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From Danny Bernstein
I didnˇ¦t believe that I was going back to New Jersey willingly. But Mahwah, a small hamlet close to the New York border is a far cry from the New York suburban sprawl where we lived. Ramapo College is the smallest college of the NJ State University system while I taught at one of the largest.
On Saturday, I gave a workshop on hike leadership which was well attended; in fact three CMC members participated. On Sunday, I went on a hike to Storm King Mountain, a hike I remember doing regularly when we lived in New Jersey. After six years of hiking below the glacier line in the Southern Appalachians, it was a shock to my system to have to negotiate so many rocks. The solid tree canopy and dry conditions prevented any understory plants from growing: no rhododendrons, no wildflowers and few ferns.
The hiking was slow and the group spread out. A couple was leading; she led and he patiently swept. When we reached the top, we had hazy views of the Hudson River and a bridge. Since the hike was a figure-eight, there was more climbing in the afternoon. When we reached the trailhead, I realized that we had taken five hours for six miles and I was exhausted. When I got back to Western North Carolina and went into Pisgah National Forest, I kissed the trail.
From Becky Smucker
Learning about the structure, history and activities of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and meeting the members of its board, staff and associates was the best part of the conference for me. Since this was the first time I was able to attend, I was at the front end of the learning curve (meaning I had a whole lot to learn), so spending three solid days in workshops and meetings was very worthwhile. That may sound a little stuffy, but to me successful and vibrant human organizations are exciting, and our club is an important part of the ATC. I did spend one beautiful day hiking with a small group and a very knowledgeable ranger up Schunemunk Mountain in southern New York for great views to the east across the Hudson Valley and west to the Catskills, picking blueberries all the way.
From Lenny Bernstein
The 2007 ATC Biennial Meeting was held at Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey. Danny and I had lived in New Jersey for 32 years, but the only thing we knew about Mahwah is what we saw from the highway, a very sad looking Ford plant that closed many years ago. So we were very surprised when we drove about three miles off the highway to a modern, pleasant campus surrounded by multi-million dollar homes. But it was still a college campus, so we slept in dorm rooms and ate school food.
For me the first highlight of the meeting was Danny's workshop, which was scheduled for the first time slot on Saturday morning. She had an enthusiastic audience that got fully involved in the hike leadership scenarios she created. I took away one idea from the session: all Georgia ATC hikes have co-leaders, which creates an automatic way of training new hike leaders. CMC has used co-leaders on occasion, but it might be worth looking into making more use of this approach as a way to train new hike leaders.
My second highlight was hearing about ATC's recent successes in protecting the A.T. After almost 20 years of effort, New York has completed acquired Sterling Forest, which will protect about five miles of the A.T. close to New York City. Maine has acquired a large tract in Grafton Notch, one of the most rugged and untouched parts of the A.T. Closer to home, Morgan Somerville reported on the progress being made by Tennessee to acquire the Rocky Ford Tract, which adjoins part of CMC's portion of the AT. It isn't a done deal yet, but things are looking more positive than they ever have.
My last highlight was hiking over the section of the AT that Danny and I maintained for 14 years. I am happy to report that the current maintainers are giving it the loving care that it deserves.
At the Conference I spoke to several members of the ATC staff and learned about some of the initiatives they have underway and new policies are being developing on wind power, shelter creep, and trail magic. If you are interested in learning more, the draft policies are on the ATC website (www.appalachiantrail.org). Click on "The Register" on the left side of the home page. ATC members can comment on the drafts, or you can provide your input to the Council for our consideration. Typically, we have delegated responsibility for commenting on draft ATC policies to our ATC representatives, Don Walton and Howard McDonald, but if an issue is of sufficient importance, the Council can take a position.
From Bruce Bente
It was interesting and enjoyable to talk with the 14 other CMC members attending the A.T. Conference meet again with other hikers from the 2005 Johnson City Conference, and to meet new people.
The workshops were informative, especially the two on recruiting new volunteers.
The hikes were great, and I was able to hike 45 miles of new (to me) sections of the A.T. The trail is much different in N.J. and N.Y., with many wet/swampy areas where the trail is on puncheons or boardwalks raised above the wet areas. And the trail frequently goes over uneven bare rocks on ridges. Blowdowns on the ground are not cleared and in some cases a rock is placed on each side of a blowdown to make it easier to step over the blowdown. Some of the different hiking customs up north were really different from the way CMC hikes are done, for example:
ˇ´Many of the leaders did not lead, but were hiking somewhere in the pack of hikers. And occasionally, the hikers leading got lost at junctions, requiring the leader to run up ahead or blow a whistle to find them.
ˇ´On one hike, we were hiking at a very fast pace, 3+ MPH, and the leader came over to tell me that I was hiking too slow and would have to leave the hike if I couldnˇ¦t speed up. We finished that 10 mile hike in 4-1/2 hours including a lunch stop.
ˇ´Some leaders did not use sweeps. One leader said we didnˇ¦t need a sweep because there were only 14 hikers.
ˇ´Snack breaks were never taken, lunch was 15 minutes, and either no trail breaks or one or two were taken all day.
It was fun and an eye-opener to se how they hike in another section of the U.S.!
Also from Bruce:
Lew & Jane Blodgett: Attended their 14th ATC Conference this year (!!). They started attending in 1981. They did various hikes during the week, but one interesting trip they went on was a canoe trip on the Hudson River that had to be timed for the turning of the tide.
Howard McDonald: Went on some of the workshops for rebuilding the AT up Bear Mountain, including heavy work. such as building 5-foot high rock cribbing. E-mail him for a description of the work.
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