Volume 39, Number 2 Summer 2018 Cindy Butts, CT-AMC Chapter Chair A View From The Chair Sometimes what we need really is right in our own bakyard. This year our Chapter will be hosting several speial events that showase Connetiut, even for those of us in Connetiut. For the first time in over a deade, our Connetiut Chapter will be hosting the AMC Fall Gathering this Otober! This event annually rotates among the hapters from Delaware to Maine. This weekend-long event is being held at Camp Woodstok in Woodstok, Connetiut - a popular summer amp. Adults forget that we have an opportunity for the fun of amp too - bonfires, letures, hikes, entertainment, biyling, paddling, and the amaraderie of group meals, hikes, and shared abins (heated), yurts or pith a tent. For those who have not yet explored the orners of Connetiut, now is your hane for one orner. What better time to add more fun to your life than 2018? Chek out the info about the Fall Gathering if in this issue. Next, we re elebrating 50 years of the 50 miles of the Connetiut Appalahian Trail. Put on your hiking boots and head to the Connetiut A.T. and/or give a few hours of your volunteer time to various ativities that an help improve or maintain our speial setion of the A.T. There s an annual Give a Day to the A.T. and other opportunities. You an find more info in this newsletter. We are blessed to be able to showase our state to those both here and from away. Please join us! See you out there ~ Cindy Butts INSIDE THIS ISSUE:.... page Unle AMC Wants You!.... 2 AMC Books & Maps... 2 Summer at the NW Camp.... 3 Annual Fall Hiking Week.... 3 FCG Suessful Season Review... 4 CT-AMC A.T. Day - September 29th.... 4 Give Bak 50! NTS Celebration.... 5 National Trails Day - June 2nd-3rd.... 5 AMC s 2018 Fall Gathering.... 6 Chapter Nominations 2019.... 6 Red-Tail Hawks in CT... 6 AMC Adventure Travel....................... 7 AMC Mountain Leadership Shool.... 7 AMC Fall Gathering 2018 Otober 12th - 14th Camp Woodstok Woodstok, CT hosted by your own CT-AMC Chapter! Registration opens July 1st: outdoors.org/fallgathering Your CT-AMC Chapter is hosting Fall Gathering 2018 at Camp Woodstok in Woodstok, CT on the weekend of Otober 12th - 14th, 2018. Plan ahead so you an enjoy a relaxing, funfilled autumn weekend at this annual Club-wide Event. Join with fellow AMC members from Maine to Virginia; to hike a trail with autumn vistas, bike a ountry road with a stop at a ountry store or linger at Camp on the shores of Blak Pond and try your steady hand at arhery. Loal leaders will be there to guide you or strike off on your own to explore a nearby winery or take a quiet paddle from a boat launh down the road. However you hoose to spend your day, you ll be ready to sit by a glowing fire with new friends, settle into your hoie of aommodations, a abin, yurt or tent, for a good night s sleep and reall a day of outdoor ativities and a hardy dinner apped off by a live, lassi ountry band of renown. CT Chapter volunteers are needed to make this Fall Gathering weekend a rousing suess for all. To do so, reah out to Bea Holt, beaholt45@gmail.om to pledge your help for a few hours or a full day. Mark your alendars for The Fall Gathering 2018, Otober 12th - 14th and be prepared to Register at outdoors.org/fallgathering starting in July. FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG - 1
UNCLE AMC WANTS YOU! The Newsletter of the Connetiut Chapter - Appalahian Mountain Club Volume 39, Number 2, Summer 2018 Editor & Publisher: Dary Witham Please send future newsletter submissions and advertising to: Editor: The AMC In CT, 71 Noble Street, Stamford, CT 06902 or tameditor@t-am.org Read online: www.t-am.org Please send all address and e-mail orretions to: AMC, 10 City Square, Boston, MA 02129 or information@outdoors.org New & Updated AMC Books & Maps! 1. White Mountain Guide, 30th Edition: AMC s Comprehensive Guide to Hiking Trails in the White Mountain National Forest. Thoroughly updated and revised post-tropial Storm Irene, with aurate desriptions of more than 500 trails, trip planning advie, safety information, and a heklist of New Hampshire s 4,000-footers. Complete with 6 full-olor, GPS-harted, pull-out topographi maps. Author ~ Steven D. Smith 2. Blazing Ahead: Benton MaKaye, Myron Avery, and the Rivalry That Built the Appalahian Trail. The A.T. is one of Ameria s most revered resoures, a path of near-mythi proportions ombining rugged natural beauty and human determination. But few know the story of its journey to reation. Author ~ Jeffrey H. Ryan 3. AMC s Mountain Skills Manual: The Essential Hiking and Bakpaking Guide, overs the essential skills every hiker and bakpaker must know. Authors ~ Christian Bisson and Jamie Hannon. 