THE 2012 ALDHA GATHERING will be at Concord University in Athens, W.Va., on the weekend AFTER Columbus Day, Oct. 12-14. The ALDHA work trip will be on Monday, Oct. 15.
The program coordinator for this, our 31st Gathering, is Kip Redick, and you can reach him via e-mail at gathering@aldha.org. The facilities coordinator is Janet Hensley, and the campsite coordinator is Noel DeCavalcante.
See you all there.
THE FOLKLIFE CENTER
The campground is generally divided into two areas:
~~ The lower field (adjacent to the parking area) is the quieter of the two, the lower you go the quieter it is.
~~ The campfire area, on the other side of the hill, tends to be a little noisier until quiet hours at 1 a.m.
Port-a-potties are located on the cement slab between the camping areas. Additional bathrooms are in the Main Hall.
The Main Hall is open all weekend as a meeting place, and on Friday afternoon it will be "ALDHA Central" where you can register for the weekend and get your registration packet, as well as buy ALDHA-related apparel and merchandise. The Folklife Center may provide hot soup and coffee for a small fee over the weekend.
The fee for tent camping on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights is included in your Gathering registration fee, but there is a fee of $5 per night/per tent for any other nights you "tent out" there, and this should be paid to Noel DeCavalcante, the Pipestem Facilities Coordinator. It is on the "honor system" and is required by the Folklife Center.
We ask that you don't get there before Wednesday, but if you do come early, please be prepared to help get the parking area, buildings, etc., ready for the weekend.
The Bunk Houses along the road and at the bottom of the hill are available for ALDHA members only, with priority going to those with special needs, older folks, board members, then others. A fee of $12 per bed/per night (two night minimum Friday and Saturday) is to be paid to Noel, either cash or check (made out to the Appalachian South Folklife Center). Reservations are encouraged, so call Noel at home at 321-253-3826 or email him at NoelDeCav@aol.com.
No overnight stays are allowed inside the chapel. The porch of the library is fine for anyone sleeping "under the stars," first come/first served.
Please follow the "LEAVE NO TRACE" ethic if you're staying at the Folklife Center, regardless of whether you are tenting or staying in a bunk house. Pack out all of your trash.
FRIDAY NIGHT OPENING PROGRAM
If you've just finished hiking the A.T., you definitely don't want to miss the opening night roll call of class years, where we start with the Class of 2011 and go back in time to the last person standing, THEN we call for the members of the Class of 2012 to stand up. You will also receive special recognition for finishing the A.T. with certificates and patches from both the ATC and ALDHA.Other familiar features of the opening program include the singing of the Gathering song, the presentation of the Final Blaze, and a few surprises that always seem to just happen. We also hope to have an informal reception afterward, similar to what we did last year.
SATURDAY NIGHT FEATURE PRESENTATION
Last year, Justin Lichter and Shawn Forry set off to hike the length of the Himalayas from the easternmost 8,000-meter peak in the world, Kanchenjunga, to the westernmost 8,000-meter peak, Nanga Parbat. The ambitious traverse spanned an approximate distance of 2,500 miles and it took three months for the hikers to successfully make their way out of the highest mountain range in the world. Justin will tell their story on Saturday night at the ALDHA Gathering.Justin, whose trail name is "Trauma," grew up about an hour north of New York City and has since lived in Santa Barbara, southern Vermont, and Dillon, Colo., and is currently living in the Sierras. When not hiking, he is a ski patroller and enjoys backcountry skiing, nordic skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking and pretty much anything else outdoors.
He got his trail name on his first long-distance hike in Utah. He was resisting a trail name but was dubbed Trauma by a few friends because of a couple of traumatic experiences he had near the beginning of the trip. We plan to post more information about Justin in the coming months. That's a photo of him, by the way, on the front page hiking in Florida.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
We need folks to help with the weekend-long hiker fair, registration, and the post-Gathering work trip (you get a patch if you join us on the A.T.!). We also need each and every one of you to talk up the Gathering on the trail in the coming year. We want as many Class of 2012 thru-hikers to head for Pipestem after they've finished their northbound thru-hikes and join us for this special Gathering, AND we would LOVE to have as many active southbounders as possible come as well. The Pipestem/Concord venue is the best for luring in active Southies.For any hiker who finishes the trail before the Gathering, there's an incentive to attend: At the Gathering, they can fill out or bring a report of their thru-hike, submit it to the ATC on Friday afternoon, and on Friday night they'll be called up on stage to formally receive their 2,000-miler certificate and patch, straight from the good folks at trail headquarters in Harpers Ferry. AND, for the first time ever, members of the Class of 2011 will receive a free patch and certificate from their newfound soulmates in ALDHA, congratulating them on their thru-hiking accomplishment.
One thing you should DO RIGHT NOW if you haven't already done so is register for the Gathering. We make it incredibly easy for you with the online forms on our Membership Gateway page where you can pay your fees via PayPal. It's easy. It costs $20 per person. It takes less than 5 minutes.
If you're going hiking this year, think about doing a workshop this fall at the Gathering. Topics can range from a trail you've recently hiked to issues affecting everyday hikers, like first aid, how to travel light, recognizing Lyme disease, how to hang your food from bears. We are especially interested in workshops on these trails that haven't been presented at a Gathering recently: the Allegheny Trail, Bartram Trail, Bruce Trail, Buckeye Trail, Centennial Trail, C&O Canal Towpath, Great Smoky Mountains trails, the Long Path, Pacific Northwest Trail and the Wonderland Trail. Other trails are always welcome as workshops.
If you want to do a workshop at this year's Gathering, fill out this online form and it will get to the coordinators with the click of a button. DEADLINE IS AUGUST 1st for getting your presentation listed in the weekend's program. If you need to print out a form and mail it in, use this link.
Here's a copy of the 2012 brochure you can print out for yourself and your friends. Hand out copies to hikers you know, and get them to come, too. There are directions and other info in the brochure.
If you're on Facebook, check out the group page that's been created to share your thoughts, comments, ideas, hopes, dreams, and so on about ALDHA and the Gathering. And let us know whether you're attending or not, or maybe still on the fence. You'll have to log into Facebook to see this page, and if you're not signed up yet there's a way for you to do so on this link. (It's free!)
Trailhead
New Boots + Gathering + Grapevine + Springer Fever
A.T. Companion + Headlamp Material + Work Trips + Side Trails
