AT Museum Volunteer Newsletter - March 2018

March 2018

Brought to you by Nathaniel "Angry Bird" Shank, Appalachian Trail Museum Manager

2018 Hours of operation

Saturday, March 31 to Sunday, April 29 – Weekends, Noon to 4:00PM

Saturday, May 5 to Sunday, July 15 – 9:00AM to 4:00PM every day

Monday, July 16 to Sunday, August 19 – Noon to 4:00PM every day

August 22 to October 28 - Noon to 4:00PM Wednesday thru Sunday

(Open Labor Day Monday, September 3, and, Columbus Day, Monday, October 8)

Special Events:      Times to be announced

New maps of the Michaux State Forest ($15)

New strings and bridge on hiker lounge guitar

                                                                                                                                                 

Museum Opens 8th Season
          The museum will be open on March 31st at noon! We may still have snow on the ground, but unless the roads are covered or dangerous we plan to be open. 

                                                                                                                                                 

Hall Of Fame Banquet & Festival May 4th & 5th

          On May 4th we will be at the fully renovated Allenberry Resort Inn, located in Boiling Springs, PA. The evening will begin with a reception at 6 pm, followed by the banquet at 7 pm. The Buc Hill Aces will be our musical entertainment for both the banquet and the festival.

2018 Appalachian Trail Hall Of Fame Inductees

Click Here For Tickets To The 2018 Hall Of Fame Banquet

We have established a special email address for questions concerning the Appalachian Trail Hall Of Fame Banquet: atmbanquet@gmail.com

Hall Of Fame Festival May 5th
          On May 5th the Festival will be held at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The picnic lunch is open to the public free of charge, but donations are welcome. Your donations help us create new displays like the one pictured below. So far the schedule looks like this...

10:00am-Ron Rosen representing Elizabeth Levers
 11:00am-Graybeard presentation in lower level of museum
12:00pm-Picnic Lunch and music by the Buc Hill Aces
 1:00pm-Libby Hargrave representing George Masa
 2:00pm-Mountain Music by Buc Hill Aces

Linda Patton will also be giving tours of our library project and we'll be showing our new Avery canoe display at this time!

Another great display by Graphik Masters of York, PA

                                                                                                                                                 

Renovations

          We have had a few great volunteers busy this winter working on getting our second floor ready for exhibits. If you would like to help with renovations please let us know at manager@atmuseum.org. You don't have to be a handyman but it would definitely help if you are. Lately, we have installed insulation in the top floor walls, painted areas of the resource library, spackled a few walls and moved in some furniture for the library/office use.

AT Museum Cleanup on March 24th

                                                                                                                                                 

The Appalachian Trail Museum's Research Library to be established in 2018!

The first week of April, Linda Patton will be traveling from Florida to Pennsylvania to start work as the founding Librarian for the Research Library which will be set up on the 3rd floor of the Museum. Linda (trailname "eArThworm") is a long-time member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Florida Trail Association, a former backpacker and trail builder, and a retired librarian from Florida State University. She will be bringing her collection of about 750 books; David Crooks will be bringing his collection of about 550 books and Roger Williamson's of just over 300 books. Linda will also be bringing a few books donated by the ATC, and there are possibly 1000+ books in storage in Carlisle. All together, there could be around 3,000 books to be processed into the Research Library's collection. Due to lack of space (and funds) maps, videos, and other types of materials requiring special housing will most likely have to wait to be added to the collection in the future.

Linda has already begun ordering the furniture, equipment and supplies for the library, hoping

to have everything delivered to the Museum and set up by the time she begins work in April. Joan McKean, another retired librarian and Museum volunteer, will be assisting Linda as much as she can. But Linda will most likely be staying for only eight weeks, and 3,000 books are a lot to process; so she will be looking for other volunteers to assist in various ways. The first job will be off-loading (sometimes heavy) boxes from delivery trucks, carrying them to the 3rd floor and doing some minor assembly on the furniture. Starting on the 9th, an assembly-line crew will be needed to attach film to each bookcase shelf (to protect books from wood off-gassing and acid) and put the shelves back into the cases. Someone with excellent penmanship will be needed to write call numbers on book slips.