4. AMC s Real Trail Meals: Wholesome Reipes for the Bak ountry. Tired of ending a day on the trail with pakaged bakpaking meals? Kik your menu up a noth. Authors ~ Ethan Hipple and Sarah Hipple. For all your AMC books, trip guides, maps, gear and gifts, visit the AMC Store: amstore.outdoors.org All CT-AMC Members! We want to hear about it. Share your experienes! Send us your stories and pitures. Get published: tameditor@t-am.org. HIKE LEADERS - Like to be a Hike Leader? Contat Peg Peterson at: exursions@t-am.org GET INVOLVED! - www.t-am.org/onservation GET TRAINED! - www.t-am.org/eduation GET OUT, GET GOING - www.t-am.org/exursions FOR MORE INFORMATION - about outings, meetings, eduation, training, events and this year s entertainment, review listings in AMC Outdoors magazine and on the web at: www.t-am.org FAMILY ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR - Are the woods your favorite plae? Do you love srambling up roks, walking along streams or seeing fabulous views from ridge lines? Would you like to share this appreiation with families so that the next generation appreiates nature as muh as you do? The Connetiut Chapter is looking for an enthusiasti leader to o-hair the Family Ativities Committee. The ideal andidate would have a good imagination for things that will appeal to families, whether it be a hike, bike ride or paddle, pizza party or amping weekend. If you have shool-aged kids, all the better. If you are already an ativity leader, that s great. If not, we ll train you. If you are interested, please ontat Janet Ainsworth at janetkainsworth@gmail.om or 203-530-7826. SECTION MAINTAINER - A.T. Committee. Hard working, responsible self-starters needed to adopt a setion of the A.T. in Connetiut. We are seeking to redouble our maintainer strength by assigning two maintainers per setion. A setion maintainer is responsible for routine maintenane of a speifi trail segment several times per year, performing tasks suh as utting bak brush, leaning water bars, and refreshing blazes. Partiipation in sheduled workparties is a plus, but not a prerequisite. The suessful andidate will reeive training from one of our experiened maintainers. Contat Maintainer Coordinator: Jeff Glans at glansj@yahoo.om for more information. On the A.T.: Duthman s Breehes Dientra uullaria. Look at this bloom upside down to find the yellow-topped white pantaloons whih give duthman s brithes its name. With fern-like foliage this plant reahes up to twelve inhes tall with several white and yellow blossoms per stalk. This plant an only be pollinated by bumblebees, whih have a tongue long enough to reah the netar deep in the end of the pantaloon legs. Can be found: Georgia to Maine. Bloom season: April to May. and Columbine Aquilegia. The petals of this redand-yellow, nodding flower are said to resemble doves, thus the name derives from the Latin word olumba, or dove. There are five doves on eah flower, the red upward spur being the head and the flaring petals the wings. The spurs, or tubes, ontain netar and attrat long-tongued insets and hummingbirds. Can be found: Georgia to Maine. Bloom season: April to July. 2 - FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG
The NW Camp, Salisbury, CT ~ submitted by Rod Parlee, Northwest Camp Co-Chair This Committee manages NW Camp and its surrounding 120-ares in Salisbury, CT. We always welome volunteers to join up with the ommittee and/or help out at our work parties, whih are held the first Saturday in May and November. If interested please ontat the Committee o-hairs Rod Parlee and Rih Miha at nwamp@t-am.org. Perseids Meteor Shower Extravaganza August 11th, 2018 New Vie Chair Rih Mihna tabling at events suh as the Fall Gathering at St. Clements Castle. The Northwest Camp Committee benefits tremendously from our networking efforts. Camp-out, Cook-out, and Look-out for Meteors radiating from the onstellation Perseus! Perseus is the 24th largest onstellation in the sky, oupying an area of 615 square degrees. It is loated in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ1) and an be seen at latitudes between +90 and -35. The Perseid meteor shower, one of the brighter meteor showers of