Wind Farm Debate Continues

Donna M. Perry writes in the 25 August 2007 Lewiston, ME Sun-Journal under the headline "Groups search for consensus on wind power." The article reports things said by "several panelists speaking at Tilting at Windmills?, an informational forum on wind power in Western Maine sponsored by Western Maine Legislative Caucus."

Among the speakers was David Publicover, Appalachian Mountain Club senior staff scientist.

Energy Bars Post Noted

This isn't really about the Trail, but I found interesting a blog post on the Green Options blog, put up there by Kelli Best-Oliver on 25 August 2007. It's titled "Weekend Review: Matisse & Jack's Bake-At-Home Energy Bars."

The writer mentions that she and her husband had been

"backpacking on the Appalachian Trail for ten days this summer, and we started off eating various energy bars because they were light and provided quick energy. However, we quickly grew tired of convincing ourselves that we actually liked eating them."

Then the post goes on to give a review of this new bake-your-own-energy-bar product. Call me old-fashioned, but couldn't you achieve the same effect (avoiding pre-packaged, cardboard-flavored energy bars) by baking your own bars from scratch using, say, recipes from the Lipsmackin', Backpackin' cookbooks by Conners and Conners?

Hunting Wild Foods on the Appalachian Trail in New York

The New York Academy of Science has a "webzine" in which appears notice of an upcoming group hike and wild food hunt billed as a 4-hour walking tour. Specifically, they say that

"'Wildman' Steve Brill will lead one of his world-famous Wild Food and Ecology Tours of the Appalachian Trail in Pawling, NY. America's most famous hiking trail, which runs for hundreds of miles from Maine to Georgia. [sic] Our stretch, running through Pawling, NY, is loaded with wild foods."

The tour is set for Saturday 25 August 2007 at 11:30, leaving from the Metro North Appalachian Trail Station [i.e., the 4 hours does not include the train ride from Manhattan and points in between]. And the article about this is titled "Hunt for Burdock Root on the Appalachian Trail."

Introduction to Hiking in the Shenandoah National PArk

An article titled "Navigating Nature; Guided Hikes Show Visitors Shenandoah National Park’s Beauty" and written by Luanne Austin in the Harrisonburg, VA Daily News Record of 23 August 2007, describes some hikes led by Liz Cosby, a Student Conservation Association intern in Shenandoah National Park this summer. It tells us that

"On a hot Tuesday in August, she took a group of 19 park visitors on a two-mile (out and back) hike along the Appalachian Trail. Along the way, she talked about the AT: its history, characteristics, geography, famous people. She also talked a lot about what’s needed to walk the whole AT, which extends from Maine to Georgia."

As a teaching device she had the hikes pick trail names, and told them that if they were thru-hiking they'd be on their 850th mile.

A company called ARAMARK that "offers day-long and overnight trips" is also mentioned.

AMC Mountain Guide Online for a Price

According to a long story reported (press release reprinted?) at AlpineZone.Com and titled "Appalachian Mountain Club Launches White Mountain Guide Online" on 23 August 2007,

"The AMC White Mountain Guide Online is currently available at www.outdoors.org/WMGOnline. The cost for an annual subscription with unlimited access is $12 per year for AMC members. The subscription is $15 per year for non-members. A free trial offers an opportunity to try out the service before subscribing."

The story says repeatedly that the guide is the "first-of-its-kind," so it must be. The description makes it sound pretty snazzy. I haven't visited the web site yet.

Report on Alpine Rose Hearing

The Pocono Record of 23 August 2007 has an article by Howard Frank that details the hearing held by Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the permit to allow the Alpine Rose track construction next to the Appalachian Trail. It is titled "Alpine Rose stormwater plan met with dissent."

The report summarizes lots of diffrent evidence and arguments against the permit. Despite the emotion displayed "the hearing's outcome will probably hinge on the science." To my eyes, the science says that the track should NOT be allowed.

"The next step in the application process will be a review of the testimony and additional documents the DEP has received, followed by a decision on the permit, according to Mark Carmon, community relations coordinator for the DEP, who ran the hearing.

"Carmon would not give a time frame for that process."

It almost seems like the winner will be the side that waits it out the longest.

Fire Ban Along Blue Ridge Parkway

"Campfires forbidden on Appalachian Trail" is the headline in the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch for Rex Bowman's 23 August 2007 story relaying the information that the Blue Ridge Parkway officials have temporarily placed a ban on fires in the park (including along the A.T.) except at established fire grates. This is due to the dry, hot weather.

Story also appears on the web site of Roanoke, VA's WDBJ television. And on the website of Harrisonburg, VA's WHSV television.

