North Star Vol. 37, No. 2 (2018)

April-June, 2018

The Magazine of the North Country Trail Association

Volume 37, No. 2

north star 2018 North Country Trail Association Awards Superior Hiking Trail Discoveries Hike the Hill 2018 For the Love of Art

Emily Stone

This is cut-leaved toothwort, one of the early spring wildflowers on the forest floor. Read more about them on page 18.

In This Issue Hike the Hill 2018................................7 For the Love of Art................................8 Superior Hiking Trail Discoveries..........10 An Interview with SHTA's Executive Director, Denny Caneff.........13 Trail Register at the 45th Parallel............16 Crew Leader Program Update.............17 Natural Connections...............................18 Hiking 100 Miles by Default..................20 Passages....................................................23 Annual NCTA Awards............................24

Columns Trailhead.............................................3 NPS Corner........................................5 From the Executive Director...............4

Departments Hiking Shorts....................................14 Where in the Blue Blazes?..................14 Next Deadline for Submissions.........17

Staff

Valerie Bader Director of Trail Development vbader@northcountrytrail.org David Cowles Director of Development dcowles@northcountrytrail.org Matt Davis Regional Trail Coordinator, Minnesota/North Dakota mdavis@northcountrytrail.org Tarin Hasper Annual Fund Coordinator thasper@northcountrytrail.org Andrea Ketchmark Executive Director aketchmark@northcountrytrail.org Laura Lindstrom Financial Administrator llindstrom@northcountrytrail.org Nicole Murphy Administrative Assistant nmurphy@northcountrytrail.org Bill Menke Regional Trail Coordinator, Wisconsin bmenke@northcountrytrail.org Alison Myers Administrative Assistant amyers@northcountrytrail.org Matt Rowbotham GIS Coordinator mrowbotham@northcountrytrail.org Kenny Wawsczyk Regional Trail Coordinator, Michigan kwawsczyk@northcountrytrail.org

National Board of Directors Ruth Dorrough, President (585) 354-4147 · dorroughcm@gmail.com Jaron Nyhof, First VP, At Large Rep. (616) 786-3804 · jnyhof1@gmail.com Lynda Rummel, VP East, New York Rep. (315) 536-9484 · ljrassoc@roadrunner.com Tim Mowbray, VP West (715) 378-4320 · tmowbray@earthlink.net Larry Pio, Secretary (269) 327-3589 · ncta.secretary@gmail.com Tom Moberg, Immediate Past President (701) 271-6769 · tfmoberg@gmail.com Josh Berlo, Minnesota Rep. (574) 532-4183 · joshberlo@gmail.com Mike Chapple, At Large Rep. (574) 274-0151 · mike@chapple.org Jack Cohen, Pennsylvania Rep. (724) 234-4619 · jcohen@zoominternet.net Jerry Fennell, At Large Rep. (262) 787-0966 · jeroldvfennell@hotmail.com Dennis Garrett, Pennsylvania Rep. (724) 827-2350 · dcgcag@gmail.com Cheryl Kreindler, At Large Rep. (313) 850-8731 · ckreindl@ch2m.com Paul Spoelstra, Michigan Rep. (616) 890-7518 · spoelymi@comcast.net Jan Ulferts Stewart, North Dakota Rep. (701) 318-5180 · janustewart@gmail.com Mark VanHornweder, Wisconsin Rep. (218) 390-0858 · mvanhorn74@yahoo.com Jeff Van Winkle, Michigan Rep. (616) 540-2693 · rvanwink@gmail.com Steve Walker, Ohio Rep. (330) 652-5623 · nilesprinting@gmail.com Quinn Wright, New York Rep. (716) 826-1939 · wrightquinn4@gmail.com

About the Cover:

Pat McNamara and Bill Courtois worked for a half hour removing this stump in the Wolf Lake Project. She works well with other volunteers so we have few photos of her alone. She worked alongside the Great Lakes Conservation Corps from July to November. She pounded the last nail in over 1200 feet of boardwalk that Hiawatha Shore-toShore Chapter and the youth crew built!

Photo by Kay Kujawa

2

The North Star

North Star Staff Irene Szabo, Mostly Volunteer Editor, (585) 658-4321 or treeweenie@aol.com Peggy Falk, Graphic Design Lorana Jinkerson, Becky Heise, Joan Young, Tom Gilbert, Duane Lawton, Editorial Advisory Committee The North Star, Summer issue, Vol. 37, Issue 2, is published by the North Country Trail Association, a private, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, 229 East Main Street, Lowell, MI 49331. The North Star is published quarterly for promotional and educational purposes and as a benefit of membership in the Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the North Country Trail Association.

Trail Head

Ruth Dorrough President

Our Legacy

W

hile sipping a post-hike hot chocolate at our local Dunkin Donuts this winter, I started leafing through a newspaper left on the table. My chuckle a few minutes later caused Dan to comment, “Reading the obituaries again?” My gravitation to death notices stems not from morbidity but from a deep interest in the stories of individual lives. An obituary is an audacious endeavor. It tries to sum up an entire life in a brief paragraph. After listing the close relatives and some dry details of employment, the entry in question came to life with the words, “In 2012 he got a holein-one at Lakeview Country Club.” Suddenly I could see him surrounded by friends jumping with delight. I could see those previously inanimate “close relatives” sitting around the table writing the obituary. Someone jokes, “Let’s put in that he got a hole in one. He would love that.”

In the previous issue of the North Star there was a lovely tribute to Sheyenne River Valley member, Clyde Anderson.

It stayed in my mind long after the impressive details of the State of the Trail had wandered off. The words “most cheerfully dedicated member…his heart was big and his humor legendary” lingered along with the image of the four Sheyennee

River Valley members being pallbearers at his funeral. A legacy of humor and good cheer is a rare gift to leave a troubled world. A legacy of creating and maintaining not only trails but a community of friends who will carry you at your funeral is something of which a chapter can be proud.

Trails connect not only places but people. Neither comes the way we would want them to be. Both require constant assessment, problem solving, vision, and often hard work.

As we work together, we sometimes tend to accept that fact more about the trails than we do the people. On our long walk across the NCT Dan and I often heard the words “our trail, my trail.” These reflect the intimate attachment one experiences working on a trail. They also betray a provincial view of the NCT as they most often referenced not the entire seven state wonder but the “neighborhood” section that naturally matters most to the individual.

Much good has been done for the NCT by those who passionately hold tight to strong uncompromising opinions or a local perspective. Such a stance, however, has the potential of breeding conflict and disorder in an organization whose charge and vision is a National Scenic Trail.

Let our legacy, our hole-in-one, be that we cheerfully with good humor worked hard together with empathy and tolerance. Let it be said that we graced our labor and financial support with a willingness to recognize and release tightly held opinions and perspectives which might stand in the way of supporting the entire Trail as we connected both people and the Trail at all levels. In this spirit we will pass on to those who follow not only a footpath of extraordinary length but a heritage of a 4,600 mile community.

Dan Dorrough

Ruth on the Trail along Lake Ashtabula, North Dakota.

www.northcountrytrail.org

April-June 2018

3

From the Executive Director Andrea Ketchmark

A Fresh Perspective

I

’m moving. Our new house is only 15 miles up the road in a similar size town and along the same river but it feels a world away and it’s got me thinking about how changing what’s in front of your eyes can bring a different perspective on life altogether.

The Trail shows us this every day. As each season passes, we see a different world emerge as patches of snow melt away and new growth begins reaching for the sun, the birds can be heard signaling the beginning of spring and hikers and trail workers can be heard getting ready for the approaching trail season.

This renewed excitement for things to come should also remind us that this is a chance to look at things through a different lens. Each hike is a chance to experience the same section of trail in a different way–different seasons, different hiking buddies, even just a different direction on an out and back hike can change the experience in profound ways. By taking the time to examine the Trail and our experience on it from a different perspective, our perception of what it brings to the world and how other people may see it can make valuable shifts.

I think we all understand the feeling of coming off the Trail with new ideas or a better understanding of the world around us.

This mindset should also be extended to the work we do. The Trail keeps growing, mile by mile each year. The NCTA will also keep growing, both in size and strength, building on the work of our volunteers and partners to make something that brings joy to so many. It’s at these times that it’s so important to take a fresh look at how we do things and ask how can we do better.

In 2018, we’ll be connecting with new communities and new partners but we’re also growing the strength of our core volunteer work force by providing improved training programs and resources, like our new Crew Leader training curriculum to be released this year. We brought on a Next Generation Intern tasked with connecting young people with the Trail and each other. We’ll be asking them to tell us what they see and why it’s important and how that can prepare us for the future. And our Trail Protection Committee is going through a process to assess our organization’s ability to protect the corridor for the Trail into the future, which requires a critical eye on how we do our work as well as a vision for how we’d like to do it in the future.

I can’t help but get excited every spring for what the hiking and trail work season has to bring. This spring, pick up a different trail skill, invite someone new to join you or simply choose to walk the Trail in a new direction. Think critically about how we do things on the Trail and for the Trail. Shed those practices and mindsets that hold us back and move toward ones that help us make progress. These are the insights that lead to inspired work and an inspired life.

Amelia Rhodes

Use Our Website To Plan Your Hikes!

Remember, we now have two sites for helping both hike planners and trail maintainers: When planning your hike, read about major closures and reroutes: https://northcountrytrail.org/trail/trail-alerts/ Or to report a problem, for which news our maintainers will be so grateful: https://northcountrytrail.org/trail/report-trailcondition HQ staff says that the trail alerts page has allowed us to better communicate with the public about major reroutes, trail closures and storm damage along the trail. With more than 1,600 page views to date, we hope hikers are finding this information very useful in planning their hikes.

And reporting problems on the “trail condition” site gets them fixed so much faster, so please use these sites both before and after your hikes.

4

The North Star

Trails At Many Scales

O

The Carmelita bungalows and furnishings are all made by local craftsmen. Beautiful stuff!

From this observatory at Uaxacún, Mayan elite were able to mark the solstices and equinoxes with incredible accuracy.

Mark Weaver

www.northcountrytrail.org

Mark Weaver Superintendent, NCT

Mark Weaver

Each of these has the potential to be part of a comprehensive marketing package that can help tourists build their own unique travel experience.

Carmelita The largest known Mayan city in the region, larger than Tikal, is El Mirador. Its claims to fame include having the second largest pyramid in the world (by volume), the earliest known Mayan glyph (painting), and a bas relief that tells the Mayan creation story, surprisingly similar to the story in Genesis.

It is also accessible only via a two day hike through the jungle (or, if you’re rich, a 45 minute helicopter ride). The gateway community to El Mirador is Carmelita, a small town of 700 or so people. Hikes to El Mirador are cooperatively managed with guides available on a rotation basis. Once signed up, a tourist or group is assigned a guide, a cook and pack animals…and off they go. During the dry season it’s a rather pleasant hike. Wildlife abounds. Birds of every sort, too. Howler and spider monkeys are everywhere. During the rainy season, hikers encounter knee deep mud and spaghetti trails that seek small rises of drier land that

Corner

Ramon Pinelo, Asociacion Balam

ver the past 15 years, I’ve been fortunate to serve on the International Technical Assistance Program of the Department of Interior offering consultation services pertaining to Landscape Architecture and archeological sites. Most of the time, trails are a big component of the project.

The Maya Biosphere Reserve of northern Guatemala is a huge tract of land protecting not only important archeological remains of the Mayan civilization but also one of the most diverse biomes on the planet. Layered upon this is the presence of settlements throughout the area. The larger communities are organized as cooperatives where the community works as a unit (more or less) to achieve broad sustainability goals. Obviously, tourism is a huge component. And with tourism is the need to access the heart of the Reserve; hence, the importance of trails, and the need to balance development with preservation.