the year, our every year between July 17th and August 24th. The shower tends to peak around August 9th-13th. This year, the show begins at sunset and ends early as the moon will rise at 10:32 pm on Saturday night and wash out some meteors after that. Come along and enjoy one of summers most popular elestial events with members and friends of the NW Camp ommittee. Reservations for this event and any other stay at NW Camp, please all or email registrar Craig Kennedy: nwregistrar@t-am.org and 866-576-6994 ext 6 - leave a message. Reserve your plae now at Connetiut s only volunteer managed selfservie faility - Northwest Camp, Salisbury, CT! 137th ANNUAL FALL HIKING WEEK Hike the majesti White Mountains of New Hampshire! September 28 - Otober 5, 2018 Join us in NH s White Mountains. Stay at Woodwards Resort & Inn in Linoln. Guided hikes daily. All meals & evening entertainment inluded. Come for a few days or stay the week. Registration is now open! www.fallhikingweek.org Visit our website for all the details: www.fallhikingweek.org FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG - 3
Fairfield County Group s Suessful Season ~ by David Roberts, CT-AMC FCG Co-Chair As Fairfield County Group omes to the end of its 2017 / 2018 season, it an look bak at ten very suessful dinner meetings, five in Westport and five in Bethel. The Westport series started with Bill Barnett presenting on India in September; David Roberts presented A Journey through Frane in November; January featured Frank Keene on Brazil; in Paifi Crest Trail, Betsy and John Murphy. Guanano, Chili. Photo redit: Dave Pressler. Marh Sam Mehta presented on South Korea; and Dave Pressler losed the Westport season with Chilling in Chile in May. In Bethel, the season started in Otober with hike leaders, Ian Lewis, Alan Jones and David Roberts presenting Hiking in Britain about their reent trip to England and Wales; and the hiking theme ontinued in Deember when previous hapter hair Bob Guenther gave a presentation about his family trip to hike part of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. In February in Bethel, hike leader Deborah Lewis took the audiene on a winter adventure trip in Norway and Sweden, while April featured a movie night with an amazing movie alled Alone Aross Australia. The Bethel season will lose with Betsy and John Murphy telling of their Dream Ahieved; Hiking the 2,650 mile Paifi Crest Trail from Mexio to Canada. Most FCG speakers have presented before and FCG is fortunate to have a growing group of popular and professional volunteers to present, without a fee. It is also great to be able to welome new presenters like Alan Jones, and Betsy and John. FCG is also very grateful to the dediated volunteers who make their meetings possible. Last year, FCG Co-Chair David Roberts was ontated by the NY-NJ hapter for introdutions to speakers, who have presented at FCG events and were willing to present at the NY-NJ hapter s monthly meetings in Manhattan. As a result, Ian Lewis, Bob Guenther and David Roberts have all now presented in New York and FCG is hoping for some interesting new speakers introdued by the NY-NJ hapter. For details on our upoming FCG 2018/2019 season, visit and bookmark: www.t-am.org/fairfield/fcglistings.htm For details on these and future FCG presentations, visit and bookmark: www.t-am.org/fairfield/fcglistings.htm Events in Westport: Saugatuk Congregational Churh, 245 Post Road, Westport, CT. Doors open, drinks and appetizers from 6:30 pm; presentation from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. $10 members, $15 nonmembers. No reservations. Pay at door. Details, diretions at: www.t-am.org/fairfield. Events in Bethel: St. Thomas Churh, 95 Greenwood Avenue, Bethel, CT. Doors open with appetizers from 6:30 pm; presentation 7:30 pm. $6 members, $8 non-members. No reservations, pay at door. Details and diretions at: www.t-am.org/fairfield. NEW DAY! If you look for A.T. Day in Otober this year, you will have missed the proverbial boat. Sine our hapter is hosting the inter-hapter Fall Gathering in mid- Otober, we will elebrate our setion of the Appalahian Trail on September 29th instead of the usual Otober date. It will, as always, inlude hikes that over the entire 53 miles of the A.T. in Connetiut, additional hikes in Maedonia Brook State Park, bike rides, trail work, and the ever-popular Try-A-Climb hosted by the CT-AMC Mountaineering Committee. Stik around after your event for our Grand BBQ at the Maedonia Brook pavilion, hosted by the All-Star A.T. Day BBQ Team. Look for details on the hapter website. Order your A.T. Day Commemorative T-Shirts here: www.t-am.org 4 - FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails System. At on Connetiut s setion of the Appalahian Trail! Give bak 50! 