North Star Vol. 30, No. 4 (2011)

October-December, 2011 The magazine of the North Country Trail Association

Volume 30, No. 4

north star

Pictured RocksAn App for Finding “40 Corners”

2011 Chapter/Affiliate/Partner Honor Awards

Onondaga Trail Revisited

2 The North Star April-June 2013

About the Cover A seldom-pictured view from the trail of one of the spectacular shoreline rock formations along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, between Chapel Beach and Miners Castle. Photograph by Duane Lawton, Tittabawassee Chapter. See article on page 18 about this past September's extended outing sponsored by the NCTA along the Pictured Rocks portion of the trail.

North Star StaffIrene Szabo, Volunteer Editor, (585) 658-4321 or [email protected]

Peggy Falk, Graphic Design

The North Star, Winter issue, Vol. 30, Issue 4, 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.

Staff Andrew Bashaw,

Regional Trail Coordinator Ohio/[email protected]

David Cowles, Director of Development

[email protected]

Jill DeCator, Administrative Assistant/Membership Coordinator

[email protected]

Matt Davis, Regional Trail Coordinator Minnesota/North Dakota

[email protected]

Rose Ann M. Davis, Office Manager

[email protected]

Andrea Ketchmark, Director of Trail Development

[email protected]

Laura Lindstrom,Financial Administrator

[email protected] Matthews,

Executive [email protected]

Bill Menke, Regional Trail Coordinator Wisconsin

[email protected]

Matt Rowbotham, GIS Coordinator

[email protected]

National Board of DirectorsTerms Expiring 2012

Joyce Appel, Pennsylvania Rep.,(724) 526-5407 · [email protected] Jack Cohen, Pennsylvania Rep.,(724) 234-5398 · [email protected]

Bobby Koepplin, Immediate Past President, North Dakota Rep.,

(701) 845-2935 · [email protected] Moberg, First VP, Minnesota Rep.,

(701) 271-6769 · [email protected] Pavek, Minnesota Rep., (763) 425-4195 · [email protected]

Gaylord Yost, VP West, Great Lakes Rep.,(414) 354-8987 · [email protected]

Terms Expiring 2013Larry Hawkins, President, Lower Michigan Rep.,

(269)945-5398 · [email protected] Rummel, New York Rep.,(315) 536-9484 · [email protected]

Ray Vlasak, At Large Rep.,(218) 573-3243 · [email protected]

Terms Expiring 2014Mary Coffin, VP East, New York Rep.,

(315) 687-3589 · [email protected]

Dave Cornell, At Large Rep., (239) 561-6512 · [email protected]

Garry Dill, At Large Rep.,(614) 451-0223 · [email protected] John Heiam, At Large Rep.,

(231) 938-9655 · [email protected]

Lorana Jinkerson, Secretary, At Large Rep.,(906) 226-6210 · [email protected]

Doug Thomas, At Large Rep.,(612) 240-4202 · [email protected]

ArticlesRegister Gleanings .......................4An App for Finding “40 Corners” ...7 Up for a Challenge! ......................8 Adirondack Park & the NCNST ..........................122011 Chapter/Affiliate/PartnerAwards .......................................14Those Irrepressible Girls.............15 Frozen Chocolate Milk & Beef Jerky ..............................17Pictured Rocks: 2011 Outing .....18In Praise of Winter: a photo essay ..............................20Bridging History on the Trail ....21Trail Work with Teenage Campers .......................22New Easements on the Onondaga Trail .........................24Onondaga Trail Revisited ..........25A Quiet Patriot ..........................26

ColumnsTrailhead ......................................3Matthews' Meanders ....................5Trail Manager's Corner ................6

Departments Hiking Shorts ..............................9Meeting Minutes .......................23The Adirondacks: NCTA Sponsored Hike Sign-up ..............7

A log shelter along the Finger Lakes Trail in Burt Hill State Forest, between Hornell and Bath, where Dave Cornell and Bill Menke stayed on their walk across much of New York a handful of years ago. Picture taken by Ted Rynders, local maintainer. See page 4 for register comments from the Burt Hill shelter.

In This Issue

www.northcountrytrail.org April-June 2013 The North Star 3

The North Country Trail

Association is a prime example of a “grassroots organization.” Like any plant, its health and growth are dependent on the health and depth of its roots, and you, folks, are our roots. It is essential that your Board of Directors and your NCTA staff always be mindful that our reason for being is to support and facilitate you, our members, in your efforts to develop, maintain, protect and promote the North Country National Scenic Trail. Equally, it is so important that you, as individual volunteers, chapters and affiliates and just friends of the trail, remember that the North Country Trail stretches out from both ends of your local area across seven states. That is the magic of the Trail and we need you to be ever mindful of the big picture.

One of our major efforts in the coming years will be to protect the corridor through which our trail passes with solid and lasting easements. That cannot be accomplished without you identifying and working your magic with your local friends, landowners and land managers to make that happen. The Board has recently approved a Trail Protection Fund policy to assist you in making that happen. The Staff is committed to develop web based educational material to help you better understand Trail Protection and all that it encompasses.

LARRY HAWKINS President

TRAIL HEAD

We are all aware of our current economy and the political climate in Washington as well as our local and state governments. Neither our finances nor our values in preserving the natural wonders through which the North Country National Scenic Trail passes are secure. An increasing concern is that of Advocacy, not just on a national level but on a local and state level as well. No voice is louder that the local voter. We need you on our Advocacy Team whether it is as an actual committee member or as a vocal local voter contacting your state and federal legislators again and again putting our needs before them. They listen to you, not an out of state paid staff person.

And last, but never least, the financial security of our organization and this wonderful trail that we so value depends on your financial support. Your Board and NCTA staffers are all working to secure more financial support for the NCTA, but it is a given that the majority of the support of any organization comes from the individual donor. Whether it is a contribution to the annual appeal, a pledge to the Legacy Society or the Founder’s Circle, the recently created Endowment Fund or the Trail Protection Fund, your support can be leveraged to secure the North Country National Scenic Trail for our children, grandchildren and generations to come.

Wishing you the happiness and blessings of the season. Hope you are all getting out and enjoying the beauty of the North Country Trail in her winter mantle.

—Larry Hawkins

BRUNTON POWER PACKSAND SOLAR PANELS WORKSEPARATELY OR TOGETHER,GIVING YOU MORE WAYSTO KEEP YOUR TRAVELELECTRONICS HUMMING.IT’S THE WORLD’S FIRST COMPLETE PORTABLE POWERSYSTEM, TOUGH ENOUGHTO TAKE YOUR ADVENTUREAS FAR AS YOU CARE TO GO.

ADVENTURE-ARMORED™PORTABLE POWER. www.bruntonoutdoor.com | p: 307.857.4700


Ever since Bill Menke shared some comments found in Wisconsin trailside register boxes, we've continued to

share others from across the trail. The good news is that more and more of you out there are installing registers or log boxes, so have fun reading what all those unknown visitors have to say about your trail.

Burt Hill State Forest shelter register, NCT/FLT, map M10 between Hornell and Bath, NY: (pictured on page 2)

8/17/08 hiked out at night under an awesome full moon.

1/22/09 Camped out at lean-to last night. Very cold! Nice quiet night to have a fire and look at the stars. Lots of animal tracks in the fresh snow…

—Rambo, Man, and two dogs

2/26/09 Camped out last night: 35 degrees and slightly breezy, yet very comfortable. Working on clearing our firepit so we can cook. Today is partly sunny and mid 40’s. Love this place. Carrying out 6 beer cans.

—Rambo

2/28/09 cold day, lots of ice. Great day. —John & kids,

Matt & kids, Hornell

3/16/09 I’ve been coming here for 10+ years and it makes me sick to see the grafitti and garbage! RESPECT!

—Leonard Perkins

Register Gleanings3/16-17/09 Nice night. Lots of woodpeckers in the morning.

—Jacob, Tiffany, & kids

5/14 horses making a mess of the trail

6/13 …brought yet another newbie: amazed & hooked!

6/22 Thirty miles today, started in middle of Map 9 to the west. By the end of this trip I will have only the Conservation Trail and the west end of the main FLT, which I plan to complete before October. If I do, then I will have hiked all 840 miles of the FLT SYSTEM within a year.