Northern Guatemala’s tourist scene revolves around Tikal, a site of extreme archeological significance as well as being a pivotal scene in Episode 4 of Star Wars (I had to say that). The region is full of other ruin sites, many discovered and investigated and many more known, but not yet studied. My work involves a lot of these other sites.

So how can these other sites, each with its own unique story, compete with a behemoth such as Tikal? Answer: Niche tourism.

In March, I visited four sites to offer planning, design and strategic recommendations to help them carve out a place in the tourism market from a design and development perspective: • Carmelita offers a strenuous two-day hike through the forest for the adventurous crowd with destinations including the Mayan ruin sites of Tintal, Nakbé and El Mirador.

• Uaxactún, with its in-town ruins, (and great restaurants too) caters to road-based wildlife enthusiasts seeking an air conditioned experience behind tinted windows.

• La Cobanerita offers an experience of the Mayan underworld through five distinct, relatively easily accessible caves without the usual claustrophobia.

• El Perú-Waká ruins, along with the Guacamaya Biology Station, offer visitors the chance to engage with scientific and archeologic research.

National Park Service

The cave entries at La Cobanerita were all HUGE, offering easy access to the cave (once you got there!).

April-June 2018

5

Ramon Pinelo, Asociacion Balam

This typical uphill trail at La Cobanerita certainly wouldn’t satisfy NPS’s accessibility standards!

Ramon Pinelo, Asociacion Balam

Roan McNab, Wildlife Conservation Society

The US Ambassador to Guatemala, Luis Arreaga, suggested a slight southerly reroute to the NCT… there WILL be paperwork!

Ramon Pinelo, Asociacion Balam

6

The North Star

Uaxactún. A sister community of Carmelita is Uaxactún a few hours east of Carmelita. A distinctly different community from Carmelita, Uaxactún’s economy is based upon Xate (those luxurious dark green leaves that accompany flower arrangements), chicle (the original chewing gum) and sustainable forestry of a variety of exotic hardwoods. Uaxactún doesn’t have a hiking trail; rather it is blessed with a road that takes visitors to prime birding and other wildlife destinations in an area known as Dos Lagunas in the heart of the Reserve. Uaxactún also hosts two halves of the ruin site of the same name right in town. It contains one of the oldest and most exact seasonal observatories of the Maya world.

Loop hiking trails connect the center of town with the ruin sites and local guides provide assistance.

La Cobanerita is a regional park of five caves, with a wide range of archeological and natural and geologic resource significance.

This site would not be in full compliance with our nation’s accessibility requirements since most caves are accessed by climbing up a rubble strewn steep hillside, followed by a clamber down to the cave entry. It was a lot of fun getting to the first cave, and it became increasingly less fun as we progressed from caves 2 to 5. But what a resource! One cave actually has painted Mayan graphics from a thousand or more years ago that unfortunately are not protected from vandalism. I’m providing recommendations to allow visitors to avoid killing themselves on these hilly trails as well as designing their visitor station and parking area, and offering solutions to protect the graphics.

After dodging deep ruts in the trail for 5 kilometers, this rest area was a welcome sight near El Perú-Waká.

Mark and the guides at La Cobanerita celebrating the NCT.

really don’t do much about the amount of mud in your boots.

Regardless of the season, hikers regularly amble through hilly areas which aren’t hills at all, but rather unexcavated monticulos covering a Mayan construction of some sort. These are abrupt pyramidal dirt mounds about 20 feet high.

Ten years ago, Carmelita was just beginning its process to develop a cooperative tourism program. Today it boasts bringing in about $200,000 per year in tourism based activities. Not bad!

In addition, the Visitor Center exhibits beautiful locally made furniture and bungalows where tourists stay whose quality has yet to be beaten. Beautiful stuff.

El Perú-Waká’s claim to fame is having been led by a warrior queen who married a warrior from central Mexico’s Teotihuacan.

Getting to it requires a boat ride to a science research station for an overnight, then another few miles by water to the El PerúWaká landing and the start of a 7 kilometer hike on a multipurpose road with the deepest road ruts I have ever encountered.

Unfortunately I have no photos of the ruts. I was too busy trying to stay upright. Wildlife abounds here, too. I’m offering suggestions to improve rest areas and camping areas along the route. El Perú-Waká also boasts a large archeologic research station protected by Guatemalan army and resource officers.

Rest assured, I shared our NCT bandanas wherever I went.

One even got to the U.S .Ambassador to Guatemala. In the other photo, you will see Gandalf (aka me) with the guides from La Cobanerita. Don’t worry Luke; their VIP forms are in the mail!

For more information to plan your next adventure, Carmelita has the most up to date website: https:// turismocooperativacarmelita.com/en

By Andrea Ketchmark

Andrea Ketchmark

www.northcountrytrail.org

Bystander

H

ike the Hill is a joint effort between the Partnership for the National Trail System and the American Hiking Society aimed at increasing awareness in Congress and within our Federal agency leadership about the National Trails System.

Each February, trail partners and organizations from across the nation head to Washington, D.C., to discuss current initiatives, legislation, and goals for the future with federal partners, members of the House and Senate or their staff, and fellow trail organizations.

This year, I was joined by Bruce Matthews, (Mich.), John Heiam (Mich.), Laura DeGolier (Wisc.), Quinn Wright and Michael Rogers (N.Y.). Together we made 37 visits to members of the House and Senate during the week to discuss important legislation, budget and agency management issues that impact the Trail including the following: Passage of the North Country Trail Route Adjustment Act – S363 now has 11 cosponsors and HR1026 has 34. We’re still trying to get movement in the House Natural Resources Committee.

Passage of the National Scenic Trails Parity Act – S2015 has 10 cosponsors and HR1424 has 6.

Reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund; the recent funding bill boosts funding for LWCF to 425 Million in the 2018 budget but Congress still has yet to reauthorize the program which needs to happen by Sept. 30th. Also in this budget bill was

within our Federal Agencies.

We met with Forest Service leadership including the Forest Service Chief, the National Trails lead and the National Saw Program Coordinator to discuss our needs and the potential for new ways to partner with the agency to get more work done on the NCT. This, matched with renewed excitement in the Midwest Regional office and the Michael “Bodhi” Rogers, and Quinn Wright, partnerships you have with Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Trail Forest Service staff on the Conference, Hike the Hill to support the Finger ground, are laying a really Lakes Trail and the North Country National Scenic strong foundation for this Trail. Between them they covered meetings with partnership to grow in the ten Congressional offices. future.

Although the work we do in D.C. this week is important, it doesn’t compare to letting your voice be heard at home. The most compelling voice is that of constituents, those who can share their personal story about the importance of the Trail and what it means to local citizens.

If the Trail is important to you, pick up the phone to let your elected officials at all levels know why they should support legislation Andrea Ketchmark, Laura DeGolier and Bruce and funding necessary to Matthews attend a Congressional Reception to develop the Trail and protect celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails it for future generations. Or System Act and National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, better yet, invite them out held in the famous Kennedy Caucus Room. on the Trail with you so they can have the chance to experience it for a whopping 3.5 Million for acquisition themselves and they in turn become the along the NCT! advocate when they go back to work.

Adequate operational funding for https://northcountrytrail.org/ourour agency partners; We advocated work/advocacy/ for adequate budgets for the National Park Service and US Forest Service and we’ll find out soon how they fared in the recent funding bill. We also voiced our concern with a review process the Secretary of Interior instituted which was delaying our Cooperative Agreement with the NPS. Our voices were heard and our agreement moved forward the following week.

This week is not just a week to move our legislation forward; it's a time to get attention to administrative issues Bodhi

Hike the Hill 2018

April-June 2018

7

For the Love of Art Story and pictures by Sara Balbin

Sara’s article was recommended to us by Marty Swank of the Chequamegon Chapter. After he first read it, he realized that he, like many trail maintainers, probably doesn’t look around as much as he should while working in the woods.

—Editor

W

Moss covered rock.

hen the weather tests you is when you often feel most alive! I met up with my hiking group, The Navigators, on the North Country Trail (NCT) in Wisconsin’s Drummond Woods. This December 4th hike would complete my 100-mile Challenge and this hardy group of women, who enjoy sports, have fun, and can dress for all weather conditions, were the perfect group to help celebrate this personal milestone. Today, the temperature hovered around 45 degrees drizzling the entire four miles we hiked.

Hiking in wet conditions, the forest floor was quiet and the daylight hazy. It was the perfect setting to showcase the brilliant rich colors, textures, and patterns of the environment. While hiking the challenging NCT, I paid close attention to roots, rocks, fallen branches and trees, streams, and marshy areas along the path. Normally this style of hiking keeps me in the present, but today my mind pondered what I could write on the arts for Christie Carlson, editor/owner of Forest and Lakes magazine. She invited me to write a story for a new column “For the Love of Art.” What an honor. Where should I begin with a subject that has so much history and permeates every aspect of our lives and culture?

Principles of Art and Design

Decayed stump.

8

The North Star

Principles of Art and Design

It was on the NCT hike I realized my story must begin where I live, in the magnificent natural environment of the Chequamegon National Forest.

Here, the basic principles of art and design are exemplified: These principles are balance, contrast, movement, rhythm, emphasis, pattern, and unity/ variety. For “The Love of Art,” join me in bringing awareness to these natural patterns that are fun and easy to identify.

The Navigators observed many objects and environmental patterns from ground to sky: mosses, lichens, fungi, core of fallen or cut trees, leaves, pine needles, bark from all species of conifer and deciduous trees, stands of trees and their shadows, branches, insect paths under decades’ old bark, woodpecker holes, lakeshore grasses, petals, water and sand waves, ice, bubbles in ice, a single snowflake, snow drifts, animal and human tracks, fur, and clouds. The list was endless. What other patterns in nature would you add to this list?

Combining the other principles of design to these patterns gives us a rich and diverse palette to create art. The fun is limitless!

Observing patterns is only the beginning. This creative process can be applied to your north woods, city home, or travel experiences. The exercise brings you one step closer to seeing through an artist’s eye and inquisitive mind. For the Love of Art!

Decayed stump.

People with patterns. Note the flat fir needles in the foreground.

www.northcountrytrail.org

Decaying cut tree.

April-June 2018

9

Superior Hiking Trail Discoveries Story and pictures by Rachel H. Frey

Leveaux Beaver Pond.

“I

t feels like there is a stone in my shoe," remarked my husband Merv as we hiked the Superior Hiking Trail in the fall of 2017.

That "stone" would turn out to be plantar fasciitis, but we did not know that then.

Although the North Country Trail is long, 4,600 miles long, we have no plans to hike all of its mileage. After completing its Pennsylvania and most of its New York portions in recent years, we planned a six-week hiking trip further west. Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) (which is part of the NCT in Minnesota) is 310 miles long. We decided to use two of our six weeks on SHT. The first week we would hike "out-and-back" sections starting at the northernmost part of SHT which meets the Border Trail.

The second week we would do "end-to-end" sections with our long-time hiking partner, Josie Swartzentruber. We planned to go south, camping at State Parks, Judge Magney, Temperance River, Cascade River, Tettegouche and Split Rock before ending our hike at Gooseberry Falls.

Visualizing an easy hike along Lake Superior with many views, we drove north on Route 61, which roughly parallels the SHT, to Judge Magney State Park, practically to Canada. We hiked one mile up the Brule River to Upper Falls and Devil's Kettle Falls with many other visitors to the park. One-half of Devil's Kettle Falls really DOES disappear! Where does it go? Superior Hiking Trail's 270° view marks its northernmost point where we looked north to Canada, south to Swamp River and east to Pigeon River. At Jackson Road we passed a beaver

10

The North Star

pond and a campsite with a metal latrine! But how can prairie chickens be this far north? Later I figured out they must be the Minnesota ruffed grouse. They looked smaller than our Pennsylvania ruffed grouse.

