Ever wonder what happens to those registers you sign on summits?
Thanks to an initiative mostly from highpoint liaison chairman Stony Burk the Club has begun saving historic registers. He just turned over the reigsters from Granite and Borah Peaks for safekeeping.
Stony reports:
I think Granite needs a new canister since a summit creature has eaten into a corner and found the register to be pretty tasty.
The Club (thanks mostly to Stony’s efforts) keeps historic registers for Rhode Island, Connecticut, Indiana, Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana, Mississippi and Michigan.
Stony writes:
Ed, from Wayne County Resource Council, in Indiana sends those in now. Tracey Barrett, Baraga County Tourist Center, keeps everything Mt. Arvon. I was surprised when I talked her out of one of the Mt. Arvon summit signs for our archives. Don Jaunzemis at the school keeps Ohio. Somebody in CT used to monitor and change the registers at Mt. Frissell but hadn’t been up there in about 8 years which is why I started doing it. Bob Brown sends me the MS registers and I forward to John after totaling up visitor information. The Blombergs at Timms Hill will keep the registers for me to collect. The county has been keeping the loose sign in sheets at the parking area but Lyle told me they don’t really use them for anything. He gave me a huge stack that he had laying around in his truck. Al Dempsey retrieved the first summit register we ever placed up there this year and gave it to me at the Konvention…I supply registers to MI, CT, RI, MS, LA and IN at least once a year along with newsletters and brochures. Not sure if Miles Luke keeps the Driskill Mtn. registers or passes them along to the club. I think I sent a register to TX when we sent the new summit ammo box but they generally keep them archived. The sign in sheets at the trailhead at Guadalupe Peak are archived and you can request a copy of the page you signed which they are happy to provide. Rick Hartman manages the Humphrey’s Peak register. Mt. Magazine keeps their sign in sheets but Don Simons provided me with a general tally for last year. The folks at King’s Peak did the same, thanks to the inquiry by the Sorensons. I managed to get the Trail Canyon sign in sheets for last year while out at Boundary Peak and sent them to John. They usually collect them at the Ranger Station and keep them in a file cabinet.
Stony also noted that currently there is no overt plan to save the registers on the Appalachian Trail:
It was decided that many of the registers along the AT will be disposed of unless local areas want to keep them. New registers will only be kept for about a year in case law enforcement might need them. It seems a lot of history could potentially be lost regarding the AT.
The photo above was taken by Stony of the Granite Peak register.
