Remote for detachment; Narrow for chosen company; Winding for leisure; Lonely for contemplation;
It beckons not merely north and south, but upward to the body, mind and soul of man ...Harold Allen
Published by the Appalachian Trail Maintainers Committee of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Committee: Dick Ketelle, 865 483-9345; Phyllis Henry, 865 577-2604; Mac McNutt, 865 983-3237; Philip Royer, 865 694- 0160, Pete James,,865 977-0807; Dianne Gruber, 865 977-0807; Penny Lankford,865 774-1866; John Lankford, 865 774-1866.
Mark your calendar and join in on the following opportunities:
April 1-30 Chainsaw window in GSMNP
February 25 Maintainers Dinner
February 28 CPR, American Red Cross Maryville, call Mac McNutt 865/983-3237
March 13-? Helicopter drops at Cosby Knob, Tricorner Knob, and Pecks Corner shelters and along the A.T. from Newfound Gap to Clingmans Dome. If you can help out for at least a 2 day stretch please call Phyllis Henry 577-2604 or email: phyllishenry@yahoo.com
TBA – Warren Wilson College Spring Break Crew working out of Nantahala Outdoor Center
May 6 - Basic Trail Maintenance Skills Workshop, Robbinsville, NC
May 20 – a repeat of the above workshop – Gatlinburg, TN. More details to follow on both.
June 3 - National Trails Day
Maintainers Appreciation Dinner
February 25, 2006
Calling all A.T. Maintainers!
Come join us the evening of February 25 th for the annual A.T. Maintainers Appreciation Dinner. The dinner will be at the Church of the Good Samaritan at 425 N. Cedar Bluff Road in Knoxville. As usual the A.T. committee will provide the main dish and we need everyone to bring a favorite side dish to contribute to the meal. Arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 PM to visit with friends and dinner will start at 6:00 PM.
Pam Underhill of the A.T. Park Office in Harper’s Ferry will speak and Bert Emmerson who has recently thru-hiked the A.T. and the Pacific Crest Trails will give a short program. The Spence Field Shelter remodeling DVD produced by Ann Farrar and Dick Ketelle will be shown.
Driving Directions – From I-40 take the Cedar Bluff Exit, go north for ½ mile to the Church of the Good Samaritan, located on the left. The banquet will be in the Family Center.
RSVP by February 20 to Ann Farrar 865/483-3792 annf@comcast.net or Carolyn Williams 865/573-6534 cmuwms@bellsouth.net to ensure that plans are made for the right number of folks.
We greatly appreciate the generous donation that was made recently by the Mark Perschel Family of Jacksonville, Florida. This is the third year that they have made a donation to the A.T. Program. Part of the donation is designated each year to the shelter-remodeling project and the rest is to be used for continued maintenance projects on the Trail.
This is an excerpt from the letter received from the family: “When I received your letter I was amazed at how beautiful Spence Field Shelter has now become. I looked back at the years we have visited the Park and found a picture when my son was 3 years old in front of the shelter- he is now nineteen. How the time passes so quickly. Thank you for allowing us to participate with you in providing shelter for hikers, We will never hear all the stories of people’s experiences, but I am sure, on a cold rainy day, someone will be blessed by your efforts to improve the backcountry experience. It may be a part of changing someone’s life. I know it did for me. I appreciate you allowing us to participate in your efforts, and sincerely Thank You for volunteering. May God Bless you all.”
A private donor who had recently thru hiked the Trail made a $5,000.00 donation to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to be used on the Cosby Knob shelter, which is slated to be rehabbed in September. The donation was made in honor of his parents. Our thanks to him for wanting to be a part of the shelter remodeling project in the Smokies.
The Haiman National Park Foundation funded the request made by the Park to the Friends of the Smokies to be used on the Cosby Knob shelter rehabilitation. Our thanks to the Board of the Foundation for their continued support to the shelter projects each year.
2006 ATC Smokies Trail Crew Program
Crew plans for 2006
Currently, we have funding in place to host a new blowdown removal crew in April, repeat the Brush Busters Crew in June and July, and to have Rocky Top work in September and October. The schedules appear below. For more information on the crews, visit www.appalachiantrail.org/crews or contact Matt Davis at mdavis@appalachiantrail.org/828-254-3708.