Other jobs will come to light as the collection processing begins. Any volunteer with previous library experience could be especially valuable, but anyone with time and an interest in helping can let Linda know either now or when she arrives. She can be contacted at lpatton@fsu.edu.

You might want to check out her website at booksforhikers.com.

    

                                                                                                                                                 

Road Scholar Hike April 16th
          First road scholar hike of the Season. These hikes start at Shippensburg Road and end at the AT Museum(8 miles). The group is usually made up of people from all around the USA. If you've never volunteered to help on one of these hikes I encourage you to at least tag along and see what it's like. Bring your own water and lunch! Link to Details: Here

                                                                                                                                                 

AT Flip-Flop Festival April 28th

          Last year was the first time that the AT Museum attended the Flip-Flop Festival in Harpers Ferry, WV. Here are a few photos from that event. We will be attending the festival again on the 28th of April and hope to meet a lot of future thru-hikers. Maybe we will be able to acquire some delicious West Virginia pepperoni rolls at this event as well!

AT Museum stand in the center with banjo (2017)

                                                                                                                                                 

Angry Bird Trail Story

          Hiking out of Harpers Ferry after talking my youngest brother into hiking the entire state of Maryland with me was depressing. It was the last time I expected to hike with a family member during my hike. I wanted to share so much of my hike with people I knew. I thought about it a lot actually. So when I got to Waynesboro, VA I decided to call my older sister who lived near VA Beach and asked if she would hike part of Virginia with me... Then she said yes! Everything changed!

          The next day I got her to meet me at Reeds Gap which is mile 13.6 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and approximately 20 trail miles south of Rockfish Gap where I hitched to Waynesboro, VA. From Reeds Gap we got a ride to Blue Ridge Parkway mile 51.7 and hiked .4 miles south to the Punchbowl Shelter. After picking apples and staying the night at the shelter we set off on our north bound hike back to the car. On our journey we got to experience trail magic, sunset views, unfiltered water, fresh unwashed non-homogenized/non-pasteurized/non-demoralized organic apples and pizza hut.

          At the end of the second day, we had hiked 47.8 miles over Bald Knob, Cole Mountain, The Preist and Three Ridges back to Reeds Gap. She summited three 4,000 foot mountains and hiked nearly 50 miles with me. I still feel bad for pushing the limits.

Advice from Angry Bird: Walk slow and take a lot of breaks when in the wild.

                                                                                                                                                 

Coming down the trail
          March 30th - Pine Grove Furnace State Park campground opens
          March 31st - AT Museum opens
          April 1st - Ironmasters Mansion opens for guests
          April 16th? - Museum library project starts
          April 16th - Road Scholar Hike
          April 28th - AT Flip Flop Festival in Harpers Ferry, WV
          April 29th - Ironmasters challenge trail run and hike
          May 4th - Hall Of Fame Banquet
          May 5th - Hall Of Fame Festival
          May 7th - Road Scholar Hike
          May 31st - AT Museum Program about women of the Appalachian Trail
          June 2nd - AT Museum Children's Festival
          June 16th - Red Run Park AT Festival in Waynesboro, PA

AT Museum Volunteer Newsletter - August 2017

August 2017

Brought to you by Nathaniel "Angry Bird" Shank, Appalachian Trail Museum Manager

 So far this year we have had over 6000 visitors with almost 1000 of them being thru hikers. Our programs have been dwindling down but mostly we've had an attendance of 10 or more for each one. Also, this week I decided to view the eclipse from Tennessee with my grandfather. The temperature dropped 15 degrees, the frogs were peeping, the clouds were more visible and the atmosphere of the sun was the brightest white glow around the moon. I also saw what I think was Venus glowing like it was one of the stars.

