Trail Talk and Thank You Again Run Into Someone on the Trails and Strike up a Con- to Our Amazing Editor Nancy Jordan
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GMC Montpelier Section Newsletter Spring, 2021 ~ No. 137 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE venerable organization with a long history of doing by Dana Lawrence both. So as you come out from under the COVID- 19 menace and get back on the trails, when you Welcome back to Trail Talk and thank you again run into someone on the trails and strike up a con- to our amazing editor Nancy Jordan. We are com- versation (this will soon be allowed), let them know ing to the end of winter soon and hopefully to the why you’re there and invite them to join GMC (the virus that has kept us from gathering and sharing Montpelier Section of course, and yes this is a re- our love of the outdoors with each other. But as the cruitment message). Then they can help us pre- warmth of the sun and the breath of spring set our serve and enjoy one of the things we both have hearts racing and our feet on the path, it must be learned to love. with caution. The annual meeting, which has been as much a ceremony of gathering of kindred spirits as a business process, will be for one last time, virtual. Reflecting on how much our lives have been dif- ferent in the last year, we can’t wait to get back to the way things were. In so many ways for so many, it has been a terrible time. To the best of our abil- ity, we have had to adapt. As the list of things we could not do grew longer, we had to figure out what we could do safely. Blessed with a state filled with beautiful places close to home we took to the roads, especially the dirt ones in our neighborhoods and to the little gems of trails in our town forests. As our freedom gradually returns and we again embark on bigger, farther, adventures, we should remember and sup- port those smaller special places that many of us did not know existed until now. During COVID, many of us were on this same journey of discovery, not just of dirt roads and small out-of--the-way trails, but everything in the outdoors. Despite the limitations created by the virus, GMC members have not been the only folks who have been enjoying the “great outdoors”; there has been an explosion of people, locally and nationally, recreating in the outdoors. So as we incrementally (think spigot) move in- creasingly back out into the natural world, we are apt to find that we are not alone and that the soli- Spring thaw at Trapp Family Lodge N. Jordan tude we have found in wild places is less available than in the past. So what do we do now? Adapt; as an old guy who is coming out of COVID like the rest of us, this is not my favorite answer. Being personally not ready for extinction, it is the answer. The question is how we share the things we love while at the same time protecting them? GMC is a Trail Talk/Spring, 2021 www.gmcmontpelier.org 1 MONTPELIER SECTION OFFICERS TRAILS & SHELTERS REPORT (2021) by Alan Paschell President: It’s been a tough year for the trails. From my ram- Dana Lawrence No. Middlesex, VT 05682 bling on our section’s trails, it is evident they’ve seen 482 Putnam Road Tel: 229-0725 East Montpelier, VT 05651 E-mail: webmaster@ considerably more feet. In some places, trails have Tel: 371-9610 gmcmontpelier.org doubled in width. I assume due to increased use and E-mail: president@ gmcmontpelier.org Trails & Shelters Coordinator: a lack of conscience by our hiking community. Our Alan Paschell own section’s scheduled work hikes have been put Vice President: 369 West County Road Kenneth Hertz Calais, VT 05648 on hold due to concerns around the Corona Virus; 1186 Towne Hill Road Tel: 223-7044 the only work accomplished was by individuals going East Montpelier, VT 05602 E-mail: trails@ out on their own to clear water bars and remove Tel: 229-4737 gmcmontpelier.org E-mail: vicepresident@ blowdowns that were manageable by hand. It is most gmcmontpelier.org Publicity Coordinator: likely that any organized work on trails this spring will Kevin Ryan Treasurer: 4 Mechanic Street #2 be limited. Perhaps by fall we will see a return to a Steve Bailey Montpelier, VT 05602 semblance of normality. There are certainly still many 5 Charles Street Tel: 229-0236 small areas on our trails that need improvement, Montpelier, VT 05602 E-mail: publicity@ Tel: 609-424-9238 gmcmontpelier.org such as the spur to the Bamforth Ridge Shelter which E-mail: treasurer@ is perpetually wet. The project of rebuilding the tent gmcmontpelier.org Editor: Nancy Jordan platforms still needs one platform