Sometimes the best meetings don’t take place anywhere near a meeting room.
Today, John Scarinza and Doug Mayer from the Randolph Forest Commission, Randolph Mount Club Field Supervisor Cheryl Byrne, Forest Commission trails liaison Dave Salisbury, and Community Forester David DeGruttola of LandVest met to finalize the location of the new trail to the old General Electric Crystal Mine. (The mine was a remarkable history- you can read about it here.)
Under surprisingly sunny skies after a recent deluge, the group finalized the location of the upper third of the route to the mine.
Last summer, the RMC trail crew constructed about a mile of new trail, beginning at a new trailhead location on US Route 2, at the former site of the Farrar residence, not far from the Bowman height of land.
Final construction will take place at the end of July. The trail should be open for use by the end of the summer, with the finishing touches– including a map, trail description, and trailhead signage– happening in the spring of 2017.
The crew reviews the alignment as flagged by Trail Designer Carl Demrow.
The long history of the crystal mine means there’s a lot to see, if you look carefully.
One of the crystal mine shafts. After the mine closed, General Electric dynamited it, to close it off.
The upper trail section will take advantage of some well-designed, old forest roads.
The mid-section of the trail includes a section of Community Forest roads. There are over 20 miles of such roads on the Randolph Community Forest.