Regional Sierra Club Outings

All local outings are now coodinated by the Sierra Club Potomac Region Outings (SCPRO). They have many outings each weekend (and even some during the week) with ratings to meet each hikers ability. For upcoming outings, please check their web site using the link above. Video

Andy Hiltz of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) has developed a Hiker's Forum. The Forum is a great place to post your trip reports and to retrieve the latest information on trail conditions, etc.

Outings sponsored by Sierra Club's True Cost of Food (TCOF) campaign are organized by leaders of the Washington, D.C., Chapter, Virginia's Mount Vernon Group, and Maryland's Montgomery Group. To start up a True Cost of Food group in your area, contact Diana Artemis at artemdi@yahoo.com.

The TCOF campaign explores how agribusiness--and the everyday food choices we make--have environmental impact. The national campaign, which has local "legs" in our area, teaches about "eco-friendly" cuisine and how, as consumers, we can have a positive impact on the planet even through everyday acts like grocery shopping. Why is this important? The average meal travels 2,000 miles from farm to table. All the energy expended in harvesting, processing, packaging, storing, refrigerating, and transporting our food is a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. Buying food that is produced locally not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions, but has many additional benefits. Shopping at farmers' markets, roadside stands, pick-your-own operations, and joining CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture programs) helps keep dollars in the local economy, allows you to learn more about where your food comes from and how it is produced, keeps small family farms in business, and provides a regular opportunity for a community gathering (in the case of farmers' markets). For more information, including a downloadable discussion guide and short animated film, visit the TCOF home page at www.truecostoffood.org/truecostoffood/.

Select one of the following regions for general information about Outdoors Activities:

Independent Journey (Archive of Appalachian Trail Journey)