Annual dues for the year 2009 are due no later than
February 1, 2009.
Please use the membership application on the last page of the Newsletter and mark it renewal.
Note: new members that have joined in October, November or December of 2008 are considered paid for 2009
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POC event leaders needed for activities with the club.
(Please note: you must be a member to receive updates via email)
IF you're interested in becoming a member go to the POC Application link or click here on this link
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HUNTING SEASON
IF YOU'RE OUT THERE, BE AWARE! . . . WEAR BLAZE ORANGE FOR SAFETY
"Hunting Season" isn't just one month!!!
Always be aware when doing outdoor activities.
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Well here we are entering the last quarter of 2008 and the
last quarter of my 2nd year as President of the POC. The older I get it seems to accelerate and
this year seems to have attached itself to a rocket ship. Never the less it has been a fairly good year
for the club. Every weekend has had an
event and in some cases two and three events.
John Motz has reported that our trail maintainers have logged in 150
hours and as of this publication there are two more trail care events
scheduled. By the time this quarterly
newsletter is published the club will have participated in a parade and two
community events for the purposes of soliciting new members. This year the Keystone Trails Association
(KTA) is holding their annual meeting and hiking weekend at the Pocono
Environmental Education Center (PEEC) and our club was asked to support and
lead the local hikes (17 of them). So I
think it’s safe to say we have had a good active year so far. Some time ago I had a discussion with the Executive Director
and he asked me how active our club was?
My response was as follows: “We are basically a small club of
approximately hundred members, never the less we manage to have an activity
scheduled every weekend, but of course unfortunately these activities are
carried out by 10% of our membership getting involved”. His response was: “Based on his experience
10% was in fact above par”. Well I was
wrong, I looked over this year’s records and in fact the number is 20%. GREAT job to all of you. On behalf of myself as President and the
Executive Committee and the other 80% of the club we thank you. It is you who make the POC so great. Having said all of this I got to thinking how really great
this club could be if another 20% would step up and participate. You may have noticed that most of the weekend
hikes are led by the same leaders to be exact 14 of us. Now there are 52 weeks in the year,
consequently a good many of us are doing three or more hikes per quarter. Tom Miller has asked that more people step up
and volunteer to be hike leaders. This
is not all that difficult - schedule a hike your familiar with, publicize
yourself as the leader, define a specific meeting place and time, collect the names
and phone numbers of the participating (in case of inclement weather, etc, requiring
a change of plans) one or two days prior to the scheduled hike. Pretty simple, right! So give Tom Miller a
call at 570-992-1321 and schedule your hike for the next quarter. Another area that is in need of more
volunteers is our trail care, coordinator, John Motz. While we logged 150 hours so far this year it
was all done by 12 members, some putting in 12 to 15 hours
and more. It is important to
realize that the trails we use require constant care and the DCNR, while they
do their best to maintain them, cannot keep up and therefore rely on volunteers,
yup hiking and outdoor clubs such as ours.
Remember we use those trails extensively and if we want to continue to
have so many available we better step up to the plate. The alternative could be some favorite trails
eliminated. November 23 is our next Quarterly Meeting and the time of
the year to elect new officers. In
accordance with our by-laws, this year we are to elect a Vice President and
Secretary. Roy Kleinle has accepted the
nomination for Vice President; however Judy Zarach, our present secretary, has
declined the nomination. Therefore we
are in need of a Secretary Candidate. The
position requires someone to take notes and publish them a minimum of four
times a year (Quarterly Meetings) and two or three executive meetings as
required. I asked Tony Gatto to put the
slate together, so if anyone has the desire to step up please contact Tony at
570-646-0673. Previously, I mentioned how much better this club could be
if we had another 20% participation, what I had in mind was weekend camping
trips (hiking/bicycling) rafting the Lehigh River Canoeing/Kayaking the
Delaware or Susquehanna rivers. Maybe
some weekend ski trips (down hill or cross country). Basically there is no limit to where we could
go other than some of your active participation. So please step up, use your
imagination and become part of the next 20% of participants. Your President George Singlemann
Remember there is no CL_B without U !!!!!!!!
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Prices Reduced/New Color Added to First Edition Club T’s!
(new color picture coming soon)
The Club's first edition T-shirts are now available in Navy Blue (M and L sizes only).
The Navy Blue Tee's are 50/50-poly/cotton blend and look sharp with white graphics. The original All Cotton Green Tee's are still available in all sizes- AdultS/M/L/XL. All Tee's sport the original POC Tagline-“Take A Hike!” Requests for children’s sizes should be submitted- if we get enough we will order some. Specify size and color when ordering.
Tee's are $12 for non-members/$10 for members.
Patches are still $3.00 each. Shipping costs will be determined per order.
UPCOMING TRAIL CARE DATES 2008
Many Hands make Light Work. Trail Maintainers are also wanted to perform ongoing maintenance outside of these regularly scheduled trail care events. For more information contact John Motz 570-236-1462.
The Pocono Outdoor Club offers all members and members of the public the opportunity to contribute to the quality of trail experiences throughout the Pocono’s. We offer FREE training to all volunteer maintainers and work with area land managers to facilitate quality trail experiences. Meeting time is 9 AM unless otherwise noted.
ACRONYMS YOU NEED TO KNOW (YNTK)
BPSP – Big
DSF –
SHR –
The Pocono Outdoor Club Trail care Crew had another successful season in 2008. Crews maintained trails at Big Pocono and Hickory Run State Parks, as well as parts of the Thunder Swamp Trail System in Delaware State Forest. The season got off to an early start with Charlie Lentz clearing TST south of 402 toward Pennel Run in JANUARY. Chalk up one benefit for global warming. (?) The bridge over Saw Creek was finally replaced in the fall in cooperation with DCNR maintenance staff and armed rangers. Who needs a sledge hammer to bust rock when you have a .40 cal side arm? Special thanks to Assistant District Foresters Tim Ladner and Tim Balch, Rangers Pete Shearer, Rick Bacon and Brian Eifert (we have pictures!), and Maintenance Supervisor Bob Nelson and his crew for helping to restore access during high flows over this cold water stream. The POC TCC also installed about half of the new signage at Big Pocono SP this summer, with the other half to be installed in the spring of 2009- Job Security!
Seven maintainers earned the coveted POC Volunteer Maintainer T-shirts for attending 3 or more trail cares or doing at least 20 hours of maintenance. Kudos to Frank Allen, George Singlemann, Roy Kleinle, Charlie Lentz, Jack Haley, Bob Wacker and Judy Zarach. The Club logged over 400 hours of volunteer service in 2008 and has work scheduled for the 2009 season. Thanks to everyone who came out this year and helped keep Pocono trails open, blazed and enjoyable.
The Pocono Outdoor Club offers all members and members of the public the opportunity to contribute to the quality of trail experiences throughout the Pocono’s. We offer FREE training to all volunteer maintainers and work with area land managers to facilitate quality trail experiences. Meeting time is 9 AM unless otherwise noted.
Volunteers of all levels are welcomed. Volunteer opportunities range from blaze painting and pruning to whole-sale trail clearing and tread construction and rehab. No experience necessary, will train any healthy and willing volunteers. Volunteers should bring gloves and water, snacks, and lunch if appropriate. Contact Trail care Coordinator John Motz 570-236-1462 trailbuilder@enter.net for more info. Attendance at 3 trail care events or 20 hours of trail care earns a POC Trail care Crew t-shirt. Not available for purchase.
See you on the trail, John Motz, Trail Care and Advocacy Chair
Volunteers of all levels are welcomed. Volunteer opportunities range from blaze painting and pruning to whole-sale trail clearing and tread construction and rehab. No experience necessary, will train any healthy and willing volunteers. Volunteers should bring gloves and water, snacks, and lunch if appropriate. Contact Trail care Coordinator John Motz 570-236-1462 trailbuilder@enter.net for more info. Attendance at 3 trail care events or 20 hours of trail care earns a POC Trail care Crew t-shirt.
Not available for purchase. See you on the trail, John Motz, Trail Care and Advocacy Chair