The Appalachian Mountain Club promotes the protection, enjoyment and stewardship of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region. We believe that mountains, forests, and waters have intrinsic worth and also provide recreational opportunities, spiritual renewal, and ecological and economic health for the region. Because successful conservation depends on active engagement with the outdoors, we encourage people to experience, learn about, appreciate, and understand the natural world.
Appie Award – This is the chapter’s highest award. The Appie of the Year Award is presented annually to that person who in an outstanding manner, exemplifies the mission of the Appalachian Mountain Club. This year the award was presented to Sid Wax.
John Clark Award – This award is presented to the unsung hero, who goes quietly about their business of contributing to the chapter. This award was started in 1998 after member John Clark. This year the award was presented to Jean Marie Josephson.
Golden Appie Award – This award is presented to a long-time Chapter leader for their extensive contributions to the Narragansett Chapter over their AMC career. It is a life time achievement award. This year the award was presented to Jerry Bernardini.
As of October 31st, the Chapter has almost $60,000 in cash and investments, this is an increase of approximately $4,000 from the beginning of this year. Please be advised these figures do not include the costs and receipts associated with the annual meeting, which is typically a net cost to the chapter, we will still end the year with more cash/investments then we started. The money we have saved, has permitted us to spend more on volunteer recognition and appreciation, training and new programs. We have an incredible number of dedicated leaders, and we know that we have the funds to better support their efforts and to say thank you more often, the board’s intention is to do just that.
Bill Rafferty, Chapter Treasurer
Membership in AMC Narragansett is now over 2700 members. It's great to see so many people enjoying the out-of-doors with our club. We had a successful new member and old member Spring gathering with hikes, bike rides, paddles and a run, all in the area of Colt State Park. And the potluck lunch was scrumptious. We are looking forward to seeing and meeting more of our new members at upcoming events.
50 Year MembersGregg O’Brien, Membership Committee Chair
The Conservation committee may do the same hiking, biking, kayaking activities as other groups, but we spend some time discussing the history, conservation efforts, talk about how taxpayers have contributed to our enjoyment of a particular area. Sometimes we organize work groups to do Trail Work at unique parks, like Blackstone Park where we sponsored trail work in conjunction with the trails group. We also promote non-AMC activities to get families and others out who may be interested. This year, we promoted Fairy Garden Days at Roger Williams Botanical Garden. As well had a number of other events promoting conservation education throughout the state.
In 2017, we hope to continue the types of activities we have done in the past, we are always looking for new places and things to do to educate, inform and enlighten our participants.
A few highlights for the year were:
The Trails Committee of the Narragansett Chapter is tasked with trail maintenance. This involves routine maintenance, such as brushing, blazing, providing dry passage across wet and muddy areas, removing blowdowns, and erosion prevention. The Committee also lays out new trails, as requested, and reroutes already existing trails, as needed. Additionally, the committee takes on major projects such as building the bridge on the Mt Tom Trail over the Wood River and rehabilitating the CCC-built picnic pavilion at Step Stone Falls.
On behalf of the AMC Trails Committee, thank you to the 99 volunteers who contributed a total of 2,050 hours of trail work, pavilion rehabilitation, bridge building, and administrative duties, from October 2015 through September 2016. There were 5 volunteers who contributed more than 150 hours each:
Grants:
The Trails Committee used the TAC grant of $4,000 (previously awarded) for renovating the shelter at Step Stone Falls. (See Trail Events below for further details.)
Training:
AMC chain saw training is scheduled for the weekend of October 29-30.
Trail events:
There was some additional railing work on the Mt Tom Trail bridge over the Wood River at the deer check station.
On National Trails Day, June 4, log steps were installed on the Dye Hill Trail, and a good amount of general trail maintenance was completed on the White Dot Trail in the Arcadia Management Area.
Negotiations with the South County Gun Club for rerouting the Tippecansett Trail continued.
Committee members have worked with several Land Trusts. Trails were laid out for the Coventry Land Trust and a wetlands permit was submitted in preparation for building a bridge there.
The major project for the year has been the rehabilitation of the CCC-built pavilion at Step Stone Falls. This has involved using as much of the original structure and materials as possible. Major work on site was accomplished during September and October, including National Public Lands Day, September 24. Additionally, work has been performed on the trails and brooks in the area,as well as rebuilding the pump house and excavating and restoring various other picnic structures nearby.
There was a corporate work day installing water bars at Burlingame on October 14 with personnel from Dassault Systèmes.
Brushing, blazing, and addition of preservatives to existing bridges were performed on miscellaneous trails.
The tool shed was painted and interior lighting was installed.
Other:
Longtime AMC member and past Trails Committee member, Marge Gaunt, died in March of this year.
The Committee voted to allocate $100 of its yearly funding as a memorial gift to trails work of the AMC. The donation still needs to be sent in.
Trails Committee member and previous chair, Jennie Crooks, in May 2016 was named Outstanding Volunteer of 2016 by the Rhode Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy noted that Jennie’s trail maintenance expertise has helped them keep their trails in "tip top shape."
In August we participated in staffing an AMC booth at the Charlestown Land Trust farmers’ market.
Dav Cranmer, Trails Committee Chair
The Technical Rock Climbing committee is all about rock and ice climbing.