Here are some pictures of a few great spots to hike/climb within the Michaux State Forest.

White Rocks (Near Mont Alto)

More White Rocks

Sunset Rocks View

Sunset Rocks Trail

My 11oz Homemade Cuben Fiber Tent

                                                                                                                                                 
  

Lots of things happening!

      We will soon be continuing our road scholar hikes once again on Mondays starting on August 28th. These hikes have been a great way to meet people from all over the United States. It is also a great place to practice educating others about the trail and the environment. If you would like to learn more about what these hikes involve please contact me(Nathaniel) at manager@atmuseum.org.

      The Pine Grove Fall Furnace Festival for 2017 will be held on the 21st and 22nd of October. This year we are setting up a stand for the museum next to the park. Anyone interested in getting involved please let me know via email. 

      We are progressively seeing more south bound hikers coming from Maine this time of the year. Most of the SOBO hikers that I've talked to have started in June. Katahdin only opened for hikers on May 27th because of the weather. I was also told that the black flies were worse this year than any other in the last 50 or so. In 2012 I did not see very many on my thru hike south.

Also, read more below about our schedule coming up the trail. 

                                                                                                                                               

Renovations

The second and third floor renovations are looking great. Anyone who would like to get involved just let me know by sending an email to manager@atmuseum.org.

Here is Jim cleaning and staining book shelves

Nail holes were filled and sanded

Even Chestnut came to help!

                                                                                                                                                 

PCN Pennsylvania Cable Network 
     Airing on Sunday, September 3rd at 8:00 pm will be a guided tour of the Appalachian Trail Museum. On Wednesday, July 26th a camera crew came to the museum to film a guided tour led by yours truly. The tour started shortly after 9:00 am and continued until about 1:00 pm. I learned that when the cameras were not rolling I had no problems talking about all that I knew without any issues, but once the little red light let me know that I was being recorded all my thought went out the window. I did not anticipate that being on camera was going to be any different than talking to a group. This took a lot of trial and error, but I believe that all well.

For an update of when and where to find this show follow this link: ATMuseum Tour

                                                                                                                                                    

Angry Bird Trail Stories
     Last year I decided to show one of my brothers the most exciting swimming hole in Pennsylvania along the trail (Peace Rock). So we set out on the two hour drive north from home. Once we got to Port Clinton we had to walk. On the way up I decided that I was going to strap my GoPro camera to my head and record the jump from 40 feet above the water. To get to the rock we had to swim across the river and climb. That was all done with no difficulty whatsoever.

     Then It was time... Press record... Run to the edge! With the camera strapped to my head and recording, I jumped!

     Only a few seconds later I had felt what I thought to be a fish trying to eat my leg or a fishing net trying to latch onto my foot. As I kicked it away I scrambled to the surface of the water as fast as I could. Looking up at my brother and swimming back to the bank I celebrated with shouts and invites.

     He then asked, "where is the camera?"

     Hands immediately to my head I felt that the camera was gone. After a few minutes of searching, we decided that we were not going to try swimming to the bottom without some goggles. Then another thought came to my mind... What if I took a grappling hook and tried to fish it out so that I didn't have to swim to the bottom at all! Perfect!!! So we drove home and gathered up some scuba goggles, rope, and a grappling hook. The next morning we got there early before the crowd arrived and swam to the rocks. before entering the water I discovered that it was only ten feet deep where I jumped in. Then I got the grappling hook stuck on the bottom of the river. I had to swim down to get it loose. I tied the rope off above and climbed to the surface of the water below. As I swam out to the rope my heart pounded with excitement and fear all at once.

     I took a short breath of air and entered the water far too quickly. Using the rope I pulled myself to the bottom as fast as I could through the cloudy sediment-filled water. I thought I would run out of air and need to take another breath before I would reach the bottom. Not being able to see two feet in front of me in the first seven feet of descent had me nervous, but as soon as I reached the bottom and I saw the hook my lungs suddenly felt full of air again. As I grabbed the hook I noticed a little blue light and there it was, still turned on with the memory card full of the recording of what a rock's point of view from under the river would be.

