Friends of the Smokies Overnight Trip

Danny Bernstein

Come hike with Friends of the Smokies on June 25-26 in Gatlinburg, TN. No camping required!  

Day one of this special event features a guided experience of the Twin Creeks area of the Smokies, home to exciting and diverse park treasures like the Twin Creeks Science Center and Ogle Homestead, and an easy afternoon hike.

Day two offers a choice between two guided hikes.  The moderate 5.4-mile hike highlights the recently completed restoration work of the highly skilled Trails Forever crew and ends at stunning Rainbow Falls.

To read more, click here.

Join us over a beer and maybe dinner for a fun interactive way to learn about tying knots!  Why Knot Get Together gatherings allows hikers and hike leaders to learn how to tie a few useful knots for camping or survival skills.  CMC maintainer and instructor Bill Sanderson will demonstrate using medium size braided cord.  We will have some rope you can use to practice.  There will be a limited number 7mm cord of 6' lengths to purchase for $3, or you can bring your own braided cord 6' of 6mm - 10 mm braided cord.

Come join us for all or some of our 4 meeting dates. We will meet on the back patio near the first set of stairs as you go around back from the parking lot (left-hand side of the building).

Where: Sierra Nevada

When: the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of June and July from 6:00-7:00

   June 12 and 26, 2019   and   July 10 and 24, 2019

Contact Jan with questions [email protected]

Education Outreach Committee

Our club president, Randy Fluharty, conceived of this new group, the Natural Resources Team, to work on trails by conducting projects to eliminate some invasive species and to identify (so as to help protect) rare plants near trails. In the March eNews, he put out the call and got an initial group of volunteers. He asked me to lead the group.

On May 24, we had our first project, helping Matt Drury of the ATC to return to the A. T. at Lemon Gap to pull remaining invasive garlic mustard plants not found or present in previous years. Thank you, Angie Young, Ginny Waggener, and Joanne Tulip for participating with us to pull 53 POUNDS of garlic mustard, before it had a chance to go to seed! Check out the before photo on just a small area we pulled. Now gone!

What's next? We don't know at present, but we'll be looking for another project on one of our trails.

Want to join us? Email me, Barbara Morgan, at [email protected]

By Sarah Broughton

Thirteen CMC members participated in the first Map Navigation class taught by Bill Sanderson. The class met in the event space at REI on the evening of April 26 for an introduction to using map and compass and basic orienteering skills. Participants first learned orienteering vernacular like "handrail," "catching feature," and "check point" that would be used throughout the classes. Bill presented information on topics such as how to read a topographic map, how to use a compass in conjunction with a map to orient and navigate, how to execute an off trail route, and an introduction to the UTM coordinate system. There was opportunity for precursory practice with the map and compass in preparation for the field class.

On April 28, the group met again at the Folk Art Center for hands on practice. Participants learned how to count their paces on flat land using beads, then traveled to the Craggy Visitor Center to practice their map and compass skills on the trail. Participants were challenged to calibrate their paces across different terrain, use the compass to read a bearing, and then use the bearing to find an approximate location along the trail. Taking a bearing from two points of reference, the group was able to triangulate their exact location at Craggy Gardens, and translate that into UTM code that could be provided in a search and rescue scenario.

Participants described the class and information as useful, helpful, fun, and challenging. Keep an eye out for an opportunity to participate in this great class in the future.

Technology - Snipping Tool

Judy Magura

Have you found a web page or feature not working on the CMC public site or CMC member site?  Help us quickly identify, isolate and correct the issue. The best and most efficient way is to capture a screen shot of the source page and what occurred that resulted in an error.  Just take a screen shot of what you clicked on and send it to [email protected] along with a description of what occurred.  Also include the source hyperlink at the top of the source page in your email.  This speeds up problem isolation and helps us quickly determine the appropriate software change needed.

There are a number of free programs and snipping applications for both Windows and Apple computers that make this an easy task. We like and use the "snipping tool" app, but there are many other similar programs that can be used to accomplish this task.  Just search for 'snipping tool' in your browser, download and enjoy. You will also find this process helpful when you are communicating with a friend and wish to share a web page embedded picture / image or article via an email.

Blue Ridge Public Radio Day Sponsorship Donation to CMC

By Karen Lachow

If you listen to Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR) you will have occasionally heard a message read on the air mentioning "today's Day Sponsor."  Day Sponsorships are messages designed for individuals to recognize personal celebrations, tributes, etc.  They are also for organizations to introduce their mission, upcoming events, things like that.  

How does one become a day sponsor?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  If you are a donor to BPR at a certain level (see their website for specific dollar amounts) you may have received a Day Sponsorship Certificate offering you the opportunity to create a message and have it read on air on a reserved date.  You also have the choice, if you are so moved, to DONATE the Day Sponsorship to a NON-PROFIT organization.  Hmmmm.... now what non-profit organization do we know that is near and dear to all our hearts?  YES!  You can donate it to CMC.  CMC can then use the Day Sponsorship to announce upcoming events like trail days, quarterly hiking schedules, special programs or general information about the club.  

All you have to do is fill in the appropriate section on the Certificate you receive from BPR and mail it back or email the required information to them as indicated on the form.  Following are the details you will need:

Secondary Trails Updates

Les Love

We've added a few more maintainers to the Secondary Trails list and we've even added 2 short trails at Sam Knob.  Check out the updated spreadsheet to see who all has volunteered and which trails are still  not adopted.  Remember you can either be a trail observer or a tool carrying maintainer, trained by our field supervisor, Rich Evans.  We can sure use your help!  Les  [email protected]