Message from the President
February, 2012
Middlesex Township's Heavy Equipment Helps To Construct Trindle Road Parking Lot
We’re looking back at 2011 with a sense of pride at the things we accomplished, accompanied by humble appreciation at the support we received from others. Here is a summary of the major items we worked on last year.
We started a successful affiliation with Day Hikers of Central PA. Day Hikers is a group within the online community meetup.com. The Day Hikers group of over 470 people conducts hikes throughout the region and beyond. CVATC agreed to become a sponsor of Day Hikers. We publish all of their hikes via our website and other means, and Day Hikes publicizes our workdays. So far, a significant number of CVATC members have become members of Day Hikers, and vice versa. We’ve noticed a significant increase in volunteers coming out to our work days and other volunteer events, largely due to the affiliation with Day Hikers.
Along with many other trail and conservation groups, we helped to bring about the White Rocks land purchase along South Mountain. CVATC and two other trail clubs raised some of the initial seed money for the purchase. The lion’s share of the funds came from state and federal grants organized by our colleagues at Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the National Park Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. More than any other single person, Karen Lutz, manager of ATC’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, was responsible for bringing this project to a successful conclusion. We all came together for a celebration of the purchase on April 9, 2011.
We completed a “neighbor brochure” in 2011. This is designed to explain the AT to folks who live along its corridor and provide answers to frequently asked questions. Our brochure is based on a model prepared by our colleagues at the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, who graciously provided it to other clubs for their use. Frank Bohn and Melanie Wertz helped me to prepare our brochure. Rob Shaw had hundreds of copies printed for us.
Last June 4th was National Trails Day and Foundry Day in Boiling Springs. On that day, we had the honor of welcoming Boiling Springs as the first trail town in Pennsylvania to be designated an Appalachian Trail Community. The planning for this important celebration was led by CVATC Vice President Christine Lauriello and Kim Williams of ATC’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office.
One of our proudest achievements was constructing the AT parking lot at Trindle Road. We discuss the new parking lot in detail elsewhere in this issue. This project gives me the welcome opportunity to talk about one of our Club members and volunteers, Tom Scully. Many people who casually hike our trail assume that it must have been built and is now maintained by state or federal employees. They are surprised to learn that almost all of our wonderful trails are constructed and maintained by volunteers. Tom is one of the best and least acknowledged of these. We’re proud to say that he has maintained a section of our trail near Route 11 for decades. A registered landscape architect, he also designed our new Trindle Road parking lot on a volunteer basis.
But, this just scratches the surface. Tom also volunteers with our colleagues at Susquehanna ATC. He recently helped to design and build a reroute of the AT in the Yellow Springs area of their section. Last year, he helped SATC to reopen the Darlington Trail, which was devastated by a possible tornado in the vicinity of Blue Mountain. Tom also helps with design and construction on other trails all over the state, such as his recent work on the Standing Stone Trail. Like many of the best friends of our trails, Tom’s work often goes unacknowledged because he neither seeks nor wishes any recognition. We’re pleased to call Tom a colleague and friend.
I hope Tom's example inspires you to become more involved with our Club. If it does, please contact me and I will work with you to find an opportunity that fits your interests and abilities.
- Jim Foster
