 Founded to Serve |
 Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies, Inc. |
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Founded to Serve |
Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies, Inc. |
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SFMS
Quarterly Meeting
WHEN: May 11th and 12th, 2012 Cracker Barrel: May 11th at 7:00PM Meeting: May 12th registration 8:30AM, Meeting 9:00 AM WHERE: Fall Creek Falls Inn, Fall Creek Falls State Park, 2536 Lakeside Drive, Pikeville, TN 37367 This is our first meeting in the style suggested by Jason Hamilton, SFMS President, during the January meeting and in his February Lodestar message. It was met with such enthusiasm that we though we’d give it a try at this meeting. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks! About the park: Fall-Creek-Falls is a Tennessee state park located on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau in Bledsoe and Van Buren Counties, about 18 miles west of the town of Pikeville. The park can be reached via Highways 11 and 30. The Fall Creek Falls State Resort Park is one of the most spectacular in the state of Tennessee, and was voted "one of the five best parks in the southeastern U.S." by Southern Living Magazine. It's made up of cascading waterfalls, sparkling streams, gorges, thick forest and wildflowers. It's home to one of the highest waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains, Fall Creek Falls, which plunges 256 feet into a cool, shaded pool at the base of its gorge. The park has three other falls; Piney, Cane Creek and Cane Creek Cascades. The forests are made up of oak and hickory, tulip poplar and hemlock, with wild mountain laurel and rhododendron throughout the park. The 19,000 acres of rugged parkland offers abundant recreational opportunities, including fifty miles of hiking trails, 25 miles of backpacking trails and 20 miles of biking trails. There is also a fishing lake, large swimming pool and golf course for those interested. Two naturalists are on duty year round that provide orientation slide shows, cave trips and tours of the park. The average high temperature for May is 78°F and low is 52°F. Park website: http://tn.gov/environment/parks/FallCreekFalls/ Reservations For those that want to camp there are plenty of camp sites. The contact number for reserving a campsite is (423) 881-5298. For those that need a motel room the Fall Creek Fall Inn is inside the park. The SFMS has a few rooms blocked for Friday night. The average room rate is $79.00 plus taxes. To ensure we get credit for the blocked rooms, please mention that you are with the SFMS when registering and checking in. The reservation number is (423) 881-5241.There are also cabins on the lake and group cabins for rent. The SFMS did not block any of these. Call the reservation number listed above if you might be interested in one. Meetings All meetings will be held in a Fall Creek Falls Inn conference room at the times listed above. There will be guidance at the Inns registration desk. Activities We will be having a cookout at a pavilion Saturday afternoon for those that want to participate. We will be rock swapping, selling, and trading in a tailgate fashion during the cookout. All items are allowed at the rock swap that fall into our areas of interest. For example: rocks, minerals, fossils, jewelry, all metalsmithing and lapidary related items such as tools, rough, and books. Please be sensible, we don’t want it to be a garage sale, we want it to be hobby related. The park rangers have approved our rock swap as long as we don’t go public with our sales. It must be restricted to the pavilion and to folks within our group. If we’re rained out at the pavilion we will be allowed to do the rock swap in the conference room at the Inn. However, the cookout will have to remain at the pavilion. Don’t forget to bring you camp stool! If you plan on attending please notify me at GCJINC@comcast.net or (865) 406-8802. We would like to get an accurate head count for the cookout. If you plan on attending the cookout you may be contacted to bring something. I suggest you get there a day early or stay an extra day just to see the waterfalls and unique geology of the park. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed! This is a spectacular park. Danny Griffin SFMS 1st Vice President |
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The Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies, Inc Send e-mail to: sfms@amfed.org |
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