Carolina Mountain Club

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August 27, 2010

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From Your Editor

Back Home

I'm back from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska. We hiked in Denali National Park and other parks and forests. It was a great vacation but it was a vacation. I came back home with even greater appreciation that here in the Southern Appalachians is still the best place to hike, week in, week out, all year round. Danny

What's Happening in the Next Two Weeks

Help Wanted - Half-Day Hike Scheduler needed.

Lucy Prim has retired from 3 years of devoted service to CMC as the scheduler for half-day Sunday hikes.  The Hiking Committee is searching for someone to fill her shoes.

The responsibilities for the schedulers are:
* Send emails to CMC hike leaders asking them to choose a date and a hike to lead for the quarter.

* Receive emails from leaders and fill in the schedule template with the hike information.

* Make suggestions for hikes to leaders that want help.

* Submit the finished schedule for proofreading and printing in Lets Go.

CMC has about a hundred leaders, many of whom like to lead half-day hikes

Many leaders already know which hikes they like to lead and simply submit the information to the scheduler to type into the schedule.  Some hike leaders may request help in choosing a hike, in which case the scheduler will look through the hike database and previous schedules to find appropriate hikes.
Members of the hiking committee will assist in every step of the training and scheduling process until the new scheduler feels comfortable.  The next scheduling cycle, for the Winter quarter (January through March) begins about the 2nd week of October.  We would like to have our new scheduler by then.

CMC scheduled hikes are at the core of what we do. The benefits of scheduling hikes are getting to know about the available CMC hikes better and getting to work directly with hike leaders and the Hiking Committee more closely.  It is rewarding to see the reports from hike leaders as they are reported in the e-News and to help leaders with any issues they have as their hike dates approach. For more information, contact Charlie Ferguson.

There's not much time to help your favorite park get a major grant!

Now through the end of August you can help your favorite land a $100,000 grant by voting in a National Park Foundation contest.

The funding comes from Coca-Cola, which will give the $100,000 to the state or national park that lands the most votes by August 31. There is no limit to the number of times you can vote, either.

To cast your ballot, visit this site.

Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary Festival

Help the Blue Ridge Parkway celebrate its 75th Anniversary on Sept. 10 through 12. There will be music, walks, plays, workshops and of course food. For all details, see the Parkway's newsletter.

Other Important News

Save the Date for the CMC Annual Dinner

The CMC annual meeting and dinner will take place on Saturday October 30. It will be at the Chariot in Hendersonville. More information to follow.

Meantime, save the date!

Conservation

The Smokies releases Environmental Assesment of Elk Management

Elk were released in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2001 and then again in 2002. This release was considered an experiment. An original 52 elk is now a herd of 135 elk. Some animals have left the Cataloochee Valley and moved on to other parts of the park.

Now the park has determined that the elk can be sustained over the long-run. They wants to transition to a long-term management strategy. This means that the elk will be protected like other animals in the park.

See the press release. For more details and to comment on this proposal, go to the NPS planning site.

Interview

Meet Allen De Hart - by Danny Bernstein

If the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) is North Carolina's Appalachian Trail, Allen De Hart is its Myron Avery.

Allen has walked the MST, designed much of it and helped build it, written about it and started a Friends group to be its champion. A few months ago, when snow and ice made it tough to hike in the mountains, I went to Louisburg, northeast of Raleigh and had the privilege to talk to Allen.

Read on to learn just how much Allen contributed to the hiking world.

Heard on the Ground

Adopt a Section of the A.T.
Big Butt to Flint Gap, 3.3 miles

Adopt a Section of the MST
Richland Gap Access to Richland Balsam Access (3 Trees) 1.2 miles
Double Top to Old Bald Access, 1.1 miles

Maintenance Reports created by Jim Ariail

Letters to the Editor

Have you seen this flower?

At least two readers have seen a three bird orchid (Triphora trianthophora) and shared their experience.

Becky Smucker writes:

Joanne, Kay, Sawako and I saw many patches of three-bird orchids along the "trail" by the Toxaway River on the way to Wintergreen Falls a couple of weeks ago.  I had never seen them in bloom before, but they are irregular bloomers, and ephemeral, so hard to find.  This must have been a good year for them and our timing was lucky.  I have good info about them in Native Orchids of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, by Stanley L. Bentley.  They also appear in Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains by Richard M. Smith. 

Tommie Boston writes:

Every spring I hike Hickory Branch trail from Curtis Creek Campground to either Chestnutwood Mtn or Buckeye Gap. Less than a mile into the hike, there is one, I repeat ONE plant that I have seen twice in fourteen years. It has small white orchid type blossoms no more than a half inch across. These two times, I figured it was something sensitive that needed just the right temp/moisture/timing to make an appearance. After all, I hiked these mountains seven years before spotting my first purple fringed orchid. I do not have a picture of this flower because I didn't start carring my camera 100% of the time until just a few years ago. If the little devils ever come out again, I WILL get a photo. Then I can determine if it's a 3-bird or just a tri-turkey look-a-like.

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 September 7 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.

Westgate parking - Park in the northernmost part of the lot - past EarthFare, in the last row of parking spaces.

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.