Appalachian Trail Maintainers News
September, 2006
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.
September 2006 - Editor/Dianne Gruber
Trail Maintenance Trip
The shelter renovation project will begin on September 9th at Cosby Knob. Unfortunately camping is very limited and the more experienced workers from previous shelter crews will be using the few sites that are available. Anyone that wants to come up and work any day may do so. It is the hopes of the crew to be finished with the shelter rehab by the end of the day, Wednesday the 13th.
The Rocky Top crew starts working September 5th and will be camping in the same area of the shelter, which is another factor to the lack of camping space.
The crews will be continuing their work going south of Mt. Cammerer. You are encouraged to spend a day or days working with the Rocky Top crew. This is an excellent opportunity to learn trail skills and show your support for these volunteers who come from all over the world to work on the A.T. in the Smokies. There is even a session where trail riders and hikers work together.
We greatly appreciate all the support that is given to the the success of the Rocky Top crew by the trail riding organizations from Tennessee and North Carolina. If you would like to volunteer please call Julie Judkins a the ATC Regional Office 828/254-3708 or email judkins @ atconf.org
The schedule is:
Session
# 1 9/5-9/12 (Tues-Tues)
Session
#2 9/16-9/22 (Sat-Sat)
Session
#3 9/29-10/6 (Fri-Fri)
Session
#4 10/10-10/17 (Tues-Tues)
Session
#5 10/21-10/28 (Sat-Sat)
There is a never-ending need for volunteers to mow grass and clean waterbars along our easier to reach section. The ridgerunners have reported that several places on our 17-mile section needs attention for weed cutting and waterbar cleaning. Please refer to last month’s newsletter regarding section leaders to contact or call any of the committee members listed above if you are willing to help.
We still need more Section Leaders.Click here to volunteer online today!
A.T. Work
July/06 Jim Goddard spent 21 days in the woods working from Miry Ridge to Starkey Gap. The work that has by done the RRs gave him more time to address many areas of the trail that needed attention but kept being bypassed by more critical needs each year.
7/19/06 Phyllis Henry and Jerry Troxler cleaned waterbars, filled in behind steps, installed 1 step, and cut vegetation from Spruce Fir Nature Trail going south.
7/21/06 Jerry Span cleaned out all the water bars from the recent rains, cut all overgrowth, and picked up trash. (Somebody left a nice bag of trash: Spam, Pringels cans, box of crackers and canned soups. Leave no trace is still a work in progress) between Fontana Dam to Birch Springs
7/26/06 Stu Taylor and Jerry Troxler cut weeds and brush between Fork Ridge and about two miles south of Mt. Collins shelter. Counted the locust logs that were unused from NTD and retrieved Phyllis’ shovel that she had left from the week before.
7/28/06 Three Goves (Norwood, Ruth, and Doris) whacked weeds and cut overhanging branches for a little more than a mile south of Collins Gap.
7/31/06 Steve Higdon cut weeds and briars between Newfound and Indian Gaps. He cut brush back from areas of Trails Day sidehill work, removing young spruce and fir sprouts. He says he talked to one backpacker who described the AT from Ice Water to Indian Gap as being like a “Stairmaster”.
8/1/06 Phyllis Henry, Stew Taylor, and Jerry Troxler hiked from Indian Gap north and counted logs left from NTD. Then they hiked south from Indian Gap to where projects were not finished on NTD and installed 6 steps and cleaned several waterbars.
8/11/06 Pete James cut vegetation in the Icewater springs area.
Rocky Top Funding
The Friends of the Smokies has established a new fund to support the Rocky Top Volunteer Trail Crew, raising $15,000 for the fund. It will provide annual support for a seasonal group that spends each fall repairing and improving the Smokies’ 72-mile section of the Appalachian Trail — the true “rocky top” of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Only the crew chief and assistant crew chief are paid. Volunteers accomplish the bulk of the work — from as far away as England, Sweden and Japan, and as close as East Tennessee. Jim Hart, President of Friends of the Smokies, said, “we hope to grow this fund every year until we can underwrite the entire program in perpetuity, and we are very grateful to everyone involved for their overwhelming generosity.” Additional donations to the Rocky Top Volunteer Trail Crew Fund may be sent to Friends of the Smokies, P.O. Box 5650, Sevierville, TN 37864-5650. For more information, please call Friends of the Smokies at (865) 932-4794 or friendsofthesmokies.org.
Donations
We greatly appreciate the following donations that help us continue the work on the Appalachian Trail to make it a better trail for all users.
Maureen Wilder, a life member of Smokies Association donated $4,000 toward Derrick Knob 2007shelter rehab.
Donators to the A.T. Maintenance fund included:
SMHC member Monty Swanson donated $1000.
James and Marjorie Cammack of Cypress, CA who had visited the Smokies recently wrote a nice thank you note for our work and donated $20.
The donation box at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports yielded $35.31.
Huge Thanks to the Nantahala Hiking Club
On August 5 many members of the Nantahala Hiking Club and a few SMHC members cut back brush on the AT between Yellow Creek Gap and N.C. Hwy 28 and from Cheoah Bald to Wright Gap.
We humbly thank the Nantahala Club for helping the SMHC maintain this section of the trail which has historically been “ours”.
We hope the barbecue picnic we provided was appreciated as a token of thanks for their long hours of work on a rainy but very hot day.
Hopefully the trip leader(s) will provide a writeup of this trip for the October newsletter.
Volunteering Opportunities
District Leader – The remote AT sections in the park are presently managed by the Morgan Sommerville of the ATC, using a variety of special crews and activities. We need a volunteer willing to work with Morgan for the next year or two, helping to coordinate the work while learning the process. If we succeed in later taking over the entire trail, those remote sections would constitute a third district. (The other two: Jim Lowe manages the NF district and John Lankford manages the “accessible” sections in the park.)
Here are AT maintaining positions that can be filled by those who would like to help but are not able to do the physical work itself:
Grant Writers – Much of the work on remote sections in the Smokies will require the use of paid crew leaders and the purchase of supplies and transportation. Two or three volunteers are needed who will seek sources for grants, consult with District Leaders on viable projects and then write grant applications.
Volunteers Recruiter – We need someone to work with George Ritter during the initial recruiting phase and then take over the job next year.Anyone interested in volunteering for any of these spots can call George Ritter (865) 483-9758 or email him at geo_ritt @ bellsouth.net for more information. ALSO, we still need more Section Leaders. Click here to volunteer online today!