History Archives - Appalachian Mountain Club Delaware Valley Chapter

Hike, Ceremony Celebrate 51 Years of LeRoy Smith Shelter

Posted on November 26, 2023December 20, 2023 by Raun

A commemorative hike and ceremony were held on November 26 at the LeRoy Smith Shelter on the AT, marking 51 years to the day since it was built by Delaware Valley Chapter volunteers in 1972.

The shelter is located on a 16-mile section of the Appalachian Trail between Wind Gap and Little Gap that has been maintained by our chapter since the late sixties.

LeRoy Smith, the driving force behind building the shelter, died at an early age shortly after it was completed.

Read the story of the shelter the Summer 2017 issue of Footnotes written by Ken Graham, who participated in the construction of the shelter, and watch the video of the ceremony using the links below.

Read The Story on Page 4

Watch Video

Chimborazo: The Highest Mountain in the World

Posted on April 1, 2022March 27, 2022 by Raun

That is, if you measure from the center of the earth. This extinct stratovolcano is 20,549 feet above sea level, but because it lies on the equator in Ecuador, it sits in the maximum part of the Earth’s equatorial bulge. Its peak is the farthest from Earth’s center, and the closest point on our planet to the Sun. Measured from sea level, it is only the 37th highest in the Andes. Aconcagua in Chile at 22,283 feet is the highest.

The biggest mountain in the world by far is Denali, in Alaska. It is a “mere” 20,310 feet high, but it rises from a 2,000 foot base with an immense bulk that dwarfs all other mountains in the world. Denali means “the great one” in the indigenous Koyukon language. However…

If you include the undersea part of mountains, the Big Island of Hawai’i, topped by Mauna Kea at 13,803 feet above sea level, is even taller and bigger, rising more than 32,000 feet from the depths. In geologic terms it is a youngster, only about a million years old.

Membership

Posted on January 1, 2021May 31, 2021 by Raun

In 2022, the Delaware Valley Chapter will celebrate its 60th year of existence. In October 1962 when the chapter was formed, there were about 200 members in the Philadelphia area. Ten years later, the membership had grown to 620. By the time of the chapter’s 25th anniversary in 1987, there were 1187 members. As of January 2021, the chapter has 4,831 members.

Harriman State Park

Posted on February 10, 2016May 31, 2021 by Raun

In 2016, DV Chapter members became involved with leading chapter trips at the new AMC facility at Harriman State Park. The success of the Stephen & Betsy Corman AMC Harriman Outdoor Center has led to the addition of a second facility at Harriman, which is expected to open in 2023.

Delaware Valley Chapter & AMC Staff Office

Posted on March 2, 1999May 31, 2021 by Raun

In 1999, the AMC opened the first Mid-Atlantic Regional Office in Titusville, NJ, which helped launch a more active collaboration between the DV Chapter and AMC staff. This has been a very beneficial arrangement thanks to staff Regional Managers like Tom Gilbert, Jad Daley, Kristen Sykes, and Mark Zakutansky. The office was moved to a downtown Bethlehem location in 2006 and to its current home at Illick’s Mill in Bethlehem in 2015. The Illick’s Mill location also serves as a location for various DV Chapter meetings and educational efforts.

Leadership Committee

Posted on February 28, 1997May 31, 2021 by Raun

The DV Chapter Leadership Committee was formed in 1997 in response to a clubwide initiative to have chapters take a more active role in establishing leadership standards and providing instruction for chapter members in how to successfully lead outdoor activities. This group has sponsored an annual Leadership Training Weekend each spring ever since, originally at the Mohican Outdoor Center, and since 2002 at the Nockamixon State Park Education Center. Since 2019, the program has expanded under Leadership Chair Jeff Fritzinger to include new and innovative online options connected with clubwide leadership initiatives.

Mohican Outdoor Center

Posted on March 10, 1993May 31, 2021 by Raun

The Chapter has also become involved in a number of other programs over the years. In 1992, the Lehigh Valley Group, a sub-group of the DV Chapter , was formed and has continued to run monthly program meetings and bring together members from the northern part of the chapter ever since. In 1993, AMC launched operations at the Mohican Outdoor Center in Delaware Water Gap. Kent Johnson, then DV’s Regional Director, discovered this property while involved in trail work efforts in the area, convinced AMC’s executive staff from Boston that it was a worthwhile project, and organized the volunteer committee that launched operations there. DV Chapter members were extremely active in the renovations and programming at Mohican in the first two years when it was a volunteer-run operation, and ever since in assisting the AMC staff-run operations there.