Maine Wind Farm Proposal Back Again

The Maine wind farm proposal is back in the news in the Kennebec Morning Sentinel's 23 August 2007 issue under the headline "Wind project returns to table; Black Nubble project slated for public hearings."

The

"Black Nubble project is a smaller version of the Redington wind farm, which called for placing 30 turbines on both Redington Pond Range and Black Nubble.

"But environmental groups and groups that advocate for the Appalachian Trail, which passes close to the project, have said that while the one-mountain project is smaller, it still raises significant concerns."

The Black Nubble site is just over three miles from the Appalachian Trail, while Redington was about a mile away.

Vermont's Long Trail Festival Hailed as Success

Brent Curtis writes in the 21 August 2007 Rutland (VT) Herald that the

"Promoters of the Rutland Long Trail Festival said the success of their three-day event during the weekend guarantees that they are in it for the long haul."

They attracted "more than 1,000 people" to the 3-day "concert and outdoor extravaganza."

The organizers'

"dream is to make the event an annual stop for hikers in the same way the annual Trail Days festival in Damascus, Va., which straddles the Appalachian Trail, has become over three decades.

"During its first year, the Long Trail Festival attracted hikers hailing from as far away as Canada, West Virginia and Georgia, he said."

Sounds about right.

The article's headline is: "Long Trail fest looks like a go as annual event".

Hiker Todd Murphy Featured

Southbound hiker Todd Murphy is the focus of the brief news story titled "Disabled Hiker Attempts Appalachian Trail" on the WPTZ-TV (Burlington, VT) web site on 23 August 2007. It's taglined as an Associated Press story.

"Hike Inn" Hostel in North Carolina

The Smoky Mountain Sentinel (Hayesville, NC) has a local news column titled "News of the Region" in its 22 August 2007 issue that mentions the Appalachian Trail, particularly one of the hostels thereon.

The sub-headline reads "Robbinsville. Hike Inn serves hikers at gateway to the Smoky Mountains". The key sentence below reads:

"They arrive from all over the globe to take advantage of the services offered by Jeff and Nancy Hoch, proprietors of The Hike Inn, a small, five-room motel catering exclusively to hikers at the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Fontana Dam."

A.T. Described

Raleigh, NC's television station WRAL has a piece on its web site by Dolly R. Sickles headlined "Field Trip | Hiking the Appalachian Trail" and dated 22 August 2007.

It's a short piece that introduces folks to the Appalachian Trail for the first time. Despite a little inaccuracy (like quoting a Georgia hiking web site on elevations to make it sound like the entire Trail is above 2,500 feet ... possibly in Georgia, but whatever happened to the Bear Mountain Zoo?) the piece might pique some people's interest.

Logging Plan in Cherokee Forest a Threat?

Gregg Powers writes in the 22 August 2007 issue of the Kingsport (TN) Times-News that

"According to a news release from Cherokee Forest Voices, Laurel Fork stream would be greatly impaired by muddy runoff from a logging project in the north end of the Cherokee National Forest. CFV officials said the proposed Rough Ridge timber sale in Carter County would also degrade mature forests and chop up scenic views along the Appalachian Trail and other paths popular with bird watchers, hikers and mountain bikers."

His story is headlined "Conservation group seeks to stop logging project in Cherokee Forest" and decribes the plan by the U.S. Forest Service to log a total of 267 acres in 8 different tracts.

Alpine Rose Hearing on 22 August

The Pocono Record out of Stroudsburg, PA has an article titled "Alpine Rose hearing tonight; 3 p.m. deadline to register to testify" in its 22 August 2007 issue. Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said

"The public hearing will address developer Richard Muller Jr.'s request for reinstatement of a permit to discharge stormwater from construction into the Aquashicola Creek."

ATC, Sierra Club, and the local Blue Mountain Preservation Association all oppose the plans to build a track next to the Appalachian Trail where car and motorcycle drivers will be able to zip around the 3 1/2 mile loop at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour.

The DEP had originally denied the permit not because of encroachment on the Trail, but because of potential pollution of a pristine stream in the area.

Flint Mountain Shelter Described as a Memorial

What a nice article this is. Laura Sperling writes a column in the Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune on 18 August 2007 under the headline "A trail blazed with memories; Ascending to Shelter and Solace."

Sperling describes parts of a recent hike to the Flint Mountain Shelter along the NC-Tenn border a ways north of Hot Springs, NC, near Devil's Fork Gap. My Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker's Companion says, of this shelter, that it is the

"site of one of the more unusual animal encounters in Trail history. In 1994, a sleeping thru-hiker was bitten on the hand by a fox in the middle of the night--despite the presence of other hikers and two dogs."

