ON THE COVER
Ron Griswell takes a break to enjoy the dark night sky over the Smokies (Ron is the founder of HBCU’s Outside – an organization that fosters interest and engagement of Historically Black College students to become more active in outdoor recreation) – By Steven Yocom
ON THE COVER
Ron Griswell takes a break to enjoy the dark night sky over the Smokies (Ron is the founder of HBCU’s Outside – an organization that fosters interest and engagement of Historically Black College students to become more active in outdoor recreation) – By Steven Yocom
Sandra Marra / President & CEO
Nicole Prorock / Vice President of Finance & Administration
Shalin Desai / Vice President of Advancement
Laura Belleville / Vice President of Conservation & Trail Programs
Cherie A. Nikosey / Chief of Staff
Brian B. King / Publisher
Wendy K. Probst / Editor in Chief
Traci Anfuso-Young / Art Director / Designer
Jordan Bowman / Communications Manager
Laurie Potteiger / Information Services Manager
Brittany Jennings / Proofreader
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s mission is to preserve and manage the Appalachian Trail — ensuring that its vast natural beauty and priceless cultural heritage can be shared and enjoyed today, tomorrow, and for centuries to come.
Colin Beasley / Chair
Robert Hutchinson / Vice Chair
Edward R. Guyot / Secretary
Jim LaTorre / Treasurer
Beth Critton / Stewardship Council Chair
Grant Davies
Norman P. Findley
Thomas L. Gregg
Daniel A. Howe
Robert Hutchinson
James LaTorre
Colleen Peterson
Rubén Rosales
Hon. C. Stewart Verdery, Jr. / Co-Chair
Hon. Stephanie Martz / Co-Chair
Diana Christopulos
Jim Fetig
Lisa Koteen Gerchick
Jessica Herrera-Flanigan
R. Michael Leonard
Robert Rich
Rick Tyler
For membership questions or to become a member, call: (304) 885-0460
[email protected]
A.T. Journeys is published four times per year. Advertising revenues directly support the publication and production of the magazine, and help meet Appalachian Trail Conservancy objectives. For more information and advertising rates, visit: appalachiantrail.org/atjadvertising
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s mission is to preserve and manage the Appalachian Trail — ensuring that its vast natural beauty and priceless cultural heritage can be shared and enjoyed today, tomorrow, and for centuries to come.
Colin Beasley / Chair
Robert Hutchinson / Vice Chair
Edward R. Guyot / Secretary
Jim LaTorre / Treasurer
Beth Critton / Stewardship Council Chair
Grant Davies
Norman P. Findley
Thomas L. Gregg
Daniel A. Howe
Robert Hutchinson
James LaTorre
Colleen Peterson
Rubén Rosales
Hon. C. Stewart Verdery, Jr. / Co-Chair
Hon. Stephanie Martz / Co-Chair
Diana Christopulos
Jim Fetig
Lisa Koteen Gerchick
Jessica Herrera-Flanigan
R. Michael Leonard
Robert Rich
Rick Tyler
A.T. Journeys is published on Somerset matte paper manufactured by Sappi North America mills and distributors that follow responsible forestry practices. It is printed with Soy Seal certified ink in the U.S.A. by Sheridan NH in Hanover, New Hampshire.
A.T. Journeys ( ISSN 1556-2751) is published quarterly for $15 a year by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 799 Washington Street, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425, (304) 535-6331. Bulk-rate postage paid at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and other offices. Postmaster: Send change-of-address Form 3575 to A.T. Journeys, P.O. Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.
Mark Ellison
Mark Ellison lives in Cullowhee, North Carolina, which is a perfect base camp for exploring the southern Appalachian Mountains. Fascinated by the beauty of the region since he was a student at Western Carolina University, he frequently hikes the A.T. and trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His doctoral research at NC State was on the restorative benefits of hiking in wilderness solitude and he continues to help others learn about the health benefits of nature as a forest therapy guide and hiking instructor. “My concern about the diminishing opportunities to experience dark night skies and the implications it has for many species inspired me to write about it in the hope to reach others who feel passionately or just want to learn more about protecting our dark night skies,” he says.
