Inspiring trail maintenance leaders - by Jim Foster

Guest post by Jim Foster​

When people acclaimed the work of Sir Isaac Newton, he famously said: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” I don't claim to have achieved anything like what Newton did, but, like him, I credit others for anything I have achieved.

Here are three giants who inspired me to start maintaining trails and hike on them. In September of 2005, I had started hiking around my home in south central PA and heard about the Cumberland Valley Appalachian Trail Club. I decided to come to one of their Saturday work days. That work day was led by Frank Bohn and Dick Barrick. Frank and Dick impressed me with their quiet, unassuming dedication to the Trail. We had a great time cleaning out water bars and brush. At the end, Dick, who was CVATC's chief of maintainers, asked me if I was interested in taking on a one mile section. I said that I might, and he showed it to me. I took over that section near Sherwood Drive, which I maintain to this day. Sadly, Dick has passed away. Frank moved to Florida several years ago.

But the REAL star of CVATC was and is Craig Dunn. Some of you may know Craig as the husband of our illustrious Secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Cindy Adams Dunn. Not as many know that Craig is an acclaimed and well honored star of the Appalachian Trail in his own right.

Craig started out with trail work in the 1970s with another wonderful A.T. club, the Susquehanna A.T. Club. He was President when SATC built its shelter on top of Peters Mountain in Dauphin County. In the late 1980s, the stewards of the A.T. decided to change the path of the A.T. from a road walk in the Cumberland Valley to a true woodland trail between Carlisle and Mechanicsburg. Craig led the effort with others to persuade landowners to give up a portion of their land for the trail. The effort became quite contentious and a group was organized to oppose the effort. For a time it looked like their efforts would succeed. But, they hadn't counted on the quiet, relentless persistence of Craig Dunn. More than anyone else, Craig was responsible for the ultimate success of the project. A new club was founded to manage the 17 mile section of new trail, CVATC. Since it was founded in 1991, Craig has been its trailmaster, leading the maintenance efforts.

Craig, Dick and Frank inspired me to move from maintaining a section to leadership. I became President of CVATC in 2009. Later I started to lead the work on the section of the A.T. KTA manages in northeastern PA. I also found out that I loved backpacking. I completed a thru-hike of the entire A.T. in 2007. I've done several others around the world.

These days we hear a lot from people who brag about how important they are to the success of a particular project. But, in my humble opinion, the real work of getting important work done is performed by quieter people who work behind the scenes and seek no glory for their successes. Craig, Dick and Frank exemplify these important people.

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