Smokies "Blowdown" Volunteer Crew
April Objectives: 1) Blowdown removal and Clean waterbars
Session #1 4/2-4/6 (Sun-Thurs)
Session #2 4/10-4/14 (Mon-Fri)
Session #3 4/16-4/20 (Sun-Thurs)
Session #4 4/24-4/28 (Mon-Fri)
Smokies “Brush Busters” Volunteer Crew
June/July Objectives : 1) Weed & brush cutting
2) Clean waterbars, and 3) fix tread problems
Session #1 6/8-6/13 (Thurs-Tues)
Session #2 6/15-6/20 (Thurs-Tues)
Session #3 6/26-7/1 (Mon-Sat)
Session #4 7/3-7/8 (Mon-Sat)
Session #5 7/10-7/15 (Mon-Sat)
There were a total of 4 Ridgerunners working in the Smokies in 2005. Glenn Reynolds worked as the Smokies Summer Ridgerunner, Mark Tinkham as the Spring Ridgerunner, Carl Goodman Spring Ridgerunner working from Fontana and Jim Mowbray. Jim helped out immensely as a volunteer Ridgerunner during the late spring and summer and has continued patrolling this fall and winter.
Together, these four made contact with an estimate of 7,000+ A.T. visitors providing an LNT message, helping to manage backcountry facilities, reporting on trail conditions, performing needed trail maintenance, and reducing user created impacts.
Mark, Carl and Jim Mowbray will be back on the job in 2006. They will start their season in March and will be involved with the flying in of materials to Cosby Knob, Tricorner Knob and Pecks Corner shelters. If you see these guys out on the trail please thank them for their hard work and welcome them back for another season.
11/4/05 T. J. Tolnas painted blazes from Cable Gap to Brown Fork Gap.
11/11/05 T. J. Tolnas and Stewart Taylor cleared two blowdowns, cut brush and cleaned waterbars from Cable Gap for two miles south.
11/15/05 Ray Payne and Barbara Allen cleared the blowdown on the A.T. in the Mt. Collins Shelter area.
11/18/05 Dick Ketelle, Craig Rightmire, and Matt Davis assessed trail conditions and projects for National Trails Day and located helicopter log drop locations between Clingmans Dome and Newfound Gap.
11/6, 7, 9 /05 Dennis Fulcher and Bill Blair weeded and cut brush from Cheoah to the Jump Up, cleaned up Sassafrass Gap shelter and Cheoah Bald and hauled out trash. Denis says, “I want to thank whoever painted the blazes on my trail section, also thanks to SLUGO and LGRUNT who cut the blowdown on my section.”
ATMN 2/06 Page 2
12/06/05 Kevin Hessler hiked from the NOC to Grassy Gap, clearing six medium-sized blowdowns and numerous pieces of debris from the trail. Three large blowdowns (all step-overs) remain between NOC and Wright Gap (Watia Road) just south of Wright Gap that require a chainsaw. He also cleared away a pile of leaves from the spring at the campsite south of Grassy Gap and created a little pool from which hikers can filter.
12/7/05 Mac McNutt, Jerry Troxler, Stew Taylor, and Phllis Henry put up a tarp on the front of Icewater Spring Shelter, put in a waterbar to divert water from the shelter, and dug a drainage ditch in front of the shelter, and filled in holes on the inside of the shelter.
12/12/05 Dawn Pekarchick and Larry Ball removed shrubbery from the trail Low Gap to Mt. Cammerer.
12/28/05 Wayne Williams hiked up to Spence Field, he cleaned the shelter, cleaned the privy and refilled mulch bucket, and partially cleaned up horse people’s mess. Met 3 others that were passing through and met about 20 on the way down. Carried out about a gallon of trash. Gorgeous day, about 4-6 inches of snow on top.
A nearly full house enjoyed an evening of singing by Mandy Barnett on December 6 at the Palace Theater in Maryville. Thanks to everyone who supported this event, which benefited the OTTERS program of the Maryville Housing Authority, who have adopted a section of the A.T.
Last October, we hiked from Fontana to Clingmans Dome. Intended and had permit for Fontana to I-40 but....hey that’s another story. Just wanted to drop a line to tell you how much we appreciated the condition of the trail and shelters. We are members of Grand Canyon Hikers and Backpackers and have worked on several service projects in GC. Guess we might notice conditions a little more than some. Especially those ditches to channel water away from the trail and that new shelter at Silers Bald. We were at Silers just a couple of days after it re-opened. Lots of hard work! Thank you!!
While we were waiting for our ride from parking lot at Clingmans Dome, one of your members offered us a ride toward Knoxville. We were headed to Waynesville and Asheville. But that was good of her to offer. Said she was a member of the 900 milers.
— Dick and Joan Gladson, Tucson, AZ
Funds raised will be used to provide equipment, food, and transportation for the youth when they work on the Trail.