Apply today for three great workshops we’re offering to Trail to Every Classroom alumni in 2012! 

Alumni workshops will provide an immersive experience where placed-based service learning content and pedagogy are explored in more depth, continuing to build upon the skills you learned in the original three workshops.  These new professional development sessions are being offered this year to serve as a space to revisit key curricular topics and further develop the capacity of teachers to provide quality instruction to students along the Appalachian Trail.  

The workshops are not cumulative and alumni are welcome to apply for one, two or all three in any region.  As always, all workshops are offered free of charge and lodging, meals, camping equipment and materials will be provided.   

Workshops for 2012: 
Spring Workshop: Questing & Natural History in Virginia –  May 4-6
Summer Workshop: Wilderness First Aid & Hike Leadership in New Hampshire – July 15-20
Fall Workshop: Trail Construction & Design in New York – October 5-7

Alumni are encouraged to attend the SUMMER workshop with a club member from their local A.T. maintaining club.  If you’re a club member who is interested in attending the Summer Workshop, team up with an alumni and sign up or pass this along to someone in your club who may be interested! Club members are welcome to join the spring and fall workshops as well.  

APPLICATION DEADLINE IS MARCH 15, 2012

Learn more about these workshops and APPLY here.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions – we want this process to be as easy as possible.  We look forward to reconnecting with you 2012!

Angie Sheldon
Education and Outreach Coordinator
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
110 Southpark Drive
Blacksburg, VA  24060
Office: 540.953.3571
Mobile: 540.808.6066
Fax: 540.552.4376
Skype: angie.sheldon1
asheldon [at] appalachiantrail [dot] org
www.appalachiantrail.org 

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s mission is to preserve and manage the Appalachian Trail – ensuring that its vast natural beauty and priceless cultural heritage can be shared and enjoyed today, tomorrow, and for centuries to come. To become a member, volunteer, or learn more, visit www.appalachiantrail.org.

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.

A new single track trail for beginning mountain bikers at Bays Mountain Park has been designed and constructed by Northeast Tennessee Mountain Bike Association.  While no trail signage or blazes exist yet, the designated “Chestnut Trail” is an easy 1.1 mile path running straight through the hardwood forest along the 1900 foot contour from Bays Mountain Road at the gate by the maintenance shop over to the Azalea Trail.   For a longer (~5 mile) loop hike/ride, take Chestnut Trail from the gate, then head up Azalea Trail to Big Oak Trail, down to Chinquapin Trail, and finally back on Lake Road.  Details for the new Chestnut Trail can be found on the trail wiki.

North of Boone are some high but seldom visited mountains sometimes referred to as the Amphibolite Mountains, for the hard, alkaline rock that underlies them. The alkaline soil and high elevations create a habitat that harbors a large number of rare plants, with some species reaching their highest population density along the rocky cliffs and mountain bogs in this area. That scenery and biodiversity, coupled with a lack of public land, has led to land trusts working to preserve areas within these mountains such as Bluff Mountain and Long Hope Valley. One such area is Elk Knob State Park. In 2002, 5540′ Elk Knob was purchased by The Nature Conservancy and later conveyed to the State of North Carolina as first a natural area, then a state park. Initially the summit could be reached by a very steep gravel road, but some excellent trail construction work has resulted in completion of a new, hardened sidehill trail not unlike the A. T. heading up Round Bald. The new trail leads 2 miles to the top of Elk Knob which has two very nice overlooks, one at the summit looking north towards Mt. Rogers and the Grayson Highlands and one a little below the top looking south towards Grandfather and Roan Mountains. Though this is a great wildflower hike with many trillium in early May and Gray’s lilies and flame azalea in June, the Club’s first hike of Elk Knob will be a fall color hike. We’ll meet in Colonial Heights in the parking lot between McDonald’s and State of Franklin Bank on Saturday, October 8 at 8:30. We’ll have a pretty but curvy drive through Blountville and across Holston and Iron Mountains to Mountain City, then continue to Trade where gravel Rich Mountain Road crosses a high gap between Rich and Snake Mountains and deposits us near 4500′ Pottertown Gap, the entrance to Elk Knob State Park. We’ll take time to enjoy the woods along the way, the views and lunch at the top, and should be back to Kingsport by 4:00 pm. The hike is suitable for children; families are encouraged. Bring lunch, water, and layers of clothing including rain gear as October in the high country can be unpredictable. For more information or to sign up, please contact Joe.

The flat water series continued on 6/18 with a new section for me and most others.  We had a large group of eight folks who were looking for a relaxing paddle and new territory.  Jamie and Eric decided to go upriver a bit as we only expected to cover two miles today and they added on a mile or so.  The rest of us cruised on down to Weber City counting the times that I got stuck on the shoals.  The river was lower today with quite a few shoals.  I managed to show everyone how not to go down on the river.  I did triumph at the end, as I was the only one in the front group not to get stuck on the last set of shoals, but only because Kent went first to show me where not to go.  The river today was exceptionally clean and very very private.  Just like last time, we had a protective blue heron that flew ahead of us, waiting patiently for us to catch up before starting off again.  We just barely made it off the river before the thunder started.  I think Jamie and I were the only ones who were still strapping our kayaks on the cars when the sky opened up.

Next year I plan to do this run much earlier in the year since there are no dams controlling the flow and you are left with Mother Nature.  Until we get much more rain, I plan on running the water-controlled sections only, unless someone just enjoys walking a few sections.  On this run today were Jamie Aiello, Steve and Caroline Rochelle, Kent and Nancy Wilson, Sarah Dalcher, Eric Belsford and Deb Reynolds.  By the way, Eric is from Knoxville and he found our group via the web prior to learning about any of the Knoxville groups such as CHOTA.

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.

A new type of equipment for the hiking club – trekking poles.  Based on discussion held at the March Lunch & Learn, a pair of Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork Poles was purchased for $80 to allow members a chance to try them out before deciding to buy this type of equipment.  These three-section poles were selected due to the ease of adjustment within 29-55 inches using the FlickLocks feature.  Rental rate “D” ($4 weekend, $6 week-long) will be set for these poles.  If popular, then another pair of a different style may be purchased to allow comparison.

They will also be demonstrated at Ian Powell’s “Trekking Poles 101” Lunch & Learn on July 21^st, so come learn how to properly use them – including those wrist loops.

We hiked from Braemar over Pond Mountain on the AT to Shook Branch to measure a new relocation near the top of Pond Mountain.  The relocation measured 1851 feet long and the entire section ended up 0.1 miles shorter than the guide book distance.  We walked about 7 miles including the mile on the blue-blaze trail from Braemar.  There were a fair number of wildflowers with Mountain Laurel the showiest.  I was also fascinated by the white and pink-flowered shrub at low elevations at both ends.  I guess it is Corymbed Spirea.  The flower spikes of Galax got the most comments.  Some flame azalea was still blooming.  Hikers were:  Bob Harvey, Lowell Toof, and Collins Chew.