ISSN 098—8154 The Newsletter of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Volume 32, Number 10 118 Park Street, S.E., Vienna, VA 22180-4609 October 2003 http://www.patc.net 75 Years of Service Celebrate 76 Years at PATC’s Annual Dinner ome out and join in the fun at our 76th CAnnual Meeting/Dinner! Mark your calendar now, and sign up for PATC’s 2003 Annual Meeting/Dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 11, in Vienna to celebrate our 76th year. We will begin with a social gath- ering at 6:00 p.m., and dinner will follow. The cost is $25 per person. The event will be held again this year at the beautiful Atrium of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, located next to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens on Beulah Road in Vienna. The Atrium (pictured above) is a beautiful garden and conference center generously made available to us for the past two years by Our speaker this year will be Robert Rubin the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority$ who is Editor of the AT Conference AT The Atrium is located next to the Meadowlark Gardens are on the left. Shuttle service will be News and author of “On The Beaten Path,” Gardens at 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court, available at 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. at the the memoir of his AT thru hike. There will just off Beulah Road, Vienna, Va. Take I-495 Vienna metro station. Please call Pat also be displays made by the volunteers of north to the Vienna/Tyson’s Corner/Rte. 123 Fankhauser at 703/242-0693, Ext. 17, if you our various activities. When you look them exit. From Rte. 123, turn right onto over, you just may find a new volunteer Courthouse Road. Then go through the stop will be using the shuttle service. interest. sign and continue on Beulah Road. The See Annual Meeting page New SNP Cabin Rates and Winter Policy In This Issue . Council Fire . .2 New Cabin Rates for SNP Cabins Tom’s Trail Talk . 3 ew cabin rates for all cabins except the Committee Proposes New Award . .4 NShenandoah Park cabins went into Watch Those Thorns! . .4 effect beginning October 2002. New rental New Rail-Trail Under Study by NPS . .5 rates for all Shenandoah Park cabins – Book Review: Virginia’s Wild Side . .5 Corbin, Doyles River, Jones Mountain, Wagon Wheel Shelter Dedication . .6 Pocosin, Range View, and Rock Spring – will North District Hoodlums Work Trip . .7 be effective for reservations made beginning Let’s Hear it for 20 Years of Pigs . .7 October 6, 2003. The new rates will be $18 Bob Pickett’s Appalachian Nature . .8 for each weekday night and $28 for each K9 Hike at Gambrill State Park . .9 weekend night. Hiker’s Notebook . .9 Forecast . .10 New Winter Policy for SNP Cabins Volunteers Appointed . .15 If Skyline Drive is closed and a renter cannot Leave No Trace Trainers Course . .15 reach the cabin by vehicle, he or she can Backpacking 202 . .15 request a refund of the advance payment the first date of the reservation, no refunds In Memoriam . .15 minus the $5 processing fee. Hike-in direc- will be made regardless of whether or not the Notices . .16 tions are made available on the cabin direc- drive is closed. ❏ Trailhead . .17 tion sheets mailed out with the key. If PATC —Pat Fankhauser, is not informed of the cancellation prior to Membership and Cabins Coordinator Help Wanted . .20 Council Members, Chairs and PA Staff Council Fire Officers President: Tom Johnson ([email protected]) he Potomac Appalachian Trail Club’s Finance, 2004 Goals Weekdays, Reston, Va, ph. 703/435-2755 Tregularly scheduled Council meeting Treasurer Gerhard Salinger distributed the Weekends, Front Royal, ph. 540/622-6422 VP Volunteerism: Mickey McDermott was held at Club Headquarters Aug. 12, monthly budget report, noting that cabin VP Operations: Fred “Hop” Long 2003. President Tom Johnson welcomed rental revenue, as well as membership dues, Treasurer: Gerhard Salinger has increased since the last budget report. Secretary: Georgeann Smale ([email protected]) Lisa Still as the new Supervisor of Supervisor of Trails: Liles Creighton Information, Education, and Activities. He The planning session for next year’s goals was Supervisor of Membership: Susan Nelson Supervisor of Land Management: Chris Mangold, also welcomed George Still as the new held prior to the Council meeting. Tom thanked [email protected] Chair of Public Affairs. Tom reported on the participants for attending the goals session. Supervisor of Facilities: Larry Marcoux biennial ATC Conference held in New Supervisor of Education, Information, and Activities: Lisa Still Hampshire. Approximately 40 PATC mem- Other Business bers had attended, including five Council SMRG: John Luck reported the group partic- General Counsel: Charles Sloan members and two officers. ipated in the search for a lost 10-year-old boy Sections/Chapters on the Dark Hollow Falls Trail in Mountaineering Section: Andy Britton Tom had attended two sessions on risk Shenandoah National Park. The boy was SMRG: Christopher Smith found in a drainage area