President's Trailhead- July

Dear Member,

Its summer!  Have you been on a hike or helped on a Trail Care event?   Get out there and bring a friend!   

I want to thank you for your efforts in furthering our mission of providing, preserving, protecting, and promoting recreational hiking trails and hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania. Each of you through trail maintenance in your club and throughout the state, advocacy on issues affecting our trails, and by just leading hikes are making a difference at a grassroots level.

Our 40th anniversary KTA Trail Care program in 2024 is in full swing this summer.  Plan to participate in one or more of the remaining trail cares that Jenn Ulmer has lined up for us.  Check out our website for details.

The Scott Farm along the Appalachian Trail will eventually become KTA's headquarters.  KTA has started preparing the Scott Farm Trailhead Master Site Plan.  We recently held a charette with KTA Staff, Board Members, and stakeholders like ATC, Central Pennsylvania Conservancy, CVATC, and others to begin the brainstorming of ideas.  We are now seeking your input on what should be done at the Scott Farm Trailhead space to better serve the community and visitors.  Please help us by taking our survey by clicking on this link: buff.ly/4ekW0Eu. If you have not completed the survey please do so before  JULY 15th! 

Its not too soon to start thinking about nominating members and clubs for our various service awards.  They include Certificates of Achievement, Volunteer of the Year, Club of the Year, and the Citation Award for lifetime achievement.  These will be presented at our fall KTA Annual Meeting. Please see our website for a listing and description of these awards.  The Awards Committee will be seeking nominations for these awards later this summer.  Start considering members and clubs to nominate for these awards.

The Board recently approved the establishment of another hiking award -The Teen Hiker Award.
The Awards Committee developed the requirements to be similar to the existing Youth Hiker Award that is for youth 12 and under.  Requirements for the Teen Hiker Award: Applicant must be 13 to 18 years old during the award year and must have hiked at least 50 miles on any trails in Pennsylvania during the award year (award year is September 1 to August 31). Applicant may receive this award on multiple occasion but must complete the 50-mile requirement on different trails each year.   A special patch for this award is in the works.  So please start promoting the encouraging teenagers you know to earn this award.  Maybe we can present some this year. The other existing hiking awards are also listed on our website.  Check them out and hike toward earning one this year.

There is a full list of KTA hikes, events, training courses, activities, and trail care opportunities.  There is so much to do. Please visit our website and sign up for one or more and bring a friend.

Please consider planning to make a gift to our Keystone Trails Endowment fund this year.  The earnings from the principal in this fund has been going toward furthering our mission.  In particular, toward member Club mini grants that have been presented this year.  

Our KTA Fall Annual Meeting will be nestled among the many hikes and activities at the Keystone  Hiking & Outdoor Weekend in the Susquehanna Riverlands of Pennsylvania on October 18-20.  Please put these dates on your calendar and checkout our website to register so you can plan to attend.  

On behalf of the Board and the membership I want to thank Brook and all our staff for the wonderful job they are doing to further our mission. 

For the trails and those who wander on them!  See you on the Trail!


Thanks
Wayne E. Gross
President, Board of Directors 
Keystone Trails Association
The Statewide voice of Pennsylvania Hikers