Breaking News
Friday 10/04/2024
ALL CMC LED HIKES CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Due to the impact of Hurricane Helene on the lives of our members, communities and forests, all CMC led hikes are cancelled until further notice. Everyone's safety is most important. Some of the areas known to be closed as of 10/4/24 are: Pisgah National Forest, Nantahalah National Forest, Dupont State Recreational Forest, Bearwallow Mountain, Trombatore Trail, Strawberry Gap Trail, Florence Nature Preserve, Wildcat Rock Trail, Youngs Mountain, Norman Wilder Forest, Blue Ridge Parkway (entire length).
ALL CMC LED HIKES CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Due to the impact of Hurricane Helene on the lives of our members, communities and forests, all CMC led hikes are cancelled until further notice. Everyone's safety is most important. Some of the areas known to be closed as of 10/4/24 are: Pisgah National Forest, Nantahalah National Forest, Dupont State Recreational Forest, Bearwallow Mountain, Trombatore Trail, Strawberry Gap Trail, Florence Nature Preserve, Wildcat Rock Trail, Youngs Mountain, Norman Wilder Forest, Blue Ridge Parkway (entire length).
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2023 Award of Appreciation Sallye Sanders & Adrianne Chang Co-Leaders of the Centennial Celebration Sallye Sanders and Adrianne Chang were honored with the 2023 Award of Appreciation as co-leaders of the CMC Arboretum Centennial Celebration. The Centennial Celebration far exceeded everyone’s expectations; the estimate was >1500 visitors. Sallye and Adrianne were the pillars of the Centennial Celebration efforts. Sallye Sanders had the vision in July 2022 to have a family centered event at a local park with booths from CMC partners. Adrianne Chang worked hard to provide detailed project management support to the event. Countless CMC individuals were involved in planning and executing the Centennial. However, Sallye Sanders and Adrianne Chang contributions and efforts were orders of magnitude greater. Their leadership and execution made the CMC Centennial celebration so memorable. |
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2023 Distinguished Service Award: Jim Spicer Jim Spicer was honored with the 2023 Distinguished Service Award for his over 15 volunteer years and 4500 volunteer hours. Over his CMC tenure, Jim has mentored countless new CMC maintainers. His guidance, assistance, insights, as well as his general good nature, have been invaluable to all of us newer (and younger!) crew who have worked with him. Jim is the “go to mechanical guy” for maintaining and fixing tools. He is also the Assistant Crew Leader of the Friday Pisgah Crew. At 85 Jim is still chain saw certified and one of the most active Friday Pisgah crew members. |
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2023 Distinguished Service Award: Dr. John Whitehouse John Whitehouse has been the outstanding leader of the CMC Monday Trail Maintenance Crew for over a decade. He has been responsible for trail maintenance and rehab in the northern counties of CMC's hiking area. John is also a co-founder and presently president of NC High Peaks-Friends of Mount Mitchell State Park, a hiking, maintenance, and conservation partner of CMC. He is knowledgeable of all the trails in Madison, Yancey, and Mitchel counties, including Mount Mitchell State Park. John has developed a working relationship with the Forest Service, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Park Service, the Pisgah and Appalachian District rangers, the ATC, and the Mount Mitchell administration that they trust him with keys to gates, plans for their areas, and even ask for his advice. Quarterly he submits trail maintenance reports that include volunteer hours by trail to CMC’s Government and Conservancy Partners |
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2023 Award of Appreciation: David Huff In 2023 CMC celebrated the Centennial in style and more importantly in a WNC community outreach way. The cornerstone of this community awareness and outreach was David Huff. David leveraged his WNC network, marketing and communication skills, to promote the effort. There were press releases, invitation letters, Facebook posts, Social Media posts and posters that David was the driver behind. He built a fantastic CMC Centennial Website with all the key information. David was also the professional photographer at the event. Obviously, the word got out about the Centennial Arboretum celebration with the >1500 visitors. For the Centennial, CMC was on the cover and above the fold in the Asheville Citizens Time newspaper. Likewise, there were articles in Mountain Express, Transylvania Times and Smoky Mountain News of CMC led hikes and trail maintenance. David routinely develops professional CMC content for social media including Facebook, Instagram and Linked-in. This awareness, coupled with the Centennial Arboretum party, has contributed to an increase in the CMC membership. Volunteers and members are CMC’s foundation to grow and positively impact the Western North Carolina Community for the next 100 years. |
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Lifetime Achievement Award: Rich Evans Rich Evans joined CMC in May of 2012 after hiking the Appalachian Trail. Over these past 11 years Rich Evans has logged over 12,000 hiking trail maintenance hours and is the all-time CMC volunteer leader in terms of hours. There are over 6000 hours on the MST and over 3000 working in the Pisgah Ranger District. He is currently averaging over 1000 hours per year in trail maintenance. In 2016 Rich Evans was named Blue Ridge Parkway volunteer of the year. As an A.T. hiker who completed the entire 2200-mile trail, Rich knows first hand the importance of a well-maintained trail. When he sees an opportunity, Rich takes actions. He created and leads the Monday Art Loeb crew. Along with Jan Onan, Rich co-created and co-leads the Section Rovers crew. Working along side Les Love, he co-created the Secondary Trail Program and is the Field Supervisors of the section maintainers. Rich co-created and co-leads the Remote Overnight crew with Paul Curtin. |
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Lifetime Achievement Award: Danny Bernstein Danny Bernstein’s achievements during her 23-year tenure span every aspect of what CMC is all about. As a very active and dedicated hiker and hike leader, she has served the club’s membership and has also completed most or all of the club’s challenges. Danny has served on Council and the Communications, Conservation, and Hiking committees for many, many years. She’s also served as an important record-keeper for the Club’s history through its archives, eNews, and interviews available on the website. Danny has promoted area and Club hiking through her authorship and promotion of multiple books on hiking, most recently the Carolina Mountain Club; One Hundred Years. Through her dedication to this project, the centennial history of the club was released this year (2023), in time for our 100th Anniversary Party at the Arboretum on July 16. |
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