Carolina Mountain Club

Hike - Save trails - Make friends

December 5, 2008

Deer Hunting Season Nov 24 - Dec 13
Bear Hunting Season Dec 15 - Jan 1

From your Editor

Deadlines, deadlines, .... Hike reports are an eNews favorite. I would like to encourage all leaders to send me a hike report as soon as the hike is over. However, the report for the Wednesday hike just before the eNews comes out will be published in the next eNews. Danny

What's Happening in the Next Two Weeks

Surprise 90th Birthday Potluck Party for Bernard Elias

All CMC members and interested past members are invited. Please help spread the word. This is being organized by Marlene Santa Maria and committee.

When: Saturday afternoon, December 6.

Time: 1:00 – 3:30 Dec. 6, but please arrive before 1:00 if possible.

Place: Trinity Episcopal Church at 60 Church Street in downtown Asheville, in Tuton Hall. Parking in lot beside building. Click for Map at Trinity Episcopal Church

Food: Potluck, so bring something to share. Drinks, dinnerware provided.

Gifts: Please don’t bring any, but we will be collecting $1-2 at the door to get gift cards for Bernard to his favorite restaurants.

Bring: Besides food, bring photos and stories to share. You can bring photos along when you come, or digital photos may be sent ASAP to Gerry McNabb at gerrymcnabb@charter.net putting the words “Elias Birthday pictures” in the subject line. Physical chrome slides can be mailed to his home address at Gerry McNabb, 122 Cloverleaf Lane, Asheville, NC 28804.

RSVP: Marlene Santa Maria at marlena98@hotmail.com, if possible, so we have an idea of how many will attend (the space is plenty large for all of us). Also let her know if you’re interested in helping with decorations and setting up.

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bernard Elias for the Mountain Xpress. Even if you've never met Bernard, you should come and meet him. He's an extraordinary hiker and knowledgeable about the area. You may want to read the article on all of Bernard's accomplishments. Danny

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Holiday Toast (From the A.T. folks)

Plan to join us for an A.T. Holiday Toast on December 9 at 5:00 pm. This is the regular second-Tuesday gathering of A.T. hikers at Jack of the Wood in Asheville, with a little extra seasonal spice. We're hoping to celebrate the holidays and warm our hearts with tales of the Trail.

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Other Important News

Three-State Park Weekend – April 17 to 19, 2009

Come and hike in Stone Mountain, Hanging Rock, and Pilot Mountain State Parks.

Check out all the details here.

If you have questions, call or email Danny Bernstein (828-236-0192).

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Avid Hikers Better Prepared for Backcountry Experiences

With support from the CMC, 13 members successfully completed a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course on Nov. 15-16 at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitors Center in Asheville.  Led by skilled instructor Phil Hart, the two-day course covered a wide range of topics from treating injuries and shock to wound management.  Central to the curriculum are the wilderness medicine practices and protocols, including the Patient Assessment System that allows you to quickly size-up the scene and patient to determine immediate threats and appropriate care.  Our decision-making skills were put to the test in numerous real-life scenarios with plenty of chances to apply what we learned. 

“We started the WFA class as individuals interested in learning basic skills to use, if needed, while hiking,” explained CMC member Paula Massey.  “In just sixteen hours, we left as a team who had learned and demonstrated on each other, basic physical assessment and health history taking skills, made a splint with tree limbs, wrapped a ‘twisted’ ankle, properly turned each other to stabilize the ‘injured’ body, made a brace to support a broken leg, and so much more!”  

Special thanks goes to Cindy McJunkin for spearheading the program.  Since interest was high, additional training opportunities are being considered.  For more information on the WFA course and other learning programs, you can visit www.landmarklearning.org or www.nols.edu. Debbie Atkins Photos by Debbie Atkins.

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No REI Sponsorship

Some of you may be aware of a notice that was published in the Asheville Citizen-Times recently about a supposed co-sponsorship of an MST extension Saturday workday by CMC and REI. That article was submitted by an employee at REI without our knowledge or approval. Approval had been given by a CMC crew leader for some REI employees to join our workday and permission had been given for them to hand out discount coupons, but no co-sponsorship had been discussed with, or approved by, us. If you have further questions about this, contact Becky Smucker at bjsmucker@gmail.com (note new address).

