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Hikin’ in a Winter Fun-derland!

Hey there, Friends! It has been wonderful to see so many people out and about in the park despite the clouds, rain, and falling temperatures. It is a great reminder that the winter months can be an amazing (and less crowded) time to visit the park (if you’ve never seen some of our waterfalls completely frozen, you’re missing out!). Just take it a little slower on the icy rocks and stairs, and enjoy our little slice of winter wonderland!

The end of the year also means it’s time to reflect on what we did this year and get excited for what we have planned for the year to come. You'll get our New Year's Resolution newsletter in January, but first we just want to say THANK YOU to all our members who have helped support us and the park through your time, effort, and generous contributions. More on that in a bit, but first let’s update y’all on a few Stone Mountain comings and goings!

Photo by Keith Hall of Keith Hall Photography. Check out his amazing work on his flickr page!

Best Friends

In every newsletter, we highlight some of our most special friends. It could be a new friend, one of our long-standing members, park staff, a partner organization, or a member of the local community. Reach out on our contact page if you’d like to nominate someone. This edition’s best friend is a whole group of friends: Elkin Elementary’s Fourth Grade students (and of course, their teachers)!

Ms. Sherri Couch at Elkin Elementary reached out and asked if we could help set up a trip for their 4th Grade students to come to the park for a geology lesson, and boy were we excited to help out! We were able to cover the cost of bus transportation and the rangers put on a great lesson (I love the inflatable basketball/pluton trick)..such a fun day!

In the coming year and beyond, educational programming in the park will be a primary focus of ours. The rangers and other staff do a great job of putting together educational programming for school trips and for the general public, and we want to support them however we can.

Thanks to the generous contributions of our friends and members, we are able to directly support park education. We are also happy to help research and write grant applications for trip funding from the statewide Friends of NC State Parks program and other organizations that support outdoor and environmental education. We also have some experience with curriculum design and state standards, so if you need help with lesson planning, we can do that too! We are happy to provide whatever financial and professional support that we can—or even just some snacks or an extra sets of hands—to any school or group who wants to take advantage of the park as an educational resource. Just send us a message and we can start figuring out how to get your group to Stone Mountain!

If you or anyone you know wants to plan an educational trip to Stone Mountain State Park, email us at friendsofstonemountain@gmail.com, and we’ll do our best to make it happen.

Comings and Goings

We have had some exciting things developing behind the scenes over the last month. We’ve got new merch(!!!), some partnerships to announce, and some awesome member events planned for January and February, so keep your eyes and ears open.

We also had a small but intrepid group come out and enjoy a hike (and some hot cider and donuts) on a BEAUTIFUL Thanksgiving Day for our first annual Turkey Trek. We had so much fun and are already looking forward to an even bigger event next year.

We’ll send out a January events schedule in a couple of weeks, but between now and then there are also a couple of super fun things already scheduled at the park:

Santa's Workshop: Ornaments—Thursday, Dec 22 at the Visitor’s Center/Park Office from 11AM-12PM

Why did the Christmas tree go to decorating school? So it could spruce up the forest! Join the elves… ahem, park rangers… at the park office for a Christmas ornament workshop. I can’t take credit for the awesome jokes…that’s 100% your park rangers at work. Aren’t they great?

First Day Hike—January 1, 2023 at 10AM at the Lower Trailhead Parking Area

Ranger Wood will be kicking off the new year with a hike around the Wolf Rock and Cedar Rock loop trail. The hike will leave from the lower trailhead parking area and all are welcome to join us the hike and/or talk with the rangers and hear about some of the work going on in the park and maybe meet some new friends. I know I’ll be there, and I bet a few more of our team will be as well.

Astronomy Program—January 14 from 6:45PM-7:45PM at the Campground

Forsyth Astronomical Society will set up telescopes to look at the night sky. The event begins at dark in the field at A-Loop campground, between campsites 33 and 34. Please use the grass walkway between campsites 33 and 34 and not walk through visitors' campsites. (Weather permitting)

We also have a Board of Directors meeting/summit/retreat planned for the weekend of January 7-8. In addition to all the super-fun nuts and bolts stuff, we’ll be talking about some new member benefits and planning the launch of an exciting new FSM adventure. We’re so excited to be able to make some big announcements soon!