—Gerry Benedict {Yes, he did walk the whole system in one year, so apparently just goofed on the total miles, which are well over 900. —Editor}

8/14/09 Thru-hiking NCT, ND to NY, day 145, mile 3900. What a joy, hiking manicured brushed-back trail! Thank you. God bless,

—Eb www.nimblewillnomad.com

8/29 local folks, short hike this morning dog chased skunk and got sprayed.

9/2 The trail is a bit damp. (My human is sporting rubber boots)

—Teddy

11/16 last week of bowhunting seen lots of deer nice day —J. Didas Jr

11/16 nice. Saw no deer & no turkey & no grouse. Heard ravens & crows.

—LAZ

11/23 too many out of town hunters. — J. Didas Jr.

{State Forests are public land, open to all 18 million New Yorkers plus visitors from other states. —Editor}

1/18/10 2nd time in here, beautiful sunny day, approx 45 degrees. Nice. I’m here with my honey.

—Barb and Steve

1/23 hiking with son to leanto for hotdog lunch

Several hikers complained about no privy, but there is one now.New register box on the Bristol Hills Branch of the Finger

Lakes Trail System, built by Tom Noteware. Inside are tablet and pens in mouse-proof container for hiker comments.

Judy Erwin


Hunting-related issues pop up regularly in our states, not surprising since we’re at the epicenter of the Red Plaid

Nation, with the annual deer opener a statewide holiday! We’ve had issues regarding land use policies in national forests where proposals to create “quiet areas” restricting firearms hunting engaged our NCTA'ers. Currently we pass through about 50 state-managed wildlife areas, lands purchased and managed primarily for hunting and habitat management benefitting wildlife. Some of our easements and private property permissions restrict hiking uses during certain hunting seasons. And of course we annually educate members and other hikers about safety and safe uses of the North Country Trail during hunting season.

So, how does NCTA feel about hunting and hunters?

OK, this is sort of a “straw man” question, since NCTA as an organization takes no policy position for or against hunting, nor should we. Our focus is on building and maintaining the trail. The trail is certainly open to use by hunters, and many hunters are hikers, and vice versa. Why would we want to open that can of worms?

Here’s why it matters Rightly or not, our friends in the hunting community are

pretty sensitive where their hunting privileges are concerned, and things can polarize pretty quickly when they’re feeling threatened. Aside from the fact this often works against them, the unfortunate by-product is the fracturing of outdoor users into smaller, less effective communities, easily marginalized, who too often waste time squabbling with each other while the real threats go unchallenged.

For example, one very real issue faced in federal and state forests in New York, Pennsylvania and now Ohio is hydrofracking in Marcellus shale formations, where high-pressure water and sand is injected underground to force out natural gas. All this activity is having a huge impact, not only on trails but all recreational uses of these wild areas. It won't much matter whether you like to hunt or hike when much of what's left is drilling pads, frackwater waste holding ponds and busy haul roads through the woods.

Specific to the NCNST, actively cultivating relationships with a broader outdoor recreational base is critical to getting the NCNST on the ground and maintained. In Minnesota as one example, we've made powerful strides with outreach within the hunting and wildlife community that is enabling significant segments of the trail to be located within state-managed wildlife areas (WMA's). This could be accomplished only through building trust—locally and at the state level—that our interests coincide, that our trail aficionados (some of whom like to hunt, too) are not opposed to hunting uses. In fact the trail offers wonderful

hunter access plus an added constituency who cares about illegal uses like ATV's. We've hit a homer with this so far.

With the NCNST traversing at least 50 state-managed wildlife areas this message is an important one. In fact we’re working at the national level with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to try to ensure that allowable uses for state managed wildlife areas purchased or maintained with federal wildlife restoration dollars specifically include hiking trails.

Should the more rabid among the hunting defense groups latch onto the NCTA as anti-hunting, our efforts are useless in any further discussions of this nature at the federal or state levels. Among state and federal wildlife agencies today, with whom NCTA needs to maintain good working relationships, a cooperative approach with the hunting community is pretty darn important.

Hunting and hiking—and hunters and hikers—are not mutually exclusive. We share many interests. By finding ways to cooperate we will advance NCTA’s trail agenda, we’ll reach our mission faster in building a continuous, 4600 mile hiking trail, and we will develop a diverse cadre of folks who “own” our trail and will care for it in perpetuity.

BRUCE MATTHEWSExecutive Director

MATTHEWS’ MEANDERS

Mary Coffin fools with gravity on a rocky stretch of Adirondack trail. To hike here next September, sign up for the next NCTA Extended Outing on page 7.

Female cardinal in winter graces a New York back yard.

Mary Coffin

Vinnie Collins


Well, the new job has proven to be as challenging and interesting as Tom Gilbert promised it would be.

Since July, I’ve visited all seven states with sections of the North Country Trail, and even our potential eighth state, Vermont. Unfortunately, most of my time has been spent in meetings, reading, writing, speaking, and most important listening. I’ve hiked only about 25 miles of the trail so far in my travels (the sections in Lowell a bunch of times), but I’ve seen the effort that our volunteers have put into building and maintaining the trail, and it’s truly impressive.

To get an idea of how to write this piece, I looked at some back issues of the North Star. By sheer coincidence, the first one I looked at, October-December 2007, on page 17 has an article by Clare Cain, former NCTA Director of Trail Management, titled Quality versus Quantity: the quandary of the North Country Trail. I’ll try to get it featured on the NCTA Facebook page. She wrote pretty much what I planned to write about, so I decided to get into some nuts and bolts about trail layout.

I’ve seen a few situations where not enough time has gone into trail layout, and it shows in trails that have “awkward” sections that don’t flow with the rest of the trail or the terrain, don’t make the best use of natural gateways, views and features, don’t drain well, or cross drainages at a bad place. I’ve heard various reasons for this: dense vegetation, wetlands, or steep topography. Sometimes this means people didn’t put enough time into looking at all the options. Instead of picking the most interesting, sustainable alignment using the features at the site, they chose the easiest to build, because of limited time or resources. My response is Clare’s article: quality, not quantity. I know that a big part of the satisfaction from trail building comes from finishing it. But on one of the premier hiking trails in the USA, we can’t compromise quality for quantity. Set your production goals low, and if you can do more, that’s great.

We have some issues in translating the trail layout into trail construction. Our trail runs through a wide range of settings in the northern USA: fields and prairies, and along features like canal towpaths and railroad grades. We also have plenty of situations where the actual lay of the tread on the ground is critical to making it sustainable. Areas with just a few percent of slope and sparse tree canopy can be the toughest places to build lasting trail.

The practice on the NCT has been to use flagging ribbon to mark trail alignments, tied to trees or branches 4-6 feet above the ground, and spaced at a variety of intervals. This flag line is what the sawyers, the brushing crew, and the

tread builders follow in putting the trail on the ground. In my experience working with professional trailbuilders and government trail crews, the standard way to mark where the trail tread for construction will be is with pin flags stuck in the ground, marking either the centerline or outside edge of the tread. The spacing between the pin flags might be 5 feet in critical areas with inexperienced crews, or up to 15 feet in terrain with sufficient cross slope and drainage. I don’t think flagging periodically tied above the ground is adequate to assure that the tread location will be adequately controlled so that the tread ends up in the right place. If the concern is having the pin flags stolen or moved, they should be put out the day or early morning before the work on the tread starts, and they serve as a meter of progress through the day. As tread is built, the pin flags are moved to the uphill side of the trail, and collected at the end of the day for reuse. Close pin flagging is especially important when working with large groups and lots of walk-on volunteers. The NPS will provide pin flags ordered on the standard equipment order form.

I’ve been involved in trail training for the past nine years as a student and instructor, and one of my priorities is to increase the amount of training available to you all across the trail. Possibilities might be the federal interagency training class “Trails: Plans, Projects and People” which I hope will be offered at least once out west, and once in Shepherdstown, W. Virginia in 2012. I want to work with our key trail designers and project leaders one-on-one or in small groups to look at trail on the ground, and develop training for our volunteers and others in their communities. Offering free skills training can be a way to draw people into our effort, and add to our volunteer base. If you have a section of new trail or reroute you have already flagged or are planning to flag this year, I’d appreciate it if you would offer me the chance to see it before construction starts. Maybe we can use the new trail project as a training site. Let me know if you have some trail laid out, or see an opportunity for some training.

