Tennessee Eastman Hiking & Canoeing Club
Supporting hiking and canoeing in the North East Tennessee area
Holy Cow! Summer is here. Did you miss out on HardCore? Want to give back to the community this weekend? Well then we have lots of chances for you.
As always the Schedule has the details. Plus Saturday is National Trails Day so get out, give back, and have fun this weekend!
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has just put out a press release looking for volunteers to help out with their trail maintenance efforts in the Smokies. It sounds a lot like their version of Damascus Hard Core, so if you’re looking for more, or missed out on this year, here’s chance to do more AT maintenance. SWEAT Crew ATC Press Release has all of the details.
Contact: Kent and Nancy Wilson
We plan to backpack the AT from Fontana Dam to the Lost Cove Trail and then the Lakeshore Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park about 40 miles. We plan to leave Kingsport around 11 am on Friday, May 27. Friday night will be spent at campsite 90. Saturday we will most likely stay at campsite 77. On Sunday night we will plan to stay at either campsite 74 or 75. On Monday we will finish the Lakeshore Trail at the “Road to Nowhere.” If you are interested in this backpack trip, please contact Kent Wilson at akwilson@eastman.com.
Collins Chew reporting
The weather was pleasant but cloudy for our 7.4 mile on the AT from Jones Meadow to Allen Gap. Occasionally, a few sprinkles fell, but never enough to cause problems. It rained a bit while we were in the Shelter eating lunch. A few wildflowers were out: Service berry, spring beauty, trailing arbutus, various violets, a few bloodroot and chickweed. Backpackers were out in force with a few other dayhikers. Hikers were: Don Baker, Kathy Case, Andrew Cleland, first timer from South Carolina Beth Ann Cushman, George Dickert, Carol Dunham, Judith Foster, Carol Idol, Heather Jacob, Jerry Jones, Eloise Kaeck, first timers Lotta and Ken Murray, first timer John Parks, Lowell Toof, and Collins Chew.
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.
Bob Harvey reporting
The hike of April 1 was on the Appalachian Trail from Chestoa to Curley Maple Gap Shelter and return, a total of 8.2 miles.
The temperature was a little brisk to begin with, but once we started the strenuous climb out of Jones Branch valley there was much shedding of outer layers. At the upper end of the hike, around elevation 2800 feet, we began finding a dusting of snow on the leaves and ground, but it didn’t last long after the sun came out.
Lunch was at the newly-rebuilt Curley Maple Gap Shelter, a vastly improved version of what used to be there. When we arrived, the shelter was filled almost to overflow by a jolly bunch of northbound through hikers, this being the time of the year that they pass through our territory. But, there was additional outside seating in the vicinity and we had a great lunch — until we started getting cold again. It was then time to go.
On the return trip we passed even more through hikers, some of whom didn’t mind stopping to chat for a minute or two. After the hike we tried to guess how many we’d seen, and the numbers varied widely, but maybe sixteen would be close enough.
Jones Branch may have been running full, but it was crystal clear, something that a number of us commented on. We had one ford to make of the creek and possibly a few of us got a foot in the water, one of the feet being mine; but we mainly made it across without incident.
The hikers were Olin Babb, Kathy Case, Anne Cosby, George Dickert, Judith Foster, Phil Gibson, Bob Harvey, Carol Idol, Chuck Mather, Larry Miller, Susie Seiler and Jerry Sluder.
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.
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.
Land in Shady Valley to become buffer for Appalachian Trail Continue reading “Osborne Farm Acquisition and Relocation (2001)”