Marching On: Volksmarching

MARCHING ON

Story & photos by Jan Lasar

Walking stick high fi ves

Th e land around the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area has attracted people for centuries because the waters of the Minnesota River provided food, shelter, transportation and commerce. In the latter half of the 1800s, ambitious plans for a prosperous village near Belle Plaine, served by steamboats, fi zzled when the railroad edged out the river as the connection to the world. Th e iron rails passed by the fl edgling town of St. Lawrence and the boats stopped coming. Today, people visit to see the only remaining building of this settlement, the Strait House, and hike the extensive trail system to connect to history and nature.

On a cool and foggy morning in October, the stone trail center building buzzed with activity. Several dozen people, some sporting colorful patches on their coats, lined up to register for a walk. Donna Seline was busy zipping from person to person for a lastminute check on the details, trying to get the crowd’s attention, while Peter Cartwright unloaded supplies from the back of his vehicle. “My van is the offi cial carrier of all the bits and pieces,” he said. A colorful banner announced that this was an event organized by the NorthStar Trail Travelers (NSTT), one of three Minnesota chapters of the American Volkssport Association (AVA). Volksmarching is an anglicized version of the German word Volksmarsch and roughly translates into people’s hike. Th is movement started in Germany in the late 1960s as a non-competitive program for exercising and socializing. Military personnel returning home from Europe brought Volksmarching to the US and the fi rst offi cial such event happened in Fredericksburg, TX in 1976. Donna Seline’s involvement with this sport goes back half a century. She caught the bug when working for the US Army as a civilian in Germany, in charge of organizing recreational outings for GIs. Back stateside in 1988, she helped the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) set up a Volksmarching program in state parks, and it was a success. “We used to draw two or three hundred people on any given weekend,” she said. After nine years, the program was discontinued because of dwindling attendance. A year later, the NSTT group was born and remains the only Volksmarching club with the mission to walk in Minnesota’s state parks. Between 1988 and today, 341 organized hikes in Minnesota state parks have attracted almost 29,000 people.

A typical NSTT event has route options of 5km (3.1 miles) or 10km (6.2 miles) and walkers complete one, two or more loops at their own pace on marked trails. Th e October annual meeting, however, had a guided group walk to keep everyone on schedule.

After a quick introduction the crowd split up into groups, according to their walking speeds. Th e slower Shuffl ers went fi rst, followed by the Scooters. Finally, the Batsouttahell left, too, and the walk was underway. Wayne Heath, one of the event coordinators, led the Scooters that morning. After a chance encounter with the NSTT at Jay Cooke State Park fi ve years ago, he decided to join and take on a more active role. As an Event Coordinator he’s responsible for scouting routes, usually a year or more in advance. Once a route is chosen, it’s verifi ed with a measuring wheel, a kind of cane with a mileage counter attached. Th e Event Coordinator then contacts the park manager and fi gures out the details like parking, camping and picnic areas. It can be a lot of work but the rewards are plenty.” We’ve made some good friends here,” he said.

To Seline, people like Wayne Heath are key to keeping the NSTT going strong into its 24th year.

While the walks are always open to anyone regardless of membership status, she said, NSTT is set up as a working organization. “When you join the club, we expect you to devote some volunteer time,” she said. Another way to keep people engaged is to break up a 10km walk into two 5km walks. Th at, she said, helps with the socializing, which she feels is just as important as the exercise part.

Valerie Stachour proudly showed off her walking stick adorned with colorful medallions, souvenirs from walking

“It’s a very welcoming club and we love to walk together.”

events. She started Volksmarching in 1990 when she was living in Germany and now covers about 350km a year, or 200 miles. Among the three Minnesota Volksmarching clubs, there are lots of events to choose from. “We try to get out most weekends,” she said. Besides the camaraderie and exercise, she likes NSTT’s focus on Minnesota state parks, which combines the best of both worlds for her. “I think we’re really lucky that we have such an amazing state park system here,” she said. Volksmarching is not a competition and that’s a draw. “We’re not here to fi gure out who’s going to get done fi rst, we’re all just here to have a good time and be social and get some activity in at the same time,” she said. She realizes it doesn’t take a club to go hiking in a state park, but an organized event comes with piece of mind. “You know that people have been out there scouting the trails ahead of you.” Knowing that, she said, gives her the fl exibility to stay within her comfort zone or challenge herself in a safe way.

On the fi rst 5km loop, Heath’s lively group walked through the misty forest along the Minnesota River. Spirits were high on this mild morning and the sun began to break through the fog. Most of the leaves were off the trees and crunched underfoot as the crowd trekked along. In the open, marshy areas, grasses were yellowed and exhausted from a long summer, and bent over, heavy with dew. Walkers soaked it all in and chatted excitedly in small groups. Occasionally, Heath stopped to gather his troops to point out a natural feature along the way.

Back at the trail center, there was a short break and they were off for the second loop. The fog had burned off by now, it was getting warm for a late October day and some ditched the jackets and rolled up their sleeves. Th is trip again followed the river, but then crossed a wideopen prairie area. Some had brought binoculars and stopped to take a look at an eagle’s nest in a huge tree along the edge of the prairie. After a brief rest at the restored, historic Strait House, they followed the same path back. Once the hike was over, hungry walkers grazed the plentiful potluck off erings and milled around the picnic grounds. Th e annual meeting was a brief one and after the door prize drawing the crowd began to thin out. Eventually, everything went back into Cartwright’s van, to be deployed at the next Volksmarch. It takes commitment to keep an organization going year after year, but his love of the sport keeps him coming back. “It’s a very welcoming club and we love to walk together,” he said.