“A good trail gets the water off, and keeps the users on.” —Woody Keen

President, Professional Trailbuilder’s Association and Co-owner of Trail Dynamics

Jeff McCuskerManager, North Country National Scenic Trail113 Riverwalk PlaceLowell, MI 49331 cell/office: (616) 340-2004 email: [email protected]

Trail Layout: Quality Versus Quantity

Sara McKusker

TRAIL MANAGER’S CORNER

JEFF McCUSKER NPS Trail Manager

April-June 2013 The North Star 7www.northcountrytrail.org

NCTA’s 3rd Annual Extended Outing will feature sections of the

North Country National Scenic Trail in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. It is a day hiking and camping trip on the NCT route in Siamese Ponds and West Canada Lakes Wilderness Areas. Mary Coffin, volunteer leader, has twenty years' experience leading such trips.

The group will be tenting in a state campground on a beautiful Adirondack lake and travel by van daily to each trailhead. We will be hiking on remote trails that are designated to become NCT. Expect to see many lakes and ponds, beaver activity, loons, bear and moose evidence, typical bog/wetland plants, huge trees, authentic Adirondack lean-tos, historic artifacts and spectacular scenery. There are a couple of optional

mountain climbs but the trails are mostly on rolling topography varying 100 to 300 feet.

We will hike with daypack for 6-8 miles using a van to shuttle between campsite and trail heads. We will set up tents in a state park and cook and eat outdoors sharing the cooking and camping chores.

Hiking on most trails will be scenic, remote, and picturesque, guaranteed to fill our days with peaceful solitude. Fall color will be just beginning to reveal itself in these deep northern forests.

Contact leader for detailed itinerary and application packet: [email protected], or call (315) 687-3589. Numbers are limited, so register early.

NCTA membership is required.

“Once during a long absence from the north I heard the call of a loon, the long, rollicking laughter that in the past I had heard echoing across the wild reaches of Quetico lakes. It was in Tennessee that I heard it, but the instant I caught the first long wail, chills of gladness chased themselves up and down my spine. …the north came back to me with a rush and visions of wilderness lakes and rivers crowded upon me.…once a man had known that wild and eery calling and lost himself in its beauty, should he ever hear a hint of it again, no matter where he happened to be, he would have a vision of the distance and freedom of the north.”

Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness

Doug WelkerPeter Wolfe Chapter

Some of us midwesterners occasionally like to determine

the approximate GPS coordinates of the corners of properties, perhaps to make sure that a section of the NCT we're involved with is on the piece of property where it's supposed to be. I can use a digital mapping program to get the coordinates of the corners of a 1-mile by 1-mile section, but have needed to go through a complicated and error-prone mathematical process to determine the coordinates of the corners of the 40-acre parcels within that section, particularly those that are near the middle of that section.

I got tired of doing that so I created a spreadsheet application that will calculate all of those “40 corners” for me. It's online at northcountrytrail.org/pwf/GPS_UTM_Calculator_for_'40_corners'.xls. Just enter the UTM or Lat-Long coordinates of the four corners of the section of interest and it will automatically calculate the coordinates of the other 21 corners that define 40-acre parcels in that section. If you enlarge the map in your digital mapping program, or perhaps the maps at http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm, so you can determine the section corners within perhaps 10 meters or 25 feet, then the 40 corners will be within 10 meters or 25 feet as well. This app is not meant as a “surveying tool;” it will only get you quite close to corner locations.

My apologies to those of you in NY and PA; your states were settled too early to use the township and range system of land descriptions.

A Handy App For Finding “40 Corners” Amid Those Good Old Midwestern Squares M

ary Coffin

Loon on an Adirondack lake.

Day Hiking the NCT Adirondack RouteSeptember 4-10, 2012


Following a dinner gathering on the evening of October 21, 2011,

four like-minded members of the Chequamegon Chapter of the North Country Trail Association agreed on a plan. Together we would hike the 61.4 miles that was the Chequamegon Chapter’s section of trail and, if we started the next week, we could finish before Wisconsin’s rifle deer hunting season started on November 19. Calendars were checked and a tentative schedule was set: Six days, one or two days per week, about 10 miles per day of hiking. We were up for the challenge and believed we could do it!

Our first hiking day, October 27, began with a total white-out snow shower at 8:30 a.m. as we drove to our starting point on County Highway A, just south of Iron River. We decided to re-group and headed back into town to have breakfast. By 10:30 a.m. the snow had stopped and the clouds were beginning to break up. We hiked 7.1 miles that first day ending at the north boundary of the Rainbow Lake Wilderness Area on West Delta Road. The trail was wet from the snow, but as the weather cleared, the sun came out, and we had a great hike.

On the morning of November 3, skies were clear and temperatures were in the mid-20’s. We met to drop one car at Forest Road 397 (Cisco Lake Road) and then the four of us, along with Stela, the German wirehaired pointer, car-pooled back to the Rainbow Lake Wilderness boundary to begin our 9.7 mile hike. The scenery was spectacular and hiking was invigorating. We were getting close to the end and we were all looking forward to lunch at Uncle Ryno’s in Drummond. All of a sudden we heard a yelp up ahead from Stela and there she was with a porcupine in her mouth, shaking it for all it was worth. No lunch stop today as Stela needed to go the vet to have quills removed.

Day 3: It was November 8 and Stela, with quills removed, was as good as new. We started at Cisco Lake Road and our goal today was to end at Porcupine Lake Road at the north boundary of the Porcupine Lake Wilderness Area. It was 10.7 miles and we knew we would need to cross over some trees that had blown down on the trail near Lake Owen during a July 1 wind storm. We had hiked about 7 miles when we came to the devastation. The trees looked like a pile of “pick-up sticks” and we quickly lost the trail as we climbed over, under, and around broken and twisted trees. We knew we needed to keep heading south and eventually we would hit Lake Owen Drive. Thank goodness the sun was out so we knew which direction we were hiking. We all agreed this section of trail should be closed as it surely is impassable to foot traffic! Today we had our lunch at Uncle Ryno’s in Drummond.

We met in Grand View for the fourth day of our hike. On November 11, we would need to hike 11.1 miles, through the Porcupine Lake Wilderness Area where we

Up For A Challenge!Mary Stenberg

would traverse a couple of beaver dams. Then cross Highway D, pass Long Mile Lookout, and eventually come out where the trail crosses FR 378 (Wisco Road). The skies were cloudy, the wind was howling, and we loved it! We stopped at noon for lunch at East Davis Lake. Hiking time: 4 hours and 40 minutes. Not bad for a group of old retired people.

Day 5, November 15, and the schedule called for an 11.5 mile hike today, our longest segment. It seemed like it took us forever to shuttle ourselves to the ending point to drop a car and then back to the beginning where we started the hike at 9:15 a.m. We were challenged by several steep hills as we headed past Juniper Rock Overlook, toward the Swedish Settlement, past Beaver Lake, and finally to Mineral Lake Road. When we reached the car at 2:20 p.m., Stela laid down to rest as we loaded our gear. We hiked 11.5

L to R: Chequamegon Chapter members Eileen Freiburger, Peter Freiburger, Mary Stenberg, Rick Pomerleau at an over-look near the Penokee Mountain Ski Trail System.

Stela, the German Wirehaired Pointer, at Juniper Rock Overlook.

Eileen FreiburgerEileen Freiburger


Boardwalk Through Sterling MarshLOWER MICHIGAN - The Boardwalk through Sterling Marsh in the Manistee National Forest was completed on August 13th, 2011! It was constructed in 8 ft. segments with approaches of wood or soil depending on the circumstances.

All wood sections have wheel chair safety rails bordering the edges. The original plan was to take four to five years to build 1184 feet, but the project grew to 2697 feet, as monitoring during wet seasons showed the need for more boardwalk, yet it was finished in only three years! Left to be completed is some rebenching between the boardwalk sections for ease of movement of the mower and power wagon and hence someday maybe wheelchairs.

