The winter issue of The Maintainer, the quarterly newsletter of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, was in my mail box when I went home for lunch today.

As I poured through it over my ham & cheese sandwich, a brief piece by MATC president Don Stack struck a chord with me.

It was, as is so often the case with small non-profit entities, about money. The need for money. To operate the club at even a meager level. To support trail maintenance activities and trail crews and caretakers and ridgerunners and the like.

Because, let's be honest, it takes money to keep up the trail. Our AT. Yours and mine.

So I got to thinking. And now I want to pose this question:

Who the heck cares about the Appalachian Trail? Please raise your hands.

Yep. Yep. I see. Uh huh.

Just as I thought.

I see about 10,000 hands in the air out there. Some of you are waving, jumping up and down. Wild with enthusiasm. I get it, I get it.

OK then, the point is settled.

YOU LOVE THE A.T.!

We all do. We read about it. We hike on it. We camp out on it. We adore it. We want to hike all of it. And we would do just about anything to help protect it.

So prove it. And I mean that in the nicest, most respectful way.

Become a member of the MATC. The club could sure use the cash and certainly the volunteer help on the many trail maintenance activities throughout the summer.

Membership is just $15. A wicked deal. The price of 18-pack, but way more satisfying.

Beyond that, do consider joining up for some trail work. It takes lots of warm bodies up and down the 280-some mile AT corridor in Maine to do the job each year. And--bonus--you'll meet and work with some of the friendliest folks around, who all care about and sleep and breathe the AT.

But beware: You might become an AT addict. I sure have. Happened long ago.

Final note: Membership, yes, Volunteer, yes. All good.

But, if you can, please consider contributing a little something extra to the MATCs annual appeal. The trail will appreciate it and you'll feel great about it. Donations may be made to: MATC, PO Box 1256, Auburn ME 04211-1256.

Many thanks. You rock. See you on the trail...

AT trail sign, Nesowadnehunk Tote Road, Baxter Park.

View of Doubletop Mtn. from the AT at Tracy Pond, Baxter Park.

Work party on the AT near East Carry Pond last spring.