Lake Superior holds 10% of the world's fresh water and is the largest fresh water lake in the world by surface area with 2,726 miles of shoreline!

"Agates are free for the taking," proclaimed a sign in Judge Magney State Park.

We went to the lake to search for them even though we did not quite know what they looked like. Later the SHT's blazes went one mile right beside Lake Superior. There we met a local young man who was happy to help us; in a short time, he found stones featuring stripes of different colors that had been tumbled and smoothed by the lake, and gave them to us!

An out-and-back to Pincushion Mountain took us by Barrier Falls Overlook with a serious drop-off followed by Devil Track River Gorge.

“This is a calendar picture,” I said. "I love it!"

A spur trail led to the smooth-topped rocks of Pincushion Mountain. Through the haziness, Merv, my farmer husband, spotted what looked like a dairy farm! We traveled up Gunflint Road inland to see if we could find it. Sure enough, in this remote area of Minnesota, we found Lake-view Dairy Farm, complete with a Surge milking pail and John Deere tractor attached to the mailbox!

Cascade River's falls were right beside our campsite. It rained very enthusiastically during the night and we had a muddy trail and rain to go up one side of the SHT at Cascade River State Park. The other side had a bridge out at Trout Creek and with all the rain, it was not advisable to come back that way. That luscious brown water fascinated us, teacolored as it is by tannin in surrounding hemlocks. Kadunce River looked like a root beer float with those piles of white "whipped cream" foam.

Pat Owen, an artist we had seen painting in Woods Creek, told us about the Johnson Heritage Gallery Art Show in Grand Marais. As attendees, we could cast a vote for whom we liked best. I picked Bob Bonawitz’s “Morning on the Fresh Water Sea,” and sure enough, he DID get honorable mention.

Absorbing the pleasure of a morning sunrise over the crashing waves of Lake Superior, we were delighted to find an eagle roosting in a nearby tree. All these BEFORE we even started hiking on this day! A snowmobile trail was level, albeit quite marshy. Keeping dry feet was a bit of a challenge, but it was easy walking.

Josie arrived after a fifteen-hour trip right on time at 7:00 a.m., and we started at Onion Road to hike the 10.5 miles back to Temperance River. After the bridge over Onion River, we noticed increasing red leaf fall coloration. Finally! It was September 17.

Later a resident of Wisconsin told us, "Fall is late this year.

That warm weather messed the trees up. In September it is hotter than it was all summer! Now fall is two or three weeks late."

Leveaux Beaver Pond was beautiful with contrasting colors.

There actually WAS a beaver house in the pond. Britton Peak, Carlton Peak, marvelous views of Lake Superior…we had a wonderful start to our time together! People seemed amazed that we had actually gone ten miles! We just smiled. We have hiked days with more miles than that! The gorge there reminded us of Watkins Glen in New York.

…continued on page 12

Lake Superior from Britton Peak.

www.northcountrytrail.org

Merv searches for agates at Lake Superior’s northern shore.

From atop Pincushion Mountain, Merv spotted this dairy farm, and we walked along Gunflint Road to get a closer look.

Red squirrel.

April-June 2018

11

High Falls.

Temperance River.

Boney’s Meadow had beautiful fall coloration with some nice reflections, but no moose tracks and no moose, neither there nor later in Poplar River Valley. Finally I outsmarted a red squirrel and got his photo to take home.

"The salmon were running yesterday," said a park attendant in Temperance River State Park.

A ring billed gull along the lake didn’t tell us about salmon. No one else seemed to be able to help us either until we talked to a man on the bridge above the falls “Oh, they’re right there,” he said.

With my poor eyesight they were not easy to see, but sure enough, there they were, attempting to jump up those falls just below us!

“Did any ever get up?” we wondered. “Then how do they spawn? And where?”

"Superior Hiking Trail is pretty strenuous. There are ups and downs," a hiker had said in Itasca State Park. After a road construction project at Caribou Wayside forced us to change our route for the day, we would find out she was right! The SHT is rather strenuous, with many ups and downs and rocks. All the rain made a muddy trail besides! We opted for two sections, driving to Poplar River Valley where we found the three outstanding views. We finished this 11.9 mile day at 4:40, much later than usual. Josie was still ambitious and hoped for a gondola ride and hike to a waterfall before returning to our campsite. Likely, this day did not help Merv's foot and he and I were exhausted!

12

The North Star

The next day we started late because of the poor weather report; we were startled by vicious-sounding thunder and lightning just as I was getting out of the truck to make room for Josie!

People walking along the road did not seem to be alarmed! A late start meant less mileage but the 4.7 miles from Beaver River to Silver Bay took us almost four hours! So much for an easy trail along the lake! The next day continued to tax us. Although the views of Bean Lake and Bear Lake were outstanding, we "mudded" it up to the top of Mt. Trudee. Somewhat confused about where the actual high point was, we eventually did find it. Expansive views! Very awe-inspiring! Descending, we hit rocks. Big rocks. The steep descent was labeled with a sign,"The Drainpipe!” How fitting. The next day after drenching rain, we overheard some hikers say they were going the other way UP "The Drainpipe." Knowing exactly what they would face, we were glad we had done it the day before! Despite a strenuous 10.5 mile day, we were not about to miss the falls at the park. After doing 94 steps to High Falls, we did 160 more steps to Two Step Falls. For Josie, who loves waterfalls, this week's hike was super! It was definitely worth it. In my estimation, High Falls was one of the high points of our entire trip.

We celebrated our last full day of hiking together by thoroughly absorbing the beautiful reds of the maples glistening with moisture from the rain. At Sawmill Dome we marked the spot by photographing our dirty shoes. These feet have gone together hundreds of miles and we were sad to end it the next day.

Gooseberry Falls were pretty but with all the people there, we felt like "out-ofplace" tourists since we had just returned from a muddy hike north of the park.

Next, we plan to explore Letchworth Park in New York State. I just learned it is the #1 State Park in the nation!

On previous pages, Rachel and Merv hiked sections of the Superior Hiking Trail in the northeastern corner of Minnesota. Like several other major portions of the North Country Trail, here ours is hosted by a separate trail organization, the Superior Hiking Trail Association (SHTA),which has built and mapped a 310-mile rugged footpath paralleling the North Shore of Minnesota, frequently climbing and descending innumerable stream gullies that aim for the shore of Lake Superior from highland forests. Their volunteers tend the trail, their many camping facilities, and bridges, and like the NCTA, they welcome members to support their organization. For these miles, buy maps from them, not the NCTA. The official designation of this section of trail as part of the NCNST is pending Congressional action.

See page 7 for more information.

Editor

Superior Hiking Trail Jaron Cramer, SHTA Development and Communications Director

Interview with Denny Caneff, Executive Director, SHTA

By Andrea Ketchmark, North Country Trail Association

Denny Caneff, Executive Director, and Jo Swanson, Trail Development Director, standing in front of their office in Two Harbors, Minnesota.

A

s Executive Director, it’s my duty and privilege to build relationships with the Executive Directors of our Affiliate and Partner organizations along the Trail. Over the next few issues, I’ll sit down (in person or on the phone) with some of these EDs to have a discussion about their work, their hopes for the future and maybe find out a little more about what makes them tick. On April 4th, I called Denny Caneff from the Superior Hiking Trail Association (SHTA). We share an excerpt from our conversation with you below.

Andrea: Tell me a little about your background. I know you are new to the trails world. What has your life looked like before SHTA? Denny: I have a Masters Degree in Agricultural Journalism, have backpacked through Europe and the Middle East and was stationed in Cameroon West Africa in the Peace Corps. I ran a save the family farm organization that worked to protect farmland from development. I ran a river conservation organization in Wisconsin for many years. A lot of time in the conservation world.

Lots of policy and advocacy. My favorite part of that time was developing young professionals, developing people for this world of conservation policy and advocacy, and now trails.

Andrea: What did bring you to the SHTA? Denny: I was in Madison, Wisconsin, for years. For all of my driving around Wisconsin with the River Alliance, I passed the Ice Age and North Country Trail a bunch, but finally stopped to hike them in recent years. I left the River Alliance in 2016, ready for something new. And then the announcement came up for the ED job with SHTA and I thought this is perfect. I love the work and it’s back to Minnesota for me, which is where I grew up.

www.northcountrytrail.org

Andrea: What skills have you brought from your previous career that have helped you here?

Denny: I think for me it has been helping ordinary people do extraordinary things. That’s sort of a cliche but my work has been organizing citizens to be advocates for their rivers or to save farmland or water or save the family farm. That's something that has been a fundamental part of my work, putting people in a good position to be powerful and effective. And I think in this realm it's helping volunteers be powerful and effective through their work on the trail. I really like helping people find their creativity. To me it’s making sure that people bring everything they've got and not check their brains at the door.

Andrea: What’s been your best experience so far? Something that made you say “Wow, this was the right choice for me.”

Denny: I think it was a recent bridge building project. There were eight or ten guys over a snowy weekend in February and the task was to move three 1,200 pound stringers into place over this creek. We bolted them together, put down the decking, put on the handrails and we got a bridge. It was fascinating. Talk about optimizing volunteer strengths! There were people there who know construction and approached it in a methodical and patient way although here was a lot of haggling. Safety was uppermost in our minds. My job was to bring the lunches and serve the food. People were really hungry and there was a lot of food so it was just a great thing. These bridges had been hanging over our heads for a few years. To make some progress on a long standing weak spot in the SHT was a great feeling.

Andrea: What is something you didn’t expect in this job?

Denny: I think it's the physical condition of the SHT. I wasn’t a connoisseur of hiking trails when I got here so it took me a while to learn what to look for. Many parts of the Trail that are 30 years old were built before there were sustainable trail standards and put in places that were convenient, but not necessarily in the best place to put a trail. We can’t let this stuff go anymore. We have to triage it. We have to plan.

Andrea: What do you think is the biggest challenge for the Trail and the SHTA in the next few years?

Denny: What jumps out at me is the stunning popularity of the Superior Hiking Trail, how it is beloved by anybody who has come in contact with it and the fact that probably 95 percent of those people have never spent a nickel for the Trail. That's the challenge.

I think we have people who use the Trail occasionally even once or twice a year who don't want to mess around with the membership.

How do we engage them so that they're willing to invest money in the Superior Hiking Trail? I think that's a big deal.

Andrea: Tell us something fun. What do you do when you are not at work?

Denny: I forgot to tell you I’m the father of four kids. Three are in the Twin Cities and one more in New York City. So they are a big deal to me. They are at a great stage where I'm not taking care of them. They're not taking care of me. We’re really just enjoying our time together.

Andrea: Well, I certainly enjoyed our time together. Thank you for talking to me today, Denny. We’ll see you out on the SHT

April-June 2018

13

Hiking Shorts Dave Galbreath

Where in the Blue Blazes?

In this regular feature of North Star, we challenge your knowledge in a friendly competition to name the location of a detail or point of interest along the 4600+mile North Country Trail. Any of our readers can submit a photo for consideration for the next puzzle, or play our game by answering the question: Where in the Blue Blazes can this location be found?

Jim Bradley

Clarion Chapter's new off-road trail is taking shape.

Clarion Chapter Projects PENNSYLVANIA

Our mystery photo from the last issue of North Star is found in Minnesota, near the shore of Lake Superior. Sonju Lake is found toward the northeastern end of the Superior Hiking Trail.

We recieved no new submission of a mystery photo for this issue, but I received the following responses to the picture of Lilly's Island gnome.

2/21 Dick Zeman called me to identify the island in Sonju Lake, and he’s right! He lives in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

3/22 E-mail: By this time, you've probably received responses from people identifying the location of the Lilly's Island gnome. But if you haven't already gone to press with the responses, you might like to add a detail my wife reminded me of. It's kind of fun. Not far from the Lilly's Island sign, there was a trail registry box. When we opened it, we found a ring box inside. It was empty except for a note that read, "She said yes!"