Luz Lituma
Luz Lituma is an outdoor enthusiast from Atlanta, Georgia with a newfound passion for backpacking, hiking, and all-around adventuring. Unable to explore the outdoors in her younger years, she is now taking every opportunity to discover the natural treasures near her home. She is a co-founder of Latinxhikers, a community dedicated to bringing diversity and inclusivity to the outdoors. Luz recently assisted in the Go Dark – a Wild East Story film project created by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Horizonline Pictures and invited some of her closest friends to join her on a three-day backpacking trip on the A.T. “Living in Atlanta, stargazing is not an opportunity we engage in often,” she says. “Two of my friends had never backpacked before, so sharing this moment with them was invaluable. Now that society is starting to see the value in bringing more diversity to the outdoors and giving us a spotlight, it makes me feel like necessary change is coming.”
Dr. Tyler Nordgren is a professional astronomer, artist, and author. He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cornell University where he did work on dark matter. His popular science book Stars Above, Earth Below: A Guide to Astronomy in the National Parks, reveals what visitors to America’s national parks can observe in their dark night skies. The color illustrations in this book include both his night sky photography as well as vintage-style “travel posters” he designed to help the public learn about and see the astronomical wonders in the sky. It was in that format that he was commissioned to create for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Wild East poster art. He also leads astronomically-themed tours and hikes including a recent stargazing hike on the A.T. for an the upcoming ATC /Horizonline Pictures film: Go Dark – a Wild East Story. “Sleeping under the stars, I can escape the modern world,” he says. “But as light pollution increases, that sense of escape becomes more difficult at night.”
A resident of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Corey Sebring graduated from Northampton Community College, where he received his degree in communication design. He is currently a freelance illustrator, graphic designer, and animator. He also works as a motion graphics designer for Service Electric Cable TV and Communications. Over the past four years, he has created several feature illustrations for A.T. Journeys. “Creating an Illustration for Wild East Night Skies was something that really appealed to me,” he says. “There’s always something mystical, and surreal about illustrating a night scene. It seems to conjure the feeling of making the impossible possible.”
Presidents Letter
I have spent the past 35 years of my life volunteering and working, in multiple capacities, to protect and support the Appalachian Trail and the organizations responsible for its care. I have earned my stripes, so to speak, learning and working at the club level and eventually taking on leadership roles with the ATC. That focus — to work for this iconic and powerful place we call the A.T. — has been a beacon and guiding star for most of my adult life. Both the personal and the professional me has matured within and benefited from the experiences I’ve had on and around the Trail. And, it is with gratitude and humility that I take on this new role for the ATC and the A.T.
AS A BACKPACKER AND conservationist, the Wild East is so inspiring! Thank you for everything you do to protect these beautiful Appalachian corridors!
Erin Tate
St. Louis, Missouri
YOUR SUMMER ISSUE ABOUT the historical points on the A.T. was masterful. However, there is one point of history of which few are aware. Cowart Gap is traversed by the A.T. 1.8 miles north of Dick’s Creek Gap at Georgia Highway 76. The great Cherokee Trading Path from the Carolina Low Country crossed the Chattooga River at Sandy Ford (Georgia/South Carolina line). Today, a forest road crosses the A.T. at Cowart Gap. It climbs up from the Plumb Orchard Valley to the east. It’s a peaceful place. The siege and surrender of Fort Loudon in 1760 is accurately depicted in the movie, The Last of the Mohicans.
Mike Maffett
Lake Burton, Georgia
The white blazes marking the Appalachian Trail serve much the same navigational purpose as stars have to explorers for thousands of years. During the day, the blazes encourage us on, but as the sun sets, the green tunnel of the Appalachian Trail turns black, offering above it some of the darkest skies remaining in the eastern United States. Instead of watching wildflowers bloom, at night we gaze up into a vast maze of stars and planets we may have never known existed in an urban environment.
