Carolina Mountain Club

Hike - Save trails - Make friends

December 18, 2009

CMC Calendar

BEAR Hunting Season
Dec. 14 – Jan. 1

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What's Happening In the Next Two Weeks

Help with your Holiday List

If your favorite outdoors person seems to have everything, then give them a gift that will help preserve the very places they love to hike in the Southern Appalachians.

If you love the Smokies, the A.T., the MST or other places we hike in, there's an organization for you to support.

Check them out.

Blue Ridge Parkway Survey

What is your favorite part of the Blue Ridge Parkway? The Parkway 75th anniversary committee is taking a quick survey. It needs your answer by Friday Dec. 18.

Other Important News

Plan a Volunteer Vacation for 2010

The American Hiking Society has posted its volunteer vacation opportunities for next year. Check them out.

Also, the American Hiking Society announces online resgistration for Hike the Hill. Join them in Washington, DC February 20 - 25, 2010. Get advocacy training, meet with trails advocates from across the nation, and educate and urge Congress to protect trails and the hiking experience from coast to coast!

Important new items on the CMC Website

Check out the 2010 - first quarter Hike Schedule and the Let's Go on the web.

Also, new interviews have been added to our website.

CMC Hiking Challenges

Congratulation to Lenny Bernstein on Finishing the Smokies 900

I finished the Smokies 900 on Nov. 8 by hiking the Camel Gap Trail from Campsite 37 to the A.T., then along the A.T. to Low Gap, then down the Low Gap Trail to Campsite 37.

Since it was a solo hike, I don’t have a victorious picture of me on my last hike. Instead, here is one of my favorite pictures of me in the Smokes, taken by Sharon McCarthy after I crossed Abrams Creek, which was thigh-deep that day.

Even if my last hike was solo, most of my Smokies hikes weren’t.

Thanks to the people who were working on this challenge at the same time I was and allowed me to tag along: my wife Danny Bernstein, Sharon McCarthy, Janet Martin, Judy Gross, Bob Hysko, Don Gardner and Tom Sanders. Also, thanks to all the CMC hike leaders who led hikes that got me miles that I needed. Lenny Bernstein

Conservation Matters

Catawba Falls now Fully Accessible

This past October, President Obama signed an Interior Department appropriations bill into law that includes funding to buy the land near Catawba Falls from the Foothills Conservancy for $713,000. That means that the access to the Falls will now be permanently protected and part of the Grandfather Mountain section of Pisgah National Forest.

In 2007, Foothills Conservancy moved quickly to buy a 23 acre piece which provided the only direct trail to the Falls. This allowed CMC to start leading hikes there. Thank you Foothills Conservancy.

This picture is of the Upper Falls, which at this time does not have an official trail. But now that whole area is part of the forest, the Forest Service may just put in an easier trail to the upper falls. Photo by Danny Bernstein

Heard on the Ground

Adopt a Section of the A.T.

Allen gap to Log Cabin Road, 1.6 miles

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

Top Ten Movies Filmed in National Parks

National Park Traveler is a fantastic website about all matters dealing with our National Parks. I found this list on their website. Danny

Dances with Wolves (1990)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Forrest Gump(1994)
Gettysburg (1993)
Grand Canyon Adventure 3D: River at Risk(2008)
Into the Wild(2007)
North by Northwest (1959)
Thelma and Louise (1991)
The New World (2006)
The Presidio(1988)

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 December 29, 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.