As always, check out our Meetup page for events we host, and the events calendar on the website for park events and other fun and educational programming.

December Spotlight

Every newsletter we spotlight one of our favorite things about the park. It might be a place, a plant, a person, a fact…anything (and as always, if you have an idea or some information, let us know!).

The final spotlight of 2022 is none other than…

You.

There is nothing we love more than sharing the park with our friends, and the end of the year gives us a chance to remember how much our friends and members mean to us.

We’re a small (but growing!) nonprofit, and our ability to keep doing what we’re doing—and plan for even more—depends entirely on the generosity of our members and donors. The funds from our membership fees allow us to support Stone Mountain State Park’s maintenance, upkeep, and educational programming without them or us having to rely on (or wait for) public funds. It is membership dollars that have provided us with our small-but-stable financial foundation so that we can set our sights on growth rather than survival. And most importantly, our members make it possible for us to think about how we can make not just your experience in Stone Mountain State more rewarding and enjoyable, but how we can maximize the experience of those who are new to the park or for whom becoming a member is just not financially feasible right now. Our members are the heart and soul of this endeavor, so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

But, as you know, there is a business end of that deal. For many of our friends, the end of the year is also marks membership renewal time when we ask y’all to think of us when you plan your 2023 budgets. Simply put, renewals are the most important thing to our organization’s growth. We’re always trying to attract and add new members, but without our existing friends sticking around, it is so hard to plan for the future.

In the next few days, many of our past and present members will receive membership renewal notifications. If you don’t, that means you’ve already renewed for at least half of next year. If you’re not a member, we hope you’ll join. If you’re membership is expired/expiring, we hope you’ll renew. And if you can, we hope you’ll increase your membership contribution by adding family members to a family membership or taking your membership to the next level with a Founders or Lifetime membership.

We transitioned to a new member/donor management system over the summer, so if you joined between January and August of this past year, there is a SLIGHT chance that your renewal notification is coming early. If that is true, just shoot us an email at friendsofstonemountain@gmail.com (include the date you joined, if you can!) and we’ll get it fixed ASAP.

If you want to get a jump start and join/renew right now, just click the Membership button below, sign-in/sing-up, and make your payment via JoinIt (our new system). Way to go, you overachiever!

And as always, you can find out more about becoming a member or making a donation on our website.

What does your membership get you? For one, piece of mind knowing that you are playing a huge part in supporting and protecting the park you love. What could be better than that? But wait, THERE’S MORE!

In celebration of 2023 officially being named the “Year of the Trail” in North Carolina, FSM is working on providing our members with new networking, education, and community support opportunities to learn about and take part in trails and conservation-focused initiatives and efforts throughout in our community and statewide. Members will also get to attend planning meetings and information sessions with the Board and park administration.

We’ve also got some exciting new things in store (hint hint) for our 2023 members. We’ve got a our most ambitious social calendar ever taking shape starting in January, and our members will get invitations to member events, first shot at limited capacity gatherings, and reduced price for events with ticket costs. We also have some member discounts at area vendors and establishments in the works, so we’re hoping to literally make membership worth your while. We’re so excited for 2023, and we hope you’ll join us for the ride.

The Final Word

As much as we appreciate how generous our members are to us, we also want to take a few minutes at the end of the year to thank all of you who are equally generous to others with your time and resources. Thank you so much for supporting your fellow humans and furry friends and good causes. We are so proud to have a group made up of such generous and caring people, and whenever we hear about the awesome causes you support or projects you’re working on, it warms our hearts.

Please continue to think of others who benefit from your generosity. Community and stewardship are our greatest safeguards against food insecurity, poverty, animal cruelty, and other societal ills, and we recognize that a kind, generous, equitable, and accepting community makes for a better park and a healthier planet.

And finally, to those of you who are celebrating holidays, celestial events, or any other seasonal observance this time of year: may you and yours be well, may peace be with you, and may your celebrations be merry.

See you in 2023.

- FSM

Check the NC Park’s website for more event opportunities and before you travel to the park from out of town. Any closures will be reported on the website.