Darkness has always cradled mystery and the unknown. It magnifies sounds and intensifies imagination primarily because it limits what we can see. Darkness, like quiet and solitude, is a gift if we are open to embracing it. Just as we are in awe of vibrant sunsets, bucolic mountain vistas, and cascading waterfalls, the impenetrable depth of a dark sky nurtures a sense of peace and wonder.
The white blazes marking the Appalachian Trail serve much the same navigational purpose as stars have to explorers for thousands of years. During the day, the blazes encourage us on, but as the sun sets, the green tunnel of the Appalachian Trail turns black, offering above it some of the darkest skies remaining in the eastern United States. Instead of watching wildflowers bloom, at night we gaze up into a vast maze of stars and planets we may have never known existed in an urban environment.
Darkness has always cradled mystery and the unknown. It magnifies sounds and intensifies imagination primarily because it limits what we can see. Darkness, like quiet and solitude, is a gift if we are open to embracing it. Just as we are in awe of vibrant sunsets, bucolic mountain vistas, and cascading waterfalls, the impenetrable depth of a dark sky nurtures a sense of peace and wonder.
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Friendly Night Sky Lighting at ATC Headquarters
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With the enactment on March 12, 2019 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Recreation, and Management Act of 2019, LWCF was permanently reauthorized and will never again expire. The ATC is grateful to the hard work of everyone who contributed to making this important land management program available for future generations. The next step is to fully fund LWCF so this critical tool will be available to more state lands, national forests, and national parks (including the A.T.).
trailhead
With the enactment on March 12, 2019 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Recreation, and Management Act of 2019, LWCF was permanently reauthorized and will never again expire. The ATC is grateful to the hard work of everyone who contributed to making this important land management program available for future generations. The next step is to fully fund LWCF so this critical tool will be available to more state lands, national forests, and national parks (including the A.T.).
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sustaInable camp management study awarded
Jeff Marion on the A.T.
Dr. Jeff Marion has built a career around a lifelong passion for the outdoors, and that effort has culminated in his being selected as the co-recipient of the George Wright Society’s Natural Resources Achievement Award for 2019. The award seeks to recognize excellence in research, management, and education related to parks and protected areas.
Hunting Season Safety
For more information and to see ATC’s “2019-2020 Hunting Season Guide by State” visit: appalachiantrail.org/hunting
trailhead
Cooker’s life ended tragically in April of 2018 when he was 30 years old. Wanting to celebrate that life, his family and friends raised funds and made a donation to the ATC, which were used to complete one phase of an ongoing Trail relocation project at Loudoun Heights. On September 29, on what would have been his 32nd birthday, Cooker’s family, friends and members of the ATC gathered to dedicate a plaque in his memory — which is now on display in ATC’s Harpers Ferry Visitor Center — and to commemorate the new section of Trail supported by their donation.
Habits
ampsite 113 is the first overnight site that northbound A.T. thru-hikers reach when they enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a ridgerunner in the Smokies, part of my duty is the maintenance of sites like 113. For many hikers, it serves as a spot for a short lunch break, or one of countless overnight stays on their long journey north. Humans, however, are not the only frequenters of the site. During my three-month season, I encountered the same mother bear and her cub at campsite 113 no less than ten times. They became a feature, a constant. I would yell and throw rocks until they ran away, but without fail they would be there the next time I visited the site.
Habits
ampsite 113 is the first overnight site that northbound A.T. thru-hikers reach when they enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As a ridgerunner in the Smokies, part of my duty is the maintenance of sites like 113. For many hikers, it serves as a spot for a short lunch break, or one of countless overnight stays on their long journey north. Humans, however, are not the only frequenters of the site. During my three-month season, I encountered the same mother bear and her cub at campsite 113 no less than ten times. They became a feature, a constant. I would yell and throw rocks until they ran away, but without fail they would be there the next time I visited the site.
