Carolina Mountain Club - Since 1923                          
                                                                               
                                       eNews | Hike . Save Trails . Make Friends                               
January 2014   
In This Issue
New CMC President

Focusing on CMC's Future

By Bobbi Powers

Lenny Bernstein, our new CMC President, brings a wealth of leadership experience to his job.  This article will focus on Lenny's contributions to the CMC; however, see his full archived biography on our web site (Aug. 2010) for the full - and lengthy- list of his accomplishments.

 

Lenny moved to Asheville in 2001 and immediately started attending Council meetings.  In no time at all, he had been appointed Secretary to fill a vacancy in 2002 and then was elected Secretary for 2003-4.  He was Vice-President in 2005, during which time he headed a task force that revised the bylaws and created the current committee structure.  He was President in 2006-7.  He was the recipient of the CMC Distinguished Service Award for 2013.  This is a man who knows the ropes!

 

He is a regular hike leader and also maintained sections of the A.T. and the MST.  And he even professes to have a life away from the rigorous volunteer schedule he maintains.

 

I've asked Lenny to give us an overview of what he hopes to accomplish during his tenure and what he envisions for the CMC's future.  Take it away, Lenny.

 

It's great to be back on the CMC Council.  To be honest, I didn't expect to return as your President.  However, when the job was offered to me, I had no difficulty saying yes.  I may wander off for a while to work on ATC biennials, but CMC is where my heart is. To read more click here

 
Pete A Peterson Passes
Pete A passed away early Wednesday after a long and difficult bout with cancer. He was in hospice at home and was with Pat, his wife, and their children. 

After a period in the Army and years at Sears Roebuck, Pete and Pat left the Chicago area in the early 1990's and relocated to Mountain Home. Interested in gardening, he joined the local Master Gardener organization and began landscaping the grounds of their home. Over the ensuing years, he and Pat traveled extensively to fill an interest in viewing different species of birds. To read more click here.
Save Saturday, April 19, For 
CMC Spring Social At Arboretum

arbor 

Save the date for the CMC Spring Social on Saturday April 19, 2014.

It will be held again at the NC Arboretum.

More details will be out in the next eNews and in the next Let's Go.

But for now, just save the date for another social time with fellow hikers and maintainers.

Carolina Critters
Diapause, Torpor - Tools Of Survival

 

 

By Becky LedBetter 

  • A bear breathes once every 45 seconds.

  • A chickadee will eat 60% of its body weight in a day.

  • A ground squirrel will drop its body temperature below freezing.


These are just a few of the adaptations our friends in the wild use to navigate the cold and stormy weather in winter.  With the recent onslaught of the "Polar Vortex" I found myself wondering how all the critters were coping with the sub-zero temperatures.  Yes, I could keep my bird feeders full and make piles of leaves or cover available but what do the critters do that don't live near a house in the woods?

 

Fortunately animals are hard wired to make the best of a tough situation.  Here are some examples:

 

Bird Migration:

 

When the days get shorter in the fall birds head for warmer climates and better food sources.  An example is the swallow and its cousin the purple martin.  These birds' bodies are well adapted for flying long distances.  Those birds who are year round visitors here in Western North Carolina seek shelter and cover.  They conserve energy as best they can. To read more click here

Saturday MST Trail Building Work Dates Set
 
By Les Love
The Saturday MST trail building work dates for 2014 are March 15May 3June 7August 16October 18. For more information about MST trail building, contact me at lesrlove55@gmail.com.
Also here is a note from Pete R Peterson, our CMC Councilor for Trail Maintenance:

It's that time of year again. Please go to the CMC website at http://www.carolinamountainclub.org/ to renew your disclaimer document and emergency information. 

