by Jim Foster, Secretary, KTA Board of Directors
In October, the KTA Board and Council approved the plan for us to pursue becoming the maintaining club for a 10-mile section of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in the vicinity of Lehigh Gap near Palmerton, Carbon County. We scheduled 2 recruitment hikes—on January 17 and 23—for people willing to help us maintain this section.
Unfortunately, we had to cancel the January 23 hike because of the snowstorm. We rescheduled the hike for February 20.
The January 17 hike was, however, successful way beyond our expectations. In attendance were 50 hikers, whom we separated into 2 groups. Many thanks to the following people for helping us lead these enthusiastic groups: Bob Sickley of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC); KTA board member Katie Barker and her husband, Sam; and KTA members Dennis Hurley and Dan Schwartz. Thanks to the hike and other efforts, we have 21 people committed to help maintain a subsection or to supervise this effort, as well as 8 more people willing to help on work days. Several of these 29 people are willing to do both.
We believe we have enough committed volunteers to proceed with this project. The next steps include formal approval by ATC’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Partnership Committee, as well as negotiating and signing an agreement. We hope to formally approve KTA’s assumption of the trail section at the KTA Board and Council Meeting on April 9.
Would you like to help us with this project? You can join (for free) KTA’s Meetup Group to learn of new events. Follow this link: