CMC's New Historian
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"Avast, aargh, and ahoy," says Navy man Stu in days of yore.
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Let's give a round of applause to Stuart English for volunteering to take over as Club Historian.
Stu has been an active member of the club since 2005.
This WNC native has led hikes, done trail maintenance, and received the Award of Appreciation for his decade as editor of Let's Go.
As editor, he used writing skills learned while an English major at Eastern Carolina University.
Not only can he write, but he has a love for the Carolina Mountain Club and its history, an unbeatable combination for Historian.
I know we can look forward to interesting articles in the eNews about days of yore in the CMC.
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From CMC Archives at the UNCA Library
Sprinza Weizenblatt
by Stuart English
When we hike with CMC, we never know who we will meet. In a link to a file at the Ramsey Library at UNCA that Rocko Smucker, our recent club Historian sent me are various pictures of Sprinza hiking with CMC as far back as the 1940s.
Sprinza Weizenblatt (1895-1987) was born in what is now Rumania in the province of Bukovina in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. She and her family fled to Vienna, Austria before World War I in order to escape persecution.
Sprinza raised prize-winning orchids, which she said reminded her of a bird's eye. She knew the Latin names of many flowers and had a love of nature, which she accredited to her father, a forester in the Carpathian Mountains.
To read more, click
here.
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MST in a Day - thanks to your help, WE DID IT!
A hearty "thank you" to all the hikers who participated from Barbara Morgan and Gregory Bechtel.
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It may not be unusual for the sections of the MST maintained by the Carolina Mountain Club to be hiked in a single day, especially on a wildflower-rich spring weekend, or on a fall weekend where the high peaks explode in color. But to have the whole 1,175 miles from Great Smokies to Outer Banks hiked in one day? Including the nearly 500 miles temporarily routed on country roads? Now that's unusual.
And it happened!
To read more, click here.
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REMINDER!
A
nnual Dinner and Meeting
The Annual Dinner and Meeting will take place October 30th. Special guest speakers are Kate Dixon and Jim Hallsey talking about the beginnings of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail on this, its 40th anniversary. REGISTER NOW by going to the CMC website home page
Carolina Mountain Club
and either register online by clicking on
Annual Dinner Meeting Reservations
or download a form to mail in by clicking on
Registration Annual Meeting and Dinner.
Online registration ends October 20th; forms must be mailed by October 17th.
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Carolina Mountain Club Award of Appreciation - Bob Lindsey
By Ann Hendrickson
SELFIE is the current buzzword and rage; everyone is doing it. There is one who is not. In fact he is the opposite - he is SELFLESS. I am referring to Bob Lindsey. Do you know him? Perhaps not; Bob truly is selfless in all of his volunteer efforts.
Have you ever wondered how it is that the trails run through the forest where there are no trees or roots in the path? Well, one can thank Bob for that. Bob h
as been a member of CMC for over 11 years with 4000 documented hours of volunteer trail work. Bob has had the "glory" of the dirty, difficult, strenuous, and
technical job of removing stumps and roots from the route where the trail will go. There are few people who will do this type of work for pay, much less as a volunteer job. In need of a new privy dug or an old one cleaned? A shelter cleaned of garbage or graffiti? Bob will do it!
To read more, click
here.
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Trail Maintainers' Picnic
By Bobbi Powers
The Trail Maintainers' Picnic on Sept. 15 was a rousing success - perfect weather, lots of homemade side dishes to go with the burgers and brats, 50+ maintainers and guests enjoying each other's company, and many awards to the hard workers who build trails and keep our trails cleared for hiking.
Ron Navik, Councilor for Trail Maintenance, emceed the awards program which honored the men and women of CMC who lop, repair tread, saw, do rock work, clean out water bars, and do whatever it takes to provide a pleasant hiking experience for all.
First up were the awards for work hours: See the list following this article and be amazed at the time these folks spend bettering our trails.
Two special awards were given to retiring crew leaders. Tom Weaver created personalized plaques to honor Piet Bodenhorst and Bill Falender for their many years of leadership. Les Love praised Piet's initiative in getting the Quarterly Saturday Crew underway and his guidance in teaching them the right (ie. Piet's) way of doing things. Hugh Hensleigh, part of the Thursday Crew, lauded Bill's many years of leading this crew in a fitting tribute.
Ann Hendrickson presented Bob "Coach" Lindsey with the CMC's Award of Appreciation for his many contributions on the trails. See Ann's article for lots more information about Bob.
Kudos to every person who volunteers countless hours to build and maintain trails.
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Award winners:
7000 hours: The amazing Lew Blodgett (pictured)
3000 hours: Rich Evans, John Whitehouse
2500 hours: Jim Spicer, Wayne Steinmetz, Pete Petersen, Rocko Smucker,
2000 hours: Roy Davis, Ed Hauschild, Ann Hendrickson, Mike Williams, Mel Skiles,
1000 hours: Dennis Smith, Mike Goodman, Bob Williams, Bob McClean, Joe Lappin,
Tom Reeder, Pete Sevcik, Hugh Hensleigh, Tim Clark, Shawn Riley,
Pete Litvinchyk, Dave Roberts
500 hours: Ron Navik, Mary Swain, Randy Tarpley, Duke Rose, Jim Hinton, Tim
Carrigan, Chris Werbylo, Stanley Boyd. Randy Young, Alex Hawkins,
Cynthia Blood, Preston Jones, Steve Patch, Ed Paukovitz
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Illustrated Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Reviewed by Danny Bernstein
What can you say that's new about the most visited park in the country, Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Maybe not much, but you can surely present it in a different, novel way.
Illustrated Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park by Daniel S. Pierce, Joel Anderson and Nathan Anderson is a beautiful coffee table book which tells of the wonder and beauty of the park without forsaking its history. In less than 130 pages, the book depicts each section of the park along with a full-page poster-like painting.
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by Danny Bernstein
Jay Bretz, a long-time CMC member, passed away at the end of August 2017. He joined CMC in1995.
Jay was a hike leader and a regular on the trails, going out mostly on Wednesdays. He was a good, prepared leader, with a dry sense of humor which put everyone at ease.
In 2007, Jay became part of the five Amigos who walked the Camino Frances to Santiago, Spain, from St. Jean Pied-de-Port, France.
Hikers in the WNC chapter of the American Pilgrims on the Camino say that "Those who had the privilege of walking with Jay will always remember his commitment and pleasure with the Camino, his cheerfulness, consistent helpfulness, and witty comments."
On a personal note, I met Jay almost as soon as I moved to Asheville and joined CMC. Jay was my hiking friend and I will miss him.
To read more, click here.
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