Thanks to all who participated in the construction of the boardwalk— the Spirit of the Woods Chapter's “Senior” team plus other members, Forest Service personnel, the group from Dunrovin, the four members of a 2010 NCTA Volunteer work week crew, the crew from Home Depot, the American Hiking Association Volunteer work week crew (11 people). The latter included two young ladies aged 12 and 14 who carried lumber all day for three days. A special thanks goes to the group of Calvinist Cadets and their adult leaders, who came on two different days this year and helped us carry lumber up to 1/2 mile. Thanks to the National Park Service for the original funding each year and to the US Forest Service and Spirit of the Woods Chapter for coming up with funding to complete additional boardwalk, as the need became obvious.

The continued attention to detail during construction by the team leaders and the tremendous effort by all who helped has made the boardwalk something that we can all be proud of. So let's show it off to friends and family and maybe it will get more people interested in the trail. We hope also that people of different abilities will be able to utilize the boardwalk to see the marsh and wildlife we walkers have been enjoying.

—Ed Chappel Spirit of the Woods Trail Coordinator

Joan Young

miles today. Stela, no doubt, ran over a hundred miles more than that. She had the time of her life, but she was exhausted.

November 17 we would reach the “summit” so to speak. On day 6 it was just 24 degrees and there was a skiff of snow on the ground and a few flurries in the air. Stela stayed home to rest today and wasn’t with us to hike the final 11.3 miles where the Chequamegon Chapter’s trail joins Kornstead Road just west of Mellen. As we began our hike heading toward the Brunsweiler River we encountered quite a few blow downs. We all agreed there would need to be a trail maintenance work day for this segment of the trail. We stopped briefly for a snack, but the chilly temperatures forced us to cut our break short and keep moving. Just before we reached the Penokee Mountain Ski Trail system we came upon the carcass of a black bear; only bones and black fur remained. We achieved our goal at 2:00 p.m. We were all feeling good about what we had accomplished, hiking the Chequamegon Chapter’s stretch of the North Country Trail, all 61.4 miles of it.

Positive feelings filled the car as we drove into Sanborn to have a celebratory lunch. We talked about how much fun we had and how fortunate we were to have the North Country Trail right in our own backyard. There was one unfortunate thing about our 6-day hike. We didn’t meet, nor see anyone else on the trail. How could that be possible? We all wondered how such a beautiful resource could be so underutilized.

HIKING SHORTS

Continued on page 10

Apology!Your volunteer editor is

running about two months behind with the fourth issue of 2011, and it's entirely my fault, so I apologize to all of you. I just wasn't up to focussing on brain work when I first got home from the hospital, which was the same day as the deadline. Aiming to do better…

— Irene Szabo


The A-100 Challenge PENNSYLVANIA - The Allegheny National Forest Chapter in Pennsylvania held the second annual Allegheny 100 Challenge, hiking 100 miles in 50 hours, with shorter 50 and 25 mile segments offered along the same trail. This year's 42 participants received membership in the North Country Trail Association and a tee shirt, donated by Allegheny Outfitters. Entrants brought their own food, drinks, and gear.

Michael Merry from Newburgh Heights, Ohio, a Fire Claims Reinspector, completed the 100 miles in 45 hours. He said, “My advice to everyone would be to hike…a lot. And hike to enjoy it. If you do that, the miles end up breezing by and you will naturally ramp up. As your mileage goals increase, simplify everything from what you are carrying,

your processes (eating, drinking, camping) and your state of mind so that it is really all about the hiking. In order to get 100 miles (if that is your goal), you really can’t do much more than hike. My extra time was spent sleeping, caring for feet and cleaning myself. That is really it. I spent more time signing trail registers than I did doing just about anything else except walking.” John Schmitt from Scottsville, New York, completed 80 miles; Eric Chapman reached the 73-mile mark and then decided to be safe.

Many people finished the 50 miles in less than 24 hours. All of the 50 milers and 25 milers completed their goal within the 50 hours. What a personal accomplishment! As one hiker put it, “This thing, in my opinion, is at least half mental. With age comes increased mental abilities. I could never have done this when I was in my 20’s.”

The Allegheny National Forest Chapter would like to acknowledge the donation of time and effort by Corydon Volunteer Fire Department Fire/Police, United Refining Company, Value Home Center and Enterprise Car-Rental. Also appreciated is the Project Leader, Bert Nemcik, whose exceptional efforts and determination made this event a triumph.

NCT GeoTrailGeocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches,” anywhere in the world. Geocaching is similar to the 150-year-old game letterboxing, which uses clues and

Ron's Passion for BridgesPENNSYLVANIA - In April, Ron Rice surveyed seven bridges in Pennsylvania and found a six-foot bridge in danger of falling down, so the following week he and his oldest grandson Tim Rice hauled materials and tools ¾ of a mile into the interior to replace it with an eight-foot bridge. Afterwards they replaced a five-foot bridge with the old six-footer, and then moved the five-footer to a new location, wasting nothing!

Ron has also designed an arched bridge, with 2x4 and 2x6 members under tension, which yields more strength with less material.

Tim Rice using game hauler to get materials to the site. Sure hope they cable those bridges to prevent them from being swept away during a flood stage.

Ron RiceRon Rice

Michael Merry, looking awfully good at the end of 100 miles!

Keith Kloss

Arched bridge design by Ron Rice.

Hurricane Irene and other disasters Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee did most of their

damage to far eastern states, where highways, railroads—and trails—were washed away by torrential quantities of rain in September. However, as reported by the newsletter of the Keystone Trails Association in Pennsylvania, dangerous flooding closed parks within reach of creeks and rivers running out of control. The 3rd Annual Susquehanna Super Hike was cancelled. Meanwhile, the Darlington Trail was closed temporarily by a tornado in May, while both flooding and downed trees damaged trails and swept away bridges over much of the state.

One group hike at the eastern end of the Finger Lakes Trail drove across one road bridge to spot cars at the hike's end, but by the time the hikers reached that bridge, part of the trail, it had disappeared into the raging creek! It never ends.


Steve Smith

92 Year Old Minnesota Trail Volunteer RememberedMINNESOTA - William E. “Al” Mitton, age 92 of Hackensack, died of natural causes on Tues., May 17, 2011 at the Golden Living Center in Walker. After serving in the U.S. Army during WWII in the Pacific theater, he graduated from the U. of Minn. with an accounting degree and a Masters in Business Administration. He was a CPA with his own firm located in Minneapolis, before retiring to McKeown Lake in the early 1980s.

Since retirement he had volunteered tending the NCT and doing taxes at the Hackensack senior center. His obituary requested donations to the NCTA.

Ginny Ruppe wrote an article in 1997 for chapter newsletter Call of the North called Volunteerism Has No Age Limit, in which she said, “He sometimes helps mow more than his [adopted] 3-1/2 miles; for instance, the week of this writing [when Al was a tot of 78], the Forest Service mowers were going to be on vacation, so Mitton mowed about 13 miles.”

Harlan Liljequist reminisced: “First time I met Al was in the early 1990's. I was with…[a] group clearing trail from the Chippewa into the Paul Bunyan Forest. The chain saw we were using quit on us, but this old guy started using a big axe, saying we didn't need no chain saw; all we needed was an axe. I thought he was going to have a heart attack, this old guy using an axe on a big tree like that.”

Apparently Al did just fine with his axe, and left Harlan in a state of longterm admiration.

Chequamegon Work PartiesWISCONSIN - The Chequamegon Chapter in Wisconsin kept their scheduled first work party dates last spring, but not easily. On April 30th numbers were low due to the SNOW, yes, snow, but a lot of clean-up was accomplished anyway, and then on May 14th everybody looked like they were dressed for the depths of winter. As the newsletter said of the May picture, “you will notice that none of us is wearing shorts.” The late cold and snow dogged trail workers in several states in 2011.

April 30th Chequamegon work party in snow.

Scheduled work parties continue in Wisconsin, no snow on May 14th but even colder. Left to right: Mike Ryan, Marty Swank, Laura Nitsche, Tana Turonie, and Mike Trieschmann.

Marty Sw

ankM

ikie Kuhman

William E. “Al” Mitton

references to landmarks embedded in stories.

