Yancey County residents John and Sandy Whitehouse were recently honored by members of the Carolina Mountain Club/NC High Peaks Monday Trail Crew for their many years of selfless service to the crew, which John has led – with Sandy’s able assistance – for more than a decade.
“Most of us show up on Mondays and work a few hours on the trails, but have little idea about how much effort John puts into planning and assembling tools for these work days and then reporting the results to the land-use agencies,” said Dennis Smith, current High Peaks president. “He’s done a tremendous service improving the trails of the Black Mountains, at the Black Mountain Campground and at Mt. Mitchell State Park, not to mention the AT and the MST.”
On their first work day of 2023, 15 members of the volunteer crew presented Whitehouse with several gifts and an engraved trail sign that reads: “John Whitehouse: Teacher, Leader, Mentor, Friend – With Our Deepest Gratitude, the Monday Trail Crew.” The sign features the logos for the Appalachian Trail, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Carolina Mountain Club and NC High Peaks.
Whitehouse has compiled three years of full-time work (6,000 hours) in his role as the Leader of the Monday Crew, a position he has overseen for more than a decade. In addition, he is co-founder of Yancey-based NC High Peaks, and served more than a decade as the club’s president. High Peaks is the official Friends of Mt. Mitchell State Park organization and maintains the steep, challenging trails of the Black Mountains.
One of the crew’s biggest accomplishments was building a 27-foot-long log bridge over Neal’s Creek on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail near Black Mountain Campground. A retired Phd nuclear engineer, Dr. Whitehouse designed the structure and came up with an elaborate system of overhead pulleys that enabled the crew to hoist the 1,200-pound logs over the span of the creek and into place
At Mt. Mitchell State Park, Whitehouse helped High Peaks co-founder Alan Orovitz install live web cams to show the spectacular views from the tallest mountain in the Eastern U.S. Asheville’s WLOS TV often features the shots on their weather reports.
He also directed the purchase (with donated park funds) and installation of a low-watt Traveler Information Radio Station that broadcasts helpful information to park visitors on the AM band and helped obtain grants to rebuild the over-used Balsam Nature Trail.
In 2019, NC High Peaks was honored with the Gov. Locke Craig Award from the North Carolina Division of State Parks for this and other work at Mt. Mitchell.
But for all Whitehouse’s hard work, vision and commitment, crew members say the best thing about their Chief is that he’s just so pleasant to be around – always positive, patient and prepared.
“John’s leadership and easy-going manner have made working on this crew a real pleasure,” said Joe Lappin, another longtime Monday Crew member. “I would actually pay to get to do this, but a large part of the reason I’m so enthusiastic is because of John.”
The Whitehouses have been full-time Yancey residents for 20 years, and live near the Murchison community. They retired here after Dr. Whitehouse’s career in the nuclear power industry.
Monday Crew Members with their Chief.
Carolina Mountain Club/NC High Peaks Monday Crew Chief John Whitehouse holds the trail sign his crew gave him to commemorate his years of service.
