VOLUME 68 JULY/AUGUST 2008 NUMBER 7 Reaching Every Summit Inside This Issue By Steve McManigal New Members 2 Board Notes 7 HEN I TRAVEL for my job at Trip Reports & Activities 8-19 Boeing, I hike, climb, or drive Upcoming 20 W up the highest mountain in the states near my work location. This summer Calendar 23 I'm working at Vought Aircraft Industries Features in Charleston, SC for Boeing‘s 787 airplane Reaching Every Summit 1 program. Their new facility builds aft fuse- New Member Orientation 2 lage sections 47 and 48 for the 787 Dream- Otrials 3 liner. Vought is famous for the Corsair gull Ridgeline Trail 4 winged WWII era fighter plane. From the Archives 5 In May I spent Memorial Day weekend Janet‘s Jottings 6 "climbing" the high points of South Caro- Barb‘s Sampler 21 lina, Tennessee, and North Carolina by Picture of the Month 24 automobile. Clingman's Dome is the Ten- nessee high point (at 6640‘). It‘s located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Steve on “top” of Mt. Sunflower in Kansas Dates to Remember Mt. Mitchell is the North Carolina high Jul 23 Spencer Trail Maintenance point(6684‘) and it's located in a state park. There's a camp ground near the summit Aug 4 S Camp Truck Unloading of Mt. Mitchell that didn't appear to be fully used. It would be a great weekend trip Aug 20 3rd Annual Eugene Ems with many hiking opportunities. There's also a restaurant at the summit. Mt. Aug 30 Sept Bulletin Deadline Mitchell, not Mt. Washington (NH), is the highest peak on the eastern seaboard. Sep 3 Board Meeting Sassafras peak in South Carolina (about 3547') was another matter. It was really Sep 12-14 Eugene Celebration difficult finding the roads to the SC summit. I stopped at least 5 times to ask for di- Sep 23 SciEd Tues - Fire Ecology rections from some scary looking people and no one knew where to go except for Sep 26 Welcome Potluck one guy at a tourist trap. He had a county tourist map which helped enough to get me pointed in the right direction. I got lost again on a narrow mountain road and a group of canyon carving, knee dragging road racers on motorcycles got me to the summit. The only sign which identified the mountain I saw that day was an over- Summer Schedule grown wood sign .3 miles from the summit. The "summit" was covered in growth No Potlucks or SciEds with a power line routed right over it. At the summit I met a couple more scary look- in July and August. ing guys driving slowly and safely around in a jeep. The passenger was holding a No Board Meeting or small dog and drinking a beer. I asked them if I was at the right summit and they Bulletin in August. confirmed my location and were fairly friendly once I approached them. We will return to a normal In June I went to Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. Florida's high point is Britton Hill schedule in September. (345‘), located in an obscure county park north of Pensacola on the Florida/Alabama border. Alabama's high point is Cheaha Mountain(2405‘) northeast of Talladega (home of a famous NASCAR track) in scenic Cheaha State Park. Alabama's high point was the surprise. It has a view that goes forever, good hiking opportunities and Web Site Notice a large underutilized camping area where cabins can also be rented. The local state The web guys are off to Sum- employees are exceptionally friendly and helpful. There's a restaurant and motel near mer Camp until around August the summit where I got a great room for $8 and dinner for $11. The architecture and 5, so the Obsidian website, construction of the motel reminded me of the house in the movie North by North- schedules, etc. will not be up- west. Georgia‘s high point is Basstown Bald (4784‘), near the Tennessee border. It's dated until then. reached by an easy drive on a paved road to within .6 miles of the summit and then a pleasant walk to the observation tower. From the observation tower you can see four (Continued on page 4) OBITUARY OBSIDIANS, INC P.O. Box 322, Eugene, OR 97440 Welcome! Website: www.obsidians.org Rosemary Mason Board of Directors New Members ROSEMARY MASON died in Portland President - Brian Hamilton May 18, 2008 at age 83 of age-related Vice President - Jim Duncan SWISHER, RON (Active), causes. She was a member of the Ob- Secretary - Laurie Funkhouser 724 C Street, Springfield , OR 97477 sidians from July 2000 until Treasurer - Stewart Hoeg 741-2115 [email protected] Wayne Deeter Marshall Kandell 2006. During that time, she went on Anne Dhu McLucas Jim Pierce 13 bus trips, including a week-long Barb Revere trip to Montana in 2004. Board meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, except August, at the Obsidian lodge. Committee Chairpersons Byways-By-Bus ...................... Liz Reanier Climbs ...................................... Larry Huff New Member Orientation Concessions ....................... Kathleen Floyd Conservation ...................... Juli McGlinsky URING THE BOARD MEETING in June plans for new member orientation Entertainment................ Laurie Funkhouser D were endorsed. Please feel free to contact members of the committee, listed Extended Trips ........................ Jim Duncan below, if you have further suggestions that you think would be helpful in making Finance .................................Stewart Hoeg Lodge Building ................. Brian Hamilton our new members feel at home—and for doing further outreach to potential mem- Lodge Grounds ................... John Jacobsen bers as well. Here are the current plans: Librarian/Historian ....... Lenore McManigal Membership .......................... Julie Dorland 1) Special September Potluck to highlight activities of the committees, with a Online..................................Wayne Deeter brief, entertaining slide presentation of several committee activities (e.g., summer Publications .............................................. hikes, winter trips, extended trips, summer camp, bus trips, conservation) pre- Publicity ...................... Ann Dhu McLucas Safety ................................... Doug Nelson sented by committee chairs or gifted surrogates. Details of timing and food are to Science & Education ..............Joella Ewing be decided by the Entertainment Committee, who will be in charge of the event. Summer Camp .................... John Jacobsen (Some suggestions include a "pre-meeting" tour of the facilities with history, plus Summer Trips ........................ Barb Revere Trail Maintenance ................... Peter Green free food for new members). Winter Trips ............................. Jim Pierce Goals: to welcome new members (with special mentorship activities as listed Youth ..................................... Scott Hovis in #2 below), to make continuing members aware of the great opportunities The for serving on committees, and to introduce serious prospective members to OBSIDIA N Bulletin some of our club's activities. © 2008 Responsible People: Entertainment Committee (Laurie Funkhouser and Kath- Published monthly, except August. Articles, story ideas, letters to the editor and other leen Floyd) editorial submissions may be emailed to: Additional work needed: An enticing title, food possibilities for first-timers, [email protected] timing of pre-Potluck event, and publicity Although email is preferred, submissions may also be sent to: 2) Phone Call Mentorship of New Members. The name of each new member will be passed on to the person in charge, who should be an adjunct member of the The Obsidian Bulletin P.O. Box 51424, Eugene, OR 97405 Membership Committee designated to perform this duty. Each new member For reprint rights, contact above. should be called promptly, invited to the next potluck, and, if possible, paired with a mentor, who would welcome him or her to the potluck. Deadline Suggested Responsible Person: Jim Floyd (volunteered by his wife!), who for September 2008 Bulletin Saturday, August 30, 2008 will become an adjunct member of the membership committee to do this job. 3) Old and New Member Communication. A reminder list of the month's activi- Assembly/Mailing Team ties could be sent out to all members with e-mail. (Of course, the Bulletin also For June Bulletin Assembly & Mail Manager...... Lou Maenz serves this purpose, but we have found that members getting timely e-mails are Call Manager ....................... Vera Woolley grateful for the reminder.) People could opt out of this reminder e-mail if they Assembly Team …Marc Hansen, Yuan wished to avoid the extra once-a-month mailing. (If there is a volunteer to cover it, Hopkins, John & Lenore McManigal, we could also try to phone those without e-mail who request such a reminder.) Margaret Prentice Suggested Responsible Persons: The E-mail gurus, John Jacobsen and Wayne Editorial Team Deeter Writing & Editorial Staff …. Jean Coberly, Janet & John Jacobsen, Barb Revere, 4) Prospective Member Calling Initiative. Each activity group (summer, win- Beth Roy ter, bus, and climb) could keep track of non-members who have participated more Copy Editors .... Jean Coberly & Beth Roy than once. One designated member of each committee could be asked to call those Graphics, Design & Desktop Publishing (Continued on page 18) ............ Stewart Hoeg & John Jacobsen Page 2 www.obsidians.org The Obsidian Bulletin Otrials: An Interim Report By Marshall Kandell, Otrials Committee Chair Y THE TIME this is in print, the 2008 difficult (on their list of pressing issues, B U.S. Olympic Track & Field we don't rate very high), we had no prob- Trials will be history...and so will our lem at all getting a quick and friendly ambitious effort to produce 22 hikes welcome from VLT, which is an- for out-of-towners attending the trials other venerable community service and the Oregon Bach Festival. A full report will be pre- organization just a couple years sented to the board at its September meeting, but as I younger than the Obsidians.