Inlook-Kelton Trail Loop: 6/27/25

Took advantage of an unexpectedly sunny day for a lesiurely loop over less-used Randolph Mountain Club trails on the lower slopes of Mt. Madison, with plentiful waterfall scenery and mountain views. From Appalachia parking I started out on the trail known as Brookbank, which runs along the east side of Snyder Brook, across from Fallsway and Valley Way.

In just 0.2 mile the trail comes to Gordon Fall. 

Many brook vignettes.

Farther up is Upper Salroc Fall.

Tama Fall is the prettiest of the group.

Tama Fall from the other side, on the Fallsway.

After a short jaunt along Valley Way. I turned left onto Brookside, which leads past this enormous boulder.

After crossing Snyder Brook on the combined Brookside/Randolph Path, I headed up the steep but very scenic Inlook Trail.

Inlook gains its first 300 ft. of elevation quickly.

A brief breather in nice spruce forest.

At 2280 ft. the trail emerges on the first of a series of open ledges on a low "finger" of Gordon Ridge. A single wind-flagged white pine adorns this ledge. This spur was partly bared by a 1921 forest fire. According to RMC historian Judith Maddock Hudson, the fire was inadvertently set by USFS rangers who were burning an abandoned logging camp.

First view up to Mt. Madison.

Looking down into the Snyder Brook valley.

Looking up the spur to more ledges.

A fun trail!

 

This broad ledge at 2500 ft. is the best view spot on Inlook Trail.

Long view to the west, all the way out to the Worcester Range and Mt. Mansfield in Vermont.

It's called the Inlook Trail because it looks "in," up the Snyder Brook valley to Mt. Madison and Mt. Adams. The trail was opened by Louis F. Cutter and RMC volunteers in 1932. A previous version of the trail, called the Inlook and Outlook Trail, was destroyed by lumbering in the early 1900s.

A closer look. John Quincy Adams is just up to the left of the summit of Adams. I spent a long time here relaxing in the sun.

From here, a short, steep climb leads to a viewpoint called Dome Rock.

Views have gotten more restricted here over the years, but there's still a good look at Mount Crescent and Black Crescent Mountain. The talus slope seen on the flank of Black Crescent was once known as the "Crescent Scar."

There's also a view NE to the Mahoosuc Range.

 

 

A short distance above Dome Rock the Inlook Trail ends at another viewpoint called the Upper Inlook. Here there is another view to the west, and also NW to Mts. Starr King and Waumbek, and the tops of the three peaks of Mt. Weeks.

 

I squeezed down to a lower ledge for another view up to Madison and Adams.

From here I made a sometimes steep loop descent on the Kelton Trail.

This trail has a wild and remote feel to it.

 

A short distance down Kelton Trail is yet another viewpoint known as the Overlook.

 

An especially nice angle on the Mahoosucs here.

 

Pine Mountain and the three Moriah peaks.

 

Beautiful mossy spruce forest.

A neat ledgy spot.

The steepest pitch on Kelton Trail.

Nice rock step work by RMC.

A short side path leads to Kelton Crag.

A limited view here of lower Howker Ridge.

 

Nice hardwoods on the lower Kelton Trail.

A brief transfer onto Howker Ridge Trail.

I dropped down a little way to check out the gorge known as the Devil's Kitchen.

And Stairs Fall.

I used the mellow Sylvan Way to traverse back to Appalachia,

The trail crosses Snyder Brook at a flat ledgy spot called Sylvan Crossing.

How could I pass up a short trail called Maple Walk?

Living up to its name. This was the tenth trail I set foot on along this interesting four-mile loop.

Before heading home I carefully crossed Route 2 and followed the Bee Line down to the shore of Durand Lake.

From the south shore, a view of Mt. Randolph.

A gorgeous walk along a mowed swath on the north shore, with Mt. Moriah in the distance.

A sweet view of Madison and Adams, and shadowed King Ravine.

Madison and its lumpy Howker Ridge.

Mts. Jefferson and Washington from the field at the start of the Boy Mountain Trail. Only had time to check out the approach to the woods before heading south to Lincoln.

 

Cascades, Slides and Emerald Bluff: 6/25/25

This ~8-mile loop hike in the Northern Presidentials offered a great variety of scenery: ledgy cascades and mossy streams, varied forests, trails easy and steep, bushwhacks to two old slides with open views, and the stunning view of Castle Ravine from the crag known as Emerald Bluff.

 

Mount Jefferson was emerging from the clouds as I set off from Bowman on the Castle Trail. 

A feature on the Israel River known as Israel Rapids can be seen a short distance off the Castle Trail, beyond where the trail crosses the river ( a reasonable if slippery rock hop this day, but difficult in high water).

Easy grades through nice hardwood forest for nearly a mile on Castle Trail.

Someone had placed an old bucket next to the trail at the approximate location of a logging camp shown on Louis Cutter's early 1900s AMC map of the Northern Presidentials.

Nearby was what appeared to be a small cellar hole, though that seems somewhat unusual for a logging camp.

Heading onto the Israel Ridge Path, originally made by the great trail-builder J. Rayner Edmands starting in 1892. It is one of the more lightly used routes up Mt. Adams. In fact, I saw no other hikers during this entire trip.

