Carolina Mountain Club

Hike - Save trails - Make friends

September 12, 2007

Hiking News | CMC Calendar

        Please send me your hiking news, hike and maintenance reports by Monday evening at 9 P.M. before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Monday evening September 24, 2007 to Danny Bernstein danny@hikertohiker.com. Include your email address at the end of your story. Thank you.

       The CMC Calendar is meant to answer the perennial question "When is this happening again?" It is also meant to prevent conflicts between competing CMC events. Please check it often.

How to join the Carolina Mountain Club
1. Go to www.carolinamtnclub.org
2. Click on “How to Join” (upper-left on web page)
3. Print out the “CMC Application Form”
4. Fill it Out, write a check for your dues and ...5. Mail to CMC, PO Box 68, Asheville NC 28802

       For CMC members only - Send all address and email changes to Jean Gard at jeangard@charter.net. If you are a non-member subscriber, you need to go back into "subscribe" and change it there yourself.

What's Happening in the Next Two Weeks

Possible Map Course needs Feedback by Sept. 20.

Want to learn how to read and use topographic maps? Tom Bindrim and Dave Wetmore are thinking of offering their one-day map reading course on some Saturday in October. Before they can plan the course, they need an estimate of how many people might want to take the course. As always, the class limit will be 10 people. If you are interested, contact Dave Wetmore at dwetmore@citcom.net before September 20th.

Participate in an A.T. Water Sampling Event

ATC is preparing for its first Trail-wide water sampling event – it's partnering with the Water Environment Federation for World Water Monitoring Day, actually a month long event held between September 18 and October 18. This is a simple sampling method, no special training is required, and they are hoping to have lots of data from the Trail. If you’d like more information about this project, you can learn more at the ATC website: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.3066845/k.CE10/WWMD.htm

I have asked ATC to provide CMC with five water sampling kits, the maximum they will provide. Each kit comes with one set of equipment and enough material to complete 50 tests. (Of course – you don’t need to use all 50 samples.) For more information about the kits, check this site: http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.com/orderkits/kits.php

If you are interested, send me an e-mail (Lsberns@worldnet.att.net) and tell me where along the A.T. you would be willing to collect water samples. The text kits will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. Lenny Bernstein

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MST Work Days

September 21, 22, 23 and 24 - 2007 - There will a major work weekend on the Parkway between NC-l8 and NC-l6 on this weekend. More than 37 sign posts will be installed for the approximately l5 miles of trail, a few touch-ups for sections where the MST was not dug wide enough, removal of some fallen tree branches, blazing with the MST white dot for about three miles that are unfinished, and perhaps some weed-eating. All of this is for the final work before the state designation on Saturday, October l3 at 1:00 PM at Sheets Gap Overlook, milepost 252.8.

Camping for events listed above is at Doughton Park - free courtesy of the National Park Service for our volunteer workers. Contact Allen de Hart at 919-496-4771 or email: adh4771@aol.com or Jim Hallsey - (336) 877-8831 or jhallsey@skybest.com.

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Hiking the North Carolina Blue Ridge Heritage

Moses Cone Memorial Park

Moses Cone Memorial Park is not a wild, natural place, but an elegant, landscaped estate with 25 miles of gentle carriage roads - perfect for easy hiking.. There had been tourists and summer residents in mountain communities off the Blue Ridge Parkway for over a century before the road was built. Blowing Rock, in particular, was an established resort town, which tripled its population in the summer.

Moses Cone was one such summer resident who built a mansion outside Blowing Rock, now at MP 294. Having made his money in the textile business – he was known as the denim king - Cone and his wife Bertha bought over 3,500 acres adjacent to Blowing Rock and began building their dream house and estate, including three lakes stocked with trout and bass. They created a life of the landed gentry, a kind of modest Biltmore Estate. They built Flat Top Manor, a 20-room house in the Colonial Revival Style with large white columns, elegant leaded glass windows and dormers set high. Like George Vanderbilt, Cone hired Gifford Pinchot to help him landscape the property with fruit trees, sugar maple, and rhododendron.

The Cones’ dream house was finished in 1901 but Moses Cone did not enjoy it for long. He died in 1908 in his early fifties. Moses and Bertha had no children and when Bertha died thirty-nine years later, she bequeathed her entire estate to build the most modern hospital in the South as a memorial to her husband - the Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro. The land and house were subsequently donated to the Blue Ridge Parkway which turned it into the lovely park it is today. Danny. Photo by Danny Bernstein

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Other Important News

Prizes Announced for CMC Member Photo Contest

Finding prizes for the club photo contest has been a challenge. Not only do we need to consider the budget (there are 15 prizes in all), but also we had to find prizes that fit the hiking photographer. I think we've done it.

The first place winner in each of the five categories will receive a lightweight, packable Manfrotto 5-section monopod. It collapses to less than 15.4" and weighs only 10 oz… can also be used as a hiking pole in a pinch. Check it out at:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/427323-REG/Bogen_Manfrotto_790B_790B_Modo_Mono_5_Section.html

Second place winners will receive either a 1gb memory card for their digital camera or 10 rolls of 24-exp. Color film. Winners will first get a certificate so you can indicate your card size or film requirements.

