Mapping the Sheltowee

Traildust

STA ANNUAL TRAIL CONFERENCE

SEPTEMBER 16, 17

NATURAL BRIDGE STATE RESORT PARK

VISIT THE STA WEBSITE www.sheltoweetrace.org and DOWNLOAD THE CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM IN EITHER PDF OR WORD FORMAT AND SEND BACK TO director@sheltoweetrace.org

Friday, 16 September: Come early and get settled in the Hemlock Lodge or the Whittleton Campground. Join the planned 5:00 planned hike north on The Sheltowee Trace to Whittleton Arch. Enjoy a free meal at the annual cookout with other friends and members of the STA where we will spend some time around the campfire exchanging tall tales and adventures on the Trace and many other trails. Conference registraton on Friday will be... at the campground.

Saturday, 17 September: Grab a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee, provided by the STA and then take off for a morning hike at 7:00 a.m. up to the top of Natural Bridge and down the Narrows Road for a couple miles before returning to the Lodge.

8:30 to 9:00 - Registration at Hemlock Lodge in the lobby.

9:00 to 12:00 - Morning session featuring reports on the work of the STA, classes on trail mainteance, trail safety and trail stewardship for all user groups.

12:00 - 1:00 : Awards lunch where we recognize the best of the best.

1:00 - 5:00 The afternoon session continues our work with trail maintenance, safety in the forest and trail stewardship.

5:00 - 5:30 : Election of our Board of Directors and approval of Board reports for 2011-2012.

Registration Fee: $10.00 per person for members, $15.00 for non-members. Fees can be paid at the door or via Paypal.

Lodging: Rooms at Hemlock Lodge are blocked for us at $90.96 plus tax, a savings of over $30.00 per room. Reservations must be confirmed before September 1st to get this rate.

Camp sites are available at Whittleton Campground. CAUTION: Reserving on line requires a two night stay at $16.00 per night. If your plans call for staying only on Friday night, the STA will hold you a site for $16.00 paid to the STA via paypal.

OUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT IS UNDER THIS EMAIL:
tradingpost@sheltoweetrace.org

We look forward to a great turnout and a beautiful weekend with all our friends and supports of Kentucky's Long Trail - The Sheltowee Trace National Recreational Trail.

http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/nb/

Traildust · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:28 pm Post subject: Registration Now Easier

Visit this link to register for our annual conference. Easy.

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=tst6vpeab&oeidk=a07e4mxo0bdeddf2091

Traildust · Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:38 pm Post subject: Bear Attack!!! What do You Do?

The black bear population continues to grow in the DBNF. Your chance of encountering a bear while on the trails grows each year.

The STA Trail Conference, Sept 16, 17 will have a workshop on Dealing with a Bear Encounter. We are please to have Jayson Plaxico, Wildlife Biologist with the KY Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources Bear Program as the facilitator of the discussion. He will also touch on the attack at the Gorge as well as bear range, behavior, preventative measures when camping, hiking, etc.

To register visit our website www.sheltoweetrace.org and click on the green circle turtle logo on the homepage.

jbd · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:15 am Post subject:

Traildust, do we have any idea of how many people might be attending Friday evening? We will need to know this to plan for the meal after the hike.

Traildust · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:58 am Post subject:

At this point it looks like 12 to 15. Will know more when we get folks to register.

Pilgrim11b10 · on trail Joined: 06 Jul 2011 Posts: 20 Location: USA

I would like to stay only Fri. so I need to reserve a camp site. The flyer says the STA can reserve a site, how do I confirm this has been done ?
I hate surprises.
Send response to my email as I often lack the time to check here.
pilgrim.rh@gmail.com
Pilgrim
aka Richard
Stand up, Move forward.

Traildust · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:16 pm Post subject:

Richard,
I will respond here and send you an email.

The online reservation folks require a two night stay. To get around this the STA is going down early on Friday and sign for the number of sites reserved through us right at the campground. So we need $16.00 for the night either sent to PayPal or by check to STA office at 63 Burtonville Rd., Tollesboro, Ky 41189.

Traildust · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:11 am Post subject:

ATTENTION: If you are coming to our annual conference September 16, 17 and plan to stay at the lodge at Natural Bridge State Park, today is the last day to reserve your room at our conference discount rate. This will save you $35.00 over the normal weekend rate. Book today and come enjoy some of Ky's most beautiful Fall scenery, great food, interesting conversations and hear plans for the ST in 2012 and beyond.

Call the reservation desk at the Lodge directly.