In an outreach effort to bring more people to our trail, the Allegheny National Forest Chapter has hidden 100 caches approximately a mile apart. Each cache is unique and separate and can be logged individually, but if you want to earn an “NCT GeoTrail Commemorative Medallion,” you will need to find 50 of the 100 caches and get the hidden code word written on the inside lid of each cache. Websites for downloading sheets with GPS coordinates are opencaching.com and geocaching.com. Once at EITHER website, cache locations are listed under NCTGT. Only 100 Commemorative Medallion will be given out, so first come, first served.

As of early December 2011, 15 medallions have been awarded, two of them for all 100 caches, so the program is definitely attracting hikers to the whole trail section.

For more information, please contact ANF Chapter President Keith W. Klos, 8320 Route 337, Tidioute, Pennsylvania 16351-4318, Phone (814) 484-7420, NCT in the ANF email: [email protected]. Project Leader Tina Toole email: [email protected], committee Devin Callihan email: [email protected] (Clarion Chapter of the NCTA) and Bert Nemcik email: [email protected].

NCT Geotrail began June 1st, 2011.

—Karen M. Klos

The 22nd and final Tour De NCT hike in June completed the NCT in Pennsylvania after two years. The group of six who completed all sections from left to right includes Tammy Veloski, Jan Berg, John Stehle, Steve Bickel, Doug Turner and Carol Bickel. Hiking Shorts continues on page 13


From its 1980 authorization onward as the North

Country National Scenic Trail (NCNST), the need to define a viable route through the Adirondack Park was widely recognized and debated, but little progress occurred until the joint Department of Environmental Conservation, NCTA, and NPS effort began in early 2005. Effective interactive work yielded a draft plan keyed to a central Adirondack Park route. Public hearings in December 2007 resulted in a final draft plan issued in July 2008. Recognizing both the geographic and land ownership/management uncertainties in some areas, trail location flexibility was included.

Sections of the potential NCNST between Forestport and Crown Point at Lake Champlain are being hiked and documented by the author, Don Hazlett, Mary Coffin and other NCTA Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) members. The NYS DEC and NCTA may use these data to advantage. Of course, uncertainty exists where private land holdings represent the best route for the NCNST; these cases require careful addressing and may require alternate routing initially.

While the final NCNST route and construction needs await definition within the Adirondack Park, there is a need to provide guidance for those hikers traveling between Forestport to Crown Point. A route through the Adirondack Park using existing DEC trails, unpaved forest roads, rural and pastoral county roads with little traffic, and some bushwhacking was defined and given to the NYS DEC’s Division of Lands and Forests this summer as a temporary route. NYS DEC must determine if their agreements with lumber companies owning/managing large tracts of land will allow hikers to pass through their property.

Without the great fanfare and marching bands that should have accompanied us, Fred Eckel, Gene Gee, a non hiker, and I crossed on foot both ways the new bridge at Crown Point, NY, to Addison, Vermont, today, November 14, 2011.

Gene G

eeRay Bell

Unusual lighthouse at Crown Point NY named for Samuel de Champlain. East end of trail might pass adjacent to this site.

Ray Bell

Adirondack Park & The NCNST

2


On December 4th, 2011, Marty and Vickie Swank of the Chequamegon Chapter in Wisconsin took to the woods for some late trail maintenance, when the Porcupine Lake Wildnerness Area was already getting decorated for Christmas. That's Marty leaving us; he said the snow made the trail look almost totally different.

Vickie Swank

The two sidewalks on the bridge can easily accommodate two hikers or pedestrians walking side by side. We walked from the parking lot at The No Bridge Restaurant in Addison to the west end of the bridge in NY and back to the car. Therefore we both began and finished the NCNST in one day. So we left out about 9,200 miles, a minor omission. Sidewalks on both sides are a pleasant surprise along the bridge connecting to Vermont.

In summary, traveling west from the newly opened Crown Point Bridge over Lake Champlain to Vermont, the first few miles will be on pavement now. The forest preserve does not extend to Crown Point; however, as one proceeds west there are areas where the possibilities of hiking on private land may materialize.

Just south of Interstate 87 Exit 28 on NYS Route 9 at North Hudson, there is a large DEC parking lot. Adjacent, under each of the north and south bound lanes of I-87, there is a large tunnel providing access to the nearby forest preserve lands. For the next few miles, there are good existing DEC trails through the Hoffman Notch Wild Forest. After this, the next six or seven mile trail segment is a few miles away via rural county roads.

Following the old North Creek trail to the Tahawus RR (now reopened as a tourist railroad, the Saratoga and North Creek, which could drop off hikers at several locations, Thursday through Sunday in the warmer months), the route crosses Route 28 and past Thirteenth Lake on existing DEC Trails, down the Elm Lake Road, up Route 30, to the Jessup River Road, to the Cedar Lake lean to and then over several DEC trails to the Stone Dam Trail and out the North Lake Road to Forestport. This is a very brief description of the path from Crown Point to Forestport. Anyone planning this hike should secure more information, of course.

This is not the final route of the easternmost NCNST in total, but it offers a route to traverse the Adirondack Park without hiking long distances along the heavily travelled Routes 28, 30, and 8. There is a lot of work ahead of us; however, nothing will stop us; our collective positive “can do” attitude will result in the NCNST becoming a reality in the Adirondacks.

“I live in Duluth, and I've got reasons. Lake Superior is a big one. Twenty-three streams running through town are twenty-three more. The largest natural sandbar in the world is another. And I'm tickled to live in a city where bears wander the streets every fall like country cousins come to town to see the sights.”From Cold Comfort, Life at the Top of the Map by Barton Sutter

Hiking Shorts continued from page 11

Ray Bell


The call for chapters, affiliates and partners to select one outstanding member to honor in the fall of 2011 went out and was rewarded with a record-breaking

number of chapters/affiliates/partners participating. In 2010, just 12 trail-tending chapters/affiliates/partners selected a member to honor. This fall, a whopping 29 trail hosts did so. These volunteers demonstrate loyalty, commitment and hard work annually to the local organization’s chosen activities and are integral to the continued work of building, maintaining, promoting and protecting the NCT. Let’s work next year to get every organization to honor one such individual.

The 2011 winners are listed here and were honored at a local event, receiving an NCTA photo frame.

NCTA Announces 2011 Chapter/Affiliate/Partner

Honor Awards

From west to east: Members Chapter/Affiliate/Partner Awardee Name

Sheyenne River Valley, ND Janet Patton

Star of the North, MN Philip Nimps

Laurentian Lakes, MN Karen Stenberg

Itasca Moraine, MN Byron Knapp

Kekekabic Trail, MN Terry Bernhardt

Superior Hiking Trail, MN Kim Fishburn

Brule St. Croix, WI Peter & Lynne Nason

Chequamegon, WI Ed Ronkowski

Heritage, WI Joe Krevetz, Dan Willshire

Ni-Miikanaake, MI Dick “Cookie” Swanson

North Country Trail Hikers, MI Jan Lindstrom

Superior Shoreline, MI Ed Bowen

Hiawatha Shore to Shore, MI Bob McNamara

Tittabawassee, MI Peg Myers

Friends of the Jordan River Fish Hatchery, MI

Chuck Proper

Grand Traverse Hiking Club, MI Jerry Freels

Spirit of the Woods, MI Steve Webster

Western Michigan, MI Char Chandler

Chief Noonday, MI Mick Hawkins

Chief Baw Beese, MI Kevin Bell

NORTA, OH Tom Striggow

Buckeye Trail, OH Kathy Hamilton

Wampum, PA Eleanor Fairbanks

Butler County Chapter, PA Dan Mourer

Butler Outdoor Club, PA Tom Baumgardner

Clarion County, PA Dave Galbreath

Allegheny National Forest Chapter, PA Bert “Shadow” Nemcik

Finger Lakes Trail, NY Irene Szabo

Central New York Chapter, NY Mike & Donna Lynch

Congratulations to all the winners!

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 [email protected], or 6939 Creek Rd., Mt. Morris NY 14510.

Please don’t embed pictures within your article, but send them separately as .jpg attachments. Do not refer me to your picture collection hosted by some other picture-hosting site!

Do not send your North Star submissions to the NCTA office, because they will just have to re-send them to me, and it HAS happened that precious articles have thus been lost in the shuffle.