—Jim Bradley

14

The North Star

There has been ongoing progress in the Clarion Chapter to remove road walk in Pennsylvania. The Trail has been moved a half mile off East End Road into Gamelands 63. We appreciate Ed and Susan Myers, Chapter members and landowners, for allowing us to go across their property. We thank the Gamelands Commission as well. The trail was laid out and trees were cleared by three Clarion Chapter members. We need to build treadway to complete the project.

—Jan Berg On another front, the Clarion Chapter has developed a spur to the North Country Trail. Over the past four years we have been working to gain accesses, get permits, build the Trail and sign the spur which is a three mile loop connecting the town of Clarion to the nearby Clarion River.

The Trail begins at the corner of the college parking lot and winds downward through a variety of hemlock and hardwood trees. You will pass over creeks, around large moss

covered rocks, until you view the river below. The Trail then goes to the river where you can sit and enjoy. Because this section of the river is actually part of a reservoir, the tree branches rest on the water and when the light is right it creates spectacular mirror images.

On the return uphill, switchbacks have been added to make for more great viewing as you ascend back to the parking lot.

Informational signs have been placed along the Trail. These along with directional signs were made possible with a grant through Clarion University. We now have designated trail parking signs, directional signs and along the Trail, three informational signs. To involve more of the locals the Clarion County Career Center’s welding shop was contacted and agreed to construct steel frames for the signs.

The information to be put on the signs was written by university students.

A grand opening for the Trail is scheduled for April 14, when the University and the community will be invited to explore and enjoy the new trail.

—Susan Giering

Hiking Shorts Mike Toole

Members of the Allegheny National Forest Chapter during their Wilderness First Aid Course prepare to lift a patient with a suspected spinal cord injury, to get her away from a dangerous area in this scenario. From left to right: Alisha Glasgow, Daniel Gangloff, Katarzyna Dec, Jeff Manelick, Rich Glasgow, Konstantin Pokrovski and Tina Toole as the “victim.”

Allegheny National Forest Chapter Winter 2018 News PENNSYLVANIA

www.northcountrytrail.org

on a bridge that was damaged by a fallen tree.

April-June 2018

15

Mike Toole

The Allegheny National Forest (ANF) Chapter has been busy this winter despite the unrelenting weather. The Chapter has already hosted a Wilderness First Aid Class, three work days, and four guided hikes.

This February the ANF Chapter certified 10 people in Wilderness First Aid. The class was taught by Chapter member Jeff Manelick who holds certifications in Wilderness First Aid, First Aid, CPR, and others. The classes were held on two Sundays and featured multiple scenarios on varying terrain complemented by discussion and review of the scenarios. February also saw the ANF Chapter’s first work day of 2018.

Twelve people came out to help put in road crossing signs, install new kiosk panels, clear seven miles of trail, do water work, and sidehill bench parts of the Trail.

The ANF Chapter’s calendar remains In March, despite the return of winter full for spring as well. The Chapter with a vengeance, the ANF Chapter had has planned eight more guided a busy schedule. Sixteen people came hikes, three more work days and two out for the first beginner hike of the work weekends, and will cap off the year, while fifteen people participated spring season with the wildly popular in the first advanced hike on March Allegheny 100 Challenge the second 4th. The first March work day saw weekend in June. The ANF Chapter fourteen hardy volunteers show up to hopes to see you at one of its events! help clear 6 miles of Trail, fix a bridge, and clear a huge blowdown blocking —Shelby Ganglof a stream crossing all while working in six-inch-deep snow. Six people showed up for the next beginner hike and slogged through 3.5 miles of shin-deep snow on a gorgeous, sunny day.

Finally, the second March work day brought out twelve dedicated volunteers who worked on a reroute around a hopeless soggy area, improved the drainage in two other wet areas, and cleared blowdowns, all with hand tools as the trails section in question is in the Minister Allegheny National Forest Chapter volunteers Creek Wilderness Study Area. Brady Johnson and Corie Eckman repair a railing

Hiking Shorts Red Bridge Closure on the Manistee River Trail, North Country Trail Loop Spirit of the Woods Chapter LOWER MICHIGAN

At the northern end of our Spirit of the Woods Chapter’s section is a 20 mile loop hiking trail system formed by the Manistee River Trail and the North Country Trail. At the loop’s most southern point there is a short road walk on Coates Highway using what is locally known as “Red Bridge” crossing the Manistee River. Red Bridge is going to be completely replaced and closed to ALL traffic, foot and car, from April 2 through August 24, 2018. This will be interrupting the connection for hikers who want to do the whole loop. In order to hike the loop, a car will need to meet you at Coates Highway and shuttle you around on area roads to get back to Coates Highway on the opposite side of the river. View a full size map of the detours at https://bit.ly/2GVKfZh. This closure will not prevent a hike on the North Country Trail where it crosses Coates Highway, just when making the connection to the Manistee River Trail to form a loop with the North Country Trail. See a map of the North Country Trail in this area at http://bit.ly/2oIbvia.

—Loren Bach, SPW Chapter For help spotting cars or getting a ride around the closed bridge, contact Tom Funke at “Trailspotters of Michigan” (http://www. trailspotters.com/) Tom is the author of 50 Hikes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula & 50 Hikes on the North Country Trail.

— Duane Lawton

16

The North Star

Excerpted from the Jordan Valley 45° Chapter Newsletter, upper lower Michigan, editor Bob Haack.

Trail Register at the 45th Parallel Crossing on Jordan River Pathway Loop Story and pictures by Robert A. Haack

I

t was in December 2016 when I last summarized the entries in the log book where the NCT crosses the 45th Parallel in the Jordan Valley. So I will focus on the 2017 entries now. Overall, there were at least 572 people that signed the log book in 2017. This is a definite undercount because there were several entries that represented a group but the number of members was not given. This happened several times and included various hiking clubs and entire Scout troops. On such occasions, the entire group was counted as a single entry or one person. And of course, there are likely many other people who do not write anything in the log book, and so they are missed, too.

Given that, the monthly totals for the 572 “hikers” in 2017 were Jan-0, Feb0, March-5, April-46, May-83, June-75, July-97, Aug-47, Sep-72, Oct-125, Nov-18, and Dec-4.

As expected, the vast majority of hikers were from Michigan, representing more than 50 hometowns. Of course, many more cities would have been represented if all hikers had signed in and given their hometowns. Besides Michigan, there were entries from 9 other states (Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) and 3 other countries (Canada, France, Poland).

There were hundreds of messages in the log book. Here are a few from throughout 2017. In March, Susan wrote crusty trail, good hiking. In April, Bob - JV45 is awesome, Susan - first spring beauties, and Janean – wild flowers are showing their pretty faces. In May, Ellen – made it to the 45th crossing, Yahoo!, Ben – we love the trail and all the hard work that has been done on it, Cori – a beautiful day to get lost in the woods, Troy – songs of chirping birds, rivers of misty green trees, at peace with my mind, and Em & Ry – our first trip as a married couple. In June, Emily – watch out for the skunk, Bruce Matthews – J45 rocks! You’re the heart of this trail, Andrea Ketchmark – NCTA volunteers are the best! Thank you for being my inspiration and giving the world the trail, Chief Noonday – hopefully on my last week of hiking from the OH/MI border to the Bridge, and Ryan & Maggie – decided to go backpacking for our anniversary this year, so here we are. In July, Susan – saw a bear cub today, and Randall – trails not only connect places they also connect people. In August, Dani – wonderful way to spend my 50th birthday, and Susan – just got back from hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, but this here is still my favorite place. In September, Scott – my first Michigan hike, Alison – lots of Indian Pipes, Kristen – awesome, travelled 330 miles to cross this point, Jason – my trip to Key West was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma, hiking here is the next best thing, and Alayna – I brought the hubby along this time and he likes it too. In October, Energizer – great maps and numbered posts, Ken – soaked but having fun, Laura – I’ve been dreaming of fall colors since moving out of state 10 years ago, so glad to be back, and Barb – snowing but gorgeous with fall colors. In November, Brad – Hike 100 completed today, Spencer – my first solo hike, and first hike in snow, Susan – soon the orange vests will be needed, and Aaron – forgot orange vest but still alive. And in December, Justin – love it up here, great to be alive, Rhonda – spectacular, and Tom – great trail!

Susan Miller is one of our JV45 members and has made the most individual entries in the 45° Latitude log book as she hikes the 18-mile-long Jordan Valley Pathway Loop. In 2015, Susan hiked the entire loop in a single day on 23 occasions, 16 times in 2016, and 17 times in 2017. Wow!

Crew Leader Program Update

By Valerie Bader, Director of Trail Development

A

fter a long winter of reviewing and editing, we are putting the final touches on our NCTA Crew Leader Training program this spring and soon will be scheduling training opportunities and projects across the Trail. We are hosting an introduction to the training at TrailFest Celebration and hope that some of you will join us there to learn more! The Crew Leader training will be available to all volunteers looking to expand their skills sets and gain new leadership skills. Topics include: crew safety, leading and motivating volunteers, recruiting participants, setting work priorities, project planning, sharing your work and more.

What is a Crew Leader? Crew Leaders represent NCTA and are responsible for organizing and managing crews in the field. In addition to knowledge about NCNST trail construction standards, Crew Leaders should be able to safely lead and motivate volunteers. Crew Leaders must have a strong commitment to building sustainable trails and get satisfaction out of helping others have a good time while doing good work.

If you are interested in leading a volunteer trail crew or have volunteers in your Chapter who may be interested in learning these skills, contact your Regional Trail Coordinator or Valerie Bader, Director of Trail Development. vbader@northcountrytrail.org Duster and Shelby, now back from Florida, admiring the growing stone cairn at the 45th Parallel crossing March 30, 2018.

North Star Submission Guidelines Without your material, we cannot have a magazine, so we eagerly request your submission of pictures and text for every issue. Please send both to Irene Szabo at treeweenie@aol.com, or 6939 Creek Rd., Mt. Morris NY 14510.

Please do not embed pictures within your article, but send them separately as .jpg attachments. We will no longer accept embedded pictures. In all cases, please supply photographer's name.

Front cover photo candidates: prefer vertical format, and if digital, at least 300 dpi or greater than 3000 pixels, AND we are always looking for great cover photos! Inside pictures look much better with one dimension over 1000 pixels, too, preferably 2000.

Next deadline for Vol. 37, No. 3, is 15 June 2018.

Remember that 900 words equal approximately one page of dense text, so very few articles should exceed 1800 words in this size of magazine.

Thank you!

Your editor, Irene (585) 658-4321) Getting ready to open the registration box on March 30, 2018

www.northcountrytrail.org

April-June 2018

17

Natural Connections: An Ephemeral Mystery

By Emily Stone Naturalist/Education Director at the Cable Natural History Museum

Reprinted with permission.

O

n one of those damp, gray days in early April, I joined the North County Trail Navigators to hike a brand new section of trail east of Copper Falls State Park, near Mellen, Wisconsin.

Light was low, but our spirits were high. Many of these women completed the 100-mile challenge on the North Country Trail (NCT) for the National Park Service’s birthday last year. Now they’re addicted, and are trying to hike this year’s miles before the mosquitoes hatch.

From the gravel road where we parked, the trail snaked its way through a beautiful sugar maple forest. The rich soil, typical of maple forests, was soft and loamy. Great for plants, but not for hiking boots. We giggled, whooped, and exclaimed as we slipped and slid through mushy spots. With use, the soil will compact and become a more durable tread, but ours were some of the first boots to travel here.

I was at the end of the line, chatting away, when I heard my name called up ahead. One of the women had spotted a mystery near the trail. In several patches, each about the size of a manhole cover, the thick maple leaf duff was pushed away. Lying exposed on the black soil were scattered chains of yellow-green plant roots that reminded me of the little plastic pop-together necklaces I won at carnivals as a kid.

