Our Team

 John Zimmer, a former Baltimore firefighter and EMT, moved to Cross Fork when he retired and has been Vice President of the STC since 2014.  Anchoring the southern end of the trail for the club, John has been especially helpful in shuttling hikers and helping them spot cars for backpacking or hiking from Ole Bull or Patterson State Park to Cross Fork, but he also shuttles anywhere for STS or even Donut Hole Trail hikes. He's happy to get calls at 570-923-2052 or email at johnzimmer1952@gmail.com to schedule shuttles. Several time a year John helps man STC tables at the Kettle Creek Outdoor Show and spring and fall festivals in Galeton and Coudersport. John has been a long-time maintainer for the Lieb Run Trail, from Shephard Rd. to Cross Fork, and he bought his own DR trail mower to assist in mowing other sections of the STS, especially south of the Greenlick Rd. and Stony Run sections.  "See you in the woods!" says John. 

 Lori Szymanik grew up in Ulysses, PA. As a child, she spent time on trail with the hiking groups that stayed at the Lodge her parents own. She moved away for college and later moved to Pittsburgh, PA. She ended up following her heart back to the mountains of Potter County in 2015 to pursue a special education teaching position. When she is not teaching, you will find her spending time with family, hiking with friends, cross country skiing, or volunteering at the PA Lumber Museum and Eliot Ness Museum. Lori enjoys hiking and doing trail maintenance on the STS. She has been the recording secretary for the STC for the past 4 years and helped with installing the mile markers around the STS when she completed her circuit hike in 2020.  She is also the club’s circuit hiker chairman.  

  Bill has been Trail Manager for years, organizing trail maintainers for 25 sections of the STS, arranging work crews and ordering materials for bridge and shelter building projects, keeping records of everyone's hours and work completed, and putting out calls for sawyers or other help as needed -- though just as often, he'll take his saw and clear a reported blowdown himself. His emails to "the team" are full of encouragement and often the BB sense of humor.

      As Tool Manager, Bill makes sure chains are sharp for the saws, gas and oil are ready for brushcutters and other two cycle engines, loppers and pulaskis and rogue hoes are available for manual labor, trail mowers are transported to work sites, and the tool trailer is clean and on site for work days or local parades.  

      Bill personally has built eleven heavy-duty picnic tables for the club to donate to Ole Bull State Park in appreciation for hosting our annual August camporees, and he's built half a dozen smaller picnic tables for our trail shelters, plus a memorial bench on the Duck Pond Loop.  

      In recent years Bill has honed the skill of making trail signs, taking over where Tom Fitzgerald left off to help hikers identify where they are and how far it is to the next water, road, or shelter. 

      For eighteen years, since Bob Knowles passed the baton in 2006, Bill has written a weekly column of trail club news for the Potter Leader Enterprise, drawing attention to our club and trail for local subscribers and many out-of-area camp owners.

      Over the past decade, Bill has also been STC treasurer, keeping records meticulously in his super-neat printing. Being overloaded with his multiple duties, Bill is happy to be able to turn this task over to Steve Erway for the upcoming term.

      Some say, "No one is indispensable."  Hmmm.   We don't know what the STC would do without Bill.  Talk about "Big shoes to fill!"