In the beginning of the year, January and February, we have our two Ice Climbing trips, which turn out to be more than Ice climbing, as we have skiers(downhill and Nordic), snowboarders, and winter hikers on the trip as well.
During the months of April and May we run our classes, for beginners, and as continuing education.
First is the Beginner course which is focused on introducing gym and first time/new climbers to climbing outdoors. The systems and techniques they will need to perform safely on their own, outdoors at the crags. For the first time in a long time, we ran this class on back to back days.
Second is our Intermediate class, which takes the outdoor climber/top-roper to the next level of seconding on single and multi-pitch climbs, following a lead climber. The techniques and systems learned and applied here correspond to the next level of climbing and would be the stepping stone to a climber who is looking to move towards lead and trade climbing.
In conjunction with our Intermediate Class, for the first time this year, we ran a class specifically for the new leaders. Aspiring, accomplished lead climbers that were looking to make the move to leading ON our AMC trips. This class established and confirmed their capabilities and aptitude, and ultimately gave them approval, or areas to strengthen.
The final Spring activity is our Self-Rescue Class. This is a class we are striving to make a tradition. As we bring new climbers up through the ranks, we want them to have all the tools to conduct safe rock climbing adventures(whether as a leader or a second).
Beginning in June, we had our monthly trips, with the Gunks. July was Cannon, August was Rumney, September was Cathedral/Whitehorse, October concludes with a trip back to the Gunks.
We are always looking to inject new ideas and sometimes new approaches to our group. Beginning with Joe Vaglio and myself, we have had 4 members take the Single Pitch Instructors course. Between this 3 day course, which promotes the most up to date systems and procedures for the Single Pitch Instructor, the members who are guides, and the long experience of other senior members, we have a wealth of information to draw from when designing our instructional classes.
For 2017, we hope to maintain about the same schedule of trips and classes. We might add in another monthly trip, to a different destination(we have to see if someone wants to Lead/co-lead a new trip destination)
perhaps the Adirondacks!? We also hope to have a “leaders only weekend” at a multi-pitch destination like the Gunks. With this weekend we hope to promote more learning amongst our leaders. By having leaders climb with more experienced leaders, there can be a greater exchange of ideas and systems, as well as new leaders will learn new climbs that they can then work towards leading, and thus broadening their climbing and leading capabilities.
Peter Barlow, Technical Climbing Sub-Chair
The Backpacking & Northern Hikes group offers day hikes, weekend trips based in lodges, hut trips and backpacks in the mountainous and / or northern regions of the North East. We lead trips north of the Mass Pike and west of the Connecticut River. We lead backpacks for the chapter anywhere in the region.
We have enjoyed another excellent and safe year of hiking and backpacking. This year our group sponsored 20 activities run by 22 leaders and co-leaders. Our leaders provided activities ranging from the popular day hikes in the Holyoke range to winter trips above tree line in the White Mountains. Hikes were offered in Massachusetts Vermont and New Hampshire.
In addition to day hikes, we offered hut trips in New Hampshire. We once again enjoyed an overnighter to the Lakes of the Clouds Hut, where we enjoyed the Alpine Flowers and the hearty food.
All of our leaders continue with their Wilderness First Aid / CPR training and some have maintained their Wilderness First Responder certification. Four of our leaders are instructors at AMC’s Mountain Leadership School. One of our leaders has now served for six years as the School Director.
Some of our leaders offer club-wide events, and one of our leaders has led hikes at “August Camp” for several seasons. Our leaders also serve as resources to the Leadership Development Committee for workshops and trips.
The committee again offered workshops in map & compass and winter mountain safety, which were well attended and very well received.
Our Step by Step hiking series, which trains new hikers to mountain hiking skills and conditions, continued to attract interest, thanks to the commitment of our leaders.
In 2017, we hope to expand the number of leaders, especially younger leaders, and to offer at least 26 trips.
Many thanks to our northern hikes leaders and co-leaders who offered us so many fun, challenging, well run and reasonably priced activities this year.
Ed Poyer, Backpacking & Northern Hiking Sub Chair
There were approximately 90-100 hikes were led locally including conservation, local, dog, and Wednesday night social hikes. About 1/2 of the total hikes were the Wednesday night social hikes. We have Sid Wax to thank for organizing the social hikes. We hike locally allover RI and some MA and CT, hikes of varied levels. Next year we hope to add have more local hikes on the AMC calendar and to get some interest from people wanting to become hike leaders themselves. We also hope to get some family oriented hikes onto the schedule as well. In 2017 Dog Hikes will become a separate committee, this was decided because they have unique leadership needs and training requirements.
Kerri Green, Local Hikes
All sea kayaking and flatwater kayaking listed together in a single report because of the blending of both types of paddles on some types of paddles. Our paddles this year continue to be a repeat of popular paddles done in the past with a couple new trips. Several popular paddles were canceled because of weather. Our annual Camp Winaukee Labor Day paddles were very popular and the beautiful weather the Labor Day Weekend was fully appreciated. The following is a listing of the paddles this year.
A big THANK YOU to all our chapter leaders. Without you, we would not have the vibrant Chapter that we enjoy today! Huge Thank You!