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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Last Night and Today with the NCTA


Friday evening I had the great pleasure of being part of a Christmas "party" (low-key) with North Country Trail Association board members, staff, and family. I'm not currently on the board, but I needed to be at the meeting today as chair of the Long Distance Hiking Committee, so I was invited.

These are people I know well, with whom I share common goals, and they also know me pretty well. That all adds up to being very comfortable with them, and having lots to talk about. (I run out of topics in "normal" company REALLY fast.) There were about 25 people there all together.

The host was the NCTA Executive Director (Bruce, in the green t-shirt). We could sample venison fondue, fish chowder, and wild turkey/mushroom soup over wild rice. And that was just the protein! There were lots of other goodies/munchies like crackers, vegs, cheese, spinach rolls, stuff to dip in chocolate fondue... in other words, food forever!

Christmas party

People left pretty early to go back to the motel, since meetings began early this morning. I stayed at Bruce's house.

I wasn't required to stay for the entire day, since I'm no longer an actual board member. So I only stuck around till mid-afternoon. Here are a few directors, looking serious.

board meeting

My really big news of the day is that the policy presented by the Long Distance Hiking Committee was passed by the board! Now there are actual standards which NCT hikers will be expected to follow. If this interests you, read more at NCTA Board Approves End-to-End Hike/ Trip Policy.

It was a very quality day!


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4 comments:

Ann said...

that looks like a friendly gathering.
congrats on getting the policy passed

Lin said...

Wow, I had no idea that there were policy makers for hiking. They look like a serious bunch when they are in the meetings.

Rick (Ratty) said...

It sounds like you had a nice productive time. I'm glad this association to help the trail exists.

Sharkbytes said...

Ann- they are really very good friends!

Lin- for the North Country Trail Association. It's a non-profit and has all of the requirements of any 501c3

Ratty- The trail, most long trails, have to have a non-profit to get them done and managed.