Each segment of the rhizome was an oval-shaped “bead.” Also visible was the lacy network of regular, thin roots.

Of course, with a naturalist along, the group wanted an explanation of what we’d found. I pulled out my camera to photograph the creeping rootstocks, but couldn’t put a name on the discovery. A few tiny clusters of curled-up leaves sprouted from the ends of the segments, but they weren’t big enough for a confident identification. All I could do for

18

The North Star

Sara Cockrell

Sara Cockrell

Dutchman’s breeches

Trout Lily

the ladies was list of a few possibilities: blue cohosh, trout lily, spring beauty, trillium, Dutchman’s breeches, wood anemone…the list of possibilities was long.

One thing that I was certain of was that these roots belonged to a spring ephemeral. This category of flowers completes their entire life cycle in the two months or so between snow-melt and leaf-out. Instead of adapting to grow in the oppressive shade of the summer forest canopy, these little plants take advantage of the full sunshine of early spring.

During their brief growing season, spring ephemerals bury an energy reserve in tuberous roots, modified underground stems, or bulbs. Those storage units lie dormant—and protected from drought or cold—through the winter. Come spring, leaves and flowers erupt quickly with the plentiful moisture and sunshine, provide food for early pollinating insects, and then restock their provisions before melting away under the deepening summer shade.

Because so many of the spring flowers that inhabit maple forests have similar strategies, the roots we found could potentially belong to any number of the sweet and beloved blooms that grace each spring. To me, this was the most interesting part of the mystery. I did, of course, do some research at home to try to match these particular roots with a name. It’s hard to find good, identifiable photos of roots, though. Happily, the challenge just meant that in order to solve the mystery with confidence, I would have to return to this beautiful trail once the leaves had expanded.

My chance came two weeks later. The trail was only slightly dryer, but the scenery had gone through a delightful change.

Little green leaves pushed up everywhere, but mostly they sprouted out of the trail itself, where dark soil had warmed

Emily Stone

more quickly than the pale duff. Trout lilies, trilliums, leeks, oh my! And then I noticed a small patch of those mysterious, yellow-green segmented roots. Erupting out of their tips were the tiny palm tree-like leaves and clustered flower buds of cutleaved toothwort. Mystery solved.

Cut-leaved toothwort (Dentaria laciniata or Cardamine concatenate) is a widespread spring ephemeral in the mustard family. Its common name describes both the narrow, toothy leaves, and also the canine tooth-shaped sections of its rhizomes. Its elongate cluster of pretty pink-tinged white flowers will each have four petals. True to its family, the leaves and the rhizomes of toothwort have a spicy taste, similar to wasabi. The flavor probably deters some herbivores, but it’s actually encouraged people to use it as a condiment and a medicine over the years. I chewed on a leaf, and it tasted like a very plain mustard.

One herbivore that isn’t deterred is the caterpillar of the West Virginia White, a Wisconsin State Special Concern butterfly. The butterfly lays eggs on a few species of native toothworts, and the caterpillars must grow up before their short-lived food plants senesce for the summer. In an unfortunate twist, the non-native, invasive garlic mustard shares chemical cues that attract egg-laying butterflies, but it provides inadequate nutrition for the caterpillars.

In any case, it was fun to identify friends along the trail as we all race to make the most of spring.

Author Emily Stone has written a book, Natural Connections: Exploring Northwoods Nature through Science and Your Senses, Order your copy at http://cablemuseum.org/natural-connectionsbook/.

Listen to the podcast at www.cablemuseum.org!

Cut-leaved toothwort.

Emily Stone

Emily Stone

Cut-leaved toothwort blossoms.

Cut-leaved toothwort rhizomes.

www.northcountrytrail.org

April-June 2018

19

Sterling Marsh.

Hiking 100 Miles by Default Story and photos by Rick Ashbacker

Our correspondent perhaps did not see this woods nymph featured within the last year in our regular feature, “Where in the Blue Blazes.” His grumpy face has been seen by many a hiker!

Below: Timber Creek Trailhead.

A

lthough I have lived in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley for the past 24 years, I always try to return to my home state of Michigan for at least a week or two per year. Normally, this trip occurs in the summer, but since I now work seasonally as a park ranger from May through October, my 2017 Michigan journey started on November 1.

Not only was it later in the year than usual, but I was alone this time. My plan was to relax, do some property maintenance, and enjoy several leisurely hikes in various places around the lower peninsula. Because I stay in Ludington, Michigan, I expected to do what I usually do on the North Country Trail, use the Timber Creek Trailhead just east of Branch for parking, then do three or four dayhikes for a total of about 50 “A path is a way of making sense of the world. There are infinite ways to cross a landscape; the options are overwhelming, and pitfalls abound. The function of a path is to reduce this teeming chaos into an intelligible line.” miles. I would also do some short hikes in state parks and wilderness areas.

For me, a good trail system is like a big, huge playground, a real-world “Candyland” for adults (and kids, too, if you can get them out there). An Appalachian Trail veteran, I appreciate well-maintained trails that are long enough to get me into that feeling of almost endless potential peace and adventure, even if I am only hiking for a few hours. A good trail gives me simplicity, a freedom from too many options. Simple and uncomplicated, I hike, or I quit. I continue on the trail, or I go home. In one of my all-time favorite hiking-oriented books, On Trails, author Robert Moor writes, “A path is a way of making sense of the world. There are infinite ways to cross a landscape; the options are overwhelming, and pitfalls abound. The function of a path is to reduce this teeming chaos into an intelligible line.”

NCT Hike 1: Udell Trailhead to Nine Mile Bridge, and back, November 3.

Although I was not planning to hike great distances on the NCT, I wanted my first Michigan hike of the year to cover Trail I had never traveled. I had passed Udell trailhead between Manistee and Wellston several times without stopping, so this was the day to stop and hike south. After only a quarter-mile or so, I spotted the quirky character in the photo. He did not seem very happy to see me. Continuing, the flat trail gradually climbed about 50 feet onto a roundish plateau that includes the Udell Hills and the “Big M” trail system. The Trail was heavily forested and included many

20

The North Star

short ups and downs as I crossed what seemed like endless draws along the rim of the plateau. The entire section was wellblazed and maintained.

Total miles out and back: approximately 13.

NCT Hike 2: Wingleton Road to Centerline Road, and back, November 4.

This was a section of trail that I had hiked many times.

Although generally flat, this heavily-forested area on the edge of the Ward Hills has several climbs of approximately 50-100 feet with good views in the autumn. There are also several mature stands of red pine plantings that I always liked. Since it was my birthday, I decided to “treat” myself to a longer hike this day. Later in the afternoon, however, the skies darkened to the west, and heavy flurries caused me to pick up the pace on the way back. This section was well-maintained and easy to follow. Total miles out and back: approximately 16.

NCT Hike 3: Freesoil Trailhead to Nine Mile Bridge, and back, November 6, 2017 After taking a day’s break to hike in the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness north of Ludington State Park, I returned to hike a new section, for me, of the NCT. The first half-mile or so was marshy and swampy with several well-built bridges crossing the streams. From there, most of the terrain was gently rolling with occasional open areas. Maybe about four miles in, I crossed a broad marsh on a long, well-built boardwalk. There were four deer nearby, along with a red-tailed hawk. Later, and luckily, there were no cars on the road-walk approaching Nine Mile Bridge. On my return trip, the temperature warmed enough for me to take off my jacket and hike in a sweatshirt. The Trail, again, was well-maintained and in great shape. Total miles out and back: approximately 16.

NCT Hike 4: Three Mile Road to Echo Drive, and back, November 7.

I decided to go south on this day, again to cover a section of the NCT that I had never hiked. Expecting to see more open country in Newaygo County, I was somewhat surprised that the first three miles, from Three Mile Road to M-20, were forested with rolling terrain. I should have paid more attention to my map, which indicated conditions similar to those further north.

After crossing highway M-20, the land leveled and gradually descended to the South Branch of the White River. Excellent boardwalks and bridges crossed the marshy floodplains and river flats. I saw three great blue herons in the shallows.

Although this section was more settled than the others, the Trail was very well-maintained and blazed. Total miles out and back: approximately 13.

NCT Hike 5: 76th Street Trailhead to past Forest Road 5311, and back, November 8.

Since I had not yet hiked near Baldwin, I decided to head south from 76th Street. Again, this was new territory; I had never seen Sterling Marsh, although I had read about it and its extensive boardwalk. The hike started out relatively flat and remained that way all day. This was a classic “woods walk” with the highlight of Sterling Marsh, with its tall grass, open water in spots, and the very well-built boardwalk that allows a hiker to pass over and through the marsh without causing damage. A number of wood ducks whistled and took flight. After hiking about seven miles, I saw a hiker-register kiosk near 16 Mile Road. Occasionally, these are empty, but this one contained the register. I read a few entries that mentioned the 100-mile Challenge and thought, “That’s right, I forgot all about that.”

Doing a random mental estimate, I realized that I had already

Below: The Trail near Baldwin.

www.northcountrytrail.org

April-June 2018

21

Bowman Lake.

hiked about 65 miles on the NCT with eight more to go today. That left 27 miles and three hiking days before returning to Virginia. Total miles out and back: approximately 15.

NCT Hike 6: Timber Creek Trailhead to Bowman Trail Cutoff, and back, November 9.

I had originally planned to hike elsewhere, but with 27 miles to reach 100, and weather reports indicating snow the next day, I hit the NCT again. Although I could not hike all day, I had time to cover 10-11 miles close to home. Heading south, the Trail in this area was mostly level with about two miles of road-walk each way. The most significant event was crossing the Pere Marquette River over the bridge on South Branch Road. There were no herons, nor were there canoeists like I had seen during summers past, but it was quiet and the river was flowing swiftly.

The Trail was well-blazed and maintained. Total miles out and back: approximately 11.

NCT Hike 7: 76th Street Trailhead to Bowman Lake, and back, November 10.

Despite a big temperature drop and several inches of overnight snow, I risked the roads and headed to Baldwin. I had only two more available hiking days and the 100 miles had become a mild obsession. The roads were passable and the sun came out, so I hiked. Although the snow on the Trail was only about three inches deep, it slowed my hiking pace a bit. This section was heavily forested with gently rolling terrain, at least until I neared 56th Street and climbed about 60 fairly steep feet. After crossing the road, I reached Bowman Lake, which was beautiful with the snow and clear, blue sky. It was so inviting that I circled the lake on a side trail. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a dark, weasel-like critter crawling into the open top of a dead tree. Deer and raccoon tracks frequently crossed the Trail. The section parallels the Pere Marquette River, which is seldom more than one-half mile to the northeast. Total miles out and back: approximately 12.

22

The North Star

NCT Hike 8: Freesoil Trailhead to Loon Lake, and back, November 11.

Only four miles remained to meet the Challenge, but this was my last available day to hike. Should I play it safe and hike something I had already done, or go to a new area and risk driving on snowy backroads? I decided to risk the roads and hike south from Freesoil Trailhead, a new section for me. The first four miles or so consisted of a relatively flat “woods walk” in about two inches of snow. Four deer watched after I crossed a stream. Coming to Five Mile Road, the Trail was road-walk until Loon Lake, passing quite a few homes and cottages. As I retraced my steps back to the trailhead, not only were there more deer, but it felt great having hiked over 100 miles on the NCT, and having enjoyed it so much. Total miles out and back: approximately 11.

Although I had hiked 100 miles, I had never actually signed up for the Challenge. So, on my drive back to Virginia, I stopped by the Lowell, Michigan, NCTA office to plead ignorance. The staff members on duty were very nice and said, “No problem, as long as it was all in 2017.” Not only did I thank them, but I also passed along compliments to the NCTA for the excellent trail maintenance done by the Spirit of the Woods and Western Michigan Chapters. They truly helped one hiker unexpectedly complete the 100-Mile Challenge by default.

