October 1, 2021
Getting Back on the Trail

While there haven't been many hikes in the last few months we have had a lot of activities.

On May 16th we had maintenance and blaze painting on the trail. Trail magic was held on June 24th and 25th. We had our usual hot dogs and array of salads and goodies. Bo Koltnow from WFMZ came out to do a story on our Trail Magic and also went out to Bake Oven Knob to check it out before the graffiti cleanup.

The big Bake Oven Knob Graffiti cleanup took place on June 26". Spearheaded by Game Commission Land Manager Bill Carr and Tim Quick from the Haycock Bouldering Coalition, the cleanup was a collaboration between the Game Commission, Haycock Boulder Coalition, Allentown Hiking Club, the Flametamers Wildlands Fire Crew, Lehigh County Task Force 99, the Lehigh Valley Spartans and Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club. Elephant Snot, a grafitti removal solution was applied to the painted rocks. After letting it sit on the rocks and "do its thing," it was washed off by the fire crew. AHC served hot dogs and other donated snacks and drinks to the volunteers. Ash Bailot from the Morning Call was there to document the effort for the paper.

A smaller 2" cleanup was held in August to remove some newly painted graffiti. The fire crews weren't at this cleanup so backpack water sprayers were used to wash off the elephant snot. We will be back at the church meeting in person starting in November. We are going to use a hybrid Zoom/In Person format tomake the meeting more accessible to everyone. We purchased a microphone to allow the people on Zoom to be able to hear all the discussion in the room. There is a bit of a learning curve with process and I hope to have it functioning well at the next meeting.

Coming up we have more Maintenance Hikes, Corridor Monitoring and our favorite annual holiday hikes. I hope to see everyone!at the December Pot Luck!

Link: https://www.allentownhikingclub.org/blog/Getting-Back-on-the-Trail-38/

October 1, 2021
Clarissa Krommes / Chris Muth

The Allentown Hiking Club is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2021. A club history written for the 75th anniversary is on the club web site. For this anniversary, I am profiling some early club leaders.

Clarissa Ann Agnes Krommes was born March 30, 1907. She lived on North 19th Street in Allentown, graduated from Allentown High School, and in 1930 was employed as a stenographer in a machine shop. She must have enjoyed walking, because she attended the first meeting of new club in December 1931 and took an active role in establishing the club. At the end of 1932, when the club tallied attendance, she was recognized for having participated in the greatest number of hikes that year. She also led hikes and served as club vice-president for at least five years. But in the late 1930s, her name suddenly disappeared from the club records.

When I joined AHC, one of the club's active members was Chris Muth. She was a dedicated hiker and hike leader, helped organize social activities, and participated in the "litter crew" that kept the Club's Appalachian Trail section clean. In 1967 she had completed the club's series of hikes on the Pennsylvania Appalachian Trail and in 1969 the New Jersey Appalachian Trail series. She was awarded the Keystone Trails Association's Merit Award. During the winter of 1975, Chris was scheduled to lead two hikes, but she died unexpectedly on January 3, 1975. Her obituary described her as an "avid hiker".

What I did not know was that Chris Muth and Clarissa Krommes were the same person. Sometime in the late 1930s Clarissa married Bruce Muth and became the wife of a poultry farmer in Upper Macungie Township. Her first child was born in 1939; they had two more children in 1941 and 1944. At some point Clarissa adopted the nickname Chris, and when her obligations as a wife and mother permitted, she again became an active club member.

As far as I know, Clarissa is the only club member who was active in the 1930s and the 1960s and 1970s. Does anyone know if there are any other original members who remained active in the club in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s?

Link: https://www.allentownhikingclub.org/blog/Clarissa-Krommes-Chris-Muth-39/