Third place winners will receive a new camera-steadying device called the Pod, a Canadian product. Essentially it is a cleverly made, tough nylon kind of beanbag with a quarter/20 screw on top. When attached to your camera, it provides an impromptu platform for use on uneven surfaces like a rock or limb…even on vertical surfaces like a tree trunk, still allowing some minor tilting after placement. Works well in museums where flash is not allowed, too. It weighs 6.2 oz. Check it out here and drool: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/326794-REG/POD_TPY0031B_The_Pod_Camera_Platform.html.

As of this writing we only have 17 entries to be judged. So your chances of winning are really good...so get those entries in soon. Check the photo contest rules at the link on the home page of our club website – www.carolinamtnclub.org and get those entries in. Even if you don't win, some entries are likely to be used in a slide show at the club's Annual Meeting. Seeing the show will be like hiking without breathing hard.

If your entry bounces when emailed, try again later. I may be out of town. See you at the Annual Meeting. Gerry McNabb, Chair Photo Contest. Contest closes Oct. 1. Send your photos at the contest entry email address: gerald.c.mcnabb.jr.56@alum.dartmouth.org

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Volunteer Greeters Needed!

Beginning in October, volunteers will be needed to staff an Information Desk at The Blue Ridge Parkway Destination & Education Center. Greet visitors to our Western North Carolina mountains and share your interest in local history. This new facility in the Asheville/Oteen area will be open daily, so give of your time on a weekly or monthly basis. For more information, contact Amy Hollifield at 687-7234 or email amyhollifield@awnc.org

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Fontana Village Hiking Week

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Conservation

Proposed I-3 Project in North Georgia, Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee

The political situation involving the proposed interstate I-3 has recently changed. The StopI3 Coalition now believes we have a real opportunity to stop this highway.
In a close vote, Dr. Paul Broun, who strongly opposes I-3, has been elected as the U.S. Representative from District 10 in Georgia. He replaces the late Charlie Norwood. Dr. Broun has promised to sponsor legislation to rescind the study of the I-3 corridor.

We need to ask our North Carolina legislators, Rep. Heath Shuler, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, and Sen. Richard Burr, to work with the Georgia delegation to rescind the study. Inform them of Rep. Broun’s opposition to the study. Let them know why you oppose I-3. To fax, call, or email your Senators and Representatives go to www.congress.org. This is easy. Just enter your zip code and choose your legislator. The last email topic is “compose your own letter.”

For recent I-3 developments and more information, go to www.stopi3.org.

The CMC Council endorsed the following position in 2006:
“The Carolina Mountain Club opposes construction of the proposed Interstate 3 through the mountains of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia.”
• The highway would cross the Appalachian and Benton MacKaye Trails and adversely impact view sheds from the upper ridges crossed by these trails.
• The highway would adversely impact the overall environmental health of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by increasing air pollution and urban sprawl.
Background
In 2004 Rep. Charlie Norwood (R- Georgia) introduced legislation that required the US Department of Transportation to produce a feasibility study for a new Interstate between Savannah, Georgia and Knoxville, Tennessee. The highway would largely be built on the route of existing highways. The legislation was funded in the amount of $1.3M as part of the Transportation Equity Act of 2005.

The proposed route of the new road would take it through the north Georgia mountains near the town of Hiawassee at Unicoi Gap where it would cross the Appalachian Trail. The route would also cross the Benton MacKaye Trail. Both trails would have to be rerouted to cross a multi-lane, controlled-access highway. Hikers would be severely impacted by noise and air pollution from the highway for a considerable distance. The highway would also impact view sheds from the trails and contribute to urban sprawl and second home development. The proposed highway would also impact the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Chattahoochee and Nantahala National Forests.

Many groups, including the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, and CMC oppose the road under the umbrella of the “Stop I-3 Coalition” www.stopI3.org.
.
Ruth Hartzler, for the Conservation Committee

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Heard on the Ground

Adopt an MST Section

The following sections of the Mountains to Sea Trail are available for adoption:
1. Haywood Gap to green Mountain Trail Junction (3 miles)
2. Green Mountain Trail Junction to NC 215 (4 miles)
These are all beautiful sections that provide great personal satisfaction in caring for them. Contact Don Walton at donwalton@bellsouth.net or 654-9904.

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Adopt a piece of the Appalachian Trail

The Garenflo Gap to Deer Park Mountain Shelter section of the Appalachian Trail needs a new Section Maintainer. It is four miles with a 600 ft. ascent. If interested, contact: Howard McDonald at howardamcdonald@bellsouth.net or
828-693-8258. (If you want to adopt a piece of the A.T., you better grab it. They don't come up too often. Danny).

Maintenance Reports created by Don Walton

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Heard on the Trail

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