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Yalobusha Historical Society Minutes – June 2012

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Lloyd Caulfield

Thirty –three attendees at June’s Yalobusha Historical Society meeting listened to Lloyd Caulfield tell his story of hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2003.  Lloyd noted that the Appalachian Trail began as a vision of forester Benton MacKaye.  Earl Shaffer became the first to report a thru-hike in 1948.  Vertical white paint known as White Blazers mark the trail and are painted on tree, signs, roads, and any visible object. The Appalachian Trail stretches from Springer Mountain in the North Georgia Mountains to Mount Katahdin in Maine.  The trail passes through fourteen states.  The Appalachian Trail is 2174 miles along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains. The interest in the A. T. exploded in 1972 after National Geographic gave a description through photographs and text. It takes 5,000,000 steps to complete the trail. Hiking the trail is really social as the A. T. is crowded with the 2000 people that attempt to walk it each year.  Only 10 to 20 percent finished. Lloyd started by himself but made many friends along the way. One walks the trail by himself each day and friends are met at the campsites each night.   Lloyd walked the trail in 166 days, and he saw 16 bears.  His pack weighed 30 lbs.  Lloyd stayed in one of the 250 backcountry shelters located at varying intervals, as a service to all A.T. users. Food was bought in grocery stores in towns along the trail. Lloyd’s only clothes were the ones he wore, therefore, he wrapped himself in his tent tarp as his clothes washed in a Laundromat in a nearby town along the A.T.   The first mile stone to every hiker is crossing from Georgia to North Carolina. A picture made of McAfee Knob in Virginia was shown as it is one of the most photographed spots on the A.T.  A side trip was made on the Amtrak Train to Washington D.C. for the Fourth of July.  A picture was shown of the Susquehanna River coming into Duncan, Pennsylvania.  Another side trip was made with friends to New York City.  In the Pennsylvania New Jersey area the terrain becomes rocky and jagged.  Four days were spent in Hanover, New Hampshire with a visit to the library at Dartmouth College to search genealogy.  The White Mountains were beautiful in New Hampshire. Mt. Washington was viewed as the tallest peak in the New England area. A major mile stone was entering into Maine, the last state on the A.T.  In some parts of the trail in Maine, such as the Mahoosuc Notch, even the strongest hikers may only average 1 mile per hour.  There are other parts in which hikers must hold on to tree limbs and roots to climb and descend.  The trail ends on Mt. Katahdin Baxter State Park in Maine. Lloyd’s father, Barron Caulfield, joined him at the end of the A.T. to climb Mt. Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine at 5268 feet. In conclusion, Lloyd noted that hiking the trail promotes independent thought to make decisions that society doesn’t say you should.
Lloyd is a native of Water Valley and is presently living in Hot Springs, ARK in second year nursing school.
Other business discussed at the meeting included:
Lawrence Litten spoke a prayer
 Mike Worsham extended heartfelt sympathy to Bill Trotter’s family.
 Carl Vick reported the handicap ramp would be completed and a landscape plan would be presented to the July YHS Board Meeting
The Denley Book by John Moorman is being sold for fifty dollars.
Joy Tippit reported that goods were being collected for the October 6, 2012 fundraiser.
The speaker for the July meeting will be Bobby Murphree, and his topic will be the Murphree Family.
Attending the June Meeting were Alma Moorman, Tom Moorman, Julia Fernandez, Bobbie Hutchins, Bobby Hutchins, Dave Hovey, Emma Hovey, Cliff Chandler, Bobbie Smith, Elizabeth Caulfield, John Moorman, Cynthia Dodge, Barron Caulfield, Opal Wright, Donna Logan, H. B. McGuire, Calvin Schmitz, Mike Ayers, Jean Fly, Pat Brooks, Kay McCulley, Debby Hughes, Betty Miller, Jimmie Pinnix, Carl
Vick, Mae Vick, Margaret Jean Ross, Lawrence Litten, Tom Moorman, Francine Pinnix, Gary Tippit, Joy Tippit, Mike Worsham

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