The Tennessee Eastman
HIKING & CANOEING NEWS

April 1993

Contents

• Hiking
• Canoeing
• For The Record

HIKING

WIND RIVER RANGE BACKPACK
(One week in August or September)
(Planning meeting Thurs, 1 April 1993)
Leader: Collins Chew (Phone: 615.239.6237)
A trip is being planned for the Northern End of the Wind River Range-Jim Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming. The date is not yet set but will be in August or September of 1993. Expect relatively short backpack days (5 to 8 miles), one or two layover days, high altitude, heavy pack, possibly severe weather (the name includes "Wind"), spectacular scenery (valleys at 8000 feet, mountains over 13,000 ft. in the most heavily glaciated area of the "lower 48"). Leader reserves right to insist on training backpack. We will probably fly to Jackson, WY. (Supersaver $450 from Tri-Cities Airport.)

Planning Meeting will be in Room 112 of the Employee Center on April 1 at 7:00 PM. If interested, call Collins Chew at 239.6237.

SOUTHERN REGIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
(Scheduled for Saturday, 3 April 93)
Leader: P. Worsham (Phone: 615.239.5672)
The 1993 Southern Regional Management Committee Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 3rd at the Browns Summit Conference Center near Reidsville, N.C.  In past years TEHC has been well represented with many club leaders in attendance.  Recent years have seen a decline in attendance from the club although I think the meetings have become more interesting as the trail issues discussed at the meeting become more complex.  Accommodations have been arranged in a pleasing conference facility in a rustic setting.  Reservations are needed and should be obtained by March 12th.  If you would like to attend or want further information please contact Paul Worsham at 239-5672.

VIRGIN FALLS HIKE
(Scheduled for Thursday - Saturday, 8-10 April 1993)
Leader: Ted Malone (Phone: 615.477.2222)
Rating: Moderate
It's a long drive to Crossville so let's depart after work (5 PM) on Thursday, spend the night in Crossville and get an early start on Friday am. By taking advantage of a company holiday, we can be back in town late Saturday and for Easter. We will pass three other water falls on the 6 mile hike to Virgin Falls. If we have any rain at all we should have a spectacular view. Water rushes out of a cave for approximately 100 feet and over Virgin Falls for 140 feet before it disappears into another cave in the bottom of a bowl at the foot of the falls. The area has caves, falls and is in a pocket wilderness area. Call for details.

THIRD SATURDAY MAINTENANCE
(Scheduled for Thursday, 17 April 93)
Leader: Ted Malone (Phone: 615.477.2222) & Ed Oliver (615.349.6668)
Rating: Side hill digging, your own speed (easy to fast & furious)
We will return to the No Business Knob area to resume our widening of the Trail. About one fourth of the two mile distance between Temple Hill Gap and the No Business Knob Shelter has been worked on. Not all of the remaining distance needs repaired. If you have been thinking about participating in our Adopt-A-Trail program, come on out and look at this section. It's the right distance, it's cool in the summer and has running water. As always, Trail conditions may dictate that we go elsewhere so call if you plan on going.

A.T. TRAIL MAINTENANCE - U.S. 321 TO LAUREL FORK
(Scheduled for Saturday, 17 April 1993)
Leader: Garry Luttrell (615.239.9854)
Rating: Moderate
This is our annual trail maintenance trip. The meeting point will be the parking lot between McDonalds and Burger King in Colonial Heights at 7 AM. Contact the leader if you plan to participate.

A.T. TRAIL MAINTENANCE - DENNIS COVE TO BITTER END
(Scheduled for Saturday, 17 April 1993)
Leader: Kevin Edgar (615.246.9464)
Rating: Moderate
We will be maintaining the 10 mile Appalachian Trail section from Dennis Cove, near Hampton, to Bitter End. The section begins with an excellent relocation put in a few years back, complete with vistas, streams, deep woods, and sundry other attractions. From the firetower atop White Rocks mountain we should get great views of the Roan Highlands, skies permitting. Meanwhile we'll be painting blazes, annihilating weeds, cleaning waterbars, and doing all those chores which make our club's section of the A.T. a pleasure to walk on. In order to get the right number and type of tools it would be helpful to know how many are coming. To reserve a paint pad or mattock, and join us in the fun call Kevin Edgar at 246.9464.

EASTERN SMOKIES BACKPACK
(Scheduled for Sat/Sun, 17-18 April 1993)
Leader: Gether Irick (Phone 615.239.5178)
Rating: Difficult
This hike will start at the Cosby campground on the north side of the Smokies, ascend to the A.T. at Inadu Knob and then south on the A.T. to Tricorner Knob Shelter.  We will spend the night at the shelter and will bushwhack up to the Beyond 6000 peaks of Mt Chapman, Mt Hardison and Marks Knob; the latter two being very difficult because of their distance off the trail and the dense briar and brush growth.  We will return to the Cosby campground and to Kingsport on Sunday evening.  Maximum reservations at the shelter are for 8 people; these will be given out on a first-come-first-served basis.  Contact Gether Irick. for more information.