to be completed. Secretary/LTN Reporter: 219 Towne Hill Road We are looking for some volunteers posing as don- Kathy Gohl Montpelier, VT 05602 68 Chase Road Tel: 223-3935 keys to lug material up to the shelter. The shelter it- No. Middlesex, VT 05682 E-mail: newsletter@ self remains in wonderful condition and is delightfully Tel: 229-0725 gmcmontpelier.org E-mail: secretary@ free of the graffiti adorning many of the shelters on gmcmontpelier.org GMC Board of Directors: the trail. We do need more hands - younger hands! I George Longenecker myself have reached the ripe old age of seventy - Membership Coordinator: 11 East Hill Road Heather Bailey Tel: 229-9787 about the average age of the core of trail workers 5 Charles Street E-mail: directors@ who consistently show up for work hikes. Remember, Montpelier, VT 05602 gmcmontpelier.org Tel: 622-4516 your children are also welcome to accompany you E-mail: membership_ Andrew Nuquist (Alternate) and pick up a rake, shovel, pruning saw. What better [email protected] 171 Westview Meadows Dr. #7 Montpelier, VT 05602 way to build responsibility than by the example of tak- Webmaster: Tel: 223-3550 ing care of what you use. Especially when it is the John Buddington E-mail: directors@ planet, which we derive so much pleasure from. 68 Chase Road gmcmontpelier.org Although my term as Trails & Shelters Coordinator expires this year, I look forward to my continuing rela- Trails & Shelters Committee tionship with the Long Trail, whether it’s placing a stone in a muddy hole, or just sleeping out under the Chair:Alan Paschell, 223-7044 Dana Lawrence, 223 - 1007 stars. Steve Bailey, 609-424-9238 Steve Lightholder, 479-2304 John Buddington, 229-0725 Andrew Nuquist, 223-3550 Morgan Irons, 223-7044 Nancy Thomas, 223-1007 “Opt Out” List Montpelier Section 2021 Annual Meeting If you would like to be added to the by Dana Lawrence “Opt Out” list and instead read this newsletter Trail Talk online, just Unfortunately, our in-person annual meeting for send a reply to newsletter@ the section will need to be canceled again this gmcmontpelier.org with the Subject: year due to the risk of COVID-19. It will be hap- “Opt Out.” Please include just your pening remotely. Details on this meeting and how name. In the future, you will receive members can participate can be found on the an email telling you when the next Montpelier Section website issue is available online. (www.gmcmontpelier.org). Just click on the Curious to see the electronic ver- About Us pull-down menu, click on the Annual sion, go to: gmcmontpelier.org, Wel- Meeting title and you will find the information come to the Home Page, refer to the needed. Trail Talk paragraph, and click on May this be the last time we have to do it this current issue. way. Trail Talk/Spring, 2021 www.gmcmontpelier.org 2 SECTION DIRECTOR’S REPORT gion, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, or by George Longenecker socioeconomic status. …it's been a long cold lonely winter... As part of its strategic plan, the GMC will work George Harrison with others, for example with schools, to introduce a younger and more diverse group to the out- Despite the long winter of COVID-19, the Green doors. And, these programs are fun for the kids Mountain Club will begin to return to normal in the and the leaders. next year. Two Long Trail Patrol crews, a con- There are still 6.28 miles of the Long Trail on pri- struction crew and our caretakers will be back this vate land. Some side trails are also on private par- summer. The club is in good shape financially, cels. The GMC is working to secure these rights of thanks to lower expenses, donations and a stimu- way, either through permanent agreements or pur- lus funding grant. While most organized outings chase. For example, the Duck Brook Trail crosses have been curtailed, people have been on the 21 different parcels, and its shelter is on private trails in greater numbers than past years. The land. The section of the LT north of Hazen’s Notch Long Trail News will return to its regular publica- also crosses private land. The club is working to tion schedule with a spring, 2021 issue. Because bring all of the Long Trail and most side trails into the pandemic is not over, the main club’s June permanent protection. annual meeting will be held virtually, as have all Bears enjoyed the pandemic, as more hikers meetings for the last year. Our directors and staff came out and camped away from shelters. Little have kept things running smoothly, but we haven’t do hungry Vermont AT bears know what they have seen each other in person for over a year.