Carolina Mountain Club                                                                        December 2012
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From The Editor
This issue features an article by Stuart English about the annual Cookie Hike - a tradition started by Carol and Ken Deal.  Thank you to all those who create CMC traditions such as swim hikes, New Years Day hikes, barbecues, and camping trips. These are some of the best gifts.
 
If anyone has any articles for the newsletter, send them to me at [email protected]

The newsletter will go out the last Friday of every month. The deadline to submit news is the Friday before it goes out.

 

Sincerely,
Kathy Kyle
Carolina Mountain Club

CMC President Responds 

MST Friends Propose Two Routes 

By Marcia Bromberg, CMC President 
After months of review and public sessions, including input from the CMC, the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail has made a recommendation to the Southwestern Commission about the route of the MST in Western North Carolina. (To read letter click here.) The FMST recommends two routes for for the trail--a northern route through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that takes advantage of the trail the CMC is about to complete to Heintooga Road and a southern "river valley" route that follows the Tuckaseegee River from Bryson City through Sylva, returning to the GSMNP route at Waterrock Knob. To read more click here.
Holidays, Cookies and A Hike Tradition
ByStuart English
The Christmas season is a funny time of year. It means many things to many different people. Some times it just sneaks up on you whether you want it to or not. One of the traditions of the Carolina Mountain Club is to have a hike in December where everyone is encouraged to bring homemade cookies to be enjoyed and traded at the lunch spot.

Ken and Carol Deal have led this hike for years. Sherman Stambaugh and his daughter, Diane Stickney, lead a shorter version (for those who want a shorter version) and everyone meets for lunch at the same place with their cookies.

This year the longer hike involved a good climb up to the MST and then back down a trail created and named after Sherman. Before we got to Lake Powhatan, we met the other group and our number for lunch had almost doubled. It was like a who's who of the club. Many were old friends that don't get to see each other enough. There were some Christmas epiphanies. One hiker left his cookies in his car. One hiker could not eat cookies because of dietary restrictions and talked of leaving before lunch even started. One hiker was caught and chastised for not actually baking his cookies.

But what we learned was that it was not about the cookies. The cookies were a symbol and looked good on that picnic table. But after a steep climb, a five mile hike, and releasing all those endorphins, we were in an epiphany friendly mood. We were here with our friends. It was that time of year. What could
be better than that?

Happy Holidays Everybody!
Leaders Dinner Set For Feb. 22
By Jim Reel and the Hiking Committee
The 2013 Hike Leaders Dinner will be held on Friday, February 22, 2013, in the Century Room at Packs Tavern in Asheville. We will have a reception at 6 pm, dinner around 7 pm and a very exciting program from 8 - 9 pm. Our volunteer hike leaders are one of the great assets of the CMC and we appreciate the hours that you ladies and gentlemen spend scouting and leading hikes for us. We hope all leaders will attend.  
rainbow falls cave
Rainbow Falls leads to cave.

Mapping Technology Shows Sinkholes And Caves
Knoxnews.com By Morgan Simmons

TOWNSEND - Cades Cove's unique combination of natural beauty and history make it the most popular destination in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 

Some visitors come for the wildlife, while others are drawn to the grist mills, barns, log houses and churches scattered along the 11-mile loop road.

 

Last week, Keith Langdon came for the sinkholes.

A retired biologist for the Smokies, Langdon was in the right place - the cove's limestone bedrock makes it a hot spot for sinkholes and caves - and to aid his search, he had a special map, one that depicted Cades Cove as lunar landscape. To read more click here.   

bookreview

Book Review 
Along The Appalachian Trail   

Reviewed by Danny Bernstein

Along the Appalachian Trail: Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, published by Acadia Publishing ($21.99), is a book to read, browse, and refer to often. It contains over 200 photographs of the A.T. then and, sometimes, now. Leonard M. Adkins, the author, is a nature and outdoor writer with 16 books to his credit. He's hiked the A.T. five times.

 

The book is organized by hiking clubs. Photographs of and from the five "Deep South" clubs--Georgia ATC, Nantahala Hiking Club, Smoky Mountains Hiking Club, Carolina Hiking Club and Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoe Club, are featured. Coincidentally, these five clubs will be the host of the 2013 ATC Biennial Conference. Old hiking pictures portray backpackers with external frame packs--yeah I had one of those and I'm so grateful for internal frame packs. Even in the 1970s, dayhikers still used soft and shapeless rucksacks. Trail building and maintenance was a lot harder in the days before chain saws. A photo taken in 1932 shows a group using hatchets to bring down trees for a new section of trail. To read more click here.  

kayah
Kayah Gaydish
Trail Improvements and Plant Eradication
CMC Member Featured In A.T. Journeys 
CMC member Kayah Gaydish was featured in the recent issue of A.T. Journeys. She coordinated the work of volunteers from Missouri and Boy Scouts to install steps on the A.T. near Hot Springs and to help eradicate invasive exotic plants from along the French Broad River near Hot Springs and near Max Patch. To read the story, click here
 
Albert Gordon (Dutch) Roth, 1890-1974;
Albert Gordon (Dutch) Roth, 1890-1974; "Sign at Newfound Gap covered in hoarfrost and ice

Database Of Smoky Mountains Available
By Mike Knies
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Libraries has released a free online bibliography of Smoky Mountains material published since 1934, the year the national park was established. To reach the database click here.  
linvillegorge
Linville Gorge was named for the explorer William Linville.
Forest Service Proposes Prescribed Burn Of Wilderness 
The Forest Service has issued a proposal to do a prescribed burn of all of the Linville Gorge Wilderness. It is to be done in four stages.

 

The proposal and map are on line at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php/?project=37966.

 

The deadline for comments has been extended to 15 January 2013.

 

All details about where to send responses are on the material on the web site indicated 

ATC Seeking Community
Ambassador For Hot Springs

By Marcia Bromberg 

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has recognized towns close to or on the AT as Trails Communities, including Hot Springs. They're currently looking for an interested individual to serve as a Community Ambassador for Hot Springs. If you're interested in learning more about this program or in becoming an AT Ambassador follow this link: http://atcommunities.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/ambassadors-2013/ (The deadline for applications has been extended beyond the date shown). 

Hike 

Save Trails

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In This Issue
MST Route
Holiday Tradition
Leaders Dinner
Mapping Technology
Book Review
CMC Member Featured
Park Database
Linville Gorge Burns
Ambassador Needed

  

 

Quick Links




The Small Print

The next issue will come out on Friday, January 25. Wednesday hike reports for the hike just before the eNews comes out will be published in the next eNews.

Hiker leaders, post your photos and hike reports on the website as directed, or send your eNews hike reports and photos to [email protected]

So send your news by Friday evening at 9 P.M. the week before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Friday evening January 18 to Kathy Kyle at [email protected]. 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
1. Go to www.carolinamountainclub.org
2. Click on "Join CMC" on the right side and follow the instructions

For CMC members only - Send all address and email changes to Gale O'Neal at [email protected]. Do not resubscribe yourself to the eNews. That will be done automatically.

If you are a non-member subscriber, you need to go back to the eNews and make the change yourself.