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February 22, 2006 |
| Carolina Mountain Club - Hiking and maintaining the trails of Western North Carolina |
| Happenings in the next two weeks | Last chance to join these activities |
| Other News | Important news |
| Conservation | Please send your comments on the North Shore Road |
| Guide book | Waterfalls of South Carolina |
| Heard on the trail | English Chapel in Pisgah |
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Please send me your hiking news, hike and maintenance reports by Monday evening before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Monday evening March 6 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 Hike Leaders Dinner - March 1 Block out the evening of Wednesday March 1, 2006 for our evening of food, prizes, fun, and training! That's the correct date. If you have not RSVP yet, please let Dave Wetmore know whether or not you will be coming. dwetmore@citcom.net ---------------------- Back to Top Trail Building Day, Saturday March 18. ---------------------- Back to Top CMC Spring barbecue and social, Saturday, April 22 A CMC Spring Barbecue will be held at the beautiful North Carolina Arboretum on Saturday, April 22. We’ll have scheduled hikes, including the Bonsai House, and lots of socializing. All CMC members and their families and friends are invited. We will have 2 scheduled hikes: the first starting at 2:00 - meet at the main building - we will go around Lake Powhatan and the Arboretum - about 5 miles.
The second hike will be at 3:00 and will be the interior Arboretum loop, including the CMC Trail - about 3 miles. The cost is $13 per person including the gate entry. Please send your check, by April 15 (no exception). made to CMC to: ---------------------- Back to Top Want to go cross-country skiing? I would like to create an email contact group for people interested in x-country skiing
since it's the kind of trip impossible to schedule months in advance. I'm sure plenty of CMC members have done it or would like to try it, and every winter conditions are occasionaly good enough for it, particularily at the high places on the state line like Roan Mountain. So if you're interested, please e-mail me and I'll add you to the group. Then if anyone's planning a trip and would like some company they can just e-mail an invitation to the rest of us." Paul Benson pdbenson@charter.net ---------------------- Back to Top Possible Hiking and Rafting weekend in September I am thinking of organizing a hiking and rafting weekend September 15-17. It will be at NOC in Wesser which has a range of accommodations: camping, hostelling, cabins and an high-end inn. See http://www.noc.com/group_lodging.html. We will have several hikes each day in Nanatahala National Forest. If you think you would be interested, please let me know. Danny danny@hikertohiker.org ---------------------- Back to Top
But look at Thomas E. King's new, self-published book on the waterfalls of South Carolina and you will find many waterfalls that are bound to be new to most CMC members. King found 92 waterfalls in the upstate which he rates on their looks and accessibility. Take his trail ratings with a grain of salt - remember he is not writing for a hiking club - and you will find his driving and trail directions to be precise and his small black and white pictures helpful in determining if you want to find a particular waterfall. The book is spiral-bound which makes so much sense for a guidebook. I am amazed that a main-stream publisher has not done this. The book is available in Upstate bookstores. For the rest of us, contact the writer at 864-847-7995 or at tomking@carol.net.
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Your North Shore Road Comments are needed! The CMC has endorsed the financial settlement with Swain County and is firmly against any construction on the North Shore Road area of the Smokies. Please send your comments on the North Shore Road to http://www.northshoreroad.info/comments.htm. Support the financial settlement with Swain County. Look at a sample letter with all the relevant addresses. For a more detailed understanding of the issue and the five alternatives, see http://www.carolinamtnclub.org/data/North%20Shore%20DEISSummary060113.pdf It is especially important for people outside the immediate area to send in comments. We only have until March 20 to write and email comments. ---------------------- Back to Top Bush plan could sell your forest land in WNC! The Bush administration's FY 2007 Budget proposes to sell nearly a billion dollars worth of federal forests. Developers are already lining up for $800 million of National Forests and $182 million of forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management. In local terms, it is over 2,780 acres in Pisgah National Forest. The Asheville Citizen-Times published a good article on February 20. Go to http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/spd.html to see the detailed pieces. Unfortunately, at this point, it is very difficult to translate the parcel numbers to places we know and hike. The CMC Conservation committee will investigate what those parcel numbers mean on the ground. In the meantime, write to your representative and to Pres. Bush and say "No Way." More information later. ---------------------- Back to Top If you have driven up U.S. 276 into Pisgah National Forest, you've seen the sign for the English Chapel which dates back to the 1850s. That chapel was started by the great-grandfather of our new Let's Go editor, Stuart English. ---------------------- Back to Top |
Danny Bernstein
danny@hikertohiker.org
Sometimes Upstate South Carolina don't get no respect.