Traildust · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:15 am Post subject: Schedule Update for Conference

Friday: September 16, 2011

2:00 p.m. - Campsite available for check in.

5:30 p.m. - Hike to Whittleton Arch. Depart from Picnic Shelter in Whittleton Campground. We are please to have as our guide, the former Naturalist for Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Gary Jennings.

7:30 p.m. - Pot Luck Barbecue ..... STA will provide the meat, campers and attendees are asked to bring a dish (potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, cole slaw etc.)

8:30 p.m. - Campfire - Bring guitars etc if you like.

===============================
Saturday- 17 September 2011

7:00 a.m. - Light breakfast at shelter. Coffee.

7:30 a.m. - Depart for Bridge Hike. Lodge attendees can meet the group at foot of steps at 7:40.

8:30 - Registration desk open at the Lodge

9:00 - Conference begins with Opening remarks and Annual Report for STA

9:30 a.m. - All Tied Up in Knots. Carl Stambaugh from Ashland gives a basic course in tieing the knots you may need to hang that hammock safely, tie down that tarp tent, lash together a splint, hang that bear bag so in the morning you don't have to untie a big knot.

10:00 a.m. - Lost in the Woods - Can G.P.S. Save You? Bring your G.P.S. unit and get help making it work or work better for you. Dale Morton, scout leader will help us make it work.

11:00 a.m. - Surviving a Bear Encounter - Jayson Plaxico, Wildlife Biologist with the KY Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources Bear Program as one of our guest speaker. He will also touch on the attack at the Gorge this past spring, as well as bear range, behavior, preventative measures when camping, hiking, etc.

12:00 p.m. - Volunteer Recognition Luncheon in the Lodge dining room. $10.00 plus tax and gratuity. Go through line and we will eat in private dining room area.

1:00 p.m. - State of the State's Forest! Tim Sheehan from the Ky Division of Forestry share the results of the Forestland Assessment completed on all forest lands in Kentucky.

2:00 p.m. - Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop. Michelle Adams, from Georgetown, a master trainer and member of the Central Ky Back Country Horsemen refreshes our memories on the basics of the LNT ethic.

3:00 p.m. - Trail Maintenance Hour. Two classes to choose from depending on your skill level. For the beginner, the first time out to help with a little maintenance we offer the Intro to Trail Maintenance Class. If you have some experience and want to move to the next step we offer the class on "Trail Brushing and Scoping" where you will learn some additional techniques for clearing, widening and reporting trail conditions.

4:00 p.m. - Report on the Forest Services Monitoring Report.

4:30 p.m. - STA in FY 2012. Where are we heading, how can you help, what's the plan?

5:00 p.m. - Election of Board Members. Approval of changes to by-laws.

5:30 p.m. - STA Annual Conference ends. The newly elected board of directors will meet to elect it leadership, set it meeting schedule for the next 6 months, approve the appointment of the excecutive director, immediately following the end of the conference.

Schedule subject to change. We hope you will please come be a part of the discussion and the planning for the year ahead.

Pilgrim11b10 · on trail Joined: 06 Jul 2011 Posts: 20 Location: USA

Is anyone planning to video the demo's and the skill sessions. I will be bringing my video cam any way, so maybe we could put the meet on STA facebook page thru youtube to our friends who couldn't make it.
Pilgrim
aka Richard

Traildust · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:12 pm Post subject:

Great idea Pilgram. We welcome you help in making this happen.

traildust

Traildust · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 12:43 pm Post subject:

Sat. Sept 17th - STA Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. $10.00 plus tax and tip. We honor our volunteers for 2011 including our Volunteer of the Year, present the first Award for Merit and present three groups with our Trail Partners in Service Awards. Hope to see you there. To register for the conference, click on this link https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e4mxo0bdeddf2091&oseq

Pilgrim11b10 · on trail Joined: 06 Jul 2011 Posts: 20 Location: USA

I don't know if anyone else has checked but thunderstorms are predicted for fri. 15th and showers for sat. 16th. If the weather guys are correct I'll be car camping and not likely to go hiking in the mud, thank you very much, lol
Pilgrim
aka Richard

Traildust · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:33 pm Post subject:

Yep. We are watching the weather. If rain is predicted at more than 50% we most likely will cancel the Friday activities all together and just ask folks to come out on Saturday. We will post here, on Facebook, Twitter and our webpage any weather decisions.

Pilgrim11b10 · on trail Joined: 06 Jul 2011 Posts: 20 Location: USA

Thanx