Welcome to the September 2006 Electronic Newsletter of the Volkssport Club of West Point!

We organize our letter with the next month’s club events first, followed by new club information first, then “old” (previously published) club news that is still newsworthy , followed by other walking information, then a Calendar of Events.

Next Group Walk:

• Highland Falls YRE Group Walk - Saturday, 14 October (See Calendar below)

Next Club Events:

• Nyack, on Sunday, 10 September (THIS COMING WEEKEND!!)
  Nyack Street Fair Event (see Calendar below)
  
  
  
• Hudson Valley Ramble, on Sunday, 17 September
  Cold Spring Event (see Calendar below)
  
  
  
• Round Pond, on Sunday, 1 October
  “Ocktoberfest” Event ; see Calendar below

New Club News Appearing This Month for the first time!

Flyers, Membership Cards, and Badges –

All active people on our mailing list (club members and recent members within a few years) should have received a mailing last week containing the three upcoming events (Nyack, Cold Spring, and Round Pond) flyers. We hope to see you there!

All club members that have memberships expiring sometime in or after 2006 should have received their membership cards in the recent mailing or in a previous mailing. Let us know via email if you did NOT receive a membership card and you think you should. To save postage but still be timely from now on, membership cards for renewals will be sent during the NEXT mass mailings that we make, depending on when we receive your (welcomed!) renewal!

Finally, we still are working on some badge requests for those who joined in 2006. The badge company we use recently increased their shipping fees, so we are ‘batching’ requests in 2006. However, we will send badges to all those who’ve newly joined in 2006 shortly since our major renewal period is now finished, and we wish to get badges to all our members.

Atlantic Region Schedule –

As usual, attached to this email is the current Atlantic Region calendar courtesy of our club President Joan!

Thanks to the Renewals and New Members in 2006!

Recently, we’ve received renewals and membership dues from the following:

• Jeanette Havens
• Nancy and Farrell Patrick

Walking in Alaska -

(Editor’s (Andrew’s) note – this is an article written especially for our Volkssport Club by our Club Secretary Nancy Patrick who just finished “walking” Alaska – it is most interesting!)

Our recent trip to Alaska was primarily to check that state off of our "walking 50", list but also to explore a beautiful area of the United States.

Through our travel agent from Traveling Trekkers volksmarch club, we met another couple, Chuck and Diane Rose, from Colorado who would be part of our land/cruise trip. We had much in common and were compatible walkers. Chuck had set a goal for himself of 100 walks last year which he accomplished. They were 'way ahead of us in km and events.

Our first walk was in Anchorage. Farrell had flown off into the wilderness with a guide for some salmon fishing. I met Chuck and Diane for the first time at the start point in a hotel.The trail was unusual as it went through part of an airport, walking on runways! The trail directions cautioned us to look both ways for taxiing planes.  Eventually we were on a trail into Earthquake Park. Signs and photos told the story of the 1964 quake that hit Anchorage. It caused the downtown main streets to drop 15 feet. In the woods across from the trail we had our only moose sighting of the entire trip. We were very happy to finish this walk due to a rain that changed from showers to downpour. I had to use a hairdryer on my shoes and socks!

We rode a domed train to Denali National Park. Arriving at about 5:00 p.m. we checked into our hotel and were ready for our second walk. Sunset was about 11:00 p.m. so there was plenty of daylight. (A joke here is that parents send their children out to play with instructions to come home when it is dark. They don't see them again for three months.)  This trail had quite a few hills with several steep ones before getting into the park proper.  Most of the paths were gravel or paved bike paths and easily walked. We had been concerned about bears but were told there had not been any sightings recently.  Just in case, we talked in loud voices!

Our first port of call from the cruise ship was Fairbanks. This was the most disappointing walk of all. The rain and chilly weather didn't add anything either. The city had few buildings of interest. Part of the walk route was closed and had construction ongoing with lots of mud. There were no directions for us to detour.  We were routed through a tourist attraction, Pioneer Park, which was not open until later in the day.  We did, however, have our second wildlife sighting f of a beaver..

At our port of call in Sitka we had a map of a volkswalk which had been sanctioned as a special event for another tour  group. Once again we were walking in showers turned to downpour.  We passed several fish processing plants. Asking if we could tour one facility and being turned away (because of insurance) we happened upon a small plant that welcomed us inside. The very personable owner gave us a personal tour.  There were large containers of red snapper, halibut and salmon just off of boats docked outside.   We were given big rubber gloves and posed for photos holding these huge fish.  The owner told us that much of the catch we were looking at was being packed for shipping to the Fulton Fish Market in NYC.  A lot of the salmon was sold to cruise ships.

Continuing on we went to a totem pole park. Most of the poles were out in the woods in a natural setting. There was a pole that had been commissioned and being carved. In a visitors center other native artists were demonstrating bead work, drum painting and wood carving.

Our favorite walk of the entire trip was in Juneau.  This state capital can only be reached by ship or plane. This walk was rated 3 and much of it was uphill. The trailmaster was somewhat kind and didn't make us walk straight up!  We would walk one block up a steep hill then over one or two streets on level ground, then back up again. As we went higher there was a beautiful view of the port and city down below.  Finally reaching the top we were on a gravel road walking above a roaring stream fed by beautiful waterfalls coming from the top of the fir covered mountain.  Back down in the town we walked through a very old cemetery with most of the stones covered in thick moss.  Lumbering along the path, but not too close, was a huge porcupine.  Another sighting of wildlife!  Our trail took us back downtown and to the state capital building.  We had a very informative tour by a high school student.  We learned that the Juneau capital building is one of three without a dome. This is because when the building was built, Alaska was then only a territory and not yet a state.

(Editor’s note – read Andrew’s piece of trivia at the end of the article about Juneau!)

We all decided that this volkswalk should be one of the top 10.

Our final walk of this trip was in the city of Vancouver, B.C.  Going to the start point, a coffee shop/bakery, none of the employees knew anything about a volkswalk or box. They tried to send us to a mailbox on the corner!  We had a map of the city and reading the little trail description from Starting Point, we devised our own walk.  Later in the evening, I made contact with the POC and she said we had just about walked the trail from our made up directions. Vancouver is a beautiful city and extremely walkable. The waterfront has a huge dock where cruise ships come in. Next to it is a place where you can get on a little plane for flightseeing. There is an area called Gas Town and it melds into Chinatown. Lots of shops to explore and sidewalk cafes and restaurants for every taste.

This was a nice trip with plenty of walking opportunities.  Now if the airline can just find our luggage!!

(Editor’s note: I wonder if anyone knows that Juneau is the largest (in terms of physical area) city in the United States? From Wikipedia: “Today, Juneau is the largest city and the largest state capital in the United States. Its political boundaries include 2,717 sq. miles, making it larger than Rhode Island (1,545 sq. miles) or Delaware (2,489 sq. miles).”

Previously Published Club News that is still relevant!

2007 Elections Anyone interested in becoming an officer?

If you are interested in becoming an officer of the club, we will be holding elections this fall for the 2007 calendar year. Club President Joan Kimmel has already stated she will NOT be running for re-election…so if you are a current club member and you’d like to run for any one of the four positions (President, Vice President, Secretary, or Treasurer), feel free to send Joan an email at the club email address (See below) indicating so, and we’ll get you on the ballot! We’d like to have the elections held at the October 1^st Round Pond event, so get your names or nominations to Joan by 15 September.

News from other Venues:

Current Calendar!

These below are 'confirmed' times and dates!

We are sometime asked what a 'Group Walk' (as opposed to a Year Round Event (YRE) or Event) is - We credit our sister club in Albany, the ESCV (EMPIRE STATE CAPITAL VOLKSSPORTERS) for the following definition of GROUP walks: "Group Walk  means all meet and signup together at the same time, get a map and start together, then you proceed at your own pace.  There are NO GUIDES for this kind of walk.. Nor does a group have to stay together. "; so when you see this term in our calendar below, you'll now know what it means!   We usually have fast walkers, slow walkers, and medium walkers,  there's almost always someone you can walk with if you join us for your first time in a GROUP WALK!

As always, changes from the previous month in RED! 

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Nyack Street Fair Event

Sunday, 10 September

This event is now sanctioned and confirmed!

See the details above and at : http://www.ava.org/gen3/data/event_details.asp?eventid=74931

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Cold Spring Event
Sunday, 17 September

Additional info:  This walk is part of the annual “Hudson Valley Ramble”

See the details at : http://www.ava.org/gen3/data/event_details.asp?eventid=74726

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Round Pond Event

Sunday, 1 October

This event is now sanctioned and confirmed!

See the details above and at : http://www.ava.org/gen3/data/event_details.asp?eventid=75177

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Highland Falls YRE Group Walk

Saturday, 14 October

Date chosen to coincide with the Highland Falls Fall Festival !

Event Special Classifications - College Campus, Revolutionary War Site, US Presidents, Riverwalk America

Our usual breakfast meeting will be held at 9 AM at the PARK Restaurant, 451 Main Street, in the Village of Highland Falls. All are welcomed to the breakfast and meeting! Remember to bring government-issued photo ID for ALL walkers! You will not be allowed on the West Point Campus without it!!

Registration at 10:15 AM at the West Point Visitor’s Center, walking at 10:30 AM.

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Cornwall on Hudson YRE Group Walk

Sunday, 19 November

Event Special Classifications - Riverwalk America

Our usual breakfast meeting will be held at 9 AM at the PARK Restaurant, 451 Main Street, in the Village of Highland Falls. All are welcomed to the breakfast and meeting!

Register at 10:15 A.M. at the West Point Visitor's Center, then you need to make a short drive to the Cornwall starting point - Directions provided at the Visitor's Center - Walking at 10:30 AM.

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Hyde Park YRE Group Walk

Saturday, 9 December

Event Special Classifications - US Presidents, National Heritage, Riverwalk America, Railroad Heritage

Our usual breakfast meeting will be held at 9:00 AM at the Eveready Diner in Hyde Park. (540 Albany Post Rd, just north and across US Route 9 from the FDR Presidential Library) in Hyde Park.

All are welcomed to the breakfast and meeting!

Registration at 10:15 AM at the Eveready Diner as well. Walking at 10:30 AM.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------These events are tentative at the point in 2006 - hold the dates, and we'll issue confirmations in our newsletters as we get AVA sanction confirmations and firm up details - as always, you'll send them confirmed in our monthly newsletters:

(no events tentatively planned at the moment)

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Website:

http://www.ava.org/clubs/WestPoint/

email:

volkssportclubofwestpoint@hotmail.com

US Postal Address:

Volkssport Club of West Point

PO Box 30

West Point, NY 10996-0030

“See you on the trail!”

- Joan, Farrell, Nancy, and Andrew

VolkssportClubofWestPoint@hotmail.com