Supporting hiking and canoeing in the North East Tennessee area
Deb Reynolds Reporting
Saturday, March 26, TEHCC had their first gear swap on the grounds (parking lot) of the Eastman Recreation Building. We weren’t sure what to expect since this was a new event and not sure how the community would react, but my expectations were more than met. I think the event was a success and worth doing again next year. We had eight groups sign up in advance and had at least ten groups show. Continue reading “2011 Gear Swap Review”
Ian Powell, Steering Committee Chair
I would like to thank everyone that came out to the Gear Swap and made it a success. We saw a lot of new faces and had a good time looking through everyone’s wares. I personally had a great time just speaking with people there, swapping stories more than gear. I saw some people I worked with and met some people for the first time. It was a very laid back event. I really appreciate ERC letting us use the parking lot and would like to thank Richard Elliot and the steering committee for all their help with the event. Continue reading “From the Chair – May”
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.
You’ve got chances to learn how to lessen your impact on the outdoors during your adventures and a great sounding camp/hike/paddle adventure. Have some fun out there!
Check out our calendar for more details
Help out our friends at [[Warriors Path State Park]] this weekend on Saturday. They need help from experienced and those just wanting to help out one of our great local parks. They’ll be doing work on their hiking trails, disc golf course, and mountain bike trails. Contact Kevin Barham, kbarham@eastman.com, for details.
If you haven’t checked out our trail wiki yet, you are definitely missing out on a great way to both help out the club and more importantly find great information on the trails in our area. With only about half of the trail pages even created (and many of those without detailed information, pictures, or GPS logs), one very fair complaint right now is that we don’t have a lot of useful information on the site. I take that as a shining example of the lack of collated information available out there that we are trying to solve. If you would like to see where we hope to ultimately get the entire site, check out our [[Warriors Path State Park]] page and its trails.
Most importantly I can’t stress enough that help from others in our club will make this site more informative and on the wiki faster. If you’re wondering how you can help, one place that we occasionally try to list things that we need is our [[ClubWiki:Trails Wanted|Help Wanted]] list. Mostly if you don’t see a picture, GPS log, or description of a trail not on the site and you think it’s relevant, we would love it if you share. Either edit directly or send things to me at webmaster@tehcc.org.
Joe DeLoach reporting
Since 2006, the Trails to Every Classroom (TTEC) program has successfully engaged 230 teachers from all 14 states through which the Appalachian Trail passes. These include two teachers in Kingsport city schools, one in Unicoi County, and two in Bristol, Virginia. Other area teachers have expressed interest in the program. As a result of the high quality professional development opportunities that TTEC provides, this program has the potential to get young people along the AT corridor excited about learning and about the AT. These TTEC teachers and their students could potentially be the future members and leaders of Trail clubs like ours.
One of the goals of this initiative is to ensure that teachers have both the appropriate amount and type of support required to help them integrate the AT into the classroom experience they are attempting to provide their students. Much of that support can come from members of Trail clubs who would be willing to serve as a liaison or point of contact for TTEC teachers who are seeking assistance in connecting their students to the AT. Ideal volunteers include people with an education background or simply anyone interested in helping area schools get more involved with the Trail.
Another initiative seeking to build on the successes of TTEC is the formation of a TTEC Advisory Council. This council will serve as a working group whose focus is to provide relevant, useful feedback that ATC and National Park Service staff can use to enhance and build on the success of the Trail to Every Classroom program.
If you have interest in learning more about or supporting the Trails to Every Classroom program, please contact Joe DeLoach at joedelo@eastman.com or telephone 423-753-7263, or Appalachian Trail Conservancy Southern Region Community Programs Manager Julie Judkins at jjudkins@appalachiantrail.org or 828-254-3708.
Steve Wilson reporting
On Saturday, January 29th, I hosted Leonard Adkins (www.habitualhiker.com) who is writing a book for Arcadia Publishing on the early days of the Appalachian Trail in TN, NC & GA. He has already authored a book on the Virginia section which shows pictures and detailed captions of the AT during 1960 and earlier (Images of America: Along Virginia’s Appalachian Trail). We spent the afternoon reviewing the files in the club’s work room in the basement of B-310. Although we found some newspaper clipping photos that were relevant, we didn’t find any old prints from the 40’s to 60’s.
Leonard and I also visited with Collins Chew at his house, but unfortunately Collins had just purged some files which might have been relevant.
If anyone is aware of old club photos from the 1940s – 1960s where club members are shown on the AT, then Leonard would consider including them in the book. It’s a good opportunity to record our club’s history. His contact information is in the web site above.
We hope everyone had a great weekend. Just one extra thing this week other than the routine Tuesday maintenance outing and Collin’s Friday hikers. The last weekend of the local mountain bike association’s trail building exercise at [[Bays Mountain Park]]. If you want to help build the trails that you enjoy on your mountain bike, here’s your chance. Check out the schedule for details.