March 22, 2006

        Please send me your hiking news, hike and maintenance reports by Monday evening before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Monday evening April 3 to Danny Bernstein danny@hikertohiker.org. Include your email address at the end of your story. Thank you.

What's Happening the Next Two Weeks

Saving Parkway Views

You are invited to help friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway plant seedlings Saturday, March 25, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM.

FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway is an environmental nonprofit organization based in the Roanoke Valley where we began over 16 years ago. With over 7,000 members nationally, we are growing, but we need your help to save the Blue Ridge Parkway views! For all details, see http://www.blueridgefriends.org/index.cfm/fa/news.view.htm.

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Other Important News

 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, a gear "swap meet" 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.
Both hikes will finish with time for self guided tours of the core gardens and the bonsai exhibit. For those who do not wish to hike, maps are available at check-in for the self guided tours from 2:00 to 6:00.

        We'll set up a corner of the auditorium for attendees who have hiking or camping gear that they wish to offer for swaps, exchanges or sale. Everyone probably has an extra pack or other no-longer-needed gear hiding in the basement. Bring it along and you'll have a chance to pass it on to a new owner.
        The hikes will begin at 2 PM, the social hour in the Arboretum Auditorium will start at 3:00 P.M., and Bubba Q (a caterer) will serve barbecue pork and chicken with sides and tea at 6 PM (no alcohol allowed). We have the Auditorium reserved until 8:30, so there will be plenty of time to meet your CMC friends.

        The cost is $13 per person including the gate entry. Please send your check, by April 15 (no exception). made to CMC to:
Les Love 25 Scenic View Dr. Weaverville, NC 28787. Questions? Call Les at 658-1489

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Possible Hiking and Rafting Weekend in September - Last chance to show your interest

       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 Nantahala National Forest. If you think you would be interested, please let me know. Danny danny@hikertohiker.org

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Boot Camp at Diamond Brand April 7 and 8

Diamond Brand Outdoors' Arden location will host the Backpacker Magazine Fit System By Phil Oren Boot Camp in our area this year. It will be the weekend of April 8th. You can see all the info at www.backpacker.com/bootcamp.

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Trailfest, April 21-23

Come and join us for the 11th annual Trailfest in Hot Springs, NC on April 21 - 23, 2006. Music, food, games, river rafting/cleanup trip, fun, World Famous Duck Race, a basic Trail Maintenance Workshop, an Invasive Species Workshop plus many other fun activities!

Please check the web-site for pictures and more information: www.trailfest.net

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Blue Ridge Parkway Unable to Publish Official Map Because of Budget Shortfall

The Blue Ridge Parkway has made known to its stakeholders that it will be unable to print copies of its popular park guide for visitors this next season. 700,000 copies are needed every 18 months to educate and direct park visitors to its popular resources. The maps are the parks main communication and messaging device that is given to visitors at park visitor and contact stations.

The Blue Ridge Parkway whose fiscal year begins in October of each year is already facing a $1.0 M - plus deficit in FY 2006 if it were to maintain FY 2005 levels of service and staffing.

The Blue Ridge Parkway's annual operating budget has only increased 0.5% (adjusted for inflation) since 1980. The maintenance backlog remains more than 200 million dollars. Additional budget facts can be found at www.brpfoundation.org/media_access.php

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Wilderness First Aid April 29 - 30 Sponsored by the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont
This course is for the outdoor enthusiast with no medical background. Whether you are a kayaker, scout leader, and backpacker, this course is
for you. Designed to help prepare you for medical emergencies that occur where the ambulance cannot go. In sixteen hours, you will learn
important aspects of patient assessment, using extremity splints, evaluating spinal injuries, and how to handle some crucial environmental
problems. We will do scenarios and put the knowledge to a hands on practical approach. This course is endorsed by the American Camping
Association. Program lasts from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. Workshop cost is: $315: includes instruction, lodging, and meals (Saturday lunch - Sunday lunch). Textbook fee (approximately $20) is not included.
Participants have the option of spending Friday night at the Institute for an additional fee of $15/person. Additional meals are $6/person.
You will be the recipient of a Wilderness First Aid Certification, 2.4 CU’s in study And CPR certification with the American Heart Association.
Please call 865-448-6709 to register or visit http://www.gsmit.org/adult/wilderness_first_aid.html

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Movie Review - Southbounders