TEHCC/USFS DINNER MEETING
(Scheduled for Thursday, 22 April 93)
Leader: Paul Worsham (Phone 615.239.5672)
Our Spring meeting with the Forest Service will be held at the Harbor House Restaurant in Johnson City on Thursday, April 22, 1993.  We will have dinner at 6 PM and start the business meeting about 7 PM. Those who would like to carpool to the meeting please meet in front of B-150 at 5:15 PM. These twice annual meetings with our agency partners are an important communications tool and help keep everyone informed about plans and activities which affect the A.T.. We always have good food, good fellowship, and interesting discussions. The meetings are open to all TEHCC members and interested parties. Please call me at 239.5672 if you would like to attend so we can be sure to have adequate space reserved.

MARCH OF DIMES WALK AMERICA
(Scheduled for 24 April 93)
Leader: Margaret Baker (Phone 615.288.2896)
The March of Dimes Walk America walk will be held on Saturday, April 24 at Warrior's Path State Park. At present TEHCC has no plans to sponsor a team but members are encouraged to participate in this very worthwhile event. For more information please call Margaret Baker (wife of TEHCC member Don Baker) at 288.2896. If you are interested in sponsoring a team please call Joe DeLoach at 615.753.7903; I have a team sponsorship form and an information packet.

TEHCC SPRING PICNIC
(Scheduled for 8 May 93)
Leader: Joe DeLoach (Phone 615.753.7903)
Rating: FUN
The annual Spring Picnic will be held on May 8 at the Eastman Recreation Area. We have the #9 shelter reserved until 4:00 that afternoon, so bring the family on out for a lunch time picnic. Shelter #9 is the large one next to the restrooms. After lunch we'll hike up on Bays Mountain and maybe enjoy the ball fields as well. Please bring a covered dish (salads, desserts, vegetables, chips) and your item to be grilled. We'll provide plates, napkins, utensils, charcoal, ice, and condiments. Drinks will be available for purchase. We can also have a "swap meet"; if you have any equipment you are interested in trading or selling, please bring it to the picnic. For more information please call Joe DeLoach at 753.7903.

CANOEING

BIG SOUTH FORK OF THE CUMBERLAND
(Scheduled for Fri-Sat, 9-10 April 93)
Leader: Tom Pridgen (Phone: 615.245.5975)
Rating: II
Check with leader for details.

CATAWBA/SOUTH TOE RIVER
(Rescheduled for 24-25 April 93)
Leader: Dave Ingram (Phone: 615.282.5856)
Rating: II-III
The Catawba is a technical Class II-III river located in western North Carolina. Plans are to paddle the Catawba Saturday, camp near the put-in on the South Toe River Saturday night, and paddle the South Toe on Sunday. The South Toe is a clear and cold Class II-III river located near Mount Mitchell. For more information, contact Dave Ingram at 615.282.5856 (home) or 615.378.8414 (work).

SOUTH TOE RIVER
(Scheduled for 24 April 93)
Leader: Ed Montgomery
Rating: II-III
This trip has been combined with the Catawba/ South Toe River trip above.

BLUESTONE
(Scheduled for Sat-Sun, 8-9 May 93)
Leader: T. Dougherty
Rating: II-III
Contact trip leader for details.

HIKE AND CANOE TRIP LEADERS NEEDED
It's time to prepare the TEHC schedule of hikes and canoe trips for the second half of 1993. To continue our long tradition of offering a wide variety of outings, we need volunteer leaders. Send your list of hikes to Steve Banks, B-284, and your list of canoe trips to Dewey Fuller, B-150B. Include the name of the trip, date, rating (easy, moderate, or difficult), and your name and phone number. It's not difficult to lead an outing; contact Steve or any member of the Steering Committee if you have any questions.

FOR THE RECORD

MORRILL'S CAVE HIKE - 13 Feb 93
(Gregory Kramer reporting)
21 people came for an adventure underground and a perfect day to be inside it was. We met under overcast skies for the drive up to Bluff City. With hard-hats all around and a few Q&D helmet mounted lights we were ready, Duct Tape is an indispensable part of any hiker or cavers gear. Once inside the gate we left jackets because now we were in a 55 degree cave and left all of that nasty wet cold wind behind.

The group traveled first to a side passage that leads toward the White Room Section of the cave, looked at formations there and returned to the main passage. Then proceeded on to the Signature Room which is now sans signatures. In a zeal to clean up the cave, all graffiti including the signatures of former owners of the cave were obliterated.

