Category: Appalachian Trail

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Friday Hikers: AT – AT from Carvers Gap to Hughes Gap, Trip Report

Collins Chew reporting

Event Date: April 20th

We had a great hike on the AT over Roan Mountain today.  The day started chilly and foggy but warmed and cleared.  Until we started down from the top, we saw no wildflowers, but they began to show up as we descended toward Ash Gap.  With each increment of descent, a different assemblage of flowers appeared.  We ended up with a really great day of flowers with great diversity.  There were carpets of various flowers at different places.  The trout lilies were very large as well as numerous.  We rolled the relocation with a wheel and mapped it with GPS.  It was 0.4 miles longer because of a long switchback added recently.  Hikers were: Olin Babb, Kathy and Jerry Case, June Donaldson, Howard Guinn, Carol Idol, Lowell Toof, Jane Whitson and Collins Chew.

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Appalachian Trail Conservancy Hosting Environmental Monitoring Workshop on May 26

On May 26, 2012 ATC will be hosting a training workshop for environmental monitoring efforts on the A.T. The workshop will be held at Chestoa, near Erwin, and will commence at 9 am. The morning session will provide an overview of ATC’s efforts to monitor the seasonal life or phenological cycles of common plants including leaf-out, flowering, fruiting, and leaf-drop in the fall. The workshop will provide instruction on how to collect and report observations from established sites in the A.T. corridor. Phenology monitoring is a very intuitive exercise that does not require technical experience or botanical skills. People of all ages are encouraged to participate. The afternoon will be spent discussing rare plant monitoring. The workshop will serve as an introduction for new monitors and a refresher for past and current rare plant monitors. Participants will discuss how to locate monitoring sites using GPS technology, how to collect monitoring data, and how to report findings. For those interested in monitoring this field season, there will be a brief discussion of site assignments. There is no cost for the workshop and ATC will provide handouts and other training materials. Equipment will be provided by ATC staff, but participants are encouraged to bring their own GPS, binoculars, compass, or other equipment which may be used in the field. Participants are also asked to provide their own lunch and water, wear long-pants, boots, and layer appropriately for variable weather. To register for the workshop or get more information, please contact ATC’s Resource Management Coordinator John Odell, telephone (828) 254-3708, jodell@appalachiantrail.org.

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Volunteer Opportunities at the 2013 Appalachian Trail Biennial Conference

Joe DeLoach and Steve Perri, atchair@tehcc.org, reporting

In 2013 the five Deep-South Appalachian Trail-Maintaining clubs will host the biennial national meeting of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The meeting will be held July 19-26 on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, about a 2½ hour drive from Kingsport. We are one of the host clubs along with the Carolina Mountain Club, Smoky Mountain Hiking Club, Nantahala Hiking Club, and Georgia Appalachian Trail Club. More specifically, we are responsible for workshops at the conference. We’d welcome anyone who is interested in presenting a workshop, and we will need volunteers to moderate the workshop sessions which are currently scheduled for Saturday and Sunday July 20-21. Volunteers are also needed to lead hikes; around 170 hikes will be offered during the week, and a leader and a co-leader is needed for each hike. Bruce Bente from the Carolina Mountain Club is leading the hiking program. If you’d like to help with the hikes, please contact Bruce at bbente@bellsouth.net. Any volunteers with interests in artwork and/or photography are invited to help organize and judge digital photography and children’s artwork competitions. Finally, volunteers are needed to work at the registration, housing, hikes, excursion, and information desks. If you are willing to help in this fashion, please contact Peter Berntsen of Smoky Mountain Hiking Club (rennur99@bellsouth.net) who is in charge of volunteer recruitment. It takes hundreds of volunteers to make a meeting like this happen. We certainly need more than two TEHCC people to help with the conference and with the workshops, so please consider volunteering. For questions about the Biennial meeting, contact Joe or Steve.

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Dismantling of Apple House Shelter

Apple House Shelter just north of 19E will be dismantled March 7, 2012. We have put warnings in the two primary books used by north bounders.  One is 2012 AT Guide to Hiking (North Bound edition) and the ALDHA Companion. 

