Carolina Mountain Club
Hike - Save trails - Make friends
January 28, 2011
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| Upcoming Hikes | Hike Reports |Maintenance Schedule |
| What's Happening Now | Peter Barr and Danny Bernstein speak on hiking |
| Other Important News | An introduction to the ATC Biennial Conference |
| Letters | Thank you from Stuart English |
| Conservation | The Sierra Club - WNC chapter |
| Interview | Meet John Dickson |
| Heard on the Ground | MST and A.T. sections open for adoption |
| Heard on the Trail | A hiking challenge |
| The Small Print | Deadlines, change of addresses and other details |
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From Your Editor It's cold, it's icy, it's snowy but there's always good hiking to be found right here. Danny Peter Barr's 2010 Appalachian Trail Slideshow/Movie Presentation - Feb. 2 "Whippersnap" completed the 2,181 miles of the A.T. this summer, also hiking an additional 200 total miles to reach peaks, waterfalls, high points, historical spots, and views which will be featured in the presentation. He also used his hike as a fundraiser for the rehabilitation of the Shuckstack lookout tower in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His movie/slideshow will last 80 minutes and be followed by a question and answer session. Save the date! Mountains-to-Sea Trail from Clingmans Dome to Hanging Rock - Program on Tuesday Feb. 8 I will be presenting a program on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in the mountains, from Clingmans Dome to Hanging Rock State Park. On: Tuesday February 8 at 6 P.M. At: Diamond Brand Outdoors, 2623 Hendersonville Rd. Arden 828-684-6262 The MST travels 1,000 miles through North Carolina - about half is on small roads. CMC members are very familiar with the portion that the club maintains. But what lies beyond that? See pictures of other outstanding places including Linville Gorge, OverMountain Victory Trail, Moses Cone Park, The Lump, Doughton Park and Stone Mountain. Kate Dixon, Executive Director of Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail will introduce the program.
Appalachian Trail Festival and Biennial Meeting SAVE THE DATE: Friday, July 1 to Friday July 8 2011
If you know all about the conference and don't need to read further, note that online registration opens on March 1. There is a nice discount for those who register early and register online. See the registration site Hikes, Workshops, Excursions, Entertainment ... You don't have to spend the whole week at the conference. But here's a primer of what actually happens during the week. Read on.
Spring Weekend in the Smokies - April 15, 16, 17, 2011
A moderate wildflower hike and an alternate strenuous hike to the A.T. will be led on Saturday. Another wildflower hike on a different trail will be led on Sunday. Campground is for tents only with a limit of 30 campers. The cost is $4.50 per person, payable at the campground. Campers need to bring their own food, beverages, tents, and personal gear. There are flush toilets and sinks with cold water but no showers. To reserve your spot for an early spring weekend with other outdoor enthusiasts, call or email Janet Martin, jaykaymartin@msn.com or call 502 494 9309. CMC Map Reading Course - May 2 Ever wondered what all those squiggly lines on topo maps are good for? You can find out at our biennial map-reading course. The course will be held on Saturday, May 2. The class leaders will be Becky Smucker and Dave Wetmore. As usual, it will be an all-day affair with class in the morning and a practical exercise in the afternoon. The emphasis will be on map skills for walking (and finding) trails. New this year will be a discussion of how a GPS unit can supplement a paper map. The class size will be limited to 12 people. For more information or to register for the class, contact Dave Wetmore at dwetmore@comporium.net Thank you from Stuart English Recently I spent 48 days in the VA hospital recovering from colon cancer surgery. It was a journey on which I went places I had never been and learned things I did not know. Not the least of these things was the number of friends I had. This is to thank all those who people who either called, visited, sent a card, or all three. Many made several visits and sent more than one card. Special thanks go to Jean Gard, who coordinated everything, made sure everyone had my various phone numbers, and made many trips to my house, and without whose help I don’t know what I would have done. Bruce Bente and Gerry McNabb helped get the word out in the club. Thanks to Tom Bindrim and Dave Wetmore for visiting my house several times a week and feeding my cats for longer than they ever thought they would. Thanks to Gail O’Neal for helping me with VA bureaucracy and delivering my mail to me. Thanks Joe Burchfield for springing me from that place. But this is foremost dedicated to the great people in this club who thought of me and flooded me with calls, cards, and visits to the point where it was impossible to keep up with. Unlike another, less worthy organization that uses this description, you are truly the Best People on Earth. Stuart English
Meet John Dickson by Stuart English
As a point of reference, It is December 2010 and I am 66 years old. I grew up in Brevard, North Carolina. I graduated from Brevard High School and went on to receive a degree in Chemistry and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Meet the Sierra Club by the CMC Conservation Committee Since its founding in 1892 by John Muir, the Sierra Club has been working to protect our wild places. Muir once stated, “If people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish.” The Sierra Club’s first campaign, thankfully successful, was to defeat a proposal to decrease the size of Yosemite National Park. Today, Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and one of the most influential grassroots environmental organizations in the United States.
MST sections for adoption 1. Doubletop to Old Bald access - Length is 1.1 miles 3. Bear Pen Gap Access to Haywood Gap - 2 miles If you're interested, contact Larry Sobil at lsobil@bellsouth.net A.T. sections for adoption 2140 Lemon Gap to Bluff Mountain (4 miles) I can be reached via tim@newprism.com or at 828-398-4211 before 6:00 PM daily.
Extreme Hike for a Cure So our AA-AA hikes are not challenging enough. If so, go for the Extreme Hike for a Cure to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. On Saturday April 30, you can walk 30.1 miles on the A.T. around Banner Elk. See http://charlotte.cff.org/extremehike. Danny The eNews comes out on the last Friday of the month. So ... The next issue will come out on Friday, February 25. Wednesday hike reports for the hike just before the eNews comes out will be published in the next eNews. Hiker leaders, please send all your eNews hike reports and photos to Dave Wetmore at dwetmore@citcom.netPlease see How to write a hike report. 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 February 22 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 If you are a non-member subscriber, you need to go back to the |
Danny Bernstein
danny@hikertohiker.com
Please join Peter Barr on February 2nd at 7:00pm at the 
Every two years, we have a chance to spend a week with fellow hikers and outdoor enthusiasts at an 
Come on a CMC weekend at a group campsite with pavilion in Cades Cove Campground in the Smokies from noon on Friday to noon on Sunday.
John Dickson was CMC president in 1988 and 1989. Recently I caught up with John and asked him to talk about himself, his hiking memories, his years with the club, and his recent trip to Antarctica. John talks of his legacy.