With a webbing handline we went up to the Fairy Ballroom and the Curtains. We lunched by the Curtains and sloshed our way through the Fairy Ballroom. We turned around and went back to the Signature Room and went up the stream passage. I don't know why people were upset about this watery section, the water is only knee deep. It's not my fault my knees are so far off the floor. We then exited the cave out into the snow and sleet. Never saw people change their clothes so fast. Time of trip 4.5 hours.

WINTER DINNER MEETING AND 1992 TEHCC AWARDS
(Joe DeLoach reporting)
The Winter Dinner Meeting was held on February 20 and was attended by 66 TEHCC members and guests. Special thanks go out to Becky, Dane, and Donna from Mahoney's who set up a wonderful display of outdoor gear and for furnishing the door prizes. One of the prizes was a pair of hiking boots, and the lucky winner was Denise Oglesby. Congratulations to the 1992 awards winners which were announced at the meeting. These were:

Paddler of the Year - Ed Montgomery
Hiker of the Year - Gether Irick
Maintainer of the Year - Ed Oliver
Stan Murray Award - Frank Oglesby

After the awards the audience enjoyed a slide presentation of the Southern Appalachians by Kenneth Murray.

SOUTH FORK HOLSTON RIVER - 27 Feb 93
(Ben Becker reporting)
Two eager paddlers joined the trip leader for a cold February outing on a section of the S. Fork of the Holston River between Lodi and Alvarado, Va. The ground was snow covered and a gray overcast sky was producing intermittent snow. A chilling northerly breeze helped remind us that it was still winter. How cold was it? It was so cold that the squeeze cheese wouldn't squeeze. In fact, lunch was postponed until the end of the trip because it was warmer to keep paddling. It was so cold that a half dozen locals came out to take pictures of us at the start of the trip. Its not every day they get to see 3 crazies! However, there is never a bad canoe trip, just some more memorable than others.

We enjoyed the scenery complete with icicles and snow and some wildlife. We spotted a number of ducks, geese, cranes, kingfishers, as well as the usual cows, horses, and dogs. This trip even included 4 pigs in the road while we were shuttling vehicles. On the river, the water clarity was excellent, the scenery nice, and the rapids mild (except for one resulting in a swim). Sure enough, another good day on the river.

25 YEAR VOLUNTEERS
(Joe DeLoach reporting)
We were asked by ATC to provide names of TEHCC members who had worked at least 25 years on the Appalachian Trail. ATC wants to recognize these people as part of the National Trails Day celebration on June 5. Collins Chew, Frank Williams, and I did some digging and found out we had 22 people who qualified. At the time this letter was submitted TEHCC had more 25 year volunteers than any other hiking club! In order of service, these people are: Frank Oglesby, 47 years; Ralph Giles, 46; Ray Hunt, 43; Gordon Newland, 40; Collins Chew, 39; Hugh Thompson, 36; Kirk Finch, John Kiefer, and Jack Young 35; Dick Clark, 32; Ed Allen 30+; Garland Ruth 28; Julian Lewis 27; Bob Mynhier 26; Jim Davis 25+; and Lester Church, Garry Luttrell, Darrol Nickels, John Thompson, and Frank Williams 25 years. Congratulations to all!

KEEPING THE TRAIL OPEN
(Ted Malone reporting)
1992 total hours: 3995
Hours this report: 611
Hours year to date: 1077

MEMBERS PARTICIPATING: Bill Berry, David Allen, Barry Street, Darrol Nickels, Frank Williams, Jack Young, Mary Cunningham, Bruce Cunningham, Ed Oliver, Joe DeLoach, Rachel Monderer, Collins Chew, Frank Oglesby, Ray Hunt, Ted Malone, John Thompson, Paul Worsham, Cris Moorehouse, Steve Perri, Jenny Davis, Rick Lott, Steve Wilson, Joel Peavyhouse, Garry Luttrell, Craig DeLoach, John Kiefer

APPALACHIAN TRAIL SLIDES - TEHCC SECTIONS
(Requested by Ted Malone - 615.477.2222)
We need some of your best slides of the A.T.. We need scenes of all the seasons, our best views, our shelters, people hiking the Trail, people working on the Trail, people enjoying the Roan and Damascus Days. We want to build a slide show of a walk through of our 125 mile section from Spivey Gap to Damascus. We will use it in Deep South this June and also in recruiting new volunteers and organizations to help us maintain our part of the A.T.. We have one of the most scenic sections of the A.T.'s 2200 miles and it could be one of the best maintained, your slides will help. Credit will be given. If you want your slides returned, put your name on each one for identification. We will make copies and promptly return them to you. Mail them or call and I will pick them up.