50 miles 50 hours 50 dollars Partiipate in CT s 50 for 50th events: Hike 50 miles of the A.T. in CT Host a CT 50 for the 50th event Work 50 hours on CT s A.T. Contribute $50 to CT s A.T. Any ombination of the above!!! he Partnership for the National Trails System (PNTS) and the National Park Servie is asking people to #FindYourWay by sharing experienes on National Seni, Histori, and Rereational Trails. As the 1st National Seni Trail the A.T. needs your help in elebrating 50 years of onserving signifiant seni, histori, natural, and ultural areas. The Partnership for the National Trails System (PNTS) and the National Park Servie is asking people to #FindYourWay by sharing experienes on National Seni, Histori, and Rereational Trails. Find more information on the AMC-CT website www.am-t.org People who omplete a 50 will reeive a 50th Anniversary Connetiut speifi reognition! 50-4-50 Rules - What s It All About? ~ submitted by Dave Boone, A.T. Committee Chair 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the passage of the National Seni Trails At signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on Otober 2, 1968. This at established the first two National Seni Trails: the Appalahian Trail and the Paifi Crest Trail. Happy Anniversary! Learn more at Trails50.org How Do I Join In On The Celebration? The Appalahian Trail In Connetiut (CT-AT) is 51.6 miles in length. Challenge yourself to hike 50 miles of the CT-AT during 2018 and qualify for a speial CT 50 for the 50th award! The CT-AT is maintained and managed by many devoted volunteers. Join in ontribute 50 hours of Trail maintenane to the CT-AT during 2018! Reah out to help others enjoy the CT-AT by spreading the word about the A.T. and the National Seni Trails At by speaking to groups and interested organizations. Host a CT-AT 50 for the 50th event! Contribute $50 to help support efforts to maintain the CT-AT and the 50 for the 50th elebration! Or, Any Combination of The Above! Keep trak of your 50 on the offiial log sheet available at www.am-t. org/50 and omplete your hallenge no later than Deember 31, 2018. Send ompleted forms to: CT-AT 50 for the 50th, 39 Cumberland Road, West Hartford, CT 06119. Monetary donations are to be sent to: AMC-CT Treasurer, attn: 50 for 50th, 32 Highland Avenue, Redding, CT 06896. Share your CT-AT 50 for the 50th Stories at #FindYour Trail Saturday & Sunday, June 2nd-3rd National Trails Day is the ountry s largest elebration of trails and takes plae the first Saturday in June. Events are held in every state in the U.S. Here in CT, we elebrate the whole weekend. The CT Trails Day Weekend booklet, published by CFPA, is available in publi libraries starting in May. The booklet and add-on events are also posted on the CFPA web site, www.twoodlands.org/t-trailsweekend/events-2018. For CT-AMC events: www.t-am.org/exursions/trailsday FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG - 5
2018 FALL GATHERING Camp Woodstok, Woodstok, CT Hosted by the Connetiut Chapter Otober 12 14, 2018 Morey Pond by Anthony Quintano BE A KID AGAIN! Come to AMC s Fall Gathering in northeast Connetiut for fun, friendship, and adventure. On the shores of Blak Pond, Camp Woodstok offers heated abins, unheated yurts, and a ampsite with parking lose by. The surrounding hills and dales offer the perfet setting for hiking, biking, and paddling ativities led by experiened loal leaders. Camp ativities inlude informative talks, arhery, arts and rafts, and a rok limbing wall. Tour nearby wineries, antique shops, and histori landmarks. A live band will perform on Saturday. Come and enjoy this beautiful, autumn getaway. You ll be glad you did! Registration opens July 1. Register at outdoors.org/fallgathering. Nominating Committee 2019 Hello all you wonderful Volunteers! As it is oming into Summertime hapter events, it would be advantageous for all ommittee Chairs to take note of your involvement and the members who join you. When going in this diretion please keep in mind the hapter ould use an ongoing yle of people to ome forward and take on the role of Committee Chair/Vie. We an always use new blood. Please onsider