The

BLAZE 

Summer 2017

Newsletter in .pdf form 

2017 Hardrock Participants at White Top Mountain (Photo courtesy of ATC and Konnarock Crew)

MRATC MEMBERS RECEIVING VOLUNTEER HOURS AWARDS

The ATC and Forest Service recognize club members for cumulative hours of volunteer service since they have been in the club. These are distributed to members at the club’s Annual Meeting in February, or mailed to those who can’t attend.

The ATC gives a pin for 10 hours, a patch for 100 hours, a cap for 500 hours, and a vest for 1000 hours. In FY Oct. 2015-Sept. 2016, the following club members received awards from the ATC:

Pin: Rick Brakeman, Jude Colt, Gray Hauser, Jerry Kyle, Steve Panella, Jay Prevatt, Maria Salgado, Marywood Sparks, Grace Walker, Jim Warden. Patch: Gerry Davis, Mary Davis, Jim Warden. Cap: Sharon Trumbley. Vest: Carol Broderson, Doug Levin.

The Forest Service awards a patch for 50 hours, and hour bars in increments of 100 hours. The following club members received awards from the Forest Service:

Patch: Rick Brakeman, Steve Panella, Jay Prevatt, Maria Salgado, Jim Warden. Hour bars: Carol Broderson: 1000. Gerry Davis: 100. Mary Davis: 100. Snow Ferreniea: 300. Wilbur Gurganus: 900. Doug Levin: 900 & 1000. Stacey Levin: 700, 800. Anna Sherrill: 900. Sharon Trumbley: 500, 600, 700. Jim Warden: 100.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

During the spring quarter, the club participated in even more events than usual. In April, we had a booth as usual at Abingdon’s Earth Day, joined Virginia Highlands Community College for their Earth Day, and set up a booth at the spring festival in Abingdon to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Virginia Creeper Trail. In May, club members led hikes and participated in the annual Naturalist Rally in Konnarock, organized by Blue Ridge Discovery Center. Then, of course, we were part of Trail Days in Damascus with our booth, helping sign up hikers for the two-day Hardcore work project, helping with the Trail Days Auction to support The Place hostel, and marching in the parade. Anna Sherrill and Anne Maio were interviewed for the Emory & Henry College radio station about the club and Trail Days. Judith Foster, Donna Barkley and Anne Maio gave four presentations to Road Scholar groups staying at the 4-H Center and hiking in our area. All these festivals and presentations gave us a chance to meet people and tell them about the AT and the club.

Our Hardcore project for the Sunday and Monday after Trail Days was rock steps and drainage channels on Whitetop Mountain. We had fewer hikers sign up to participate than last year and it rained both days of the project, but with the Konnarock Crew’s supervision, the hikers put in a surprising number of nice, stable rock steps on the downslope just south of Buzzard Rock to improve footing and the drainage channels are edged with rocks and should be effective for a long time. (See photos.) Thanks to the ATC and to ALDHA for financial support and to Tennessee Eastman Club for lending tools and to club members who arranged dinners to be served at Beartree Campground where the hikers were camping, packed snacks, and transported the hikers back to the trail. We couldn’t have hosted this project without such strong support from club members! During our July 12th club meeting, we will be talking about Hardcore, what went well, what we might have done better, and whether we want to do it next year, if we have a good work project for a large group of hikers.

Trail work for the club has been steady this spring. We usually work two Wednesdays and two Saturdays a month, hoping the variety of days will be convenient for more club members to come out and work. Doug Levin keeps a list of work the club’s section monitors have reported, so there is always something to do to improve the trail. (See photo of Doug with an axe elsewhere in this newsletter.) Our section monitors often address maintenance needs on their own, so we don’t face a staggering amount of needed work on our regular club work days. Right after Hardcore, the club hosted a group of students from the Outdoor Program at Radford University for trail work, putting in checkdams and waterbars on a rough section of the Iron Mountain Trail near Comers Creek Falls. Several club members and Forest Service members came to work with the students. (See photo of Terry Walker, giving the group some instruction about tools.)

                                                                                          -- Anne

August 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Appalachian Trail in 1937. Celebrate! Get out and hike! Better yet: It took work to get the AT built. If you’ve never participated in one of the club’s maintenance hikes, come on out and try it! The work is not that hard – and you’ll feel good about doing something to improve the trail.

IN MEMORY OF HERB CARLTON

Herb Carlton died Apr. 2, 2017. Originally from Galax, he was a Life Member of our trail club since 1993 and a retired political science teacher from Eastern Carolina State University, Greenville, NC. Herb came to this area to camp at Grindstone Campground and work on the Iron Mountain Trail and Sandy Flats, Cherry Tree, and Straight Branch shelters every year for many years. We will miss his happy smile, cheerful greetings, energy and hard work.

ATC BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

The 2017 ATC Biennial Conference, Views from the Maine Woods, will be held August 4 – 11 at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. There will be over 240 hikes, 100 workshops, excursions (guided/self-guided), special activities, tours as well as evening presentations & entertainment.

www.atc2017.org

Terry Walker, giving the Radford Students some instruction about tools before working on a rough section of the Iron Mountain Trail near Comers Creek Falls

The Hardcore Group worked on adding rock steps and drainage channels on Whitetop Mountain.

Doug Levin wielding an axe to clear an obstacle from the trail