Vibe-Fall-2024 - Flipbook - Page 38
alternatives to hikers not suited to the rigorous Franconia Ridge
loop. And they speak French, which comes in handy when communicating with visitors from the north.
They’ve pretty much seen it all at the trailhead. People who
don’t know the names of the trails or how long and difficult they
are. (Noyes refers to Falling Waters Trail as Falling People Trail
because so many hikers get hurt there.) Hikers with no paper
map or many of the other 10 essentials for safe travel. Guys
wearing shorts when it’s freezing and windy up on the ridge.
If Noyes and Allegretti can convince hikers to switch to a
more suitable route or send them back to their cars for needed
extra layers or gear, they figure they’ve done their jobs. And that
prevents Allegretti from needing to do his other volunteer gig—
going out with the Pemigewasset Valley Search and Rescue Team.
From May to October last year, stewards had 28,000 contacts
with hikers, and 2,500 turned around or changed their plans as
a result. Some of those 2,500 hikers, had they stuck with their
original plan, might have become search and rescue statistics.
STORIES APLENTY
As Noyes and Allegretti demonstrated when they tactfully persuaded the two young women with the espadrilles and carrying
the designer handbag to change their plans, Forest Service
stewards at the trailheads and in the backcountry are not out to
embarrass hikers for not being prepared or asking what might
seem like dumb questions.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t have some good stories to
tell. “We have had people ask if the route was paved, if there are
handrails for Grandma, and if there are bathrooms on the way
up.” Noyes said.
She also recalls talking with a group of nuns from Virginia
who listened, asked questions and, as she put it, “… were the
perfect audience. Later, people coming down the trail said they
were surprised to come across a group of singing nuns! They
said it was beautiful listening to them.”
Rich Eichhorn of Hopkinton told fellow volunteers at the
training about the time he was working at the Appalachia
trailhead and encountered a group of college kids planning to
hike the Air Line Trail to Mount Adams. It was early June and
pleasant enough at Appalachia, but the group was not prepared
38
for 30-degree temperatures, 50-mile-per-hour winds and possibly rain above treeline. After conferring with Eichhorn, they
left and returned an hour and a half later, outfitted “… like they
had just walked out of EMS or REI, head to toe,” Eichhorn said.
“They had rain gear, fleece pants, hats, goggles—everything
they needed for bad weather.”
The group also took up Eichhorn’s suggestion to hike up the
Valley Way trail because it is less exposed, and at its top, there’s
an Appalachian Mountain Club hut for shelter.
TIME WELL SPENT
My wife, Paula Brown, and I are backcountry stewards, and
generally we find people on the trails to be well prepared. Most
look the part, too, but that can be deceiving.
One fit young woman we encountered on Mount Clay, on
her way down from Mt. Washington, was unsure which trail
she had climbed to reach the Northern Presidentials and not
sure how to descend to return to her car. Talking with Paula,
the hiker remembered that she began near the Cog Railway, and
together they decided that she should go down the Jewell Trail.
She headed down Clay, but missed the turn. She realized her
mistake, and she was backtracking when we saw her again.
Paula then tactfully suggested that she carry a map. “Point
taken,” the hiker acknowledged.
Like Noyes and Allegretti, most trailhead and backcountry
stewards volunteer to give back, share their knowledge to keep
fellow hikers safe, and to preserve the precious White Mountains, including its fragile alpine flowers. Allegretti also cherishes the feedback from New Hampshire Fish and Game.
“They track statistics on search and rescue missions, and
they tell me that the program really has made a difference,”
Allegretti said. “Knowing we make a difference in hiking safely
really makes it worth the time and effort for me.”
For information on volunteer opportunities
in the White Mountain National Forest,
visit www.fs.usda.gov/main/whitemountain/
workingtogether/volunteering, or scan
this QR code with your phone’s camera.
MWVvibe.com
