Mountain Wandering: September 2025

On my first day of being (mostly) retired, with Forrest Chess now manning the store, I went hiking on a holiday weekend! I wanted to avoid the crowds, and also needed to hike in an area with phone reception in case Forrest had questions. There were a few things I wanted to check out on trails on the northern slopes of Mt. Adams, so I came up with a loop taking in the First and Second Cascades on Cascade Brook, an old slide just above the Cascades, and the RMC's Log Cabin. The key to the loop was the little-used Cabin-Cascades Trail, which I had not been on in many years.

I parked in a grassy pulloff west of Appalachia and used the Presidential Rail Trail and a gravel road to access The Link. As it crosses Memorial Bridge over Cold Brook, The Link offers this view upstream to Cold Brook Fall.

There has been recent logging (as in the past month) for a short distance along The Link just beyond the junction with The Amphibrach.

The lower section of The Link offers pleasant hardwood walking.

A stiff climb leads to the junction with the neat trail known as Cliffway. Along this section I chatted with longtime RMC and AVSAR stalwart Paul Cormier, who was out for a local stroll.

This section of trail seems like a distant relative to the nasty sidehill traverse between Castle Trail and Caps Ridge Trail.

Interesting contrast between heavily-used Lowe's Path (running left to right) and the lightly-traveled Link (continuing ahead).

This way.

The curiously named stream known as The Mystic was nearly dry.

The Link getting wilder.

The last section leading to Israel Ridge Path gets more Link-like, narrow and rough on a steep sidehill.

Junction.

A gnarly little scramble heading up the combined Link/Israel Ridge Path.

The First Cascade drops over a series of ledge steps.

The ledge shelf atop First Cascade, crossed by The Link, offers a nice view of Mt. Bowman.

Looking upstream behind First Cascade.

A pair of ladders on the approach to Second Cascade.

The broad ledge face at Second Cascade is one of my favorite spots in the Presidentials.

Nice place to hang out for a while.

Even in a drought, Cascade Brook had a pretty good flow.

Interesting coloration on the ledges.

I climbed partway up the steep section of Israel Ridge Path to access the old slide I wanted to visit.

A short but thick bushwhack led to the revegetated slide. Ouch!

An opening at the slide's edge provided a wide view to the north and NW.

I could see the ledge seat I was aiming for.

While pushing through dense spruce I passed this tiny tamarack.

These are the only exposed ledges remaining on this slide, which fell during the November 1927 rainstorm. It destroyed the birchbark shelter known as Cascade Camp, which was built by trailmaker J. Rayner Edmands in 1892 and was owned by the Randolph Mountain Club at the time.

A rugged flank of Nowell Ridge closes in Cascade Ravine on the east side.

A nicely framed view of the Pliny Range, dominated by the long ridge of Mt. Waumbek.

I spotted what looked like the top of a tall white pine farther up the slide track, so I headed up. Not the most enjoyable type of slide climbing.

And indeed, just off the edge of the dense small spruce growth was a good-sized single white pine, similar to one I found on an old revegetated slide near the Daniel Webster Scout Trail on Mt. Madison.

After descending Israel Ridge Path back from the slide, I headed across the slope on the Cabin-Cascades Trail, which climbs along a rough footway to the Log Cabin. This trail was opened by AMC back in 1881.

Randolph Paths, the RMC guidebook, calls this a "rough, rustic path," I would not disagree with that assessment, though it wasn't quite as gnarly as I expected.