The Rachel Carson Trail Challenge Promotion Committee wants to increase participation in the training hikes, the Homestead Challenge (18 miles) and the Family Challenge (8 miles) this year. We need people who can help us disseminate information about these events to their schools, churches, gyms, sports groups, and any other organization whose members might enjoy vigorous outdoor activity.

We now have a Media section on the web site that has information you can use for this purpose. There are articles that can be copied into newsletters, and one-page posters or flyers.

The Promotion Committee welcomes new members. Call Bob Mulshine at 412-741-0862 if you would like to get involved. We are meeting monthly now with plenty of work to do between meetings.

In addition to spreading the word about the events, the Committee works to get sponsors whose contributions will be used to maintain the trail and make the events better. Please contact us if you know of people or organizations that would consider sponsorship, or if you work for an organization that regularly sponsors outdoor events. We can offer recognition in our collateral, web site, and on our shirts in return for donations. We are also looking into sponsored clinics, such as a shoe clinic or a hydration and nutrition clinic, to do in conjunction with the training hikes. Any suggestions, especially regarding organizations willing to put on a clinic, will be appreciated.

You can email the Promotion Committee at challenge@rachelcarsontrails.org. (Be sure to put <notspam> as the first part of the message subject.)

Our email server receives lots of spam. An overwhelming amount of spam. In some of our mailboxes, the ratio is over 1000:1 (one legitimate message for every thousand spam messages). This situation has been consuming far too much of our volunteer time and resources.

Spam filters don't help us as they simply shunt messages deemed spam to a separate folder. We still have to examine them in case of a false positive (a legitimate message improperly flagged as spam), thus saving little time. Spam blocking software helps, but it too can't reliably detect all spam.

So, we've instituted a change to our server that requires any unsolicited email sent to us to contain the term <notspam> as the first part of the message subject. "Unsolicited" means your email address isn't known to our server. Your email address becomes known two ways: either we send you an email first (mailing list messages count) or you send us a message with <notspam> as the first part of the subject. (The email server will strip this off, so we'll never see it in your subject). Once your email address is known, you can correspond with us as usual.

If you send us an email without the <notspam> indicator and your email address isn't known to our server, you will receive a delivery failure in your Inbox. Simply open up your Sent folder and find the message you sent, click Forward, put <notspam> in the subject (make sure to include the angle brackets), and click Send.

It's unfortunate that we need to shift the onus for the spam problem onto email senders. We ask for your understanding and regret any inconvenience you may experience.

We've scheduled a new series of ten training hikes, in addition to the four traditional hikes in early June, for folks who want to build up their fitness and endurance in preparation for the Challenge. The hikes start next Saturday at just five miles and increase to longer and hillier terrain, culminating in a 19+ mile hike on the trail on June 7, two weeks before the event. See the Goal Training page for all the details.

The two events added last year are back again! Choose from the demanding 34-mile Challenge, an 18-mile Homestead Challenge, or an 8-mile Family Challenge. Unlike last year, all these events will end in the same place — North Park. For details and to register online, see the Challenge 2008 page.

On Saturday, February 2, we held our annual Winter Hike on the Harmony Trail. The temperature was in the mid-30s and the rain/snow mix the night before made the wooded sections of the trail icy. Although it was Groundhog Day, no one reported seeing any groundhogs.

Starting at the northern trailhead at Route 910, seventeen hikers and one dog headed south, following the gravel trail surface recently restored by the gas company after their pipeline work. We took the Brooktree spur trail, crossed Wexford Run on rocks, then up through the Brooktree office complex. We crossed Route 19 and headed into North Park, following the Bluebird Trail over to the north ridge trail, which meanders along the ridge before descending to the lake. The distance was nearly six miles and took about two and a half hours.

We ended at the Beaver Shelter, site of the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge finish this year, where everyone enjoyed brownies, cupcakes, and tea and cocoa brought by Marian Crossman and Patty Brunner. Many thanks to Mark Eyerman for organizing it!