by Shanna Klucar, Program Administrator
Our Susquehanna Super Hike event volunteers are awesome, and we could never have pulled Saturday off without them! We had over 100 men, women, and youth give their time on September 5 and 6—from a 3-hour shift to the full 2 days—and their positive attitudes, resourcefulness, adaptability, and willingness to help wherever needed was absolutely wonderful.
With only 2 staff members, Keystone Trails Association depends on the time and work of a few key volunteers throughout the year to pull together the annual Super Hike event. Volunteers Rob Shaw and Karen Ament serve on our Super Hike committee, attending monthly meetings, communicating via e-mail between the meetings, and—on top of all that—putting in over 25 hours of their time on Friday and Saturday of the event weekend as Logistics & Supply Coordinator and Volunteer Supervisor, respectively. They contribute so many hours of their time each year to make sure this event goes smoothly, and we appreciate them endlessly.
Our volunteer ham radio operators from the Red Rose Repeater Association and the Middle Creek Search & Rescue provide communication and assistance to all parts of the Super Hike course, from beginning to end. Although new cell towers are helping more people keep their cell phone signals for more of the course, there are still plenty of “dead zones”—areas where only ham radio operators are able to communicate. They help keep track of dropouts and continuing participants at each checkpoint, and provide a communications hub at the finish line. The backup support our volunteer ham radio operators provide is incredibly appreciated, as they help ensure that our event is as safe and seamless as is possible.
Some of our other event volunteers are so essential, we aren’t sure where we’d be without them! Specifically, Paul Yatabe (our Water Marshall); Lauren Simmons (Keeper of the Master List of Participants); our Checkpoint Crew Leaders (Frank Geiger, Jim Foster, Dave Erb, and Alan Noble); Wanda Shirk (Volunteer Check-In); our on-site, on-call EMT support professionals from Brogue Ambulance Company; Angela Snyder (Certificates Supervisor); Thyra Sperry (Goodie Bags Supervisor); Sam Ganow (our Trail Sweep Supervisor); and Dan Klucar (my husband, who as a “volun-told,” as he calls it, put in almost as many hours on this event as I did last month! I was so grateful for his help and good humor!).
In addition to the volunteers who helped last weekend, the trail maintainers from the Lancaster Hiking Club, the Mason-Dixon Trail Club, and the York Hiking Club work really hard to keep the course maintained year-round—and especially leading up to the Super Hike. Thank you so much for keeping our trails safe and accessible!
Special kudos to our on-site sponsors who contributed their time to the event: Amy Freeburn from DJ Maggnolia (she jazzed up our after-picnic so wonderfully), the awesome people from Backcountry Edge (who got any of their terrific giveaways or borrowed some of their high-tech trekking poles?), and Turkey Hill for their ice cream and iced tea (perfect on such a hot day!).
Of course, our event wouldn’t have been possible without our other sponsors as well. A big thank-you to Treks & Trails International, PPL, Susquehanna Bank, Clif Bar, Elete, Dick’s Sporting Goods, NathanFrohmDesign, Nuts About Granola, and Road ID for your ongoing support!
I want to draw special attention to our Checkpoint and Gate Station volunteer groups (the Lancaster Hiking Club, Backcountry Edge/Boy Scouts, Cumberland Valley Appalachian Trail Club/Day Hikers of Central Pennsylvania, and the York Hiking Club), who put in a full day’s worth of work, ensuring that checkpoints and water stations had enough food and water. Our volunteer Trail Sweeps ensured that each section of the trail was “swept” (of people and all traces of trash—we’re a “leave no trace” event!), and other committed volunteers made sure that traffic cones were set up and removed on the Norman Wood Bridge, that the goodie bags were filled and T-shirts ready to hand out, and that the picnic went smoothly. Finally, a shout-out to our Saturday morning parking and registration volunteers, who awoke at 4 AM to check in participants a few hours later. These folks deserve a round of applause, too—it takes someone special to volunteer for something that starts so early in the morning!
Thank you to everyone that made our sixth annual Susquehanna Super Hike and Ultra Trail Run possible!