leading from the falls Ski Touring Section: Steve Brickel management and liability. He reported he North Chapter: Pete Brown had also attended an enlightening work- after being missing for 30 hours. A total of 23 N. Shenandoah Valley Chapter: Lee Sheaffer shop on accessibility issues. Tom com- SMRG members helped with the search, or S. Shenandoah Valley Chapter: Michael Seth had begun to respond to the call, when the Charlottesville Chapter: John Shannon mended Liles Creighton for introducing a child was found. He was dehydrated and had West Virginia Chapter: Judy Smoot resolution accepted by the ATC minor injuries but has fully recovered. John Standing Committee Chairs Conference that called for Supervisors of also reported that, in response to a request (Council Members) Trails and their counterparts in other clubs AT Corridor Monitoring: Tom Lupp from the Park Service, SMRG was in SNP Blackburn Trail Center: Chris Brunton to meet and exchange policies and lessons over the busy July 4 weekend, ready to Budget: David White learned at the next biennial meeting. Liles respond as needed. They did assist with some Cabins Operations: Mel Merritt said the objective of the resolution was to Cabin Construction: Charlie Graf motor vehicle accidents over the holiday. Conservation: Jeff Pearcy get clubs back into ATC business to help Grants & Donations: Susan Nelson formulate policy, rather than merely con- Trail Patrol: Reporting for Trail Patrol, Holly Endowment: Don Price Finance: Gerhard Salinger form to policy set by ATC. Tom noted that Wheeler announced the Backpacking Hikes: Karen Brown & Lee Sheaffer attendance at the conference had dramati- Committee met recently to discuss the future Internet Services: Stephen Raia of the course. They will expand the number of Land Management: Chris Mangold, [email protected] cally decreased, from 1,100 attendees in Legal: Charles Sloan 2001 to 800 in 2003. While high costs of the classes to include a fall Backpacking 101 Maps: Dave Pierce 2003 conference may have contributed, he course and to include one-day seminars on Maryland Appalachian Trail Management focused topics, such as meal planning and Committee: Charlie Graf observed that attendance has been steadily Potomac Appalachian: Linda Shannon-Beaver declining since 1995. See Council Fire page + Public Affairs: George Still Publications: George Meek Sales: Vacant Shelters: Frank Turk HEADQUARTERS Trail Lands Acquisition: Phil Paschall HOW TO CONTACT US FOR CABIN RESERVATIONS, Trail Patrol: Kumait Jawdat MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION, AND SALES Tuscarora Trail Land Management: Lloyd MacAskill Address: 118 Park Street, S.E., Vienna, VA 22180 Hours: Monday through Thursday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Special Committees/Ongoing Activities and Thursday and Friday 12 noon to 2 p.m. Archives & Library: Carol Niedzialek Phone #: 703/242-0315 24-hr. Activities Tape #: 703/242-0965 Cabin Reservations: Shakuntala Ghare To receive an information packet: Extension 10 Communications Team: Tom Johnson To leave a message for the Club President, Tom Johnson: Extension 40 Deputy Finance Committee Chair: John Ferguson Club e-mail: [email protected] Facsimile #: 703/242-0968 Deputy Supervisor of Trails: Jon Rindt World Wide Web URL: http://www.patc.net Headquarters Facility: Orron Kee STAFF Information/Sales Desks: Annetta DePompa DURING REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS Medical: Vacant Director of Administration: Wilson Riley (Ext. 11) e-mail: [email protected] Shelters, Cabins, & Cabins Land Fund: Larry Marcoux Trails Management Coordinator: Heidi Forrest (Ext. 12) e-mail: [email protected] SNP Boundary Trailheads Study Group: Business Manager: Monica Clark (Ext. 15) e-mail: [email protected] Mark Holland Membership/Cabin Coordinator: Pat Fankhauser (Ext. 17) e-mail: [email protected] Tuscarora Trail Shenandoah Valley Project: Sales Coordinator: Maureen Estes (Ext. 19) e-mail: [email protected] Phoebe Kilby & Larry Bradford Bus/Metro Directions to Headquarters: When taking Metro Orange line, get off at Dunn Loring station Potomac Appalachian (not Vienna, the last stop). Outside the station, find the stop for Metrobus 2T westbound in the direction Chief Editor: Linda Shannon-Beaver of Tyson’s Corner. When the bus starts down Maple Avenue in Vienna, exit at the library just past Center [email protected] St. Walk half a block in the same direction the bus travels, and turn right at Park St. PATC will be on the left Features Editor: Joanne Erickson only a few yards down from the corner. The fare is $1.10, but you can ride for $.25 if you remember to Forecast Editor: Suzie Shannon get a transfer ticket at your originating station. [email protected] % October %'' – Potomac Appalachian Tom’s Trail Talk Computers, PATC, and You July, it is a transcendent crisis. This was not o err is human; to really foul up takes the first instance of computer gridlock, but it “Ta computer.” Frankly, I don’t know a was the most obvious example of a hidden cri- megabyte from a flourescent light.