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| OUR CHAPTER | OUTINGS/ACTIVITIES | TAKE ACTION | CHAPTER FORUM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Chapter is looking for a volunteer to help prepare the annual sales tax returns. If you have some tax preparation experience and would like to help out, please call chapter chair John Sheehan at 674-8121 or e-mail at jgsheehan01@yahoo.com. Or call treasurer Joe Polsinelli at 573-7689 or e-mail at jpolsinelli@gmail.com. Any help would be appreciated.
CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS FOR TRAIL WORK!
The Albany Chapter will be participating in some trail days projects this year and could use your help. See below for more information: If you are interested in either or both projects, contact Michael Geroux. Registration for the JBL Work Weekend is due soon, so get involved now!
The chapter banquet will be held on Tueaday May 8th at Mallozzi’s Clubhouse at Western Turnpike Golf Course. See the attached flyer for details. The flyer will also be mailed to all chapter members.
 PHIL FOUNTAIN MEMORIAL BIKE RIDE
As we all know, we lost member & trip leader, Phil Fountain last year to a tragic accident while he was volunteering at the Bon Ton Roulet bike tour in the finger lakes area. Shenectady chapter member Rich Vertigan is canvassing several local clubs to assess interest in sending a capital district contingent to this years event to ride in Phil's memory. Rich is considering getting matching shirts or jerseys and riding together as a group to honor Phil as our friend. The tour runs from July 22 to the 28th and there is more information at the website, www.bontonroulet.com. If this idea interests you please contact Rich Vertigan at vertiganr@gmail.com.
Do your part to conserve energy and Chapter resources and win a prize. For the next three months (Jan-Mar 2012) we will enter you in the Opt Out Raffle if you "Opt Out" of the printed Cloudsplitter in this time period. Three winners will be drawn to win the following prizes:
a $25 gift certificate to the ADK Store
1 ticket to the Albany Chapter Banquet
a $25 gift certificate to EMS.
The drawing will be held at the April 10th Membership meeting.
The Albany Chapter recognizes our responsibility to protect our environment, save energy and at the same time reduce the increasing printing cost of our newsletter.
But…we need your help! Almost 50% ($10,000-$11,000) of our budget is for the publication of the printed Cloudsplitter, and US postal rates are due to increase. The Cloudsplitter will always be available to members who want it, but there is a value and a benefit to going paperless. This will reduce the amount of paper coming into our homes and reduce the energy it takes to produce and handle it. The savings we hope to realize will give us more resources for Chapter projects and activities that can benefit the Albany membership and our outdoor community.
Advantages! Our website now offers easy access to an Interactive Outings Calendar, current events, forums and the ability to view or print the current Cloudsplitter. An archive of prior years' issues is included as well. The Cloudsplitter online is also available 2-3 weeks before the issue arrives in your mailbox. You can avoid getting closed out of events and hikes by accessing the online listing sooner. In addition, you will find updates to activities (highlighted in red) that have been added, cancelled or changed after publication of the Cloudsplitter.
Act now and go to the "Opt Out" page for the printed Cloudsplitter. It just takes a minute or two and you'll be entered to win a prize.
The Chapter will again sponsor one or more youngsters to attend the DEC summer camps. Application details have not yet been published, but if you are interested, see the descriptions below, and check the DEC website. If you are interested in the Chapter sponsoring your child, contact Thea Hoeth at thoeth109@yahoo.com. Youth camps are for those who are 11 - 13; if a child is 10 years old and will turn 11 by December 1, 2012 he or she can apply. Teen Camps are for those who are 14 - 17; if a child is 13 years old and will turn 14 by December 1, 2012 he or she can apply. 
The End-to-End, a 29-mile hiking endurance challenge along the Taconic Crest Trail offered by The Taconic Hiking Club, will be held on Saturday, May 12, 2012. A long-standing upstate New York hiking event, this day-long endeavor runs along the ridge separating New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. There are views of the Catskills (on a clear day) and Mt. Greylock to the immediate east. This one-day event rewards those successful hikers with a unique trail certificate and patch for traversing a cumulative elevation gain of 7,836 feet and a corresponding descent total of 9,470 feet. On an unimproved woods trail, the hike is for the fit and experienced entrant only. This event, held almost every other year for over 30 years, has no rain date and will be held regardless of weather. Past events have had hikers from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New York and Canada taking part and the trail itself has “appeared” in a least two national hiking magazines. The Taconic Hiking Club will set up a campsite on Friday, May 11, 2012 at the Berry Pond start line in the Pittsfield State Forest near Pittsfield, MA, and at that time entrants will be briefed on the trail conditions. The hike itself will start on Saturday, at 5:30 a.m. with three support sites en route and sweep parties following the hikers. Those interested and requiring further details or a registration form may contact Pam Bailey, at 39 Fane Court, Troy, NY 12182 or pambailey22@yahoo.com. Registration forms will not be accepted until after January 1, 2012. There will be a ceiling enrollment of 25 for this event with entrants listed in the order their registrations are received. An alternate list will be kept for substitutes in the case of cancellations. Those who completed the event in 2010 will not be eligible in 2012. The entry fee for this endurance challenge is $30.00 per entry, with no refund after March 31, 2012. If there are any questions feel free to contact me at the addresses listed above or visit the Taconic Hiking Club website at http://taconichikingclub.blogspot.com.
REMINDER DUE TO INCREASED GAS PRICES Due to high gas prices, it is very important that everyone shares fairly in the cost of gas to ease the burden on the drivers. When participating in chapter outings, please be sure to share in the cost of the gas factoring in the distance and current price of gas. Leaders should remind participants of this at the start of the activity.
If you like to draw outdoor-related landscapes in pen and ink, we’d love to have your sketches for the Cloudsplitter. Seasonally related themes, landscapes, wildlife, camping, hiking, paddling, biking—these are all worthy subjects. Please send sketches to Karen Ross at 7 Bird Rd., Lebanon Springs, NY 12125.
The Friends of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail are looking for trail users to serve as Canalway Trail Ambassadors on the section of trail from Watervliet to the Corning Preserve in the city of Albany. Trail ambassadors assist and inform trail users; monitor the trail and its conditions; and promote courtesy, safety and awareness of the trail. A volunteer coordinator to recruit ambassadors and to serve as a conduit of information between the ambassadors and the city is also needed. No experience required! For more information on the program, go to http://www.mhbht.org/ambassadors.htm or contact Gillian Scott at 372-8478 or adklookout@verizon.net
The Ways and Means Committee has a table setup at all chapter meetings selling all current ADK books and other items. You can purchase items with the benefit of ADK member discount without incurring shipping charges when ordering from Main Club.
Officers
The Albany Chapter
was established on October 13, 1922, just six months after the founding of the
Main Club. Twenty-nine members made up the founding membership.
Today the Albany Chapter membership numbers over 2,800, making it one of the
largest ADK Chapter. Contacts: Chapter Web address: www.adk-albany.org Chapter Chair: John Sheehan, e-mail:
jgsheehan01<at>yahoo<dot>com
Location: Most of the members
of the ALBANY CHAPTER of ADK live in the Capital District and
surrounding areas. Affiliate members live throughout New York State and
other states.
Home Chapter/Affiliate: When joining ADK you can
designate Albany Chapter as your home chapter at no extra charge. You
get the Cloudsplitter (the chapter's newsletter which includes the activity
schedule) and can vote at meetings. Members of other chapters can "affiliate"
with the Albany Chapter which puts them on the Cloudsplitter mailing
list for an additional $10.50 per year sent to headquarters along with their
membership dues. Memberships are for a full year, no matter
when you join.
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