I’m eager to see people and walk, of course, but I also want to photograph the MST and its people, so I can enter, not one, but two photo contests. Neither have an entrance fee and both have great prizes.

Carolina Mountain Club photo contest. This is the first (hopefully) annual CMC contest. It has three categories: landscape, people on the trail, and plants and animals. You can only enter one picture per category, so choose carefully.

The picture must have been taken on a hike that CMC has in its hike data base. So  no pictures of your vacation in Maine. But the photo doesn’t have to have been taken on a CMC hike. That’s a good thing, since serious nature photographers don’t want a bunch of eager hikers around them.

See the Carolina Mountain Club website for details. Deadline: September 30, 2015

Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Photography Contest

A second but connected photo contest is sponsored by Friends of the MST.

Here you can submit your photos of North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail — from Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Outer Banks.
Photos will be judged by a panel of prominent judges in three categories:
– The View from the Trail
– People on the Trail
– Youth Photographer (17 and under)

The deadline for submitting photos:  Saturday, October 31, 2015.

See their website for all details.

So, as you guessed, by taking pictures on the MST in the mountains, you could enter both contests. Good Luck!

Carolina Mountain Club announced a new hiking challenge:  The CMC A.T.-MST Challenge.

Hike all the Appalachian Trail miles and Mountains-to-Sea Trail miles that are maintained by the club.

CMC currently maintains 93 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Davenport Gap to Spivey Gap (going northbound) and 135 miles of the Mountains -To-Sea Trail from Waterrock Knob to Black Mountain Campground (going eastbound). Members who hike the combined 228 miles of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) and the Mountains -To-Sea Trail (MST) on sections maintained by the club will be awarded a certificate of completion and a commemorative embroidered hiking patch.

Please check the CMC website Challenge page for details. If you have further questions please e-mail Vance Mann who is coordinating this new challenge. You can reach Vance at [email protected].

This hiking challenge, like all the other CMC challenges, is on the honor system. As you learned in school, if you cheat, you’re only cheating yourself.  Similarly, you have a lifetime to hike these miles. But I wouldn’t suggest you take a lifetime.

The South Beyond 6000 is the oldest CMC challenge. It requires you to climb a specific list of 40 peaks higher than 6,000 feet. Other challenges include the Pisgah 400 (all the trails in Pisgah National Forest), Lookout Towers and Waterfall 100.

For all the details, see the CMC challenge information.

Sometimes, Carolina Mountain Club hike leaders get together to talk about good hike leadership. This past week, 57 hike leaders – all day, half-day, occasional leaders – discussed principles of leading a good, enjoyable and safe hike. The CMC hiking committee hosted the dinner and the program. See the picture on the right.

Here are some obvious pointers we discussed.

*  Know your sweep.

Sweep, tailender, trailend Charlie. That’s the hiker at the end of the line who makes sure that no one gets lost. He or she is a strong hiker. You don’t want to accept someone who says “Well, I’m slow. So I’ll be your sweep”.  A sweep is really a co-leader.

*  Stop at trail intersections.

Isn’t that obvious? Well, no, because Marcia Bromberg, above, had to emphasize this. Sometimes leaders get so gung-ho on socializing with others (good) or keeping a reasonable pace (also good) that they forget that the whole group isn’t behind them.

*  Stop to rest.

Another obvious point. We are hikers, not racers. We keep moving but we need specific rest stops. I always schedule in a morning break at about 11 am, calling it  elevenses, from the British custom of morning tea at 11 am. By 11 am, we’ve hiked a couple of miles. Just as important, most of us had breakfast hours ago. I have a lunch break and then, if it’s a long hike, an afternoon break.

When I lead, a rest break starts when the sweep sits down. So everyone has a scheduled break. The hikers in front just have a longer one.

* What happens if there’s a problem? The leader may have forgotten to lock her car or someone doesn’t feel well? However the leader deals with the problem, she or he has to remember all the other hikers in the group. A new leader should assigned, if needed. Better, the original leader should assign a strong hiker to help the person with a problem. The important thing is not to let the rest of the group flounder or just wait.