It starts out with another crossing of the Israel River.

It then runs alongside the river with some nice water scenery.

Good work by the Randolph Mountain Club (RMC) trail folks.

At 1.7 mi., the Castle Ravine Trail continues ahead and Israel Ridge Trail bears left for a long sidehill ascent into Cascade Ravine.

Nice hardwood forest in the lower part.

Higher up, this brushy spot marks the site of one of several landslides that fell across the trail in the big November 1927 rainstorm. The 1929 Supplement to the AMC White Mountain Guide noted that  the Israel Ridge Path had “been graded across three or four slides which came down in the 1927 flood, and which now afford fine outlooks.”

Looking up from here, you can see a hint of the old slide track.

Another old slide track, seen farther up on the trail. These slides have been completely revegetated.

This spine of boulders appears to be a "debris flow levee" deposited along the edge of that slide. The trail skirts around its lower end.

This slightly sketchy ledge is crossed at the lower junction with The Link.

A short detour on The Link leads down to a fine ledge perch at the top of First Cascade, on Cascade Brook. Mount Bowman rises above.

 

 

 

You look down on the brook plunging over a series of ledge steps.

A nice spot to hang out for a while.

Before continuing up Israel Ridge Path, I took a stab at finding the location of the former Cascade Camp, which was located on the south side of Cascade Brook between the First and Second Cascades. It was originally built as a birchbark shelter by J. Rayner Edmands and several associates in 1892, and the great trail-builder welcomed many friends as guests there in the ensuing years. Edmands passed away in 1910, and two years later his niece donated Cascade Camp to the Randolph Mountain Club. The RMC immediately repaired the structure, and that September 38 people attended the RMC annual picnic at the camp. The next year over 80 hikers attended the annual picnic at the camp. A photo of that event is seen on the cover of Peaks & Paths, Judith Maddock Hudson's excellent history of the RMC. The camp was destroyed by a slide that fell from above in the November 1927 storm. From vintage photos I knew that Cascade Camp faced a ledgy wall. I thought the ledge face in this photo might have been the spot, but it was hard to tell, and the area may have been changed significantly by the slide.

A steep climb through rugged terrain, featuring these two sturdy ladders, leads to Second Cascade.

The expansive ledges of Second Cascade make this one of my favorite spots in the Presidentials. I took a nice break here as well.

Cascade Brook slides down the edge of the ledges.

After crossing Cascade Brook above Second Cascade, Israel Ridge Path makes a steep ascent up the nose of Israel Ridge, which divides Cascade Ravine and Castle Ravine.

Partway up the steep climb, I made a short but thick bushwhack across to the remaining open area on the 1927 slide that flattened Cascade Camp.

 

I found a nice flat, dry ledge perch on the slide with a beautifully framed view of the Pliny Range to the north.

Mount Starr King, Mount Waumbek, South Weeks, Mount Cabot and North Weeks.

A steep-sided spur of Nowell Ridge closes in Cascade Ravine on the east.

Other than these steep ledges, this old slide is cloaked in a very dense growth of small spruces.

More ladders higher up on Israel Ridge Path.

 

Looking down from another ladder.

Israel Ridge was originally called the Emerald Tongue. You can see why.

Israel Ridge has long been considered one of Randolph's most beautiful paths.

Farther up the ridge, I bushwhacked steeply down through fairly open woods to yet another 1927 slide.

This one also has a healthy growth of dense small spruce.

But there is a nice open area on the upper part.

One of three small white pines I spotted on this slide, at 3600 ft. well above their normal range.

Another view out to the Pliny Range.

 

This remote spot also has a view across Cascade Ravine to wild cliffs on the steep flank of Nowell Ridge.

 

A closer look at the cliffs.

 

The upper end of the slide.

A close-up of the "trigger point" where the slide tore loose during that epic November 1927 rainstorm.

Whacking back up to the trail.

I've seen freshly cleaned waterbars on several RMC trails recently. Nice work!

Turning onto the Emerald Trail to visit Emerald Bluff, the high point of the day at 4025 ft.

A short side trail leads to the Bluff.

With its phenomenal view into Castle Ravine, this is one of my favorite spots in the Whites.

Looking out to the Dartmouth Range. In the foreground is a slide on the west wall of Castle Ravine, which I have visited several times, most recently last winter.

The sun made an appearance to illuminate the headwall of Castle Ravine.

And Mount Jefferson's Castellated Ridge.

The Castles.

After an hour's sojourn on the Bluff, I headed down the steep and rough Emerald Trail, cut by RMC stalwart Klaus Goetze and friends in 1970. Did I say it was steep?

There are no really tough scrambles, though this rocky jumble is a little tricky to descend.

At the bottom the trail crosses a seriously mossy branch of Castle Brook.

Trail junction on the remote floor of Castle Ravine.

Castle Ravine Trail is wild and beautiful.

A favorite stretch alongside Castle Brook.

The trail climbs over a debris flow levee from a large slide that is prominent in a 1955 aerial photo but is now revegetated.

A multi-cascade at one of several crossings along Castle Ravine Trail, a couple of which can be challenging to execute with dry feet. After the final crossing down low on the Castle Trail, I walked the last easy section accompanied by the haunting song of a Wood Thrush.