ASAP and reply to the Nominating@t-am.org Thank you very muh and let s enjoy the Outdoors! Brue Larohe, Nominating Chair Like Us and Follow on Faebook www.faebook.om/amcconnetiut Red-Tail Hawks in Connetiut Red-tailed hawks are year-round residents all through the US and in northern Mexio. Some red-tails stay put and some migrate to southern areas in winter. In summer they extend their range up through southern Canada and southeastern Alaska. In Connetiut, red-tailed hawks are very ommon. Using open fields, meadows and your neighborhood for hunting and tall trees for nesting. Hawks are ative during the day and Red-tailed hawk by Mark Bohn-US Fish and Wildlife. are adept soarers. Usually feeding on small rodents, smaller birds, reptiles, and amphibians. They will loate prey with their eagle-eye vision from a high perh and swoop down to apture it in their talons. Two hawks mate for life, although if one dies the other will seek another mate. They use the same nesting areas for years. Breeding season begins in Marh. 1 to 4 eggs are laid Marh - April. The male will do some of the inubation but mostly feeds the female while she sits on the nest. Both are for the hiks whih hath out after about 33 days. The baby hawks an fly in 43 to 48 days. Their parents teah them hunting skills and they beome independent after about 2 months. The lifespan of red-tailed hawks is about 13 to 20 years in the wild. During this nesting and young family time, your loal hawks will be more territorial and aggressive in nature. Duk and don t leave your small pets and hildren outside alone. 6 - FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG
AMC Adventure Travel Opportunities: ~ submitted by Susannah Hath, AMC, Volunteer Relations Manager Wild Alaska Day Hiking and Touring by Land, Sea, and Air June 24-July 3, 2018 A spetaular trip for those looking to sample Alaska with only a day-pak! Due to popular demand, we are offering a seond session of this trip in 2018. On this spetaular journey, we will be hiking and sightseeing during the day, staying in omfortable lodging at night, and eating fresh seafood and loal grub all through the long days of Alaska s ephemeral summer. We will spend 10 days and 9 nights exploring Anhorage and the Chugah mountain range, Denali National Park, and rub elbows with the loals in the funky mountain town of Talkeetna (perhaps the model for the TV show, Northern Exposure ). An 8 hours RT Denali NP Transit Shuttle to Eielson Visitor Center (mile 66) allows us to see high-alpine tundra, tremendous views of Denali on lear days, and hanes to see large mammals suh as grizzly bears and aribou. These buses stop for wildlife viewing, restroom stops and beautiful senery, just like tour buses. We will also explore a 7.5 hours Kenai Fjords National Park s marine life and glaiers on a ruise in the fishing port of Seward. For more details, see the ativity listing: https://ativities.outdoors.org/ searh/index.fm/ation/details/id/102528. Greek Island Hiking Odyssey Otober 12-24, 2018 From Athens to Crete, Santorini to Mykonos and Delos, with many hidden treasures in between, join us on this fantasti hiking adventure of the Greek Isles. Be tempted by tasty loal uisine and volani wines or the elebratory tones of Raki. Gaze endlessly at the bluest of seas and beome lost in the labyrinth of obbled lanes leading to peaeful oves and sun swept beahes. Hike over Classial Greek ruins and learn how this early ivilization shaped the very world we exist in today. The god Apollo himself was born on these islands, so ould there be a more appropriate plae for a journey of disovery? Our trip is an ative hiking exursion that is full of variety, inluding Crete s legendary hike through the Samaria Gorge, and the most famous hike of the Cyladi Islands - along Santorini s legendary aldera between Fira and Oia towns. For more information and registration, see the ativity listing: https://ativities.outdoors.org/searh/index.fm/ ation/details/id/101420 AMC MOUNTAIN LEADERSHIP SCHOOL 2018 DATES June 11-12 June 13-17 SOLO Wilderness First Aid & CPR Mountain Leadership Shool Courses: - MLS for Bakpak Leaders - MLS for Bakpak Leaders - Women s Speifi - MLS Advaned Skills AMC Highland Center in Crawford Noth, New Hampshire Leadership styles Group dynamis Aident sene management Trip planning Map and ompass Low-impat travel... and more www.outdoors.org/mls FOR THE LATEST CT-AMC CHAPTER NEWS & ACTIVITIES VISIT WWW.CT-AMC.ORG - 7