If you are a member, log in. If you've forgotten your password, click on the login button, and request a password, which should be sent to you shortly by email. Your identity keys off your email address. 
On the right navigation bar, click on Trail Maintenance. 
In the left column under Forms, click on Crew/Section Maintainer Agreement. 
Read, update emergency contact info, check the box and click on I Agree. 
If you have a family membership, the online process may not work well for you. Using the attached form is fine. 
If you are a family member or NOT a CMC member, please download the attached form, fill it out, scan it and send it to me electronically:  [email protected]

 

Ruth Hartzler Has Led The 

Way In Working, Hiking, Conserving 

By Stuart English

We understand that you have lived in this area quite a while. Tell us about your education, your work, and what brought you to WNC.

 

I was one of very few women at a major engineering school in the 1960's, studying math, and then also in my early career.  Times were different then, and I had a lot of experiences in these formative years that were either challenging or humorous.  A significant event involves my freshman calculus professor, a shy bachelor.  The women's movement hadn't developed momentum yet, and I didn't know anything about it.  When I excelled on one freshman math exam, and then did poorly on the next, my math professor called me to his office. This was intimidating back in those days, since my scholarship was on the line.  He suggested that I read Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique," a ground-breaking women's movement book, which had just been published.  I still marvel at how brave and perceptive he was.

 

After one technical meeting during my early career, I was told by an executive that had attended the meeting that "You think just like a man."  To read more click here.

Solo Travel
Walking French Pilgrimage 
Trail Alone, But Not Really Alone

eNews is running a series of stories about solo travel. If you have a solo experience to share please send them to [email protected]

 

Danny Bernstein 

I spent a month walking a French pilgrimage trail, Le Chemin de St. Jacques, also a national trail, GR 65 from Le Puy-en-Velay in southeastern France to St. Jean Pied-de-Port on the Spanish border - 440 miles. Though I started the trek with three other people, they all left for various reasons after two weeks. I was on my own.

 

Over 50,000 people start from Le Puy every year, so "on my own" is relative. Even when I hike with Lenny or with a hiking partner working to complete the same hiking challenge, we rarely walk together in lock step.  To read more click here.

Are You A Map Freak?

 

By Mike Knies 

I have a friend who was born in the rugged mountain area where I-40 parallels the Pigeon River heading toward Newport and Cosby in a cabin the youngest of ten children.  He has roamed all over those hills and dales hunting, fishing and just exploring and never used or had a map.  I asked him how he kept from getting lost.  He said we just always had a sense for where we were.  Even now when we get together and I pull out a map to show where we are or where we are going he really can't read them very well since he never needed them.

 

Well I am not blessed with his innate sense so I rely on maps.  I love maps of all kinds historic, road, aerial photos, and trail maps. Some people like books stores.  I love map shops.  In fact my wife calls me a map freak.  I have been hiking and camping in most of the national parks in the country since I was eleven and I have always delighted in studying maps and all their intricacies.  I would scour them for hours sometimes finding new details in the contours or symbols and my wife would think I was nuts.  I would get a kick out of finding and obscure feature like a possible hanging valley and could not wait to get a chance to check it out. To read more click here.

Former CMC President Dies
Richard Blackwell Johnson, of Brevard, passed away January 7, 2014 at Elizabeth House in Flat Rock. He was born May 10, 1928 to the late Raymond Johnson and Florence Wuttkey Johnson.
He was preceded in death by his son Tarn Jeffrey Johnson and a sister Betty McAtee. To read more click here
cmclogo Send eNews articles to [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.

The next issue will come out on Friday, February 28 so send your news by Friday evening at 9 P.M. before the newsletter comes out, that is, by Friday evening February 21 to Kathy Kyle at [email protected]. Include your email address at the end of your story. Thank you.
 
Westgate parking - Park in the northernmost part of the lot - past EarthFare, in the last row of parking spaces.

To join Carolina Mountain Club go to:  www.carolinamountainclub.org. Click on "Join CMC" on the right side. Follow the instructions. 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.

  

Kathy Kyle
Carolina Mountain Club | P.O. Box 68
Asheville, NC 28802