No More Parking at Lowes Store

[skiguy]

Quoted from the Randolph Mountain Club's Facebook Page today:

Important Trailhead Update:
Please be advised that parking is no longer available at Lowe’s Store for Lowe’s Path. Do not park off the shoulder of RT 2, as this creates a dangerous situation on the road. In addition, pursuant to NH RSA 265, unattended vehicles may be ticked or towed.
Lowe’s path can be accessed via The Link. Please access the trail from the Appalachia Parking area, or plan to use other trails. Alternatively, you can arrange to be dropped off at the Lowe’s Path trailhead.
We understand this is a big change, and we will provide any updates as available.
Thank you,
Randolph Mountain Club

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I drove by last weekend and the property is pretty clearly marked "No Parking". Didn't really look like it had been plowed recently either, so likely hasn't been avaialable for some time. I imagine this could be the beginning of the end for Lowes Path.

Tim

 

[skiguy]

I drove by last weekend and the property is pretty clearly marked "No Parking". Didn't really look like it had been plowed recently either, so likely hasn't been avaialable for some time.

Tim

I saw that also. My guess with the melt out beginning to happen they probably just want to make it real clear for the Summer season going forward. Certainly will put more pressure on Appalachia which is already feeling the load.

 

[Mike P.]

I hope that the FS builds a lot nearby or you'll need to arrive at Appalachia well before first light to get a spot. For as crowded as it was in 2020 that was without Mad hut being open.

 

[skiguy]

This was quickly commented on via FaceBook. A representative from the Lowe Family said there will be parking this Summer. The closure this Winter was due to the fact that the Lot was very full with long term parking by Tractor Trailers and the plowing situation had become difficult to maintain parking for others. So it's only a temporary band. My apologigies for any confusion resulting from the title of this thread. Until then I guess we are all going to have to rely on updates from peakbagger.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I hope that the FS builds a lot nearby or you'll need to arrive at Appalachia well before first light to get a spot. For as crowded as it was in 2020 that was without Mad hut being open.

Bowman is less than a mile away via the rail trail. It's also shorter to the Link/Lowe's junction from Bowman than taking the Link from Appalachia. I wonder why they don't suggest that as an alternative.

 

[peakbagger]

Once winter conditions are over I suspect the better option from parking on RT2 would be along Durand Road which is a very short walk to Lowes Path. No parking on the road during winter. About 15 years ago the RMC was talking with the owners of the former Bowman's Base Camp to buy the property. The RMC would keep the building for trail crew quarters while the FS would buy the rest to secure the trail and possibly put in parking. The building was determined to be unsuitable and RMC built the Sterns lodge facility instead on Cold Brook. Reportedly the owner wanted significant dollars for the parcel and building. I think the building is no longer accessible from the road as a culvert washed out or was removed a few years ago. The No Parking signs at Lowes have been up for most of the winter. With the huts closed there was far less demand for hiker parking but it also served for snowmachine parking.

IMO the best long term option if the Lowes complex is not available is relocate the trail through the new Rendolph Community Forest parcel to the east and connect up with the new trail to Rollo Falls that starts at the Bowman Parking lot which is state land.

 

[Lefty E]

Yes due to the closure of Lowe's Store and other matters, plowing of the parking area was difficult this winter, so the signs had to be put up. Speaking with a family member, 3 season will be allowed...forgot to ask about the parking donation fee..maybe like 7 Dwarf's on Little River Road, a generous donation left on the windshield might help out...

 

[dave.m]

Is Lowe's Store itself closing as a business concern?

 

[JustJoe]

Last September there was a note on the door. Can't remember exactly what it said but it was something along the lines of, "The store is closed, just slip the money under the door."

 

[David Metsky]

Is Lowe's Store itself closing as a business concern?

It appears so. All the standard references online mark it as closed for good.

 

[dave.m]

Wow. The Lowe family has had a foot print there for a very long time. This is a passing similar to the Old Man falling down in some respects.

But, as Bruce Cockburn notes, "everything that exists in time, runs out of time some day."

 

[Mac]

My first ever Northern Presi hike involved parking at Lowes. I remember the matriarch of the clan was collecting the fee. End of an era.

 

[Mike P.]

I didn't hike out of that area often but it always felt like I was visiting a piece of White Mountain history when I stopped in or parked to hike.

