Trails / New Hampshire / Presidential Range

Crag Camp and Gray Knob (Northern Presidentials)

White Mountain National Forest, Randolph Mountain Club camps on Mt. Adams (Randolph)

On the north side of Mt. Adams, just below treeline, the Randolph Mountain Club keeps two enclosed cabins and two open shelters that hikers can walk into and use, first come, first served. Crag Camp sits on the edge of King Ravine; Gray Knob is a few minutes away, under the Nowell Ridge outcrop. Together they make a short, steep overnight with the alpine zone right above the door.

The Forest Service describes the Appalachia trailhead as the gateway to the Northern Presidentials, with longer treks leading “to Randolph Mountain Club cabins and tent sites.”

The hike

Yankee Magazine’s directions are simple: park at Appalachia on Route 2 and “take the Amphibrach Trail to the Spur Trail, which will take you to Crag Camp.” A Mount Washington Observatory staffer who made the trip in September 2008 described about two-plus miles of gradual trail past streams and small waterfalls, then the Spur Trail’s last 0.8 mile, which gained more elevation than everything before it.

Crag Camp is at 4,247 feet, according to the RMC, with views of King Ravine, the Knife Edge, and Mts. Madison and Adams. The Observatory writer found a view down into the ravine “just a couple tenths of a mile away from the shelter.” SectionHiker calls King Ravine “a magnificent glacial cirque.”

Gray Knob is at 4,372 feet on the Gray Knob Trail, a few minutes’ walk east of Lowe’s Path, and also reached from the top of the Hincks Trail. Its water is a spring about a quarter mile east on the Gray Knob Trail; Crag Camp’s spring is about a quarter mile west on the same trail. Neither cabin has running water.

The RMC’s other two camps are open shelters. The Perch, between the Israel Ridge Trail and the Randolph Path at about 4,300 feet, has an eight-person log shelter and four wooden platforms, according to a 2014 SectionHiker post, with cold, spring-fed Cascade Brook about 50 yards away. The Log Cabin is a three-sided shelter.

Yankee calls Crag Camp “a great self-service base for exploring the krummholz near the treeline and the alpine zone.” That alpine terrain is fully exposed, and New Hampshire’s state parks division says winds on nearby Mt. Washington reach hurricane force more than 100 days a year. For a longer loop, SectionHiker’s 2011 route climbed Howker Ridge past Madison Hut, followed Lowe’s Path to the Crag Camp area, and returned to Appalachia, with about 5,400 feet of gain.

The camps are also an overnight option on the Presidential Traverse.

Tips

• Arrive with a backup plan. RMC says to be prepared to stay at a different shelter if one is full.
• Bring cash or a card. The caretaker collects fees in the evening; the RMC can’t take Canadian currency.
• Leave the liquid-fuel stove outside. RMC prohibits them inside its camps; bring your own stove and utensils.
• Pack warm. RMC says Crag Camp isn’t insulated, and even with Gray Knob’s winter woodstove, “do not expect temperatures above 40 degrees inside.”
• Carry a good map. The Forest Service notes the area has many trails close together.

Camping

All four RMC camps are open to the public, first come, first served, with an overnight fee (RMC members get a discount) and no reservations, according to the club. Crag Camp sleeps 20 and Gray Knob 15. Each camp has a nearby water source and a composting outhouse. Fees are not listed here.

The camps are in a Forest Protection Area: RMC says anyone tenting must go more than a quarter mile from the camps, and “camping in the alpine zone is strictly prohibited unless there is at least two feet of snowpack.” Forest Service backcountry staff patrol for illegal camping. The Forest Service brochure also bans wood and charcoal fires in the alpine zone.

Inside Intel: The Observatory writer called the night at Crag Camp “surprisingly warm” and wrote about the “surprisingly comfy confines of the shelter.” In a 2014 post, SectionHiker described the stargazing from The Perch on clear nights as spectacular.

Trail facts

• Distance: About 6 miles round trip to Crag Camp (estimate; see sources)
• Route type: Out and back via the Amphibrach and Spur Trails; loop options
• Difficulty: Strenuous
• Campsites: Crag Camp (20), Gray Knob (15), The Perch (shelter and four platforms), Log Cabin (shelter)
• Water: Springs on the Gray Knob Trail; Cascade Brook at The Perch; no running water in the cabins
• Permits: None; pay the RMC caretaker
• Fires and stoves: No liquid-fuel stoves inside RMC camps; no wood fires in the alpine zone
• Trailhead: Appalachia, Route 2, Randolph (no restroom or potable water)
• Last verified: October 11, 2026

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

• Randolph Mountain Club: Camps
• Randolph Mountain Club: Crag Camp
• Randolph Mountain Club: Gray Knob
• Mount Washington Observatory: Northern Presidentials overnight (2008)
• Yankee Magazine: Hiking and biking, 6 destinations (2008)
• SectionHiker: Howker Ridge Trail - Lowe’s Path loop (2011)
• SectionHiker: The Perch shelter and campsite (2014)
• U.S. Forest Service: Appalachia Trailhead
• U.S. Forest Service: White Mountain National Forest visitor brochure
• NH Division of Parks and Recreation: About its Weather

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.