CMC Enewsletter -April 11s, 2008

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.

CMC members with ideas about our website, eNews, Let's Go and other club communications are invited to a potluck and brainstorming session at the Botanical Gardens meeting room from 6:00 - 8:30 on Thursday, Sept. 4. Bring some food and/or drink to share plus your own plate, utinsels and cup.

Come with an open mind, with an appreciation for all the hard work that members have already put into our very powerful current communication tools, and with your ideas for what we can do together in the future to enhance our process and activities. Here are directions to the Botanical Gardens (not the Arboretum). Contact Becky Smucker for more information.

We are happy to announce that Diamond Brand Outdoors has once again offered to continue their program of giving a $20 gift certificate with each new and renewing membership for 2009. This has been extremely popular with CMC members, and we are grateful to them for this generous marketing decision that makes clear our common goals to promote hiking and the enjoyment of outdoors in the mountains. Be sure that you mention your CMC membership when you shop there, and thank them for this partnership.

Charlie Ferguson contributed a link to a series of articles on the MST in the Raleigh News and Observer.

There was yet another piece in the last AT Journal about CMC members. The ATC sponsors the "Trail to Every Classroom" program for educators. This year Kate Fisher, Becky Ledbetter-Gardner and Jan Onan were chosen from our area to participate in the series of workshops. Last year CMC member Ann Crisp attended the program.

The Southern Office of the ATC has a new home. They have relocated to another larger space in the building they share with the US Forest Service. None of the contact information has changed. On another issue, the ATC reports of a Department of Justice proposed rulemaking on a disabilities act definition which could open the A.T. to ATVs. For more information check with the ATC.

We have had reports over the last few months that some of our members who are not certified have used chain saws to clear trees from our trails. Please do not use chain saws unless you are certified to do so. We have agreements with both the Forest Service and the National Park Service to maintain trails, and part of both agreements is that we will follow their safety guidelines when doing so. The guidelines say that any one operating a chain saw must be certified to operate the saw, as well as having first aid and CPR training.

If you find trees on our trails that need to be removed please report it on the web page under Maintenance - trail issues. A qualified sawyer will remove the tree as soon as possible.

The Blue Ridge Parkway foundation will have a drawing limited to those having a BRP license plate.

The winner and a guest will stay at Mast Farm Inn, in Valle Crucis, NC. . A Porsche from the stable of Club Ferdinand will be available to the winner for a cruise down the Parkway and a trip to Mast General Store to redeem a $100 gift certificate that is included in the prize.

To enter the contest, go online to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. Entries will be accepted until October 30, 2008. The drawing will take place on December 1, 2008 and the winner will have up to 12 months to schedule the trip.

In June, the Tennessee legislature enacted a new AT specialty license plate for our state. The Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club, the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club, and others are working to sign up the needed 1000 plate purchases within 12 months of the bill's passage in order to make this an official Tennessee license plate.

ATC will gain $15.56 from the sale of each plate, and we're optimistic that with considerable work that we can meet our 1000 plate threshold and gain more funds for ATC, and for our clubs. As with the NC plate, funds can be made available for projects along the state line, so this can be a source of funds for CMC as well as Tennessee-based clubs.

ATC has prepared an application form for the plate. Leanna Joyner at the ATC office in Asheville (828-254-3708) has some hard copies of the application available in the Asheville office.

Sawyers and Roan Highland Stewards! Come and join us for a couple of days in the most majestic spot in the southeast. The Roan Highlands are suffering from woody growth encroachment and without the help of volunteers mowing, cutting and lopping some of it back – we may lose the scenic significance of the globally rare Southern Appalachian Bald Grassy Bald ecosystem. Come and learn about the management and partners that steward the Roan Massif, and meet the area’s newest visitors – the angora goats, part of the volunteer-based Baa-tany Project. The dates are August 28th and 29th. Dinner, camping for overnighters, and instruction will be provided. Bring your own camping gear and tools if you have them. Contact Julie Judkins at the ATC for registration or more information:

(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)

How many times have you been hiking when you found something blocking your way? About all you can do with large logs, whole trees and big rocks is to go over, under, or around; thinking all the while that “somebody ought to do something about this”.

The Club website provides an easy way for hikers to let maintainers know about problems. Reporting a problem means that somebody will do something about it.

What the maintainers need to know is what and where the problem. The “what” is usually pretty simple, and the “where” can be deduced by how long it took you to walk from the trailhead to the obstruction or any nearby well known location such as a shelter or trail junction. “There’s a big tree down across the Ghastly Gulch trail about 45 minutes from the parking lot” is all the maintainers need to know.

In the left-hand column on the website there is a section called “Maintenance” or click on Trail Issues. Go there and click on “Enter Trail Conditions (Issues)” This brings up a form for reporting problems. If you can specify everything the form asks for, your message will automatically go to the person responsible for that area. If you don’t like forms, just email Don Walton. Include what the problem is, what trail it is on, where you started and how far you walked before the problem.

No sections are available now, but one section needs an assistant. For information contact Don Walton.

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

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, August 26th 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.

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.

Important News	Communications Potluck
Heard on the Ground	MST Sections Available!
The small print	Deadlines, change of addresses and other details

Carolina Mountain Club

August 15th, 2008