Rangeley / Maine WITH ITS RICHNESS OF NATURAL RESOURCES, YOU ARE GUARANTEED AN AMAZING OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE YEAR-ROUND IN RANGELEY, MAINE.
By Linda Dexter
Rangeley is the perfect place to hear the loons calling across open waters on warm summer evenings or to snuggle up in a cabin during snowy winters. Situated on the shores of Rangeley Lake and nestled in the heart of the vast Rangeley Lakes region, Rangeley is full of New England charm and natural beauty. Ten of the fourteen 4,000-footers in Maine are located in the Rangeley area known as the High Peaks Region. In addition to high peaks, a chain of lakes connects over a thousand square miles of non-stop scenic beauty. Nine miles from the A.T. crossing, Rangeley is an important stop along the Appalachian Trail.
Coming most recently from just outside of Boston, I knew next to nothing of the Appalachian Trail. I had no idea how far it was, just how many states it covered, or where it started and ended. But then I moved to Rabun County, Georgia, the very northern point of north Georgia, and the Appalachian Trail is now 11.5 miles from my back door. On Labor Day weekend last year, my husband and I hiked up to Siler Bald. It was a beautiful crisp morning — a perfectly magical day to set foot on the Trail for the first time. We made our way through the woods and the mist, following our first white blazes higher up the mountain. Greeted with spectacular views from the bald, I fell in love with the idea of seeing more of these blazes and views. As if he was placed there for a reason, when we were heading back to our car, we met a 63-year-old thru-hiker who was 11 days away from finishing his hike. I remember thinking to myself, “What an amazing thing to accomplish… but I don’t think I could ever do it.”
Atlantic salmon was historically reduced to extremely low levels primarily by overfishing and dam construction
Exposure to artificial lighting interferes with the light/dark cycles to which many species have evolved, and can disrupt or alter aspects of migration, navigation, matting, feeding, and predation for a wide variety of wildlife
Atlantic salmon was historically reduced to extremely low levels primarily by overfishing and dam construction
Exposure to artificial lighting interferes with the light/dark cycles to which many species have evolved, and can disrupt or alter aspects of migration, navigation, matting, feeding, and predation for a wide variety of wildlife
Atlantic Salmon
Salmo salar
By Marian Orlousky
Maine is home to the only remaining populations of wild and naturally reproducing Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the United States. Referred to as the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic Salmon, this species has been listed as federally endangered across much of the state since 2000.
Trail Giving
A.T. Sunset and moonrise – By John Cammerota
IN HONOR OF
Mary Bedford by Mary Owens
Richard Bennett by Duane Sonneborn
David Beuning by Cassandra Koskela
Diana Body & Bill Gibson by Sara Morris-Marano
Kai Carlin by Joseph Carlin
Mike Carlin by Krista Carlin
Dead Letter Officers! By Mike Emery
Edward Dettenmayer by Bonnie Riell
David Dorsch by Susan Dorsch
Martin Fay by Mary Wood
Jonathan Ferrell by Tena Ellis
Doug & Donna Fish by Kenneth Fish
Beth Friend by Laura Winholt
Harrison Gill by Sally Hunt
IN HONOR OF
Mary Bedford by Mary Owens
Richard Bennett by Duane Sonneborn
David Beuning by Cassandra Koskela
Diana Body & Bill Gibson by Sara Morris-Marano
Kai Carlin by Joseph Carlin
Mike Carlin by Krista Carlin
Steve “Mustard Seed” Claxton by Mike Claxton
Dead Letter Officers! By Mike Emery
Edward Dettenmayer by Bonnie Riell
David Dorsch by Susan Dorsch
Martin Fay by Mary Wood
Jonathan Ferrell by Tena Ellis
Doug & Donna Fish by Kenneth Fish