Joan Young

Passages The Passing Of Some Serious Trail Magic Wes Boyd, of Manitou Beach, Michigan, died March 15, 2018, following a short illness. Wes' name should ring bells for those who have been involved with the North Country Trail since early years. His contributions to the Trail community are monumental, but like so many of the first rank of volunteers, as time has passed the magic they bestowed is being forgotten.

He loved the concept of Trail Magic, and it was his mission to make the magic real for those with whom he came into contact. At the basic level he provided rides and information about the Trail to any who asked. At early conferences, when they were still held at campgrounds, he often organized evening campfires, encouraging people to share their experiences on the Trail.

This promoted the camaraderie so sorely needed to build community across a seven-state Trail.

Wes' experience in the fields of news and photography led him to become the editor of the Newsletter of the North Country Trail Association, which evolved into the North Star, from Spring 1989 to May 2000. Under his leadership, the magazine moved from a small black and white publication to a full-color magazine. In "real life" he was the editor, publisher and eventual owner of the Hudson Post-Gazette (Michigan).

Also an amateur astronomer, Wes would bring his telescope to conferences and host night hikes and learning adventures about the skies.

This interest led to his involvement in the Dark Sky initiative, and he helped write and pass the legislation to establish Michigan's first Dark Sky Preserve at Lake Hudson.

His passion for writing resulted in the publication of many books, which can be seen at spearfishlaketales.com.

But before he took up fiction, Wes wrote and published the first book ever written about the NCT, Following the North Country National Scenic Trail.

It was so well read, three editions were published with updated information.

www.northcountrytrail.org

When the Trail was little more than unconnected segments and a dream, Wes saw the completed blue line in his head and attempted to carry the potential hiking public along with him in that vision.

Believing that the short book giving an overview was not enough, Wes set out to produce the first guidebook to the Trail. His health did not permit him to take long hikes, but he drove the length of the Trail several times making detailed and consistent notes about segments, services, and access points. He created maps that were extremely useful in the early days. This was prior to any maps produced by headquarters. His daughter Amanda traveled with him on some of these trips taking pictures. Although the material is severely dated at this point, for those of us who were attempting long hikes "back then," the continuity of his narrative was extremely helpful.

He managed to complete six states, missing only New York. All this was accomplished as a volunteer, at his own expense.

Wes served on the Board of Directors, and received the Distinguished Service Award in 1996 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Sometime around 1998, Wes discovered sea kayaking. This was a physical activity his body could handle and he moved on…to follow water trails instead of the North CountryTrail.

I ran into Wes one more time, at a model railroading show, maybe in 2002. His health hadn't improved, but he was happy writing and still doing some kayaking.

Wes Boyd was one of the early people who saw the Trail as a whole, not just as little pieces through county parks, state forests, and even national forests, but as a solid blue line from New York to North Dakota. Some days, even yet, that is difficult to picture, so we owe the debt of determined foresight to those, like Wes, who fought to create a unified vision of one Trail.

Wes Boyd, in 1990s.

Perhaps now, at long last, Wes can hike the blue blazes as often as he wishes. We thank you for your years of service.

The full obituary and a guest book can be found at www.brownvanhemert. com —Joan Young And Joan learned that Tom Gilbert, our retired Superintendant of the North Country Trail, wrote to Wes around last Christmas, the following note: As I have continued involvement in the North Country Trail Association, I appreciate so much the early leaders who moved the Association and the Trail from an idea, a Congressional “authorization,” to a living, breathing reality. No one is more important to an organization than the person who maintains the flow of communication, especially with a geographically far-flung membership, and that was you, Wes. So thank you, many times over. The memories from those early days when you were so actively involved are precious to me.

April-June 2018

23

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Annual NCTA Awards To North Country Trail Heroes Boots on the Ground BOBBI JO GAMACHE Bobbi Jo leads the Chief Noonday Chapter’s hike committee, so is active with organizing and publicizing their monthly public hikes, which has led to two hikes that attracted over one hundred people! At each hike she goes out of her way to welcome new people, introduces the North Country Trail to participants, which has brought in new members, and always makes sure beforehand that volunteers are in tune with the logistics of each hike. Bobbi Jo makes reservations at nearby restaurants for post-hike socializing, and has added two different hike lengths to many offerings, which has been very popular.

The North Star

Boots on the Ground JOHN RARICK John Rarick is the Wampum Chapter’s Monthly Hike Coordinator, so is responsible for organizing their hikes, working hard to make them interesting to attract more people.

There is a Big Foot hike in March, an Easter Egg Hunt hike, and a Pumpkin Pie Hike in October, for instance, which are popular and have drawn upwards of 100 people. John works closely with the Beaver County Tourism agency to set up schedules and publicize them within local communities. He also advertizes the monthly hikes in a section of the local newspaper.

Dave Brewer

24

Bruce Johnson

Blue Blazes Benefactors TOM and MARY MOBERG Tom and Mary Moberg have set the bar high in their philanthropy for the last seven years, giving of their time, energy and financial resources.

They were the key players in creating the Dakota Prairie Chapter over the last five years, a chapter now thriving with nearly one hundred members. They have led efforts to scout and build miles of new Trail across southeastern North Dakota. Tom is on the NCTA Board of Directors, serving three years as President while Mary is currently their Chapter President. On top of that, they served as co-chairs for the 2016 Annual NCTA Celebration in Fargo.

Their financial generosity has matched stride with their volunteer achievements. They give generously behind the scenes setting a leadership pace with their donations. Last year, they became the first couple to become True North Society members, an achievement only two private donors have accomplished.

Boots on the Ground RENNAE GRUCHALLA Rennae has chaired the Dakota Prairie Chapter’s events committee for several years and leads many of the Chapter’s hikes, including some in the winter season and in a wide geographic area, from southeastern N.D. to Minnesota and west central N.D. These hikes have resulted in new Chapter members and volunteers. Rennae is always thinking of ways to get more people onto the Trail, which has led her to arranging hikes with other groups like the Sierra Club, Audubon, Scouts, and local colleges. The multi-year Dakota Challenge (to hike all of the NCT in N.D.) was her brainchild which she continues to coordinate. She also assists with a concerted Chapter effort to reach out to younger people in the Fargo-Moorhead community.

Vijay Gaba

Blue Blazes Benefactor HELEN BROOKS Helen Brooks was a Rochester, N.Y., member who worked quietly for the Finger Lakes Trail, mostly providing office help to Dorothy Beye when the FLT office was in her home for 17 years. Helen was quiet, the very model for the Sweep Award, but attended many of the FLT weekend gatherings and hiked with her local club. What few knew was that she was an early and rare woman lawyer who played a major role in Rochester’s Lawyers Publishing Cooperative.

After her death in 2016 we learned that the FLT was the recipient of a major bequest, one which has come in several large amounts, totalling by now nearly $600,000, earmarked for trail preservation. The timing could not have been better: over the last two years the FLT has been able to lend major sums to the Finger Lakes Land Trust to help them preserve major parcels along the Trail, parcels which will eventually be sold to the state to add to their state forests, and even has bought one parcel themselves. In each of these cases, the money will come back to the FLT so that they can preserve other vulnerable and critical properties along the Trail. How frustrating not to be able to thank Helen!

Jane Norton

E

very year nominations come from members and staff to the Awards Committee, this year ably chaired by Larry Pio of the Chief Noonday Chapter, who struggle with more good nominees than awards. Here are our choices for the last year, presented publically as part of an evening program during Celebration with the Buckeye Trail in Ohio.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Friend of the Trail FINGER LAKES LAND TRUST If a viewer was sitting in a canoe in the middle of New York’s Cayuga Lake, looking southward toward the thriving City of Ithaca, they would see a high ridge of hills from their right side, dipping south and Andy Zepp., FLLT appearing on the far horizon Executive Director. south of Ithaca and then rising toward their left side. Think of it as a crescent of high hilltops, almost all wooded and/or in green agricultural fields. The name of the project thus became THE EMERALD NECKLACE and a multi-year, multi-decade focus of the Finger Lakes Land Trust to protect that crescent of rural land, which mostly coincides with the route of the Finger Lakes/ Kris West, Senior North Country Trail.

Field Representative.

There are many public lands in that crescent, but the private properties between them are vulnerable to increasing realty pressures from Ithaca. So the Land Trust program has meshed perfectly with Trail advocates’ desire to protect its route. Donors to the Sidote Preservation Fund had increased that pot to hundreds of thousands of dollars, which the Trail was able to lend to the Land Trust to buy several key properties, and Zachary Odell, Director of Land the staff expertise of the Land Trust at property Protection purchases and dealing with N.Y. State’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) enabled the Trail’s money to be leveraged into protecting several miles of vulnerable land. Best of all, each of these parcels will probably be bought by the State to increase the acreage of adjacent state forests, returning money to the Finger Lakes Trail. It’s been a partnership made in heaven.

Friend of the Trail JAMIE LOWE Jamie deserves this award because, quite frankly, without him, the Kekekabic Trail in northern Minnesota would not be open and hikeable today, nor would the KEK Chapter be where it is, either. While Jamie’s job with the U.S. Forest Service is to work with partner groups, his involvement and cheerful support have gone above and beyond. According to KEK Chapter President Mark Stange, “Jamie has been a driving force to keep the KEK open, despite the most recent blowdown. He has sent crews from different organizations to augment the Chapter’s efforts, and has travelled down to the Twin Cities to conduct crosscut saw training.

He enabled two American Hiking Society crews to work on miles of damaged trail by giving them support services, USFS equipment, and training. He also supported Derrick Passe’s month working in there with yet another crew by supplying food and equipment for that whole month; we read about Derrick’s project two issues ago. “After I was done with my work in May,” Derrick said, “Jamie continued to work with USFS crews to reopen other trail connections in the Boundary Waters Wilderness.”

April-June 2018

25

Matt Davis

www.northcountrytrail.org

Dave Galbreath

Trail Builder ED SCURRY For years the Clarion Chapter has appreciated Ed Scurry for his boundless energy building new trail for the NCT. Not only has he been an unending enthusiast and hard worker on the ground but he has also obtained permission from private landowners for new trail. He has also championed getting new members, and has succeeded at that, too.

Kay Kujawa

Trail Builder PATRICIA MCNAMARA Pat has worked as a trail builder for the Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore Chapter on many of our new trail projects over the last several years, Tahqua Trail, Lynch Creek, Little Bear Creek, Curley Lewis, and Wolf Lake.

She has been involved from beginning to end on each of these, sawed thousands of feet of decking boards, hauled materials, and nailed the pieces together.

Trail tread building is her special talent, so her husband bought her a Pulaski for Christmas! Last summer and fall, Pat and Bob, her husband, spent seven weeks planning, sawing, preparing sites, and supervising a Great Lakes Conservation Crew for the Wolf Lake Project in Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

The project included 1250 feet of boardwalk in eleven structures, a mile of new trail tread, and two 16 foot bridges. Work at the midpoint of the six mile project included daily hikes of 3 or more miles to the work sites! Then Pat and her husband prepare and serve the lion’s share of the project meals, camping in their RV full weeks at a time working on the NCT.

Bill Menke

Trail Builder TOM HICKS Tom has participated in 35 week-long work trips of Brule-St. Croix Roving Crew since 2012, and although he may be one of the older members, he is one of the most productive, enthusiastic, and hard-working. He has a background as a lineman, engineer, and project supervisor with the telephone company, which has taught him many practical skills that benefit our work on the Trail. In addition to constructing many miles of trail, he typically serves as our power miter saw operator, and can be counted on to cut boards accurately and safely, especially the many precise, angled cuts required by our A-frame truss bridges, elevated boardwalks, and puncheon.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Outreach MIKE WILKEY Mike has seen the need to spread the word, invite new adventurers, make the Trail noticeable and bring communities out to HIKE. He has almost singlehandedly promoted our Trail in some of our more distant communities, Albion and Homer, by signing up for, and hosting promotional tables at the Albion Festival of the Forks, and the Homer Summerfest. He has arranged our participation in several local parades, and leads our promotional efforts at booths for outdoor shows in several places. He even arranged to have the Chief Noonday monthly meeting in Homer some times, 65 miles north of their usual spot, which garnered a lot of attention. Mike also attends to urban blazing in places like Battle Creek.

