Carolina Mountain Club

Hike - Save trails - Make friends

November 6, 2009

CMC Calendar

BEAR Hunting Season

Oct. 12 – Nov. 21 Dec. 14 – Jan. 1

From your editor

Read about the CMC dinner below. And make plans to come to our CMC Spring Social on Saturday April 24, 2010. Danny

CMC Annual Dinner

This is the elected CMC board for 2010.

In her state of the Carolina Mountain Club, Becky Smucker highlighted several projects including

• The website redesign committee,
• CMC Archive party, which was held at the Special Collection of UNC-Asheville,
• The continuing MST extension,
• Walt Weber's new MST book, and possible revenues from it,
• More Saturday hikes

Becky then announced that CMC was awarding Dick Johnson an Honorary Life Membership. He's been a member since 1989 and worked with Dick Robert's crew. Dick then headed the crew himself for several years and was CMC president 1995-96. He's been an active hiker and hike leader and a faithful member of Pisgah Friday crew.

Carroll Koeplinger (shown in the photo) and Piet Bodenhorst were given CMC's Distinguished Service Award. Carroll has been treasurer of CMC, chair of the Awards Committee, a MST section maintainer and a hike leader. He's been a great mentor to new hikers.

Piet is the leader of the Asheville Friday Crew, co-leader for the ongoing project to extend the MST west of Balsam Gap, and coordinator of many CMC projects with the US Forest Service, the Blue Ridge Parkway and other landowners. He's been a great mentor to new maintainers.

Walt Weber received the CMC's Award of Appreciation for his MST book, which was launched at the dinner.

Some other attendees, including our new President, Barth Brooker on the left with his new CMC hat. On the right, Don Walton, a former CMC president, carrying two desserts.

What's Happening In the Next Two Weeks

Blue Ridge Parkway Kicks off its 75th Anniversary Celebration

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park 75th Anniversary year of activities is winding down and the torch is being passed to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Check out all the activities, from historic tours, concerts and talks.

The torch passing will be done literally on Friday, November 13 in Cherokee.

Interview

Meet Howard McDonald

It's not easy to find a picture of Howard McDonald standing still.

That's Howard in the foreground, with a blue hat.

Read the interview

Book Review

The Thru-Hiker's Manual for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail of North Carolina

In 2008, Scot "Taba" Ward hiked the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, from Clingmans Dome in the Smokies to Jockey's Ridge State Park in the Outer Banks. He not only hiked it; he wrote a manual to help others hike the MST. In 2009, he did the MST all over again to update and check his information.

Only half of the 1,000-mile trail is finished, so anyone doing more than a dayhike will find lots of challenges. Where are the water sources? Where can you camp? What about resupplies? In some cases, where did the trail go?

Ward has put down all that you'll find on the trail and off the trail to help the potential lont-distance hiker. Check out his website www.thru-hiker.us

To get a copy, send $20.00 to: Scot Ward P.O. Box 55536 Lexington, KY 40555-5536 Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.

Heard on the Ground

Adopt a Section of the A.T.

Garenflo Gap to Deer Park(South of Hot Springs) section needs an assistant.

Adopt a Section of the MST

Old Bald Access to Richland Balsam Access, 4.4 miles, section maintainer needs an assistant Richland Gap Access to Richland Balsam Access (3 Trees) 1.2 miles

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

Maintenance Reports created by Don Walton

Heard on the Trail

Who is Watching your Minivan?

A study, published this month in the Journal of Mammalogy, shows that bears in Yosemite break into minivans more often than any other vehicle. The study suggests minivans are often owned by families with children who spill food and drinks There's also the possibility that there's a stash of food in the vehicle as well. These are smart bears - they know where their next meal is coming from.

You can read the full report here.

The Small Print

Hiker leaders, please send all your eNews hike reports and photos to Dave Wetmore at dwetmore@citcom.net

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 November 17, 2009 to Danny Bernstein at 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 Marcia Bromberg at mwbromberg@yahoo.com. Do not resubscribe yourself to the eNews. That will be done automatically.

If you are a non-member subscriber, you need to go back to the
CMC home page > News >Subscribe and change it there yourself.