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
Gay Bryant, Webmail Coordinator; Dianne Gruber, newsletter editor, 865 977-0807; Phyllis Henry, Treasurer, Special Projects, 865 577-2604; Pete James, Volunteer Data Records, 865 977-0807; Dick Ketelle, Committee Member, 865 483-9345; John Lankford, NP Division Leader, 865 774-1866; ; Jim Lowe, Nantahela National Forest Division Leader 828 479- 9271;Mac McNutt, Tools Manager, 865 983-3237; Randy Puckett, Consultant; Philip Royer, Shelter and Campsite coordinator 865 694- 0160; John and Penny Lankford, Deep South Committee Representatives, 865 774-1866.
March 3, 2007- Support for SMHC sawyers in Nantahala National Forest (See note)
April 7, 2007 - Support for SMHC sawyers in the Smokies (Assuming this is inside the chainsaw window, as usual) (See note)
May 5, 2007 - Spring water bar cleaning
June 2, 2007 - Lead a National Trails Day crew or serve on NTD planning team
July 7, 2007 - Cutting vegetation in the Smokies
August 4, 2007 - Cutting vegetation in the Smokies (or the national forest if the trip leaders have a strong preference for working down there)
September 1 & 2, 2007 - Backpacking maintenance trip
September 22, 2007 - Support for SMHC shelter renovation crew
October 6, 2007 - Fall water bar cleaning
November 3, 2007 - Fall water bar cleaning
Note: All chain sawing is done by personnel who have been trained and qualified in that skill. They need our support in trimming small branches, disposing of cut branches and logs, cleanup, etc
Maintainers Appreciation Dinner
February 24, 2007 5:30pm
Good Samaritan Church, Cedar Bluff
Bring a dish to pass at our “Bring on the Spring Maintaining Season” potluck. New maintainers are especially welcomed. Come meet everyone. We also look forward to seeing our “seasoned” volunteers and “appreciating” them. It is great to be together without a tool in hand!!!! We will gather at the Good Samaritan church on Cedar Bluff Road (just north of Dunkin’ Donuts and Pilot). Come at 5:30 to place your dish on the table and then mingle. We will have a meat cooking, as well as bread and drink, and hope to have it ready to serve at 6pm. Our speaker will be Bob Lochbaum. His talk will be, “Mapping the Trails and Cemeteries in the Smokies.” Bob used a GPS, along with a wheel/altimeter device of his own design to map all of the trails and cemeteries in the park. His data on distances and elevations are used exclusively in the trail guide, “Hiking Trails of the Smokies” published by the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association. In the process of all this mapping, Bob has hiked all of the trails in the park over 19 times. He has many stories to tell. Please RSVP by Feb 19. Contacts:
Dianne Gruber grub9382@bellsouth.net or 865 977 0807
Rae Jones, SMHC social committee chair knxrae@aol.com or 865 558-9154
Cathy Hickam 865 691-9614
The chain saw window in GSMNP will be March 29 thru April 29, 2007.
We have a new electronic system in place for submittal of A.T. maintainers’ work reports! Go to the SMHC Website. www.smhclub.org. On the left sidebar you can select “AT Work Reports.” F ill in all the blanks and click the “Submit” button. Michael Vaughn has programmed the system to automatically send the data to Pete James, for entry in the database, and to the Division Leaders, John Lankford and Jim Lowe for information on work done and trail conditions. Some other ATMC members are also getting copies for information. We need to track the hours that are worked by volunteers because those totals will be used by the ATC to justify funding requests. We need to know what work was done and what trail conditions exist in order to manage overall trail maintenance. While you’re on SMHC website, click on the Message Board directly above the work reports. There is a forum for AT Maintainers. Read the news or add a message. Of course, we will still accept hand written reports if you just hate computers. Thank you for your support.
Frances Cook Deal of Statesboro, GA made a $100
donation in memory of Theresa Brichetto.
The money will be earmarked for use in the National
Forest. Ms. Deal stated in her letter that she had fond
memories of the two of them working in the Forest painting blazes.
11/11-12/06 T.J. Tolnas and Michael West cleaned out all waterbars, dug 55 feet of sidehill, improved one set of stone steps and cleared one medium blowdown from Cody Gap to Brown Fork Gap.
11/18/06 Terry Elmore and three Otter Participants, four Maryville College Students, Randy Rainey, Josh Rainey, Mac McNutt, & Phyllis Henry carried five bags of mulch to Icewater Spring privy. The trail was very slick and dangerous. All waterbars were cleaned from Newfound Gap up to where the ice started. One rock waterbar installed. We sawed out two trees, one going south from Newfound Gap, and the other one going north from Indian Gap (this was reported by RR Jim Mowbray in the morning as he was passing through on his patrol). Lots of trash had been thrown of the side of the trail in one area, we cleaned it up. A special thanks to Terry Elmore for the wonderful
lunch that he had made and packed for everyone.
11/26/06 Mac McNutt, Stew Taylor, Phyllis Henry, Terry Elmore and two Otter participants, Majok and Angelo Wol worked around Clingmans Dome. Mac and Stew walked down Mt. Buckley and took out a large tree and removed another tree behind the Dome, while the other group worked on the waterbars behind the Dome which had been neglected for quite some time. Terry put in a rock waterbar. Part of the trail was covered with snow and ice. We stopped at Indian Gap and went north to cut back farther up the bank the tree that Mac and Phyllis had cut out last Saturday.
11/26/06 DickKetelle cut the tree near the Boulevard Trail Junction.12/14/06 Mac McNutt and Stew Taylor : “Cleaned and refilled mulch bucket at Icewater privy. Cleaned waterbars from Sweat Heifer to illegal camp site. Ground frozen and plenty of ice on climbup. Used crampons.” 12/16 Dick Ketelle visited the Cosby Knob blowdown with Ann, (my talented assistant and supervisor who has a stronger mind if a weaker back) and removed the
sizeable blowdown. The project required two hours to complete. The trail is passable to all and I thought it wouldn't hurt to leave the log as is to force traffic to the uphill side of the original CCC trail bench.
12/20 Jerry Troxler hiked up to Spence and Russell Field. “Around the shelters, I picked up trash, cleaned out the fire pits and conducted a tool inventory at both gear boxes. The Spence privy was swept out and the mulch replenished. Several limbs were cleared off the trail and as many water bars as possible were cleaned out. I carried a garbage bag full of trash off the mountain. A good time was had by all.”
12/21/06 thru 12/23/06 Mac McNutt, Stew Taylor, Terry Elmore, Coy Blair and Tom Howard moved the privy at Pecks Corner. “ We removed as many blowdowns as possible by hand from Pecks to Bunion. Aprox 10 blowdowns on Bradley Fork and Hughes Ridge trails — all step overs. Seven blowdowns from Pecks to Bunion; most are step overs. One is a crawl under, two others were trimmed by us so that they are passable. Three of these will have to be cut with a chainsaw. Waterbars from Pecks to Sweat Heifer are practically non existent.” 12/29/06 Phillip Royer hiked to Derrick Knob to photograph and measure the shelter. “ I cleaned the shelter and fire pit and carried out a large bag of garbage and excess food that was hanging on the cable.”1/06/07 Mac McNutt, Stewart Taylor and Phyllis Henry went to Ice Water and siliconed the floor of the shelter to stop the leaks . They also cleaned the privy and refilled the mulch bucket.