     I did have my shirt stolen by a cleanup crew who really made that place shine, but other than that I went home with a well fought victory in my hands and a two hour recording of fish swimming near the bottom of the river.

                                                                                                                                                 

Coming Up the Trail

August 28th Road Scholar Hike
September 25th Road Scholar Hike
October 1st Program by Nan Resinger
October 6th, 7th and 8th ALDHA Gathering
October 9th Road Scholar Hike
October 21st, 22nd Pine Grove Fall Furnace Festival
October 23rd Road Scholar Hike
October 30th Road Scholar Hike

AT Museum Volunteer Newsletter - April 2017

April 2017

Brought to you by Nathaniel "Angry Bird" Shank, Appalachian Trail Museum Manager

Thanks to the boy scouts of Troop #430 from Delaware County for a new walkway! 

You can also check out the photos of our new walkway on our facebook page HERE

New hiking stick medallions added to our store items.

                                                                                                                                               

Flip Flop Festival/ April 22nd & 23rd

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy will be hosting its third annual Flip Flop Festival on April 22nd in Harper's Ferry, WV. There will be music, raffles, vendors, workshops, kids activities, pack shakedowns, and more...

For more information click: HERE

                                                                                                                                               

Volunteer Picnic/ April 29th @ AT Museum!!!

This picnic (Pot Luck) will be held at the furnace stack pavilion behind the museum. If you volunteer or are interested at all feel free to attend. You can also find our "to bring" signup list at: Volunteer Picnic

                                                                                                                                               


CVVB US Army Heritage Center seeking volunteers!

Also check out the CVVB video on YouTube

                                                                                                                                               

AT Hall of Fame Banquet/ June 2nd

Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau will be receiving the "Partnership Appreciation Award" at the banquet this year. More information can be found HERE

To register and attend the banquet click here: Hall Of Fame Banquet

                                                                                                                                               

AT Hiker Festival/ June 3rd

First I would like to announce that this year our festival will be funded by a grant from Sandy Hollow Arts and Recreation for the Environment (SHARE). They have been very generous and deserve a big thanks for everything they are funding for us this year.

The funding will be going toward our musicians, signage, advertising for the event, and the needs for our activities. Among our kids activities there will be mountain music by the Buc Hill Aces. We will also have a few speakers to talk about books that they have authored about the Appalachian Trail. 

A better schedule of event will be out soon. The event will last from 11 A.M. to approx... 3:30 P.M.
The SignUp that has been created for the festival can be found here: Hiker Festival

Also Very Important...

Saturday morning/ June 3rd, from 9 AM to 11 AM, Pine Grove Furnace State Park will also be hosting a special event for children by the Fred Rodgers Co./PBS WITF/“Daniel Tiger.”

                                                                                                                                               

Angry Bird Trail Stories

Because I had dropped my phone in the creek on my first day out on the trail my phone had not been very operational. I was still able to charge it and take photos but was not getting cell tower reception. So it was not until two weeks into my hike in Rangeley(?) Maine that I decided to call home from another phone that did work!!!

It was very freeing to not know what was going on back home but some of my family wondered if I was still alive.

Sight near Horns Pond Lean-tos. What you do not see in this photo is the baby moose that kept me awake all night by crying and running around the shelter looking for its mother. 

My phone did end up working eventually and still works to this day. It has survived falling into water, snow, onto rocks, mud, getting rained on, stepped on, extreme heat in the Mojave, extreme cold in Yosemite, and the list goes on... It has been around with me for the AT, PCT, Via Alpina and I continue to use it for taking pictures for this newsletter. 

                                                                                                                                               

Down the Trail

April 22// Flip Flop Festival @ ATC Headquarters in Harpers Ferry WV

April 29// Volunteer Picnic

May 8// Road Scholar Hike

May 27// First Program of the Year!!!