There are also threads to that effect on White Blaze. Shuttlers and Hostel Owners in area are being notified: Mountain Harbor, Greasy Creek Friendly, Uncle Johnnie’s, Kincora.

We are posting notices in shelters south of Apple House shelter.

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2011 AT Statistics

Jeff Siirola reporting

Statistics for 2011 AT maintenance has now been added to our year by year summary and charts. Data for 2011 is below. It’s been an amazing year setting all sorts of club records!

Year: 2011
TEHCC Total: 13,631
Adopt-A-Trail: 2,582

WRD Regular Maint.: 2,683
WRD Special Projects: 9,908
WRD Watauga Total: 12,591

NRD Regular Maint.: 701
NRD Special Projects: 339
NRD Nolichucky Total: 1,040

Totals Regular Maint.: 3,384
Totals Special Projects: 10,247
Totals Events: 317
Totals People-Events: 1,747
Totals People: 543

These are record numbers in every category (accounting for redefinition of Ranger District Boundaries in October 2010) except total number of individuals (Totals People) which is second-highest-ever.

CORRECTION: Because of several corrected worker identity errors, the total number of individuals in 2010 (Totals People) should be 457 (not 445). All other data for 2010 on the website are believed to be correct. Corrected 2010 and new 2011 data are highlighted on the attached spreadsheet.

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Friday Hikers: Carvers Gap to Grassy Ridge, June 17

Collins Chew reporting

We had ideal weather for our 4.8-mile hike from Carvers Gap to Grassy Ridge and return and then another 0.5 mile (about) hike through the Rhododendron Gardens.  Along the AT, the rhododendrons were upstaged by a nearly continuous, beautiful display of flame azalea with many colors showing.  The rhododendrons were also very nice, particularly near the top of Grassy Ridge and in the Gardens.  There were many other wildflowers, including American Mountain Ash, Grays Lily, bluets, ragwort, and more.  Many others shared our enjoyment of the day.  There was the usual stop for peaches as well.  Hikers were:  Olin Babb, Lee Bockman, Anne Cosby, Carol and Dave Dunham, Judith Foster, Bob Harvey, Jerry Sluder, Judy and Bill Tindall, Lowell Toof, first timers Rikki Rhoton and Sharon Trumley, and Collins Chew.

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Konnarock Crew – Hughes Gap to Cloudland Relocations

Scheduled for June 3-5, June 17-19, July 8-10, and July 29-31, 2011

Leaders: Joe DeLoach and Carl Fritz

Last year, we began one of our most ambitious Appalachian Trail relocations ever, from Hughes Gap to Cloudland atop Roan Mountain.  This formerly 2.6-mile section of Trail ascends 2200′, with a 0.4-mile slight descent along the way, making it possibly the steepest section of the A. T. in the South.  We don’t always relocate a Trail section just because it’s steep, but steep trails that run on a ridgeline are very prone to erosion, with only the rockiness of parts of this section retarding that erosion.  It is also a treacherous descent, especially in the icy or rainy conditions that are prevalent at those elevations.  We’ve flagged numerous relocations to climb the mountain at a sustainable 10-12% side-hill grade, and built the first four with Hard Core, student groups, and Club outings in 2010.  This year, we’ll tackle some sections higher on the mountain with all our resources, including the Konnarock Crew which will work near the midpoint of the section.  The Konnarock Crew, in its 29th year, is managed by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and works with the 12 Southern clubs.  We are fortunate to have them for five weeks this year, with plans to devote the first four weeks to these relocations and the final week of August 11-15 to putting more gravel on Round Bald.  The Crew arrives on a Thursday afternoon, has three full days of work Friday-Sunday, and departs Monday afternoon.  So the best days to work with them are Friday-Sunday.  Volunteers who work at least 40 hours with the Crew receive a Konnarock T-shirt for their efforts.  Please contact Joe DeLoach or Carl Fritz if you’re interested in helping.

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April 28th Storm AT Conditions Update

A quick update about Appalachian Trail (AT) conditions after the storms of last week. As of now conditions appear to be OK along the trail. Most of the severe wind was along the base of the mountains from near Rogersville and Bristol. Some teams have gone out with some reports removing some minor blowdowns since most Spring work was completed in March and April.