Lots more was discussed. But if you’re a leader, think about some of these principles. And think about volunteering to lead. That’s the way hiking clubs work.

Carolina Mountain Club is a hiking and trail maintaining club. We don’t get together too often in a purely social setting. But when we do, we know how to throw a great party.

On November 1, the Day of the Dead or the day after Halloween, about one hundred hikers, trail maintainers and their guests gathered at the Chariot Restaurant in Hendersonville for our annual dinner and meeting. The weather had thrown an unexpected snow shower tantrum but we all showed up anyway.

At the social hour, we mingled with people we may not see regularly on the trail. “How was your summer and what are you doing next summer?” always seems to stir up conversation. After a great buffet dinner, the meeting got underway.

I mingled with our invited guests.

Here are a few of them from left to right – Dan Well, representing Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Jeff Wilcox, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at UNCA who was our speaker, Kristin Bail, Forest Supervisor for the NC US Forest Service, and Julie Judkins, representing Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Gary Eblen, of Diamond Brand Outdoors, was at the meeting as well.

Sawako Jager, the Councilor for Communications, read the names of  the 19 hikers who completed challenges this year. That included a father and son team. Lenny Bernstein, President, gave the State of the Club – doing well, thank you. We approved the minutes from last year and the budget.

Then came the big awards presented by our past president, Marcia Bromberg. Ruth Hartzler and Tish Desjardins received the Award of Appreciation for their efforts on behalf of the CMC and hiking community on the National Forest Management Plan.

Becky Smucker received the Distinguished Service Award for her many years of service to the CMC–as a Council member and officer, hike leader, maintainer and maintenance crew leader and her leadership in developing new technology for the club.

We elected new Council members, including what may be a first, a nomination from the floor. Lenny recognized the departing Council members – Tish Desjardins, Stuart English and me – with a nice framed certificate.

Then Prof Jeff entertained us with a great lecture on the geology of our mountains. He had brought rock samples and assured Forest Supervisor, Kristin, that he had not taken the big pieces out of any NC forest.

Want to be part of it all? Join CMC and come out to hike and maintain trail. That’s what we do best.

October is supposed to be the best leaf-peeping time. Visitors drive up to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway (MP 451.2) and look out at the outstanding scenery. Some walk the half-mile to what is the highest trail on the parkway. Little do they know the work that is going on just below them. Volunteers crush rocks, cut down trees, remove roots, and move rocks to build a small section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Almost all are over 60 years old, many much older. Yet, they come out week after week to work on building this piece.
Yesterday, the Carolina Mountain Club Asheville Friday Crew finished a 2.2 mile section of the MST on the east side of Waterrock Knob. Kate Dixon, Executive Director of Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and I were there to walk through the section and admire the amazing trail work. Ann Hendrickson, one of two women on this crew, walked with us from Waterrock Knob to Fork Ridge Overlook.

The crew plan was to split into three teams to do a sweep, repair, check some areas, and finish a step and rock section in the middle. Then they’ll pull out the tools and grip hoist and walk them down the cars. Next Friday, they’ll blaze the trail with the familiar white circles.

Building the trail required over 6,000 hours of work to cut through the rocks, roots, and trees so hikers can walk comfortably. It’s hard work to build trail at almost 6,000 feet above sea level. The season is short –May to October– and depends on the Parkway being open. In the winter, the freeze/thaw cycle plays havoc with the trail surface. Rocks pop out, trees fall and water and ice are all over the trail.

The crew leaves Asheville at 8 am and drives an hour to the work site. They work for five hours and are back at 3 pm, exhausted, muddy, and happy. The first concern is always safety. The second is to have fun so that the crew wants to come back week after week. And oh yes, they do want to get work done.

“The skill and artistry of the trail is extraordinary,” says Dixon. “So many visitors come to Waterrock Knob. Even if they don’t hike 1,000 miles across North Carolina, they can walk a mile and get a good feel for the trail.”