hikers in the 1800 even before the Boston And Maine railroad came through town, the Ravine House on Durand road was in business hosting hikers. I expect many more recent hikers in the whites may have run into references to the Ravine House which is now a grassy park with a couple of trailheads across from the Ravine House Pool. I expect like myself they envision a AMC hut size facility. In actuality it was much bigger. This blog has a lot of info and pictures of the complex http://north-country-chronicles.blogspot.com/2012/01/ravine-house-closer-look.html. Most of the major trails from the Northern Presidentials funneled to the Ravine house site but when RT2 was relocated away from Durand Road, the Appalachia parking lot was built and lower portions of these trails were relocated to end up at Appalachia to avoid private land. Prior to its existence as a parking lot, Appalachia was one of the several local train stations serving Randolph and would be the typical spot where guests from Boston would arrive.
In addition to the major routes that crisscross the Northern slopes of Madison, Adams and Jefferson, there is an extensive network of local trails that run to many points on the southern facing slopes of the Crescent range. There was another major tourist accommodation up on Randolph Hill Road which is occasionally referred to in older references as the Mt Crescent road and it led to a high plateau on the hill ending at the Mt Crescent House http://north-country-chronicles.blogspot.com/2010/05/comings-and-goings-of-life-in-randolph.html .Unlike the current era of folks heading up from Boston for dayhikes or weekends, many of the guests of the two hotels stayed for the season which traditionally started around July 4th and ended on Labor day. Cars didn't really factor into the early equation so walking by trails was the way of getting around town. There was a friendly rivalry between the local lodgings but the Ravine house was the most central and most trails led to it with secondary trails being built to access the eastern part of town. The guests tended to be a lot of academics from the Boston area and many eventually bought land from the local farmers who originally owned much of the land and had local builders with a distinctive style build them summer residences. Many are still within the same family and some are only used a few weeks or months each year. As these summer places got built, many more local trails appeared to access areas of the eastern town as they were populated. They remain as convenient walking trails to locals and a vexing challenge to those working on redlining. These trails do access a lot of beautiful and interesting local features and on occasion have the "big view" like Lookout Ledge but are far more likely of interest to those who want to get away from the crowds and want to see nature up close.
These days accommodations in Randolph are far less available, there are a few Air BNBs, a older set of tourist cabins in the western part of town and a older small "hotel" at the junction of RT2 and Randolph Hill road. Dartmouth Outing Club has Billings lodge which may be available on occasion. The locals still use the trails and RMC has various social activities all summer but in general these trails get far less use and in general the population of the town is definitely fitting in with the statistical trend on Northern NH which is old and getting older.
One of the local trails, Ledge Trail,that apparently was quite popular with the Ravine House guests was the trail from the Ravine House to Lookout Ledge, It was deservedly so as its a well graded but somewhat steep old road for the majority of the route once it gets past what I believe are newer relocations to keep it off some of the fragmented parcels of the old Ravine House property. I can speculate that it may have been a carriage road for much of its length until the last short climb up to into the softwoods and Lookout Ledge. The trail is still used to access Lookout Ledge but it appears that the Pasture Path from the end of Randolph Hill road is far more popular as the elevation gain is far less. The Ledge trail runs through what was once a very impressive mature northern hardwood stand that was severely damaged by the ice storm of 1998, many of the older trees still stand as stark reminders of what once was and new growth has moved in, unfortunately that means a very closed canopy. As the trail starts to get a bit steeper it crosses over the east boundary of my lot and then cuts across a corner of the property and eventually diverges out of it to a trail junction before rambling along the shared Randolph Town forest Boundary. I expect more than few hikers get confused by the two different blaze colors used along this section and possibly a few keep following the blue town forest property boundary blazes instead of the trail blazes that head up slope. It unfortunately doesn't have any Lookout Ledge views in the summer but in the winter with the leaves down it does have many impressive views into Kings Ravine and some similar panoramic views south.
Worth checking out if you have some spare time one day. Lookout Ledge is great short winter hike although the Pasture Path approach is generally broken out more often. I personally usually like to take a trail up and just head down slope through the hardwoods and break trail down to the road and walk back to the trailhead.
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