I may be a little slow but it took me a good way into the movie, Southbounders, before I realized that it was a scripted movie and not a documentary. The movie follows three young folks, Olivia, the lead and two guys, going southbound on the A.T. First she wades into a Maine river in bare feet, a real no-no. Then she meets Northbounders much too early. Most Southbounders leave in mid-June which is too early for Northbounders to be in Maine. Once I realized that this was a movie, I relaxed and let the characters, story and scenery wash over me and I enjoyed it. Slackpack, an fat, incessant talker from Georgia, provides comic relief. He was my second-most favorite character. The best was Slackpack's wife. It was worth watching the whole movie for the scene where Slackpack and his good-looking wife meet after being separated for several months. See http://www.southbounders.com/ . Danny Bernstein

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Help Wanted!

We need help on two activities.

Membership Committee

Becky Smucker, our Vice President, will be chairing a Membership Committee with four goals:

• Maintain the Club’s membership records
• Develop and maintain a demographic profile of the Club
• Solicit new members
• Foster member involvement in the Club, especially new members

If you are interested in this activity, please contact Becky (828) 298-5013, bsmucker@charter.net

ATC Guidebook Committee

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) annually publishes the AT Data Book, which provides accurate information on the distances between all highlights on the AT. Every few years, it publishes a new edition of the guidebook to AT in North Carolina and Tennessee. The input to these publications is provided by volunteers from Trail Maintaining Clubs, like CMC. Lewis Blodgett, who for many years has been our volunteer on this activity, has resigned. If you would like to replace Lewis, please contact Lenny Bernstein (828) 236-0192, Lsberns@worldnet.att.net, for details.

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Conservation

Your forest land could be sold off!

      The CMC recently adopted a position in opposition to the proposed sale of national forest land to fund the extension of the Rural Schools…Act.  The US Forest Service is accepting public comment on the proposal until March 30.  If you have not yet submitted your opinion to them, the best way is by letter to the Forest Service with a copy to our US senators and representative.  These letters really do have an impact, and a brief note to the point is all that is needed.  Click on this link for a copy of our club position, addresses to send letters to, an email address if you really prefer that route, and some ideas for thoughts to include in your letter:  Click here! Becky Smucker

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The New York Times March 20, 2006 Editorial

>The Road to Nowhere
>
>It seems insane that the National Park Service would even think of spending $600 million on a road that few people want and nobody needs - especially when the service has barely enough money to keep up appearances. But that could happen unless the Interior Department musters the courage to resist Representative Charles Taylor of North Carolina.
>
>Mr. Taylor, who says a new road would stimulate the local economy, runs the subcommittee that controls the Interior Department's budget. For that reason, neither the park service nor Interior's outgoing secretary, Gale Norton, has publicly criticized the idea. But there is more at stake here than pleasing one's paymaster. The road would not only blow a hole in the department's budget; it would also leave a scar on one of the most popular national parks.
>
>At issue is a 30-mile road proposed for the north side of Fontana Lake on the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The road was promised to the residents of Swain County in 1943 when the Tennessee Valley Authority built a major hydroelectric dam, creating the lake and flooding out an existing road. After a fitful start in the 1960's, the road was abandoned for environmental and budgetary reasons.
>
>Those reasons still apply. The road, including three big bridges, each the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, would breach an unbroken tract of national forest, destroy wildlife habitat and poison hundreds of miles of streams. Its estimated cost of $604 million - up 40 percent from only a year ago - is three times the annual roads budget for the entire national park system, which is already suffering from a big repair backlog.
>
>There is no pressing need for the project. Swain County has other roads. The road's opponents include Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, and Swain County's own commissioners. There is broad agreement that restitution of some sort is due the residents of the region, and that the spirit if not the letter of the original agreement should be honored. A cash settlement of $52 million has been proposed.
>
>As Mr. Taylor has noted, this will not generate the jobs and income that>the road project would. But it's fair, and it won't do lasting damage. Interior should endorse the settlement. The department's neutrality serves only to keep alive an idea that makes even less sense now than it did in 1943.

Comments to northshoreroad@arcadis-us.com and Representative Charles Taylor 22 South Pack Square- Suite 330 Asheville, NC 28801.

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Heard on the trail

     What is your treat after a hike? Some people (both men and women) indulge in ice cream, others go to their favorite coffee shop. After a backpack, you might consider a massage. Let me know and I'll print it in the eNew - anonymously, if you want. Danny. danny@hikertohiker.org    

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