______________________________________________________________________________

The annual Banquet is just around the corner. We need nominations for the Nominations committee to consider for our two Awards. The first award is the Distinguished Service Award given for long dedicated service to the Carolina Mountain Club. The 2nd award is the Appreciation Award given for one time special service. Please submit your nominations to Carroll Koepplinger, 828-667-0723, carrollkoepp@cs.com .

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has announced that the State of NC has signed into law a special revenue producing license tag. The new Blue Ridge Parkway tag will be like the Great Smokey Mountain State Park tag approved a few years ago. This will provide the Carolina Mountain Club a portion of each new tag sale that a CMC member makes through January 15, 2004. This is your chance to get that "vanity" tag you could not get before because the name was taken by someone else as this is a new issue series of numbers. Contact Don Walton to reserve your vanity name early.

Message from Houck Medford, Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation: Thanks to the unanimous support of every North Carolina senator, led by the efforts of Senator Joe Sam Queen, and a near compliment of members in the North Carolina House led by Representative Phil Haire, the Blue Ridge Parkway is now closer to the hearts, minds, and bumpers of North Carolina motorists.

The design for the full-color and distinctive background plate was developed by The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and the specialty tag division of the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. “There may be some fine tuning before the tag goes into actual production in January, but we are 99% there,” remarked Dr. Houck Medford, executive director of the foundation.

“This is an excellent opportunity for North Carolina citizens to show support for our country’s most visited national park site (23 million visitors per year); we have known for a long time that our visiting motorists have had a love-affair with the Blue Ridge Parkway; we expect the response to be dramatic,” emphasized Dan Brown, parkway superintendent.

Most of the Parkway’s partners are lending their support to promote enrollment of licensed drivers into the program which will generate additional revenues in support of Parkway projects and programs in North Carolina – from protecting the scenic quality of this national designated All-American road to educating children about the magic of our national parks. Application forms can be obtained from the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the High Country Conservancy, the Blue Ridge Parkway Association, the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, Eastern National, the Carolina Mountain Club and The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation which will manage this tag revenue program is the private supporting foundation for the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s authority to request and receive funds on behalf of the Parkway is vested in a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service and the Department of Interior. The Foundation can be contacted at P.O. Box 10427, Winston-Salem, NC, 27108; telephone (336) 721-0260; or internet, www.brpfoundation.org.

"The design of the Blue Ridge Parkway license plate may be seen at www.brpfoundation.org/images/finalplate.jpg."

Morgan Summerville on the new Appalachian Trail-North Carolina State License Tag

Assuming (a) that you're going to Multiclub and (b) that Morgan is not checking his e-mail from Pennsylvania (if he is, I don't want to know), could you print and pass this along so we can get the N.C. club people revved to help design and then buy the recently approved A.T. license plate? Design first--there are specs, and Morgan has those, but we can worry about that part later. What we would like to get from A.T. folks is ideas, even drawings, as soon as possible; getting the word out on the clubs' grapevines is key. A strong design is essential--we don't want to look like either the Smokies or the also-approved BRP ones, but we do want to be as attractive (or more). The logo will be included somewhere. Probably the most efficient process--given the slim staff at Asheville and out-of-the-office time this time of the year--would be for anyone interested to send their designs to me. When we have several in hand, Kathleen, as the pro, will have a look and narrow them to a selection of three; hopefully, we will then have consensus among Morgan, Sen. Queen, and Clark Wright and send it on to the DMV. Sign-up. There is a form; we will soon have it available for downloading from our Web site. Folks who want the plate (sight unseen for now) need to complete the form and send it with a check for $30 to Clark Wright, the lawyer who started this and who has an escrow account; address will be on the site, too. (Total annual cost for the plate is $60, of which ATC will get $20; this is just a deposit.) Once we have 300 people signed up, DMV will approve it and alert the inmates to get to work. After that, money and forms will go directly to DMV. The money will come here quarterly but is restricted to Trail expenses in N.C. (or on the borders). This is serious money; if all members in the state got a plate, it would generate something like $63,000 a year. We will soon be doing a mailing to N.C. members on sign-up (not design), but I thought this would be a good way to encourage advance club participation. (Thank-yous to Sen. Queen wouldn't hurt; he's also interested in attending some A.T. function.) Many thanks, Morgan Sommerville Appalachian Trail Conference Regional Representative for Ga., N.C. and Tenn. <msommerville@atconf.org 828/254-3708 828/254-3754 FAX 160A Zillicoa St. P.O. Box 2750 Asheville, NC 28802

Annual Meeting and Banquet

Les Love indicates that this year's Annual Meeting and Banquet will be held at the Grove Park Inn Country Club on Saturday, November 1. The cost to the member will be $22 which includes two drink tickets.

All sb6k completers need to review the CMC website to see if their name is listed and the year of completion....if not or if errors exist the members should send correction to the designated person on the SB6K internet area.

Greetings fellow AHS hiking enthusiasts! As we draw nearer to the Fall Conference taking place October 17-19 in Monteagle, Tennessee

I wanted to make you aware that the conference registration materials are being mailed out today. They are also available online for download at the following web address. http://www.americanhiking.org/alliance/registration.html The web site also contains a partial listing of the scheduled educational sessions, along with the speakers. This information is not in the registration materials that are being mailed out today. Additionally, an electronic newsletter has been created, and there is a subscription form at the following web address; http://www.americanhiking.org/alliance/newsletter.html This is modeled after what Don Walton of Carolina Mountain Club has for their organization. Now that the monthly E-Newsletter has been setup, we need more subscribers! Please share this information with your fellow club members. It is a great mechanism for your club to get an announcement out to a broader audience. I’ll be sending out the first E-Newsletter on August 11. If you have any announcements that you’d like included in that mailing, please get them to me by August 8. Happy Hiking!

Bringing the proper equipment will add greatly to your enjoyment, your safety, and the enjoyment and safety of the group. This stuff is essential if you are going out in the woods for more than a couple of hours. Make sure that you are comfortable with your equipment and you know where it all fits in. Do not carry anything in your hands; do not tie a jacket around your waist. Everything should fit in your daypack. Carry your wallet and keys in your daypack, at all times. In your daypack: Two quarts of water in plastic water bottles (not soda bottles) Lunch and snacks Rain jacket (no matter what the forecast) Long sleeve shirt (no matter what the forecast) Sunglasses Wool or fleece hat and gloves Insect repellent Sunscreen Tissues Personal first aid kit Small flashlight Plastic bag for trash If it is not the height of a warm summer, add: Warm fleece hiking sweater or jacket Rain pants How to dress: Shorts and a short-sleeve T-shirt as the bottom layer. Hiking boots that are well broken-in and that go over the ankles Good hiking socks (not sports socks). Sunhat with a wide brim Bandanna which you need to keep handy Dress in layers: Your first layer should be a short-sleeve t-shirt (synthetic, not cotton) even if it seems cool in the morning. You will warm up. Your second layer should be a long-sleeve shirt (also synthetic). If you need extra layers, you will have your warm hiking sweater and rain jacket. Shorts give you more mobility and keep you cooler; pants give you more protection from insects and brush. Questions, comments, additions to the list? Send to danny@hikertohiker.org