MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Spring, 2025
Well, the trail does have a terminus. Depending on your direction, that could be Springer or Katahdin. And according to the Cumberland Valley Appalachian Trail Club By-Laws, my tenure as President has a terminus, too. And here I stand.
It has been an honor to serve for something as iconic as the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). Living my life in the eastern states, I have always been fortunate to live close enough to the A.T. to enjoy a hike on a whim. With that, perhaps I took it for granted. Sure, it is designated as one of the best hikes in the world. But when it is in your backyard, it sometimes becomes part of the landscape.
But a chance encounter with hikers in Colorado, on a very beautiful, cool trail, reminded me just how special the A.T. is to others living farther away. Marci, my wife, and I fell into a conversation with some fellow trail enthusiasts, and at some point we told them we were maintainers on the Appalachian Trail. You would have thought we had said we were trail gods, the reverence for the Trail was that palpable. It was in that moment that I understood just how cherished and venerated the Appalachian Trail is to hikers.
As I sit here and type this last piece, I do not take the Trail for granted, nor do I take for granted the amount of work and dedication it takes to keep the Trail welcoming. It has been a real adventure taking the helm of Cumberland Valley A.T. Club. Our work depends on people like you—volunteers who step up and put their backs into Benton MacKaye’s vision of a walking path through the Appalachian Mountains…you are the trail gods!
As I close, I leave you with a book recommendation, On the Trail: A History of Hiking by Silas Chamberlin. You can find the book on Amazon, OR it can be purchased on the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation’s website, PaParksAndForests.org. It is there along with trail enthusiast Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward’s new book, Cradle of Conservation.
~Joe Frassetta
Spring, 2025
Well, the trail does have a terminus. Depending on your direction, that could be Springer or Katahdin. And according to the Cumberland Valley Appalachian Trail Club By-Laws, my tenure as President has a terminus, too. And here I stand.
It has been an honor to serve for something as iconic as the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). Living my life in the eastern states, I have always been fortunate to live close enough to the A.T. to enjoy a hike on a whim. With that, perhaps I took it for granted. Sure, it is designated as one of the best hikes in the world. But when it is in your backyard, it sometimes becomes part of the landscape.
But a chance encounter with hikers in Colorado, on a very beautiful, cool trail, reminded me just how special the A.T. is to others living farther away. Marci, my wife, and I fell into a conversation with some fellow trail enthusiasts, and at some point we told them we were maintainers on the Appalachian Trail. You would have thought we had said we were trail gods, the reverence for the Trail was that palpable. It was in that moment that I understood just how cherished and venerated the Appalachian Trail is to hikers.
As I sit here and type this last piece, I do not take the Trail for granted, nor do I take for granted the amount of work and dedication it takes to keep the Trail welcoming. It has been a real adventure taking the helm of Cumberland Valley A.T. Club. Our work depends on people like you—volunteers who step up and put their backs into Benton MacKaye’s vision of a walking path through the Appalachian Mountains…you are the trail gods!
As I close, I leave you with a book recommendation, On the Trail: A History of Hiking by Silas Chamberlin. You can find the book on Amazon, OR it can be purchased on the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation’s website, PaParksAndForests.org. It is there along with trail enthusiast Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward’s new book, Cradle of Conservation.
~Joe Frassetta