CMC Weekly Trail Maintenance News
10/2903
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Looking Ahead.......
Trail Maintenance scheduled for this week
Bill Newton's Work Crew-Friday
Well - I guess we should find a spooky trail to work this week, but I can't think of one off hand, so we will just have to go back to Holmes and finish that pole shed, I guess. There is also some trail work that needs completing. Meet at the Holmes ranger station at 8. Let me know if you will be out.
Those who are signed up for the chain saw course, don't forget about it. We don't get many chances for these.
I will be in Texas the following week, and that is also Bob B's last week before moving to warmer climates in Florida. Bob has some work that needs to be competed on his section of the AT (south from Hot Springs). So I hope we can have a good turnout on the week of Nov. 7 to help Bob. I would suggest meeting at Hardee's at the intersection of I-26 / hwy 25 (exit 13 to Fletcher). Pete will take care of the tools that week, and Bob will let you know what needs to be done. Please let Pete know if you will be out on the 7th so he can plan the tools. Bob says there is a good bit that needs to be done, so he needs lots of help.
Piet & Skip's Work Crew-Friday
The Chief is getting educated, so the Indians can play in the dirt!!!
Friday 10\31\03 Assignment. Going to Balsam Gap to start on the next leg of the MST going south towards Soho Gap. Meet at Exit 44 I-40 Home Depot at 8:00 AM. Howard please bring saw and blazing paint ( white ) Felix if you are coming, bring blazing kit too. All others bring digging and lopping tools. Please let me know that you are coming. Piet
Anyone interested in joining the trail crews contact: Hendersonville area-Bill Newton, 828-693-4033, Brevard area-Dick Johnson, 828-884-3685, Asheville area-Skip Shelton, 828-891-3264 or Piet Bodenhorst, 828-298-8371.
MST Update
Piet Bodenhorst has been selected as the Blue Ridge Parkway Pisgah District Volunteer of the Year and inscribed on their Honor Role. Congratulations to Piet.
Jeff Brewer, President of the Friends of the MST, has completed hiking the MST end-to-end, the sixth person to do so.
Piet Bodenhorst has been working with the Blue Ridge Parkway on a multi-year project to improve signage for the MST. The first stage of this project will be to install additional signs on the posts indicating Parkway overlooks wherever the MST crosses an overlook. The signs would have a hiker symbol and an arrow indicating the location of the MST. Walt Weber is working with the Parkway to develop a GPS inventory of existing MST signs, and Nick Price, a Boy Scout, will help as his Eagle Scout project.
Piet also informed the Council that the questions about emergency medical information currently on the Maintenance sign-up sheets signed by Trail Crew members will be removed after several crew members complained. The information was optional, but still raised concerns.
AT update
Howard McDonald reported that a new roof has been installed on the Walnut Creek Shelter, and that permission has been received form the Pisgah National Forest to replace the Roaring Fork Shelter. Howard distributed sketches of the shelter design and a map showing its location. A number of changes have been made to the design to make it wheelchair accessible. Estimated cost of the new shelter is $3300, $400 of which is available in the form of a gift from the Marching Mountain Mamas. A grant request has been submitted to the ATC for the remaining $2900. Construction is expected to begin in Spring, 2004.
Nominate your “Volunteer of the Year” for 2004
Each year on National Trails Day, AHS honors a trail volunteer from every state. We need your nominations to find these highly motivated individuals who spend so much of their time ensuring trails are in good shape and accessible. Who in your organization deserves national recognition for trail maintenance? For more information visit our web site at: www.AmericanHiking.org . Do you know anyone who should be nominated?
Carolina Mountain Club receives grant for shelter repair
The Carolina Mountain Club (CMC) recently received a grant from the Appalachian Trail Conference for repairing the roof of the Walnut Mountain shelter on the Appalachian Trail (AT). This shelter is the oldest of the ten shelters in the 92 miles of the Appalachian Trail that are maintained by CMC. It was originally built of logs with a shingle roof by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in the 1930s. The shingle roof was later replaced with a metal roof that, after many years, was bent and leaking.
With the help of Mr. Jerry Davis, Store Manager of the Hendersonville Lowe's, new metal roofing was purchased with the grant money . It was carried by CMC volunteers the 1.3 miles to the shelter and the old roof removed on the first day. The new roof was installed and the old material removed on the second day of work. The twelve people involved in this donated 97 hours to complete the roof replacement. The value of this time is considered by the ATC as equivalent to over $1600 . Last year, more than 100 people donated over 4300 hours to the maintenance of the CMC section of the AT for an equivalent value of almost $72,000.
Anyone interested in hiking or trail maintenance can contact the Carolina Mountain Club at Box 68, Asheville, NC 28802 or its website at: carolinamtnclub.org.
Adopt-A-Trail (Section) Maintainers Needed!
We currently have several sections on the Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) that would love to have a caring individual who can adopt a section of their very own. As a trail maintainer, you would be the MST's most important advocate and protector. In this role, you would become familiar with trail maintenance techniques so that you understand the big picture as you perform the simple, recurring maintenance and repairs necessary to keep the trail in good repair. One your most important duties would be the "eyes" and "ears" of your section. The section supervisors are responsible for all of the "heavy duty" work and should be contacted to perform trail work you would not feel comfortable doing.
If you are interested please contact me or any of the following and we will explore finding just the right section of trail for you. Don Walton, walt7258@bellsouth.net , 828-298-5084, Stan Smith, ssmith111728@aol.com , 828-456-3042, D.R. Kulp, kulpdr@juno.com , 828-692-0783, Les Love, leslove@aol.com , 828-658-1489, Jorge Munoz, jmunoz@buncombe.main.nc.us , 828-658-0606.
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Looking Back....
Bill Newton's Work Crew-Friday
I'm still working on what we should do this Friday - got a couple of things in mind, but need to check out some things first. So this Friday is our Surprise work day - I will be surprised if I get it together... Anyway, meet at the Food Lion in Mills River at 8 and we will work a bit, the go on to the fish fry the Park Service is providing us Please let me know if you will be working and eating this week. Bill Newton bnewton34@earthlink.net
Piet & Skip's Work Crew-Friday
Jorge's Work Crew
Thursday the 16th, Felix and I headed to Beaverdam Overlook to take care of a down tree reported some time ago by Sharon and Donald Christensen . Thank you both. 8" tree laid at 100" south of the Overlook. Easy job. We decided to walk North on the next sections - Bent Creek and Chestnut Cove, me of course with the chain saw - after the high wind experienced a few days before. Well, surprise, surprise not one tree down. Only some sticks and branches that we cleaned up
Les Love's Quarterly Saturday Work Day
The Saturday work day was Oct 18 and we had 19 people attending. After breakfast at the Moose Cafe, we split into two groups. One group cleaned waterbars between the Walnut Cove Overlook and the French Broad River. The other group finished the project started on the last workday between the Mt. Pisgah parking lot and the Pisgah Inn. We installed 14 more water breaks using the old parkway guardrails that the maintenance crew had hauled up for us. A beautiful day, good company, a lot accomplished and a lot of fun. Les