June 2// Hall Of Fame Banquet

June 3// Hiker Festival

AT Museum Volunteer Newsletter - February 2017

February 2017

Brought to you by Nathaniel "Angry Bird" Shank, Appalachian Trail Museum Manager

One of the cold overcast days

Incredible GoPro fish eye lens view

Tetras shelves to replace boxes

                                                                                                                                                                   

AT Museum Greeter Sign Up 2017 & Docent Training

2017 Hours of operation

Saturday, March 25 to Sunday, April 30 – Weekends, Noon to 4:00PM

Saturday, May 6 to Sunday July 16 – 9:00AM to 4:00PM every day

Monday, July 17 to Sunday, August 20 – Noon to 4:00PM every day

August 23 to October 29 - Noon to 4:00PM Wednesday thru Sunday

(Open Labor Day Monday, September 4, and, Columbus Day, Monday, October, 9)

The schedule for volunteers to sign up to be a greeter can be found at: AT Museum Greeter.

The Museum Greeter Orientation will be scheduled for March 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th and 25th. These sessions (5 in total) will provide Docents with a review of the processes and refresh the memory.

Please follow the links provided to sign up for these shifts.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Museum Cleanup Day

I have added shifts on the SignUp.com website for the Museum Cleanup Day on March 18th. 

Saturday, March 18, 2017 is the date for the spring clean-up at the Appalachian Trail Museum. Activities will start at 9:00AM and we should be done by 12:00 noon or 1:00PM. If you cannot make it for the entire morning, we appreciate whatever time you can spare.

                                                                                                                                                                   

ATC Volunteer of the Month

Congratulations to Ron Bungay for being noticed as the Appalachian Trail Conservancies Volunteer of the Month in January. His work around the Museum alone has been very fruitful, but that is only a glimpse of what Ron does for the trail community. I only know a little about Ron myself, but every time I am around him I seem to learn something very useful.
Thank you for all the work you do Ron!

Here is a link to the write up by the ATC: Ron Bungay

Photo by Carol Bungay

                                                                                                                                                                   

Museum Renovations

Closet under stairs

After a little stain they will blend right in

                                                                                                                                                                   

Volunteer Picnic

I have scheduled this year's Volunteer Picnic for April 29th. This picnic is for anyone who gives their time to the A.T. Museum or are interested in getting involved. This is a great way for volunteers to get to know each other. The picnic will be held at the AT Museum around noon on a Saturday. 

If you are interested in getting involved I have created a sign up at: Volunteer Picnic

                                                                                                                                                                   

Angry Bird Trail Stories

The first rattle snake experience I've had was in the state of New Jersey while walking down the trail with my camera in hand not watching where I was stepping. Then, when I least expected it I heard the rattle about six inches from my right foot. After I jumped about six feet I turned around and began to take pictures and recorded two short videos.

Since then I have seen six more rattlers including two Mojave green rattle snakes which are the most venomous native snakes in the USA. The bite from one of these can kill a healthy adult in an hour. This photo of a Mojave green rattler was taken near Burney California.

I was keeping my eye on a group of birds that were trying to strike me when I heard some rustling in the bush I had just brushed my leg against. Thinking it was another bird I got closer to the bush and looked in. About that time I saw a rattle protruding from the branches. After jumping back I hurried to grab my camera and drew a warning sign in the sand for the hiker following me.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Coming Down the Trail

March 3rd - 5th, Appalachian Trail Kick Off Convention, Amacalola Falls State Park, GA
March 17th - 25th, Museum Greeter Orientation

March 18th, AT Museum Cleanup Day

March 25th, Museum Opening Day

April 22nd, Volunteer Picnic

AT Museum Volunteer Newsletter - January 2017

January 2017

Brought to you by Nathaniel "Angry Bird" Shank, Appalachian Trail Museum Manager

Though the museum seems quiet there are still quite a few things going on. From organizing little things, to planning speeches I have found that the work never ends, and that is a good thing. 