Outreach GAIL ROGNE As President of the Dakota Prairie Chapter for five years, Gail has tried to organize interesting programs for Chapter monthly meetings, which helps to bring in new members. While she also participates in almost all of their hikes and works at trail care, she also is especially active at outreach activities such as manning a table for Streets Alive, the Hiking Expo, Hike Every Mile, along with many more events. Gail worked many hours at the Trail Shop when we hosted the National Celebration in 2016.

Loren Bach

Leadership LOREN BACH During four years of the last five she simultaneously held the Chapter positions of President, Outings Coordinator and Leader, Communication Liaison, Webmaster for our Website and Facebook pages, and Newsletter, Brochure and MailChimp Editor. She brought to these positions her personality, her talent in photography and writing, and her computer, communication and people skills.

Through these positions she has kept the NCTA and the USFS informed of our activities, our Chapter Officers focused on their individual and trail responsibilities, our chapter members and volunteers informed and motivated to participate in chapter activities, the local news media and public notified and informed of our activities and with information about the NCT. As a direct result of her efforts, the Chapter has been successful in increasing membership. While she did finally step down from the Presidency, she has continued to recruit and mentor new leaders, conduct popular events each year, and work to ensure continuity and successful succession among our Chapter leadership.

Tom Moberg

The North Star

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Larry Pio

26

Mark Wadopian

Outreach EILEEN FAIRBROTHER As a longtime Central New York chapter member, Eileen has contributed on many fronts. Not only is she active leading hikes and work projects, but she also has adopted her own piece of trail. However, one of her most noteworthy contributions has been in the arena of outreach, first as the Chapter’s webmaster and also as the person who publicizes hikes and other activities locally. As a person who is dedicated to getting details right, her work is always thorough and competent! As her nominator said, Eileen enhances the NCTA image locally in a professional and creative way.

Martha Wohlford

Outstanding Private Landowner RON and GRACE HUTCHINSON This family has been a heavy-duty supporter of the Chief Noonday Chapter section since the very beginning, hosting trail meetings and the beginning Trail, lending farm equipment to help build the Trail, creating a parking area, and agreeing to signage limiting Trail usage to walkers only. Best of all, in 2017 they also became, with son David and his wife Gloria, the first family to sell property to the National Park Service for the NCT, despite considerable interest in the view from their hilltop by others.

We hope for a story about this historic contribution!

Kristin Byram

Friend of the Trail TYLER MODLIN Tyler Modlin, manager of Fort Ransom State Park, has been an invaluable agency partner of the Sheyenne River Valley Chapter. Tyler not only maintains his own segment of the Trail within the boundaries of the park for hiking and grooms the Trail for cross-country skiing in the winter, but he also helps to promote the NCT throughout the year.

Tyler lobbied the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Dept. for the production of interpretive kiosks highlighting the North Country Trail, not only through his own park but throughout the state as well, along with maps showing the route. These are very eye-catching kiosks with brochure racks for both the SRV Chapter and the NCT National Park Service brochure. With over 47,000 annual visitors this is great exposure for the NCT. Tyler sponsors our National Trails Day program and has also hosted several of our summer hikes. He has been a true partner to our chapter and the NCT.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Communicator CHARLES CHANDLER A relatively new member of the Western Michigan Chapter, Charles has been the primary creator of the loop trail to White Cloud, Michigan, now a Trail Town. He envisioned a loop trail off the main which would bring hikers to the town’s services and especially its campground. He sold people on the idea at every level, city, county, White Cloud High School, and businesses, and now there is a groomed 4.3 mile loop trail. He applied for grants and succeeded.

For the last several years there has been a major two day Trail celebration at the campground which has grown so much that the number of vendors quickly exceeded the electric power available at the site, so Charles wrote another grant and convinced more businesses to donate. Therefore, there is now enhanced power capacity at the campground. Trail Town designation was yet another project Charles convinced people to embrace. What a wonderful salesman for the Trail he is! He and his wife also maintain the loop. He is currently working on obtaining more signage on local county roads to bring people to the Trail.

April-June 2018

27

Kevin Schram

Trail Maintainer MEL BAUGHMAN Mel is a professor emeritus from the University of Minnesota who has written scholarly papers on recreational trail construction and maintenance. He has educated the Chequamegon Chapter membership about the principles of trail construction and made sure that our work meets the highest standards.

Beyond working long hours, Mel has taught other volunteers how to use a crosscut saw properly, a MacLeod and other tools.

Mel adopted a two mile section of the Rainbow Lake Wilderness in the middle of the wilderness, a section that can be maintained only using hand tools. While maintaining his own section, Mel often maintains parts of the remaining sections on the two mile walk into and out of his section. Last year, Mel was instrumental in completing a 3/4 mile reroute. He was at every trail maintenance event for the reroute and would return to work on it between scheduled trail maintenance events.

Mel also volunteers to work elsewhere in Wisconsin with the Brule-St. Croix Rovers, who disappear into the woods for a week at a time on major projects.

Mary Rebert

Communicator ROBERT COOLEY Every Chapter has dedicated volunteers who “stand up” but do not “stand out.” Bob Cooley has been a Chief Noonday member since 2004, and he is THERE when we need him for projects, promotional activities, hike leading, work crews, mentoring, and more.

While he loves trail work projects, he is also good at reaching out to share the Trail with others. For instance, for the “Picture This” project the National Park Service conducted in Battle Creek, Bob led inner city youth on many hikes with their cameras. For the 2012 annual conference he also led a special hike and pointed out information along the way.

Bob has also built and installed several informative kiosks along the Trail.

Dianne Taylor Chandler

www.northcountrytrail.org

Dave Newman

Leadership DAVE NEWMAN While the “job” of VicePresident of Trail Preservation has been around for some years now along the Finger Lakes Trail, Dave has elevated it masterfully to a critical position, for he has been very creative with easements, land swaps, and other deals to make a positive trail easement out of previously vulnerable private lands. He has spent a lot of effort educating the Board and our trail maintainers to think of asking for easements, and to see some properties as critical to the trail route. Therefore, more effort is being expended on working with those vulnerable property landowners, and Dave has had an amazing amount of success in the last few years, especially solving longtime prickly situations.

He has worked with the Finger Lakes Land Trust since we often share interest in the same neighborhoods in the middle of the state, and even led the huge project to lend some of our preservation fund (grown tremendously by generous member donors) to the Land Trust to enable them to protect several properties which will be bought by the state to add to adjacent state forests in the near future.

Thus our money will be returned AND the Trail on these properties thus protected forever. He also led a nervous board into buying one property ourselves in order to protect the Trail on part of the place, while selling the rest of the property with a house on it, thereby replacing our money again. Of course, our preservation fund has been amply grown by a bequest from Helen Brooks; see the Blue Blazes Benefactor Award! Dave’s understanding of finances and his unending willingness to work long and hard with landowners have given the Trail many immeasurable boosts.

Mary Rebert

Leadership ERIC LONGMAN In the Chief Noonday Chapter, Eric’s positive upbeat attitude is contagious and leads to task completions with little effort. He frequently volunteers for leadership jobs, such as program chair for the 2012 NCTA Conference, organizing Boy Scout hikes and the NPS “Picture This” program, plus he is the Chapter treasurer and meeting program co-chair. Eric frequently participates in outreach opportunities and is a willing speaker for programs to outside groups. He has also organized hikes with a local bird sanctuary.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Rising Star CHARLES SCHUTT II Charlie is now in his second year as VP of Finance for the Finger Lakes Trail. He accepted this responsibility directly out of his Masters Degree Program at the University of Buffalo in Accounting. He has brought a much needed younger perspective to our Board as well as a professional viewpoint. His skill set is difficult to find in a volunteer and he has indicated that he is into this commitment for the long haul. His thinking is always focused on what makes the best business sense to protect both the FLT and the NCT that runs upon it.

Elizabeth Schutt

The North Star

Rising Star AURORA BURTON Aurora has been a bright star to our Chief Noonday Chapter for many years.

We have seen her grow into a responsible youth who is willing to give her time to benefit others and our Trail. She has been a hike leader, attends Chapter meetings, and provides youthful suggestions for projects and outreach.

She assists trail maintenance crews including tirelessly hauling wheelbarrows of gravel down hilly trail in construction of our Fort Custer trail bridge, as well as moving brush off new trail.

Shelby Burton

28

Becky Heise

Rising Star LUC ALBERT Even though Luc has been a member of the Sheyenne River Valley Chapter only since 2016, he has become a favorite of the chapter members. Luc has missed few workdays since joining up with our chapter. He has trimmed trees along the Trail, installed signage, helped to construct boardwalks and has even had a lesson on running the DR mower! Luc has also attended national conferences in Fargo and Marquette as well as the SRV Chapter Annual Meeting.

11 year-old Luc is a very dedicated member of the North Country Trail Association and as such, thinks everyone should know about it! Luc, a member of the Guys and Gals 4-H club from Galesburg/Traill County, competed in the Traill County Project Expo Contest with a North Country Trail theme. Luc’s display was entitled, “Follow the Blue Blazes.” He displayed photos and captions on the various signage found throughout the Trail including, of course, the blue blazes, what the offset blazes mean, urban signage, painted blazes on trees, where you can find blazes. Luc also displayed an actual Carsonite post with the NCT emblem and private landowner sticker, large and small logo signs, and our Chapter and National Park Service brochure. Luc’s mother reported, “The judges were pretty impressed with Luc’s knowledge of the Trail.

They knew nothing about the NCT before meeting with Luc!” Luc received an Award of Excellence at the Project Expo Contest. Luc also entered his display in the Traill County's Achievement Days' competition and won Reserve Champion!

Charlie Todd

Trail Maintainer BARB ISOM Since 2013 Barb has worked on every Superior Shoreline Chapter trail project, led most of them and spent literally hundreds of hours per year working on the Trail and traveling the 130 miles required to reach the east end of our Trail via road.

She does not see trail maintenance as an individual activity, but rather as a team sport. She is constantly encouraging others to join her and her team and she actually gets them to do so, willingly! When two nonmembers who camped and fished near the trail observed a mess with newly downed trees and contacted the Chapter, she returned their contact and made arrangements to meet with them and work together to clear trees and help build our first switchback. Those two are now members of our chapter!

She heads the Girl and Boy Scout trail programs, working with their leaders and the scouts to teach them not solely how to maintain a trail, but to enjoy the activity.

Every time she buoys the spirits of her team. On one trip when the temperature exceeded 105 degrees, she never stopped working, never complained, always saw the bright side, even though her legs were literally covered with blood from stable fly bites.

She stopped only when her safety manager called a halt to the day.

Barb recognizes that handling a chainsaw is demanding, so she insists on doing more than her share by carrying the chain saw so that the sawyer may have a break.

Becky Heise

Trail Maintainer DARYL HEISE Daryl has been an extremely useful trail maintainer and equipment steward for the Sheyenne River Valley Chapter in North Dakota for years now. He has designed, routed and built approximately ten miles of new Trail, including three creek crossings within the Sheyenne State Forest. After several severe floods in 2009 and 2011, Daryl was the first to assess damage and organize work parties to refurbish Trail sections.