Well, add to that the memories from this article. Sperling says that it's pretty much a family tradition to make a day hike to this shelter whenever they are in the area. Before his death, her dad had hiked most of the Trail. And her dad had helped the local club build Flint Mountain Shelter in 1988 to honor her brother Mark, who died in 1987.

In all her visits to the shelter, Sperling says she has never met a backpacker staying there, although she enjoys reading the shelter register's comments. This visit was special in another way. Sperling was able to take her niece, her brother Mark's daughter, to the shelter that commemorates her dad for the first time.

"Her interest was piqued by a friend who took a sabbatical to hike the Appalachian Trail last year. ... I asked Emily what she thought of her first shelter visit. She called it cathartic, explaining that the physical sacrifice of the hike heightened her emotional connection to this place of solace."

That's how it should be. I think it's great to learn more about spots like this along the Trail.

Wheelchair Accessible Appalachian Trail Portion in Vermont

David Gram's Associated Press article, "Vermont: Accessible trails open outdoors," in the 20 August 2007 issue of the San Jose Mercury News, describes the National Park Service's attempts to find ways to 'open the outdoors' to people with various mobility and other handicaps. This includes a single, central website that will debut in September with accessibility information for all the Park Service's properties in one place.

In this article, Gram focuses also on activities in Vermont. For example,

"In Killington, the Green Mountain Club has been working this summer to finish a project relocating part of the Appalachian Trail to get it away from roads. The project has grown to include a new wheelchair-accessible boardwalk. When it opens this fall, it will be the first section of the Appalachian Trail in northern New England to be designed as wheelchair-accessible. Nearly 1,000 feet long, it passes a spectacular view of the Thundering Brook falls and through the Ottauquechee River flood plain."

And, no, the Trail isn't being paved through the wilderness. Where these accessible trails are not boardwalks, they are being surfaced in hard-packed gravel.

Thru-hiking Well Described

There's a long, descriptive article about thru-hiking in the Miami Herald of 19 August 2007, written by Kerri Westenberg and headlined "Spotlight: Hiking the Appalachian Trail; The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, and every year, more than 1,000 people go for the entire walk." (Westenberg does make clear that there aren't 1,000 people who complete a thru-hike each year.)

She writes well. For example, describing the kinds of people who hike:

"Some of these through-hikers wear boots scruffy from years of wear. Others come with gleaming new equipment they barely know how to use. They are accountants, mail carriers, schoolteachers, retirees, recent college grads. But in the woods, where most take on trail names, they leave those old labels behind.

"They come to strip life to the basics: up at sunrise, down at dusk, eat food, drink water. They come for the contemplative act of putting one foot in front of the other -- again and again and again and again -- following the white blazes painted onto trees and rocks that mark the Appalachian Trail. They come for the joy of exerting their muscles, meeting other hikers, merging with nature. Primarily, they come to see if they're up to the task."

You can tell this isn't your usual article about thru-hikers. There are bits about the history of the Trail, the lingo, and trail magic, too. And stories from a few of this year's hikers: "Old School," "Dinosaur," and "Balance and Peace."

Michael "Bobcat" Innes Completes Thru-Hike

Chris Carlson, writing in the 19 August Berkshire (MA) Eagle, records the completion of Michael Innes' northbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

"Beginning with his approach from Amicalola Falls, Georgia on March 16 and finishing atop Mount Katahdin in Maine on July 27, Innes became the first Berkshire County resident to walk the entire Appalachian Trail this year."

And eight days later, Innes got married.

"Innes followed the age-old AT tradition by traveling under a trail name. He chose 'Bobcat' because he'd seen one of the felines roaming around the trail in Dalton. His dirt-covered dog, Romeo, was 'Swamp Monster,' while his bubbly wife, an English teacher at Taconic High School, took on the name 'Sunshine.'"

Lori ('Sunshine') hiked the last six weeks with Innes.

The article's title is "Following the Trail."

Maine Wind Farm Details

Lewiston Maine's Sun-Journal newspaper has an 18 August 2007 article by Donna M. Perry about the current proposals for a 'wind farm' somewhat near the Appalachian Trail. This article describes the currently-known details of the plan as presented by TransCanada Energy Ltd. The article is titled "Details emerge on wind farm."

Northbound David White Completes Thru-Hike

The Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal of 18 August 2007 has an unsigned article titled "Happy, tired retiree ends 2,175-mile hike" that records the completed thru-hike by 58 year old David White who recently "retired as district manager for Duke Power."

He started at Springer on 9 March, and summited Katahdin on 31 July.

"'Hiking the trail was a way to purge my system of all the corporate world and get away from everything,' White said. 'I've been thinking about this for 12 to 15 years and knew this was the only time I'd have a chance to do that.'"