Front cover photo candidates: need vertical format, and if digital, at least 300 dpi, AND we are always looking for great cover photos!

Next deadline for Vol. 31, Issue 1, is 15 January 2012.

Thank you!

—Your volunteer editor, Irene

OOPS

Sharp-eyed reader David Harper from the CNY Chapter caught a

mistake in the third issue for 2011, in a caption on page 14, pictures from the annual conference. The willow sculpture in Dayton should be attributed to artist Patrick Dougherty, and Harper should know, since we have walked through a similar sculpture park during other NCTA conferences in his neighborhood. In Cazenovia NY the Stone Quarry Art Park features some of Dougherty's work right along the trail, so his willow weavings have captivated members during a total of three conferences now. What are the chances of that?

North Star Submission Guidelines


Someone once said to me, “Don’t you think it’s telling that all the leaders of the North Country Trail Association are

men. It’s really a boy’s club.” I’m usually pretty oblivious to gender-based divisions, so I had to think about that for a while. My conclusion? Nah…

I’m not a fan of singling out individuals who have more prominent roles, but I’ll have to do some of that for this article, too, or I’ll fill the entire issue of North Star, maybe several issues, because, in fact, there are hundreds of women who work tirelessly for the benefit of the North Country Trail. I “secretly” believe that JoAnn Baron (who won the Sweep Award in 2002) of Western Michigan, who keeps the reservations for the NCTA Schoolhouse running smoothly, contributes as much as the late Martha Jones, a past and beloved President of the NCTA Board of Directors. Prominence does not signify value.

Nevertheless, there are women of the NCT whose names should not be forgotten. I discovered while leading the seminar “Celebrating Women in the NCTA” in Dayton that forgetting has already begun. A new guard of leaders has arisen, and at 31 years of age, the NCT needs to stay in touch with its roots.

First of all, women’s roles are as varied as those of the men. You can find us clearing trail, building bridges, making phone calls, cooking meals, designing maps, and administering. The first executive director of the NCTA was a woman, April Scholtz, followed by another, Pat Allen. Martha Jones, the 5th of NCTA's board presidents, has been mentioned. Local chapters and affiliates regularly elect women to be their presidents.

Ginny Wunsch will feature prominently in the minds of folks who were around for the opening years of the NCTA. If you wanted to know anything about the trail, back when the organization’s address was in White Cloud, Michigan, Ginny was the person you would hear from. I treasure a hand-written letter from her, my first official contact with the NCT. Ginny acquired the Birch Grove School, our first headquarters, and now the schoolhouse/hostel mentioned above. The NCTA paid one dollar for the privilege of restoring a building that many thought was beyond hope. Ginny also did a lot of the physical labor to bring it back to good condition.

There have always been women on the NCTA Board. One early promoter of the NCT in Ohio was Emily Gregor. The Buckeye Trail is older than the North Country Trail, and although they were willing for the NCT to follow its route, there wasn’t a strong desire to form a relationship with the NCT. Emily tirelessly lobbied her Ohio friends to see the National Trail alliance as a positive opportunity. She passed away in 2001, but received the NCTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.

Women are not absent from the list of those who follow the trail, either. In fact, the first person to follow the route of the trail was Carolyn Hoffman, who hiked off-road

sections, and rode bicycle on roads to connect those parts. She completed her goal in 1978. Judy Geisler finished a similar trip in May 2011. Of course, yours truly is the first woman to hike the entire route. Only 11 people have seen every inch of the trail, and three of us are women. Other notable female NCT hikers are LouAnn (Fellows) Johnson who accompanied Hoffman until she broke an arm. Sue Lockwood hiked 2800 miles with Ed Talone (first NCT thru-hiker), and that with a need for dialysis on a regular basis. Marie Altenau has walked 2660 miles of the trail. Also on the notable hiker list should be Amy Anslinger, who, with husband Brent did the first non-stop backpacking trek of the entire Buckeye Trail. Bonita Helton (Mother Goose) is working on the NCT, and has hiked about 2300 miles of the length, working her way west to east.

How many people remember the Hutchins’ Trail Guides? They are now out of date, but for years these were the standard reference to certified sections of the NCT. Byron and Margaret Hutchins were the authors, and he hiked every section before writing about 1600 miles of the trail.

In southern Ohio, a concurrent section of the Buckeye, North Country and American Discovery Trails is named for Grandma Gatewood, a hiking legend. Although she did not hike the NCT, she was the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, and that at age 71. She did it twice more before her death.

Florence Hedeen, of Minnesota, got the idea that the NCT should have a song, and commissioned singer Charlie Maguire to write a ballad for the 2007 conference in Bemidji. Provided by the National Park Service with some phrases that had to be included, Charlie produced a song that celebrates “the spirit inside you that grows and grows.”

Those Irrepressible GIRLSJoan Young

Author Joan Young and Irene Szabo show off their embroi-dered trail patch jackets during an FLT spring weekend a few years back. Photo by anonymous bystander.


Florence always leads the way in the now-annual singing of our song.

And we can’t forget Tiffany (Halfman) Stramm, our first mapping specialist. Many women have served on staff, but we’ll give a nod to Tiffany for her success at bringing the NCT from the age of hand-drawn maps into the digital age. She has since moved on to other things, but she set the standard for creating quality maps, with very little accurate initial data. Even though it was “her job,” we owe her a huge debt.

Just looking over the list of people who have received NCTA Awards reveals additional women who have made outstanding contributions. Barbara Smith received the Distinguished Service Award in 1989. She, with partner John Hipps, were early trail legends in Pennsylvania. She served on the NCTA board, and together they edited the first North Country Trail Newsletter from 1981-1988, before it was renamed North Star.

Several women have held Vice-Presidential positions. VP East has been under the care of Irene Szabo and Mary Coffin. Alicia Hoffarth was VP West for a number of years.

Irene should probably have an entire article devoted to her activities. She came to be involved with the NCT from a long association with the Finger Lakes Trail in NY, holding various positions, including President of their board. She was elected to our board, and worked hard to bring the two organizations into a mutually beneficial relationship. When the NCTA found itself in a dilemma, between Executive Directors, Irene took on the role, knowing it would be temporary, and commuted from New York for a week a month, over a period of ten months. She is now the editor of North Star, and has brought the magazine to its present form. If you have written for the magazine you may know her best as the grammar police. (If she doesn’t edit this out!) She’s also mighty handy with tools, and personally maintained over 20 miles of trail until recently when she bequeathed a few miles to others so now tends only fourteen.

Another New York force is Mary Kunzler-Larmann. Mary is a pint-sized powerhouse, teamed with Al Larmann. When she wasn’t busy leading treks to Canada, she found time to help establish the missing link to connect the Finger Lakes Trail eastward to the Adirondacks.

What other women do you know who should be on this open-ended list? I’m certain we are missing many women who have made a difference to the trail. There are probably hundreds of women who prefer to stay out of the limelight, but who take notes, make phone calls, show up for work days, fix meals and wash dishes (whether they like doing it any more than the guys do), and perform countless other tasks that make the North Country Trail everything it is today. But that's the danger of starting a list, because we immediately omit so many…Karen Klos, Lorana Jinkerson, Joyce Appel, Lynda Rummel, Beth Trout…

Ginny Wunsch tending the NCTA schoolhouse in 1998.

Joan YoungPeggy Falk

Historic Birch Grove Schoolhouse in White Cloud, Michigan, first headquarters of the NCTA, still serves the Association as a very special meeting venue and hikers' hostel. This lovely building may be reserved for meetings or lodging for NCTA members and other community groups for a modest fee.


Frozen chocolate milk and deer jerky. It doesn’t get much better. Zip and

I are cruising down Highway 27 after a three hour trek in Wisconsin's Brule River Forest. The snowshoe trek is a weekly thing, County S to Motts Ravine along the North Country Trail. Nothing spectacular, no huge pines, no large hills, no wide open views. Just a few pine plantations, some oak battling to exist in this sand country and lots of deer tracks. The snow is roughly two feet deep, but we’ve been here since early December so the trail is packed for two miles. Each week we slowly work through fresh powder and create a new trail. By the end of February we hope to have a 5.5 mile trail packed. Sometimes we run up the few hills, but mostly we walk, check tracks, and listen.