He is an excellent problem solver, so we wouldn’t have such high quality trails without his help. Daryl also provided valuable input on the NCTA equipment review committee.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Trailblazer BUTLER COUNTY TOURISM & VISITOR BUREAU John CLancy

Vanguard REGION 7 NY Department of Environmental Conservation The portions of the NCNST carried on the Finger Lakes Trail through five central New York counties are contained within Region 7 of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).

This amounts to 160 miles of continuous, largely off-road footpath offering some of the best hiking and backpacking in New York.

We are fortunate to have wonderful support for the Trail from the personnel of DEC Region 7 and would like to nominate them for the NCTA Vanguard Award. We would like to name three who have been particularly helpful: John M, Clancy, Supervising Forester Dan Little, Forester 1 Jonathan Holbein, Real Property Supervisor Here are examples of the help these friends have provided over years: • Work with us through planned logging operations, planning fewest possible trail crossings by skid roads, advising on necessary trail closures and temporary reroutes during logging operations, enforcing trail cleanup and restoration arrangements.

• Assistance in planning and layout of trail routes, bridges, lean-tos, etc.

Assistance with construction and remediation projects that are beyond the capabilities of our crews, for example, a two day project to clear cliffside vegetation that had blocked an iconic view from the trail.

• Support of the addition of footpath (only) designation for the FLT/ NCT to the State Forest Strategic Plan.

• Invaluable support and advice regarding land transfer projects where the FLTC and the State can provide permanent protection for the Trail.

www.northcountrytrail.org

Official Senate portrait

Vanguard SENATOR TAMMY BALDWIN It is worth noting that this nomination came from the NCTA’s Advocacy Committee! Senator Baldwin is a long-time stalwart supporter of trails, with a record extending well back though her terms representing Wisconsin’s 2nd District (1999 - 2013) and later as one of the State’s two Senators (2013 present). As a Member of Congress in both houses, Tammy Baldwin has supported trails legislation throughout her Congressional tenure, including NCTA’s efforts to change the route of the Trail in Minnesota and Vermont, various Land and Water Conservation Fund initiatives, federal appropriations for trails and public lands and has taken a leadership role to bring equity to National Scenic Trails managed by the National Park Service. Most recently the Senator sponsored the National Scenic Trails Parity Act in 2015 and again in 2017, a bill to clarify the status of the North Country, Ice Age, and New England National Scenic Trails as units of the National Park System.

Senator Baldwin has supported the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Great Lakes restoration efforts and other clean air and water initiatives that protect our environment. The League of Conservation Voters has given Senator Baldwin a 100% pro environment voting record for 2016. As a member of the National Parks Subcommittee, Senator Baldwin has time and time again put her support behind our parks and trails, citing their benefit to the health of the American public and an economic engine for our communities.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Pennsylvania’s Butler County Tourism and Visitor Bureau sits in the heart of the Butler County Chapter on the North Country Trail.

They understand the economic as well as the recreational value of the Trail and they support it generously. Headed up by Executive Director, Jack Cohen, they have been ardent supporters of both the NCTA Butler County Chapter and the NCTA National organization since 2007. Their total giving to the NCTA over the last decade is over $47,000.

Jack Cohen has been both an NCTA chapter leader and a national board member. At a national board meeting in 2011, it was Jack who stood up and issued a $5,000 challenge to the board to set aside $10,000 specifically for marketing the Trail. By the end of the meeting he had raised the other $5,000 from the rest of the board. From that time on, the NCTA has budgeted a minimum of $10,000 per year for marketing purposes and now is funding a permanent part time marketing coordinator position. When the annual conference came to Pennsylvania in 2013, the Visitor Bureau took an active role in funding the conference, making a leadership gift of $10,000. Jack served on the conference committee and through the Visitor Bureau was able to coordinate a special fireworks event to coincide with the NCTA conference creating an extra incentive and benefit for attendees.

When the time came in 2017 for Executive Director Bruce Matthews to retire, Jack served on the steering committee to raise over $23,000 for a Bruce E. Matthews Marketing and Outreach Fund. The Visitor Bureau made a leadership pledge of $5,000 for the fund campaign.

April-June 2018

29

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Sweep DAVID WRIGHT David is the Wampum Chapter’s master carpenter and “fix it” man. He designed, procured materials for, and led the effort in building our newest shelter in 2017, and three years ago was in charge of moving the chapter’s other shelter 800 yards through the woods to be reassembled at a new location. When a sign or kiosk, picnic table or bench needs to be designed and built, then David is the man who takes care of it. He also maintains much of our equipment.

In addition to the work that he has contributed to the Davis Hollow Cabin organization in keeping that facility in good shape through his carpentry and landscaping work, he has always been an eager worker when it comes to building new Trail through the woods and helping to maintain our existing pathway.

Distinguished Service KAY KUJAWA Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore and the North Country Trail have greatly benefited from Kay’s organizational skills, physical labor, welcoming attitude and love for the trail. Her dedication to the Trail has been quite an inspiration for many other volunteers. Kay (and her husband Stan - a previous Distinguished Service Awardee) could accurately be described as "the heart and soul of Hiawatha Shore-to-Shore!” (They may disagree about that but that description is still accurate.) Kay contributes to every imaginable task required, trail building, communications with locals and the North Star, setting up displays at public events, meeting with critical agencies like the Forest Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. It will surprise no one that Kay has achieved that rare plateau of volunteerism, 10,000 hours!

Tom Walker

The North Star

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Dave Brewer

30

Irene Szabo

Sweep MIKE SCHLICHT Currently Mike is the Director of Crews and Construction for the Finger Lakes Trail, which includes hundreds of miles of the NCT in upstate New York.

In that role, he organizes four or five major projects along the Trail each year, shelters, bridges, or trail relocations, but he has been preparing for this state-wide role for years.

In 2002 he worked on an American Hiking Society (AHS) project building new NCT Trail and stairways in the Pictured Rocks of Michigan, while 2003 brought him to another AHS “vacation” stabilizing the NCT in McConnells Mills State Park in Pennsylvania. In 2007 he brought his knowledge to a Finger Lakes Trail “Alley Cat” project, building steps, ladders, and benched trail in the challenging Holland Ravines, and he has continued ever since to work on N.Y. projects. Meanwhile Mike has been active organizing and leading hikes and GPSing new trail segments, most of it done very quietly in the background.

Bill Menke

Sweep RITA OSWALD Rita Oswald has worked behind the scenes for the Trail since the late 90s, but her direct involvement became much more intense after the passing of her husband Atley in 2013.

Atley had been making all of the routed wooden trail destination and feature identification signs for both the Brule-St. Croix and Heritage Chapters in Wisconsin.

After Atley died, Rita decided to teach herself how to use their very complex, computerized routing machine. Once she had mastered it, she notified the chapters of her willingness to continue to manufacture the signs that they requested. Over the course of the last few years, she has provided all of the routed signs that were requested. For most of these, she provides the materials, too, making the Chapter's cost insignificant.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

2018 NCTA AWARDS

Lifetime Achievement PAUL HAAN Paul has been a member of the Western Michigan Chapter for twenty-one years, and was Trail Manager for eighteen of them. In that role, he did EVERYTHING imaginable pertinent to conducting organized trail care: he insisted on uniform training for all volunteers and conducted sessions every year, he made sure everybody had appropriate tools and paint, and he organized large maintenance sessions in addition to normal individual work.

Paul also kept good relations with all of the land managers pertinent to the chapter’s miles of Trail, arranged with them any new routes or projects, and participated in laying out any reroutes. He managed the trail care budget and procured all supplies and equipment. He even responded to outside volunteer inquiries so helped to leverage others’ willingness into good work for the Trail. Once the chapter reviewed everything he had been doing for years at the end of his tenure as Trail Manager, it was clear that he had been doing a second nearly fulltime job!

April-June 2018

31

Vickie Swank

Lifetime Achievement MARTY SWANK Marty has performed several pivotal roles for the Chequamegon Chapter, most of them for years past most mortals’ patience, like President and Communications Liaison, but the most noteworthy aspect of his “reign” has been that he ALWAYS includes others, praises them, shares their accomplishments, and bends over backwards to make everybody feel welcome and valued.

His newsletters are always full of admiration for others’ work, and the good cheer that spreads surely contributes to the growing membership of the Chapter. Plus he works overtime making sure everybody knows what the Chapter is doing, from local groups through regional land-management partners to the national organization. Marty has long been the consummate communicator.

He also tends a segment of the Trail in a wilderness area, which means that he may not work with power tools, but because he’s Marty, he’s out there in all weather, tidying his section.

Irene Szabo

Lifetime Achievement TOM REIMERS Tom has performed most of the biggest volunteer jobs for both the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) and the North Country National Scenic Trail. In fact, in 1990, he was President of both Boards simultaneously, and spent many years before and after that as a board member for each.

He was also editor of the FLT News for ten years, has seemingly “always” been a devoted trail worker on his adopted sections, and long edited the very popular Guide to the Finger Lakes Trail that his home hiking club has published for decades.

Tom also created the first-ever promotional program for public events for the FLT, a large slide show with script, so that volunteers all over the state could share the show with any group, and he has long been a valued hike leader with admirable skills at explaining plants and birds along the way. He has also been a longtime volunteer with the Ithaca-based Finger Lakes Land Trust, contributing in no small part to the valuable protection partnership that both “Finger Lakes” organizations have enjoyed.

Paul Haan

www.northcountrytrail.org

Mick Hawkins

Distinguished Service LARRY PIO Larry Pio has been an avid supporter and active volunteer in the Chief Noonday Chapter of the NCTA since 2001. Like many outstanding NCTA volunteer members, he gives tirelessly and with little fanfare. He has a knack for seeing what needs to be done and then following through to finish. Early on Larry took on the position of editor of the Chapter newsletter, a job he has never been able to relinquish. He has served as the Vice-president and then President of the chapter. His service has led to nearly double the membership and his tenure as President has been has been especially remarkable in his outreach to the many communities and organizations within our three counties Larry has also been very active on the Board of Directors of the NCTA, and now has added chairmanship of the Awards Committee to his plate, which is an immense job!

Cathy Khalar

Distinguished Service TIM MOWBRAY A running joke in the Brule-St. Croix Chapter was that if the wind came up, Tim’s trees were the first to go. Tim personally cleared windfalls, and when the job required help, organized volunteer crews to keep the Trail open. Tim stepped up by volunteering to serve as Chapter President for six years, during which time the chapter added new signage and information kiosks, and built new Trail in the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

Tim’s major project during this period was the designation of Solon Springs as a Trail Town.

He met with two local governments to present the concept and obtain approval. In a number of quiet ways, he has raised the visibility of the NCT and made local businesses aware that this is a community asset.

He began service on the NCTA Board of Directors in 2014, and is active on the Advocacy, Board Governance, and Marketing & Communication committees. Tim’s extensive experience in business and organizational leadership, supported by his advanced degrees in the field, have been real assets to the Association.

2018 NCTA AWARDS

north star

NONPROFIT U. S. POSTAGE

North Country Trail Association

PAID

Grand Rapids, MI Permit 340

229 East Main Street Lowell, Michigan 49331

Warren Johnsen

Many clubs who tend big portions of the Finger Lakes Trail (and the accompanying North Country Trail) have switched to crosscut saws rather than chain saws. They work well, never run out of gas, and always start right up.

Come Visit Us! The Lowell office is open to the public Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

229 East Main Street, Lowell, MI 49331 (866) HikeNCT • (616) 897-5987 • Fax (616) 897-6605 The North Country Trail Association develops, maintains, protects and promotes the North Country National Scenic Trail as the premier hiking path across the northern tier of the United States through a trailwide coalition of volunteers and partners.

Our vision for the North Country National Scenic Trail is that of the premier footpath of national significance, offering a superb experience for hikers and backpackers in a permanently protected corridor, traversing and interpreting the richly diverse environmental, cultural, and historic features of the northern United States.