CMC E-News
November 23, 2005

Now it's deer season Nov. 21 – Dec. 10, 2005
(Bears and boars are getting a break!)
(That's with guns, folks, Wear that Orange)

        Please send me your hiking news, hike and maintenance reports by Monday evening before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Monday evening Dec. 5 to Danny Bernstein danny@hikertohiker.org. Include your email address at the end of your story. Thank you.

What's Happening in the Next Two Weeks

Chain Saw training

So far, I've only received 3 application forms from CMC members (N. Bacile, B. Haas, and J. Blodgett) for the Friday, 12/2 - Saturday, 12/3 chainsaw certification course. The plan right now is to have the classroom portion on Friday night (probably 6-9pm) here at the Forest Supervisors Office in Asheville and then the field portion on Saturday either in the Bent Creek area or on USFS land east of Asheville off of I-40. Our ATC crew van would be available for carpooling to the field site if needed.

We still have 11 open slots. So, if you know of someone within the CMC who has expressed interest in the course, encourage them to return their application form ASAP. The form may be downloaded at http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.851183/k.6196/Become_a_Certified_Sawyer.htm

We'd like to have ALL the application forms back from everyone before Tuesday, 11/29 if possible. This will give us time to send out the information letter and student guidebook.Matt Davis.org mdavis@atconf.org

Other Important News

Highlights of the Annual Meeting!!!

The 2005 Annual banquet and dinner was held on Friday Nov. 11 at the Chariot Restaurant.in Hendersonville. The speaker was good and so was the food. But the best part was to see our hiking and maintenance buddies in their civilian clothes. Some men even had ties on. How could any CMC member miss that?

Our speaker was Jeffrey Hunter Southeastern Foot Trails Coalition, a program of the American Hiking Society. The Coalition promotes a regional network of long distance trails.

The CMC membership passed the new by-laws and voted in the new officer slate. Lenny Bernstein is the new president and Becky Smucker, the new vice-president. The complete list of officers at http://www.carolinamtnclub.org/data/CMC%202006%20Elected%20Officers.pdf

Lenny Bernstein has been a hiker, peak bagger, and hiking club member for more than 30 years, completing the AT, the SB6K, the New England 4000 footers, and the Catskill 3500 footers along the way. In his former life he was President of the Union County (NJ) Hiking Club for four years, and a hike leader and trail maintainer for many more. He and Danny moved to Asheville and joined the CMC in 2001. He has been CMC Membership Chair since 2003, was Secretary in 2003-4, and Vice President in 2005. He has led hikes for CMC since 2002, and maintains sections of both the AT and MST. He can be reached at 828-236-0192 or Lsberns@worldnet.att.net.

Becky Smucker joined the Carolina Mountain Club in 1998. She served as Club treasurer for three years, 2001-03, and was on the By-Laws Revision Committee in 2005. She has hiked regularly with the club since joining, and has been leading hikes for the last two years. Becky has been a Realtor for 10 years, and has had the pleasure of working with a number of CMC members in that capacity. She looks forward to rejoining the Council and helping to guide it through some more good years. She can be reached at BeckySmucker@remax.net.

See our council members.

 ---------------------- Back to Top

Roaring Fork Shelter dedication

ATC Holiday Hike

Save the date. Saturday, Dec. 17, in Hot Springs for the ATC Hot Springs Holiday Hike at 10 am, at the USFS Ranger Station, next to the Red Caboose.  It is about a five mile round trip from there up to the top of Lovers Leap, so it should take about 2 hours. More information later as plans develop.

 ---------------------- Back to Top

Review

Do you love your feet? Can you love your socks as much as your feet? If hikers spend a lot of money, time and effort picking out their boots, why do they not spend the same effort on their hiking socks? These heady questions came to me when I went to buy boots at Diamond Brand and saw these Teko socks for $23. Twenty-three dollars? But then I thought, socks are much closer to my feet than my boots and I just spent plenty for my boots. Teko socks are 80% Merino wool, 8% recycled polyester, 10% nylon and 2% Lycra. With its reinforced heel, toes and lots of other places, they are soft but stretchy and fit like a sock should. And if you read the packaging, Teko claims to have made these socks with the lowest possible ecological impact on the earth. At least have a look at them when you go to spend your Diamond Brand gift certificate.

 ---------------------- Back to Top

Conservation note

This picture was taken by Linda Beja close to camp 83 on the Hazel Creek trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at the beginning of November. What is going on there?

The trails are being widened, graded, and generally made into roads so that the NPS can transport people by cars and buses to the cemeteries. This kind of work, unfortunately, does not need any public input or Environmental Impact Statement.

Danny Bernstein

 ---------------------- Back to Top

Heard on the trail

Elrose Couric and Sue Hollinger (fondly known as the twins) finished the Smokies 900 in October. We heard that there was quite a celebration in Waynesville. Congratulations to you both! You're an inspiration to us all to keep plugging at these challenges.

By popular request, Renate Rikkers has offered her oatmeal-apricot bar recipe, world famous in Asheville.

 ---------------------- Back to Top