What the ramp looked like last year at this time

What the ramp looks like now

New clock added to the docent desk

_______________________________________________________

Exhibit Committee Meeting

The date for the Exhibit Committee Meeting has been set for Saturday January 21st, from 10:am to noon on the second floor of the Appalachian Trail Museum. At this meeting we will discuss the idea of our become a hiker cards for the children's mini walk of the AT, the evolution of the backpack exhibit, and any new ideas you may have for exhibits to be displayed in our future.

To sign up you can follow this link: Exhibit Committee Meeting

Afterward we plan to have a social time to enjoy treats and good company. 

So stick around if you can!

_______________________________________________________

January Renovations

Three of our dedicated volunteers decided to

 surprise us with some of their great looking handy work.

Storage Area Door

Trap Door Ceiling Access

_______________________________________________________

Museum Cleanup Day & Docent Training

I have updated a few new shifts on SignUp.com for the Museum Cleanup Day on March 18th, the Museum Greeter Orientation on March 17th - 25th, and Docent Shifts will soon be updated as well. Please follow the links provided to sign up for these shifts.

The Museum Greeter Training Sessions will be scheduled for March 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th and 25th. These sessions (5 in total) will provide Docents with a review of the processes and refresh the memory. I will also be conducting hands on training on the PayPal Here software at all sessions.  Any new Docents will receive more intense training.

Saturday, March 18, 2017 is the date for the spring clean-up at the Appalachian Trail Museum. Activities will start at 9:00AM and we should be done by 12:00 noon or 1:00PM. If you cannot make it for the entire morning, we appreciate whatever time you can spare so we can have the museum in ship-shape for the opening the following Saturday March 25th.

_______________________________________________________

Saturday/Sunday Public Programs 

Once again the Museum is hoping to offer a variety of Saturday/Sunday Public Programs.  We are starting to book the presenters now and hope to offer interesting presentations throughout the season. If you have something you would like to present, let me know and you can have an early pick of which Saturday/Sunday you want to present. Your topic can be just about anything relating to the trail, or the outdoors, or local history, etc... If the program can be held outdoors that would be great as well.

Send me a short description of your presentation and pick your date.  I will be updating the AT Museum Programs both here and at atmuseum.org. All Sundays are open between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

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Angry Bird Trail Stories

Day number one on the Appalachian Trail: Hiking up to Katahdin was a little more than just another peak in the state of Maine for me. I never liked back tracking so I decided to hike up the Abol trail which was shorter and steeper. I then descend on the Appalachian Trail. This trail has been relocated since my accent in May of 2012 but still remains to be the shortest route to Katahdin to this day. Along this accent and for the next two days I hiked with another guy who I call Alabama. One because he is from Alabama, and two because I have forgotten his name. 

Knifes Edge Trail May 30th, 2012

After hiking down to the Katahdin Stream Campground I traded in the day pack that they provided for me and went on to the Hurd Brook Lean-to completing 18 trail miles for my first day on the trail. Along the way I dropped my phone in Nesowadnehunk Stream and had to improvise a way to dry it out in a zip lock full of rice that I kept in my front pocket for the next few days. On the third Morning however on top of Nesuntabunt Mountain I was so determined to take a picture with my phone that I did not care if it was broken in the process. The result was an amazing picture and a phone that has not died to this day. You can see the picture below and understand why I was so determined.

Sunrise view from Nesuntabunt Mtn. on Jun 1st, 2012

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Things Coming Down The Trail

January 21st, Exhibit Committee Meeting
January 27th - 29th, Northern Ruck - Bears Den Hostel, VA
March 3rd - 5th, Appalachian Trail Kick Off Convention, Amacalola Falls State Park, GA
March 17th - 25th, Museum Greeter Orientation

March 18th, AT Museum Cleanup Day

March 25th, Museum Opening Day