 

[Grey J]

I parked there in 2013 when I soloed Mt Adams and hit Abigail Adams and Adams 5 on a neat loop. I love Adams. I parked way off to the side as, IIRC, a sign directed you to, and left a note on the dash because the store wasn't open yet. Paid my ($2?) fee when I got back down in the late afternoon. "Yup, I saw your note," the guy behind the counter said. He looked like he stepped off the set from To Kill a Mockingbird. I bought some snacks and drinks to be neighborly but I don't think I got a smile out of him. Yeah, that place was a White Mountain institution. Sad to see it go.

 

[JToll]

When I paid my parking fee the gentleman at the counter said the money went for plowing the lot in the winter.

 

[peakbagger]

These small independent convenience operations have been fading out as long as I have been in the area. Seasonal business just cannot keep most of these places afloat and the local populations are dropping. Most of the gas operations are there to drive traffic with minimal profit and the safety and environmental regulations for maintaining pumps is quite high. Many of the stores with pumps could not afford the cost to upgrade and as the deadlines approached the equipment was removed. There is usually an environmental spill of some sort when the old tanks are pulled and unless its already done most banks will not lend to a new owner due to the potential liability. Stores need to be open 7 days a week 12 plus hours a day and that requires staff. Randolph has 300 year round residents and very few are ideal candidates to run the store as employees. The local papers are full of ads for low paid seasonal worker with no benefits. That means the owner, his spouse or if he is lucky his kids are going to be living in the store. About the only buyers of these stores seem to be immigrant families like the family that bought the store in Bethlehem a few years back and the family that owns the store in North Woodstock. If there is traffic and volume a regional or national chain with a gasoline contract builds a location and grabs all the volume (Blue Canoe/Irving or Cumberland Farm). At best the independents earn a wage working long hours for minimal pay for themselves instead of working for others. Generally their retirement is funded by what they can sell the business for. Every so often I see commercial listings for the area and many of the same stores have been sale for years. Inevitably they sell either owner financed or at a substantial discount.

The only business model that seems to keep these places alive is that the community gets together and buys the place, fixes it up and then finds a couple to run it. Since its run as a community store, it tends to attract enough local business since the locals have equity in it. Randolph is a seasonal town and about half the year round population lives off on Randolph hill road. They are about as close to Gorham as Lowes. The seasonal population is similar about half are closer to Gorham by road and the other half are quite spread out. Therefore I just do not see Lowes having a great commercial value despite its long term historical association with the area.

 

[dave.m]

Perhaps one approach to make the numbers add for the community ownership model, would be to envision it as existing primarily to service the hiking community. Convert some number or all of the cabins to hiker hostel level accommodations (which would lower upkeep) and re-orient the store to last-minute hiker supplies and foods.

I would not want to pull the RMC (decades long member) towards a mini-northern Pinkham Notch Visitors' Center...

But maybe I'm suggesting that.

Honestly, if there were a place at the foot the Northern Presis where I would roll in by car late Thursday or Friday night, crash in a heated room, grab a cup of coffee and breakfast sandwich in the morning, pay for weekend parking, come back to a few days later, maybe grab a quick hot shower and cold beer and munchies...

I would definitely keep the name. Turn the store into a mini-museum of the RMC... Just thinking out loud with other people's money and time...

EDITED to ADD: Perhaps work a deal with Ragged Mtn to manage the hiker supply counter space....

 

[peakbagger]

FWIW There was a debate within the RMC when the Stearn's Lodge trail crew facility was built to add some capability for overnight lodgers. There were individuals that probably would have funded the cost but it opened up a fundamental problem that RMC is a volunteer run organization. They do have a paid seasonal trail crew, two seasonal caretakers and a trail crew leader but they are all seasonal positions. To go any further there would be the need to hire a manager. The economics of the club would radically change and it would have to grow much larger and access new revenue sources just to break even. Sure a special person, like a retiree may step up and do it for free or at some minimal cost but once the commitment is made, then the club is on the hook for the long term. Those special people do not grow on trees so the club needs to be ready to fill the position with a qualified person that doesn't have the luxury of working for free or at reduced rate.

 

[dug]

Most depressing finish to a hike was coming down of Adams and looking at Lowe's store the entire way down and drooling over the beer I had planned. We got into the store...I wandered about looking for the beer cooler, and finally asked "Where's your beer?"

"Randolph's a dry town!" was the reply.

Not what a college kid needs to hear.......