New Triple Crown T-Shirts: “Easy on the Eyes, Hard on the Thighs”
The volunteers of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club wish everyone a joyful holiday season! As part of the celebrations, RATC has added a new t-shirt to its store, honoring our section’s famed Triple Crown – Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. It can be ordered directly from the RATC store using this link and it comes in both red and green.
The back of the t-shirt, designed by RATC board member Chris Means, features the slogan, “Easy on the Eyes, Hard on the Thighs” and photos of Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs. The front has the RATC logo, designed by long-time RATC member Zetta Campbell. It features a hiker on McAfee Knob and the year of the RATC’s founding – 1932.
This is a great gift for anyone who has hiked the section or just loves the AT, and earnings go directly to the all-volunteer RATC, which maintains and protects over 120 miles of the AT in southwestern and central Virginia. We are one of 31 maintaining clubs along the AT and must earn all of our own funding.
The store continues to offer regular RATC t-shirts and hats in several designs as well through our partners at Press Press Merch.
For those interested in hiking the section, this RATC website has an entire page devoted to the Triple Crown, with detailed maps and information about camping and other special rules on the section.
For the past 3 years, trained RATC volunteer Ridgerunners have patrolled the Triple Crown section of the AT, which receives over 90,000 visitors every year, based on data from a year-round infrared counter. Under the 
leadership of Kathryn Herndon-Powell, Dave Youmans and Brian Boggs, the McAfee Knob Task Force completed a successful 2018 season:
- 38 different volunteers completed 175 patrols (Friday-Monday, April-October)
- They put in 1,125 volunteer hours and
- Counted almost 20,000 visitors while
- Removing 560 gallons of trash and
- Dismantling 46 Fire Rings
See you on the Trail in 2019!
