Carolina Mountain Club

Hike - Save trails - Make friends

July 18th, 2008

Hiking News | CMC Calendar

News about eNews

For the months of June through August I will be producing the biweekly eNews while the Bernsteins are on vacation. I am not as closely involved in the day-to-day activities of the club as is Danny. This means that I will need help in gathering items for the eNews. Please don't assume that if something important is happening that I know about it. Send me items for inclusion! Putting "eNews" in your email subject header will guarantee that your input will get prompt attention.

Dave Wetmore, dwetmore@citcom.net

Important News

Search & Rescue Team
The new Search and Rescue is compiling and maintaining a contact list of members who might be available to help in a possible search. Anyone interested can contact Frank Goldsmith at frankgold@earthlink.net, 828-230-6077, or Stuart English at stuengo@citcom.net, 828-883-2447. This information will be available only to SAR committee members. It is understood that everyone on the list might not be able to respond. This is makes it important to have a well represented list.

Our Own Celebrity!
Lenny Bernstein is featured prominently in the July-August issue of AT Journeys. Over two pages of text, a full-page photo and a half-page photo!

Maintainers and Photographers of Maintainers--Your Chance For Fame!
The Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway is producing a new brochure, and they want to include a high-quality image of volunteer trail work.If you have pictures that you'd like to submit for their consideration you can send a low-resolution jpg to Kitty Coleman at the Friends office. They will contact you if they want higher quality images

Leave No Trace Trainer Course
There will be a Leave No Trace Trainer Course- certifies participants to be LNT trainers. July 25-27 in Brevard. This course certifies participants to be LNT Trainers. The cost is $65 for course materials and some meals. Email Cindy McJunkin at mcjfive@aol.com or call 828-712-9646 for more details and contact information for instructors.

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Heard On the Trail

From the first eNews, April 16th, 2003
There is a long standing debate whether the Mountains to Sea Trail is called the "MTS" or "M-T-S or the "MST". Early in the development of the trail most of the construction and existing trail was located, and still is, in Western NC.

For reasons that began before my time we started calling it the MTS or M-T-S trail and it is today in our area most commonly referred to as the MTS trail. Even the sign on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) leading to the BRP Administrative Building has MTS on its sign.

The Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail organization and the North Carolina State Park System both will assure you that the official abbreviated name of the trail is "MST". --Don Walton

A Website Insight
(There is a wealth of information on our website. This is one of an irregular series of brief descriptions of what any hiker can find there..--Editor)

The CMC maintains an easily-searchable list of over 600 hikes. The list is available to all. Most of the hikes are in western North Carolina, but there are also some in the Great Smokies, upstate South Carolina and upstate Georgia.

To find the list go to the CMC website. In the left margin under "Hiking", click on "Hike Finder"  or "BRP". The BRP list is a shorter version of the list which covers only hikes along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

There are several ways to search for a hike: general location, length, difficulty, BRP milepost, hike name and number (used mostly by CMC hike schedulers). This search yields a list of the hikes meeting your search criteria.

For each hike, the information is presented on two levels. There is a summary which gives the trailhead location, hike type, difficulty, and length. Clicking on the name of the hike takes you to a detail page for that hike.

The detailed information on each hike varies. Most contain ascent/descent elevation information,  a detailed description and driving directions to the trailhead. For many hikes there are both downloadable maps showing the hike (pdf format) and GPS tracks (in gpx or txf format). Adding GPS tracks for the hikes and converting all tracks to the common gpx format is an on-going Club project.

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Heard on the Ground

Adopt a Section of the Appalachian Trail
No sections are available now, but one section needs an assistant. For information contact Don Walton.

Adopt a Section of the MST
Licklock Gap to Doubletop 0.9 miles
Walnut Cove Overlook to Hardtimes Road 1.2 miles
FS Road 816 to Dark Prong Gap 1.6 miles.
Orchard Overlook to Balsam Gap, 2.5 miles

To learn more about adopting a section, email Don Walton.

Maintenance Reports created by Don Walton

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The Small Print

So send me your news and maintenance reports by Wednesday evening at 9 P.M. before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Tuesday evening, July 29th to Dave Wetmore dwetmore@citcom.net Include your email address at the end of your story. Thank you. I can only accept the Wednesday hike report by Wednesday evening.

Photos are always welcome. Please send them as attached jpg files.

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 Marcia Bromberg at mwbromberg@yahoo.com. If you are a non-member subscriber, you need to go back to the CMC home page > News >Subscribe and change it there yourself.

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