The oaks still have a few leaves; the Ojibwe story is that they protect a maiden from being forced to Mary. And I’m glad: the leaves in the wind summon an image of warming winds, whitecaps on a lake, and berries on the vine. Lots of downed trees and our trail zigs around the fallen oaks, jack pine, and popple. A wet November snow did that trick, but it did leave some fresh buds or pine branches which the deer nibble this January. We first came here in 2009 as an easy trail for Rugs to maneuver on….and his image still flourishes in our minds when we cross certain areas. In remembrance of Rugs, Zip leaves the trail occasionally to hunt for deer droppings (Rug’s favorite) or gut sacks from deer season. He has found both, so I must prod him along, checking to see if this 100 pound Lab is right behind me. West of the trail is the Brule River bog: cedar and spruce, open spring water and several deep trails of deer prints mark their passage to this winter nirvana. Two weeks ago, Carol joined the trek and identified fox prints, coyote tracks, deer tracks, and one set of wolf prints. Wolves use this place once in a while, so Zip and I are curious to find a wolf kill but to date we haven’t spotted one in sixteen trips to this area.

Motts Ravine is unique, a large valley carved when the glaciers melted

Frozen Chocolate Milk, and Deer Jerky

and headed for the Brule. The Brule was bigger, flowed south at the time into the Mississippi/St. Croix so the ravine is a half mile wide valley that resulted when the earth warmed 9000 years ago. In the summer, the sandy soil is alive with prairie flowers, blueberry plants, and tall grasses that one would suspect to find farther west in the Dakotas. Right now Motts is a scientific reserve marked only with a snowmobile trail and the North Country Trail, but in the winter I appear to be the only human visitor. So miles from students, talk radio, basketball, and all the other things we deem important, we snowshoe down to the Ravine, climb up its back side, track grouse who walk under fallen trees, imagine moonlight, deer, wolves, coyotes, and silence.

Today, I overdressed. Panicked by the wind in Hayward, I wore an extra layer and paid the price, sweat between the wind jacket and the polar fleece, sweat that froze on the return trip. Zip struggles when the trail gets soft: his paws, webbed and made for swimming, gather chunks of snow. Often he stops and bites out the snow then travels another 100 yards and does the same thing. Today, the new snow was drier, and he made two miles before his battle began.

In the end, after three hours, the sun sets in the west, and we jump in the truck heading south, sharing the jerky and crunching on frozen chocolate milk. Life is good…

Tom and Zip, his Labrador Retriever, at a Kekekabic trailhead in Minnesota. Photo is from Easter Weekend on the Kekekabic Trail along the Gunflint Trail of northern Minnesota.

Tom HeinrichHayward, Wisconsin

Carol Heinrich


Pictured

Rocks2011 NCTA Extended Outing

Story and Pictures by Mary Coffin

Wind, swirling sand, and waves have sculpted many a picturesque feature along the Lake Superior shoreline, one of the reasons that this long strip is protected as the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. This one is known as Chapel Rock.

The whole group from this year's sold-out NCTA-sponsored Extended Outing. These trips do fill up, so don't procrastinate over signing up for the 2012 Adirondack trip. (Sign up, page 7)


Ruth and Dan Dorrough from New York, rumored to harbor a secret ambition to finish the whole North Country Trail. They have already finished the Finger Lakes Trail across upstate NY.

Tim and Ellen Hass extend a welcome to the group from the Superior Shoreline Chapter of the NCTA.

Au Sable lighthouse, one of several along the shoreline that still guide ships out in vast Lake Superior.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is certainly one of the jewels in the

NCT’s crown. The views were spectacular and the hiking is more diverse than one might expect. We experienced not only sandy beaches, clear aqua-blue water and dune-cliffs along the Lake Superior shoreline but a variety of forests, wild flowers, waterfalls and various sand dune succession stages.

I was joined by ten enthusiastic NCTA members with a wide variety of backgrounds who quickly developed camaraderie and new friends. We contracted with Wilderness Inquiry again, a non-profit outfitter who planned logistics and supplied guides, food, equipment and van transportation to and from trail heads. Our guides provided excellent leadership and interacted very well with all participants.

When we returned to our tents on the first full day of hiking we were greeted by Tim and Ellen Hass with their Superior Shoreline NCTA Chapter banner. They shared information about the area and supplied us with S'more fixings that we enjoyed around the campfire that night. This visit was very much appreciated.

We hiked 6-10 miles daily returning to our campsite each night for dinner, sunset (including the “green flash” when sun drops below a huge expanse of water) and campfire. The group hiked nearly 50 miles in five days, 35 on the NCT. Forests varied from hemlock and pine to beech, birch and maple. Lake water was cold but not so cold as to discourage swimming. Some of the trail was on the beach but most was on dunes or sandy bluffs/cliffs 200 feet above the water. All were impressed by the diversity and picturesque scenery at every turn. The red and gray sandstone rock formations against the blue water are outstanding. We observed waterfalls dropping off cliffs, inland lakes, caves, alcoves, arches, pillars etc.

At our final campfire we all shared our impressions of the trip, ways in which we grew as individuals by our experience and new friendships made. Some shared very moving impressions of their NCTA Pictured Rocks experience. Some were actually in tears, and Mary observed that it was one of the most rewarding culminating campfires she has experienced as a trip leader. Comments included these sentiments: “I personally had one of the best vacations of my life.” “The group was perfect and I feel like I have made life long friends.” “I enjoyed learning

Erik Ophaug and Mollie Thompson, our Wilderness Inquiry guides, test their own cooking before sharing.

from the variety and wealth of nature from everyone.” “ Diversity of people…felt closer to GOD…sharing was great.” “Beautiful views of nature while hiking in good company.” “Hiking in real wilderness and near wilderness paths was a fine experience.” “I enjoyed all the hikes, wonderful scenery and so enjoyed all the new friends.”


IN PRAISE OF WINTER

Irene Szabo

In the Sheyenne River Valley north and west of Valley City, North Dakota, January 2010, I was captivated by the light on this sunny day (at 12 below zero). Sun is so intensely reflected and multiplied by the snow that the vertical south-facing faces of drifts are brighter than bright, whiter than white, and positively gleam.

Black and white film was perfect for capturing the rolls and bumps of low hills surrounding the valley, made more visible by snow and sunshine than carpets of prairie grass afford in summertime. An ancient Soo Railroad plow clearing up the previous blizzard was a bonus for me on this Canadian Pacific line, just north of Valley City, where a bald eagle cruised open spots in the Sheyenne River just upstream.

Southeast of Breckenridge, Minnesota, close to the North Dakota border, is this railroad "diamond" where trains from two lines can clatter over a crossing with one another. Parallel roads crossed, too, right behind the photographer, populated on this 18-below day by only occasional sugar beet and dry bean trucks. In fact, there was a sprinkling of soy beans on the tracks where the bumpity rail crossing jiggled full grain hoppers. In other places, pheasant wandered the tracks, picking up corn leavings. On this bright morning, I could see for miles in all directions from this lonely junction of BNSF (once Great Northern) and Canadian Pacific (once the Soo), but the next day's blizzard kept everybody but the railroad snowplow inside. Even highways closed down.


Today on a beautiful fall day in September, volunteers from the Chief Noonday Chapter of the North

Country Trail Association, the Calhoun County Trailway Alliance, and preservationists for the Historic Iron Bridges of Michigan gathered near Battle Creek, Michigan, to begin the process of moving the historic Lowell Road Bridge to its new home on the trail.

The Lowell Road Bridge was originally built by iron work artisans to span the Looking Glass River in Michigan’s Clinton County. When the historic bridge was no longer able to support and provide passage for today’s modern traffic demands, it was disassembled by bridge preservationists and moved to the grounds of the Calhoun County Road Commission near Battle Creek where a host of other historic iron bridges have been stored as they have been replaced by more modern structures.

The Chief Noonday Chapter has already benefitted from the restoration of the historic bridges when its first historic bridge was placed on the NCNST for a creek crossing in Calhoun’s County’s Ott Biological Preserve in March of 2002.