Ridge Runner

Posted on June 10, 1992May 31, 2021 by Raun

The Ridge Runner program on the chapter section of the Appalachian Trail began in the summer of 1992 and has continued almost every year since then. The program is a shared effort by the chapter, AMC, ATC, and the PA Department of Forestry and Parks, which helps provide major funding. A person is hired each summer to patrol and care for a 42 mile section of trail between Delaware Water Gap and Lehigh Furnace Gap. The program goal is to help protect and preserve the Trail experience for current and future generations through Leave No Trace education and on the ground monitoring of resources. Bill Steinmetz and Dan Schwartz have been co-coordinators of the program since its inception.

Trail Advocating

Posted on May 2, 1982May 31, 2021 by Raun

The DV Chapter has a long history of involvement in building, maintaining, and advocating for trails throughout our region. Advocacy efforts led by Malcolm White in the 80’s led to the Lehigh Tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension being twinned, rather than running a road through Lehigh Gap as had been proposed. The creation of the Perkiomen Trail in the 90’s was due in part to advocacy efforts spearheaded by Kent Johnson and Jane Shepard that involved many DV members. Trails from Valley Forge to Delaware Water Gap, including a section of the AT, have been the focus of volunteer efforts by DV Chapter members. In recent years, the chapter has been active in efforts to create the Pennsylvania Highlands Trail Network, which will extend the Highlands Trail (130 miles in New York and New Jersey) along the length of the Pennsylvania Highlands, from the Delaware River at Riegelsville, PA south to the Maryland border in south-central PA.

Activities on the Rise

Posted on March 31, 1977May 31, 2021 by Raun

The rise in membership has been matched by a rise in the level of activity in the chapter. In 1972, then Hiking Chair Kenneth Graham noted in his annual report that there had been a total of 59 organized hikes that year. In 1977 Hiking Chairman Malcolm White noted that the response to the hiking program was disappointing: several of the 50 hikes scheduled had no participants and only four had more than ten people show up. In 2019, before Chapter operations were interrupted by the COVID pandemic, DV leaders led an average of 65 hikes every month. Nearly 1500 individuals joined and enjoyed these activities, and 135 members reached 100-miler status that year. In addition, numerous backpacking, trail work, biking, and paddling trips were part of the very active schedule.

Whitewater Paddling

Posted on May 10, 1975May 31, 2021 by Raun

From the mid 1970s until 2014, the chapter had a very active whitewater paddling program, often running more than 50 trips a year on class II to IV rivers. Introductory instruction courses for both whitewater and general paddling that drew more than 20 students, plus advanced classes in whitewater and sea kayak paddling were offered each year, For the past 25 years, swiftwater safety training classes have been full every year, For many years, the chapter also ran annual week-long whitewater trips along the Appalachians as far south as Georgia, plus weekend trips to the Adirondacks and New England The club once owned and maintained nine whitewater boats and still has three. Loss of leaders and general loss of interest in whitewater among members eliminated that program. Meanwhile, the flatwater program, once small, has grown, and now offers trips most weekends from late April to mid-October.

Ruby Horwood

Posted on January 1, 1974May 31, 2021 by Raun

Ruby Horwood, DV Chapter Chair from 1969-70, went on to become the first female president of the AMC (clubwide) from 1974-75. During her time in those roles, she was active in the Tocks Island Dam battle, which led to the creation of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and also in protecting Franconia Notch in the White Mountains from the proposed widening of I-93 to a four-lane superhighway. She celebrated her 100th birthday in the spring of 2017 at a special party with the female DV Chapter Chairs who had followed in her footsteps.

LeRoy Smith Shelter

Posted on November 10, 1972May 31, 2021 by Raun

The LeRoy Smith Shelter was completed in November of 1972 off the Katellen Trail on the chapter’s maintenance section of the Appalachian Trail between Wind and Little Gap. It was built by a dedicated group of chapter volunteers and local residents led by Trails Master LeRoy Smith. A unique notched log construction technique was utilized for strength and durability. The shelter today looks much like it did following construction due to the ongoing work of maintenance and caretaking volunteers under the able guidance (for most of those years) of Ken & Pat Sacks.

Preservation Needs

Posted on May 31, 1972May 31, 2021 by Raun

Not everything in AMC has changed, however. Chapter Chairman Gardner Dean noted in the 1972 annual report that some of the issues facing AMC that year were “overuse of the trails and camping area, use of motor vehicles on foot trails, loss of wilderness areas to various usages, preservation and expansion of trail systems. A firmer position is being taken on conservation matters.” Many of these issues still face us in 2021, and we hope that AMC’s efforts to ”promote the protection, enjoyment, and wise use of the mountains, rivers and trails of the Northeast” will continue to have an effect on these problems in years to come.