In August, we were delighted to be invited to talk about Glorious Mountain Days at the Annual Meeting of the Randolph Mountain Club, in Randolph, New Hampshire.
The trails “our” trampers followed in the Presidential Range in 1902 were part of an extensive network built by enthusiastic hikers—most of them early Appalachian Mountain Club members—from the 1880s to the 1910s.
Decades before establishment of the White Mountain National Forest, the land was privately owned. The “paths” were cleared and shelters built on private land with the hope that owners would continue to allow nature lovers access to the forests and peaks. Hattie and company’s companion for their first day on the trail, J. Rayner Edmands, was one of the most active of the early path builders.
In the years immediately following their camping trip, logging and forest fires left the paths in chaos. By 1910 the generation that had built the paths was gone, but the desire to preserve their work and get into the forest inspired a new generation to “put the paths in order” and the Randolph Mountain Club was born.
RMC historians Judy and Al Hudson, have done amazing work uncovering and making available wonderful sources and research on the history of the Club and life in Randolph through Club publications and on the RMC website.
In fact, it was the Hudsons’ collection of historical photographs that was the spark for our book.
Today, the RMC maintains over 100 miles of hiking trails in the Randolph area with volunteer labor and seasonal crews paid via membership dues. It also operates four shelters and four tent platforms on the northern peaks.
It was great fun to have an audience so intensely interested in the story we had to tell about people and places they care deeply about. It was also a kick to experience the Club at work during the meeting, as committee chairs reported on the year’s doings. Walking some of “their” paths the following day, we also had ample opportunity to appreciate first hand the outstanding work of the trail crew. Thank you, RMC.
What a treasure, this book! I love those intrepid woman adventurers and conservation activists who explored rocky paths above the timber line undaunted by long skirts, corsets and high-heeled boots. Fun, too, to see the old black and white photos they took alongside Bell’s handsome color shots of some of the flora, fauna and views described in their letters. I don’t know which was more exciting, Hattie and Emma’s grand adventure and the success of their efforts to save the White Mountains from rapacious loggers at the turn of the last century or the almost magical serendipities that rewarded the authors’ years-long search for answers to their questions about the trek.