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Conservation

Bikes in the Parks

The National Park Service is considering a plan to relax their regulations that govern bicycles on trails - a change potentially made without public notice, review or comment which would allow Park Superintendents to designate trails and trail use. That means that you could be meeting a cyclist coming down the hill on the Alum Cave Trail in the Smokies as you huff and puff up. Bill Gupton first alerted me to this new threat to our national parks.

You may want to look at this article and write to

Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior at 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20240 Dirk_Kempthorne@ios.doi.gov

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Challenge Committee

Congratulations to Brian Bockhahn

Brian Bockhahn, of Wake Forest, NC recently completed the South Beyond 6,000 challenge program. Brian finished his 40th SB6K peak atop the snowy summit of Plott Balsam on Sunday, Nov. 16. Brian is the senior park ranger at Falls Lake State Park. Peter Barr - pjbarr@unc.edu

If you completed any of the CMC Challenges, let the Challenge committee know. Send your good news and a photo to Peter Barr, a member of the Challenge Committee.

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Heard on the Ground

Thankful on the Trail

On Thanksgiving day, Lenny and I walked our A.T. trail for the last time this year. We have a five-mile section from Rice Gap to Devils Fork Gap on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. It's not a particularly outstanding section, more like a typical A.T. section in the South.

The day started out cold and we had overdressed. By midmorning, with clipping and sawing, we had shed most of our top layers. We got a new hand saw, a Silky, which worked so much better than our old bow saw. Still we found at least two blowdowns that we couldn't handle and needed to report it to the CMC trailcrew. They have the big guns, or at least, the power saws. We also break up fire rings that are on the trail; those are illegal. Yes, we did hear hunters because our trail is in the Pisgah Forest. We wore orange and hoped they got a deer. Read the whole trail maintenance report. Danny

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Maintenance Highlights From the Carl Sandburg House Newsletter

The trail system at Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (CARL) is a valuable asset to the park, Its importance is due to its historic nature and high visitor use. This level of importance together with a focus on safety has led to a major trail system improvement project. Recent work has stabilized erosion and rehabilitated the trail system while adding checks, waterbars, and replacing the dirt when needed. These newly installed features have diverted erosion from the granitic rock outcrops, which feature globally rare plant communities. This was a park priority. Work will continue on the trail system through 2010 as NPS project funding permits.

The Carolina Mountain Club Pisgah Trail Maintenance Group and West Henderson High School student Ernesto Alcantar have given their gift of time, energy, and enthusiastic support to the project and for this CARL offers sincere appreciation.

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Jim Spicer Instructs Sawyers

I had seven sawyer students attend the class on 9/27/08. Six of those students were recertifying for Basic First Aid and CPR and one student was recertifying for Basic First Aid only. We started at 9:30 AM and took the Introduction and First Aid test about 12:30, had lunch and then presented the CPR portion of the class. The test for CPR was completed approximately 3:30 PM. Everyone passed.

The class consisted of DVD presentation for review and then we conducted First Aid and CPR demo by the students to determine proper procedure. We had 5 CPR manikins, breathing barriers and first aid training kits. Each student was given a First Aid and a CPR laminated skill card to keep in their backpacks for the trail.

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Adopt a Section of the Appalachian Trail

Get on the waiting list

Adopt a Section of the MST

Walnut Cove Overlook to Hardtimes Road 1.2 miles

If you're interested in either the A.T. or MST, email Don Walton.

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Maintenance Reports created by Don Walton

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Heard on the Trail

From Blue Ridge Outdoors (Nov. 2008)

Carolina Mountain Club was named as one of the area's favorite hiking clubs by the readers of Blue Ridge Outdoors. We were fifth but the others, though fine hard-working organizations, are not hiking clubs. Of the group, only CMC runs hikes week-in and week-out all year round. PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club) runs a few hikes. ATC, Sierra and American Hiking Society focus on maintenance and advocacy. Anyway, we're proud to be in Blue Ridge Outdoors with such illustrious company.

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The Small Print

So send me your news and maintenance reports by Tuesday evening at 9 P.M. before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Tuesday evening December 16, 2008 to Danny Bernstein at danny@hikertohiker.com. Include your email address at the end of your story. I can only accept the Wednesday hike report by Wednesday evening. 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 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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