Appalachian Trail Maintainers News
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
Dick Ketelle, Strategic Planning, 865 483-9345; Phyllis Henry, Volunteer coordinator, Special Projects, 865 577-2604; Mac McNutt, Tools Manager, 865 983-3237; Lucinda Turbeville, Outreach and Development 865 945-1441;Philip Royer, Shelter and Campsite coordinator 865 694- 0160; Pete James, Volunteer Data Records, 865 977-0807; Dianne Gruber, newsletter editor, 865 977-0807; Penny Lankford, Secretary, 865 774-1866; John Lankford, Webmail Coordinator 865 774-1866; Jim Lowe, Trail Manager, National Forest 828 479- 9271; Randy Puckett, Consultant.
June 2006 - Editor/Dianne Gruber
Upcoming events
May 26 Cindy Ross, of Pennsylvania (former A.T. thru-hiker and did several long distance hikes with her family) will be the second guest speaker of the A.T. series at Sugarlands Visitor Center 7:00 PM. Please come and support the series which is to showcase the Appalachian Trail display.
June 23 A thru-hiker round table discussion will be the last of the speaker series.
May 25-29, Two Konnarock crews will be working in the National Forest
from Wright Gap going north. Please make plans to work with the crew a day or
two.
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National Trails Day June 3
Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Regional Office of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, are pleased to coordinate the 10th Annual Appalachian Trail Work Day on National Trails Day, Saturday, June3rd. NTD is a nation wide event and is a program of the American Hiking Society.
The Club and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy have responsibility for seeing that the A.T. and its facilities in the Park are maintained on a continuing basis. We will install locust logs that we were able to purchase with a grant from the Alcoa Foundation. With your help we hope to install all of these logs on Trails Day, which otherwise we will not be able to get done due to the lack of volunteers for the A.T. Also the registration fees are the primary source of income for continuing maintenance cost of the Trail in the Smokies.
Workers will receive a commemorative t-shirt, coffee, juice, and doughnuts in the morning and at the end of the day a picnic. This is the time the team leaders will brag about what their team accomplished that day. Prizes will be given for several categories.
It’s time to register to work at this year’s event. Applications can be downloaded from the SMHC website. http://www.smhclub.org Any questions, call Holly Burcham with Friends of the Smokies at (865) 453-2428 or 1-800-845-5665, or Phyllis Henry at (865) 577-2604. This will be the last year that Phyllis will be chairperson, so please come and have a good time celebrating the 10th year anniversary of this event.
July work trip
At this time we do not have a leader for the July trip. It is weed-cutting time, so we suggest that A.T. Section Leaders in the Great Smokies sections get teams together and start weed whacking on the 17 miles from Silers Bald to Dry Sluice Gap trail junction.
Basic Trail Maintenance Workshop
Matt Davis of the ATC and SMHC National Forest trail manager Jim Lowe conducted a basic trail maintenance workshop on May 6 at Wesser, NC. Nantahala Outdoor Center hosted the event and donated door prizes along with Adventure Foods of Whittier, NC, the ATC, and SMHC. Of the seventeen attendees, a few were new volunteers. Most represented Nantahala Hiking Club, NC Bartram Trail Society or SMHC, and most were from North Carolina. The morning was spent in the classroom, but prior to lunch, the group put their new trail-building knowledge to work by hiking north on the A.T. with a variety of tools in hand. In groups, participants tried their hands at tasks such as lopping, mowing, waterbar cleaning and installation. At least one mile of trail was much improved by the afternoon. SMHC members who made the drive from Tennessee were Dianne Gruber, Pete James, John and Penny Lankford, Philip Royer and Lucinda Turbeville. Many thanks to Matt Davis for organizing and leading this event for two years in a row.
Philip Royer
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A.T. Work
3/24 Smoky Mtn. Trail riders Sam Tillery, Carter Moulden and Kent Ingram hauled mulch for the privy at Spence Field and went on to Russell Field shelter to haul out 3 bags of trash that had been left there.
4/1 Smoky Mtn. Trail riders Sam Tillery, Carter Moulden, Kent Ingram, and Jeannie hauled stone, chimney cap, cement and sand to Spence Field shelter to be used on the chimney.
4/7 Pam Reddoch, Mark Hall, Dick Bowers and Happy Too walked from Stecoah Gap to Brown Fork Gap and back. They cut weeds and briars, removed trash, cleaned up water sources, checked privy, checked and cleaned up shelter, cleaned fire pits, showed Mark the wildflowers and had a wonderful day.
4/13 Bob Hutchins, Wendell Liemohn and Manfred Grose cleared brush and waterbars between Sweat Heifer and the Boulevard Trail and helped the crew move the Icewater Spring privy.
4/27 Mac McNutt, Pete James, Stew Taylor, Wayne Williams, and RR’s Mark and Jim moved the privy at Mt. Collins shelter and cut out new blowdowns on a couple of sections of the A.T. that had been reported.
4/29 T.J. Tolnas and Mike West improved the steps around a large blowdown, cleaned waterbars and did other minor work from Cody Gap to Brown Fork Gap.
5/1 Steve Higdon walked from Newfound Gap to Indian Gap. He trimmed and pulled up briars, cut brush, and cleaned waterbars while enjoying acres of spring beauties.
5/6 Dick Ketelle and Phyllis Henry worked from Collins Gap going north preparing projects for NTD. A special thanks goes to RR Mark who stopped and helped us.
5/11 Pete James, Mac McNutt, Stew Taylor, Phyllis Henry, and RR’s Mark and Jim carried locust logs to work sites for NTD projects going north from Mt. Collins Gap.
5/12 Craig Rightmire, Dick Ketelle, and Phyllis Henry worked on NTD projects going north from Indian Gap to Newfound Gap
5/13 Bill Curran, Doris Gove, Jim Quick, Philip Royer, and Lucinda Turbeville moved numerous
locust logs and planned projects between Collins Gap and Mt. Collins in preparation for Trails Day, Stew Taylor, Todd White, Mac McNutt, and Jimmy Brink worked at Spruce Fir Nature Trail going north preparing material and Hiram Rogers, Jean Gauger, Tom Weist, Wayne Williams, and Phyllis Henry worked between Newfound Gap and Indian Gap carrying logs. Thanks to all these volunteers and Matt Davis for their help in preparing for National Trails Day. Phyllis