History
The Carolina Mountain Club began in 1923 as a spinoff of an earlier outdoor club, the Southern Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, which was chiefly focused on maintaining cabins for the use of its members. In 1931 CMC was strengthened when it united with the Carolina Appalachian Trail Club founded in 1930 to complete segments of the Appalachian Trail in the North Carolina-Tennessee region. The CMC at the time had about 60 members with 25-30 active members.
During the 1930s' CMC evolved into a strong organization with continuing emphases on hiking, trail construction and maintenance, and social activities featuring quest speakers and slide presentations. The organization publicized its activities extensively through the Asheville Citizen Times. The primary project of CMC during that decade was getting the Appalachian Trail routed, marked, and maintained. The club was responsible for all of the AT from Virginia to Georgia except the section in the Great Smoky Mountains. The CMC also took public positions on a variety of conservation projects, including purchase and preservation of forests, road building, and the development of the Tennessee Valley Authority lake system. From 1943 to 1946 the Club suspended activities because of the war.
After World War II CMC was reactivated, expanding and prospering around its three basis activities of hiking, maintaining its now 92 miles of AT and other trails, and promoting conservation. In the 1950s and 1960s it supported efforts to establish the Linville Gorge Wilderness, the Shining Rock and Middle Prong Wilderness, and the Craggy Mountain Scenic Area. Members volunteered thousands of hours in maintaining the AT, building shelters, and acquiring property alongside the trail.
A major project of the seventies was the planning and construction of the Mountains to Sea Trail, which is scheduled to run from Clingman's Dome in the Great Smokies to the coast of North Carolina. By 1997 the CMC has finished the 93 miles for which it was responsible and continues to maintain.
In 1998 the CMC celebrated its 75th anniversary. In 1960 it had broken the 100 member level and since 1987 it has had 450 to 500 members. It sponsors all day hikes on Wednesdays and Sundays and half-day hikes on Sunday afternoons. It maintaines several trail maintaince crews who work on the Appalachian Trail, Mountains to Sea Trail, and other trails in the region. Individual members also have responsibility for maintaining specific sections of the Appalachian and Mountains to Sea Trails. The principal social activities are the annual meeting in November, an annual camporee, and occasional overnights.
The CMC is the most important hiking and trail maintaince organization in western North Carolina. Its members come not only from Asheville, but other towns in the region and other states. It cooperates in joint concerns with the US Forest Service, the Appalachian Trail Conference, and other hiking clubs like those in eastern Tennessee