Along the Brook Trail on Mount Chocorua. Imagine volunteering here! Photo: Juno Lamb
Chocorua Mountain Club and Chocorua Lake Conservancy Merger Brings New Opportunities for Trail Stewardship
In 2023, Chocorua Mountain Club merged into Chocorua Lake Conservancy, and a new coalition of trail stewards is coming together to care for the well-used trails on Mount Chocorua. You’re invited, too!
Since long before Chocorua Lake Conservancy (CLC) was a twinkle in its founders’ eyes, and a whole decade before the founding of the White Mountain National Forest, Chocorua Mountain Club (CMC) has maintained trails on Mount Chocorua. At the first meeting of CMC in July of 1908, its new members described its purposes: “to explore and to make paths and camps in the White Mountains [and]…to acquire by purchase or gifts…land” that would improve and preserve the natural resources of the White Mountains. Much of the early history of Chocorua Mountain Club is captured in CLC’s 50th anniversary book Timeless Chocorua, including a note about membership, which “reached a record high of 418 in 1923, when special efforts were made to enlist support of all who made use of the huts and trails.”
Fast forward to 2010, when the club’s constitution was revised from its 1948 version to read: “The purpose of the Club shall be to work in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service to maintain the trails on Mt. Chocorua, Mt. Paugus and other trails in the Chocorua basin.”
Fast forward to…today. After nearly 120 years, CMC was in need of evolution. In early 2023, dedicated CMC members felt that the time was right to combine the avid mountain trails stewardship of CMC with CLC’s organizational strength, including a larger membership and structures in place to communicate with members of both CLC and CMC. Representatives of the two organizations agreed that the merger would result in good outcomes, preservation of CMC history, and a shared desire to cultivate and support a new generation of stewards to care for all of the mountain trails and trails on CLC conservation lands. Their memberships agreed: CMC approved the merger proposal at its Annual Meeting in May 2023, and CLC members approved it unanimously at their August Annual Meeting.
One result of the merger is the newly-formed Chocorua Mountain Club Trails Committee, under the guidance of CLC Board member David Kunhardt, who is delighted to see an outpouring of interest in adopting trails and being part of caring for this very special mountain environment.
You’re invited, too! The CMC Trails Committee welcomes hikers and climbers of all ages to join us annually on the second Saturday of May (May 11 in 2024) for our dedicated Trail Clearing Day in stewardship of Mount Chocorua and its surrounding beautiful trails.
If you’d like to be involved year-round and have access to training days with trails experts, or adopt a trail by yourself or with family or friends, get in touch with David to learn more: info@chocorualake.org. Mount Chocorua may not need 418 trail stewards, but if you’re interested, we definitely need you!