The Calhoun County Trail Alliance is a consortium of many stakeholders in Calhoun County who have come together to develop a greenway along the beautiful Kalamazoo River and create a multiuse trail from the eastern end of the Battle Creek Linear Path (part of the NCNST) through the Ott Preserve, Kimball Pines Park to Historic Bridge Park following the general course of the NCNST and then on through the cities and villages of Marshall, Albion and Homer. The concept of the Calhoun County Trailway Alliance grew from a dream and from seed money provided by the NCTA through the Chief Noonday Chapter. The President of the CCTA is our former Chapter President, Tom Garnett, ably assisted by our current Vice-president of Administration, Ron Sootsman.

Not long after the dream of the new trail in Calhoun County took on a life of its own, the concept of the Historic Bridge Trail was born. The trail is destined to pass through Historic Bridge Park where many of Michigan’s beautiful historic iron bridges are already preserved. It was just a natural extension to continue to place more historic bridges along the trail as it wends its way to the village of Homer. Thus the Historic Iron Bridge Trail was born.

Our job today was to find, inventory, identify and tag all the various parts of the Lowell Road Bridge that lay in the weeds in the back of the Calhoun County Road Commission property. The “lighter weight” struts, stringers, uprights and diagonals were manhandled out of the weeds and set up on heavy-duty steel saw horses. Nathan Holth, a bridge preservationist, had taken extensive pictures of the bridge before it was dismantled. Using his pictures, Vern Mesler, Frank Hatfield and Nathan identified the various structural pieces, which were then meticulously measured, assessed for damage, structural modifications identified and

Hefting the larger bridge members would have been impossible without the donated Sky Trak and its operator.

Photographer Mick Hawkins' hat, to show the comparative size of some of the nuts and bolts they had to loosen!

Bridging History on the TrailLarry Hawkins

Continued on page 23

Larry Hawkins and Ron Sootsman of the Chief Noonday Chapter along with several of the bridge preservation volunteers inventory parts to be sure they have everything for this grownup Erector set project.

Mick H

awkins

Mick H

awkins

Mick H

awkins


The Superior Shoreline Chapter is a new chapter of the NCTA, having formed in June 2010. While the Chapter

hit the ground running, there were a lot of things to learn and grasp in our first year, including encouraging volunteer participation and setting up trail management crews to attend to a trail that had become neglected. Added to these challenges is the desire to include more people in trail activities, especially youth.

In late February 2011 the Chapter received an email from the director of Camp Kennedy, a Tamarack camp, inquiring if the Chapter could provide a volunteer opportunity for its campers, 28 teenagers ages 14-16 plus their counselors. Tamarack camps are in several locations, with programs designed to put Jewish children in horizon-expanding adventures.

At the time of this contact our Chapter already had plans for specific trail projects for 2011 and our Trail

Trail Work With Teenage CampersTim Hass

Manager Ed Bowen was still seeking trail chiefs to adopt various sections of the trail. Thinking and believing that this was an opportunity that we should not turn down, I, as Chapter President, replied to the director that the Chapter would be pleased to work with them. Of course, I really did not have a clue about working with teenagers and did not know what work we would have them perform or if we could convince a sufficient number of our members to volunteer their time in the very busy summer season. Being either an eternal optimist or having my mental faculties dulled by the cold of winter, I thought that we would figure it out when the time approached. So, I sat back and awaited the call from the director when his camp season approached. At least I had enough sense to share my decision with several key members of the Chapter on whom I depend a lot.

I received the next contact from the director in late June 2011, communicating that he was picking up his campers and everything was a go. Gulp! Now what? A date was selected and now we invited input from our members and our friends in neighboring chapters. In the latter group was a member of the Hiawatha Shore to Shore chapter, a retired high school teacher who politely told me that I was nuts. I received a lot of emotional support from our members but what does one do with teenagers who as a group are generally characterized as not having much of an attention span?

The fateful day arrived and we decided to meet at the post office in Grand Marais. Twenty six teenagers, roughly equally divided between males and females, exited the camp bus. It should have occurred to me when I first looked them over that there was something different about this group. There were no tattoos, no pants riding low on their behinds, no unusual hair styles, no “whatever” looks on their faces and they all wore footwear and clothing appropriate for trail work, as I had communicated to the camp director. Before we embarked on the planned work, I gave the safety talk and explained some points about trail work, but the most poignant remark came from our Trail Manager who told them that they would have fun. Trail work is often hard and rewarding, but I haven’t heard it called fun any time in my recent memory.

We split the group into two crews, each accompanied by two of our members, and headed out to the targeted sections. Upon arrival at the work sites, hand tools were presented and each teenager chose a tool. When it was announced that we would be brushing out the trail and painting blue blazes on trees, two of my group volunteered to paint. While we were getting ready to go out on the trail, each of the campers came over to introduce herself or himself to us. Along the trail the campers asked numerous questions about why or how certain tasks should be done.

They learned quickly and worked diligently as a team. At no time did we hear one complaint or foul language, or find any litter from them on the trail. They were polite with us and each other, always saying please and thank you. Our

Tim H

ass

At the end of hours of work, one kid started to give another a deserved backrub. Soon everybody wanted one, so a circle formed to give everybody a chance.

The teenage campers helped Superior Shoreline Chapter clip back intruding branches along some overgrown trail route.

Tim H

ass


then they were tagged for future reconstruction. The more massive pieces, such as the top chords, f loor boards and end pieces, were moved by a Sky Trak, which was provided by Johnson System Inc. along with its operator, Mike Bock. Howard Johnson, the owner of Johnson System was right there working with us. We were able to sort these massive pieces and subject them to the same scrutiny and measuring that we did for the lighter weight pieces.

Nels Raynor, his son Brock, and coworker James Ahrens from Bach Ornamental & Structural Steel Fabrication, donated their steel working expertise in separating stringers, diagonals and other pieces still attached to the larger basic framework . Nels is one of the historic bridge preservationists. After Nels and his crew complete what is left of the dismemberment of the bridge, the volunteers will meet again to catalogue and mark what remains of the Lowell Road Bridge. After that, the bridge parts that require repair or replacement will be dealt with, the many years of rust removed, and the bridge will be ready to be put back together.

At the culmination of all the volunteer hours by the NCTA, the CCTA and the historic bridge preservationists, the Lowell Road Bridge will be sited at its new home on the Historic Bridge Trail in the wetlands near the Ott Preserve in Emmett Township, once again fulfilling its function as the way to the other side.

chapter members quickly realized as we were proceeding on the trail that we were chatting with the campers as if they had been long acquaintances and as if we had worked together on other projects. While working or on breaks, they also had fun and we found them quite entertaining. Several miles of trail received the attention they needed. Upon finishing up for the day, they returned the tools we had provided undamaged and with covers on saw blades.

While sitting back at our vehicles sharing a late lunch with the campers, several remarked that while they had hiked before, they now had an appreciation for the work done by the NCTA and other groups to care for these trails. Now that they had physically worked on the trail, they developed a proprietary interest in it. We also learned that when the campers arrived at their camp, their home for the summer, they could not bring radios, cell phones, watches or any electronic device with them. No computers, no email, no Twitter, no Facebook. The only person who has a watch is the director. The only electricity at the camp comes from a gas fired generator that runs the water pump. Lights are gas. It should also be pointed out that the campers had just returned from a week long camping and canoeing trip at Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.

As the two groups reunited, the campers, the director and the counselors came up to us and thanked us. We were all laughing and recalling events during the day such as one of the campers getting boundary blue paint all over his face from wiping his sweat with the gloved hand in which he held his paint brush. We also thanked them not just for their work, but for having the privilege to work with them. We would not hesitate to work with them again and have extended an invitation to the camp director to join us again and often.

If you are presented with the opportunity to work with teenagers, DO IT. It is a most rewarding experience and the situation should provide you with many more hands to perform the work.

—Tim Hass President, Superior Shoreline Chapter

Bridging History on the Trail…continued from page 21

Chapter volunteer stamping numbers on little metal tags, done for EVERY PART of the bridge so that it would be organized when they reassemble the parts.

Tagged parts and pieces, every one of which has to be cleaned and made useable.

Meeting MinutesWe tried to give our readers summaries of board

and executive committee meeting minutes in these pages, but budget constraints and postal rates are squeezing our page count lower and lower. So for those members still interested in knowing what your board is doing for the organization year-round, go to our website:

http://northcountrytrail.org/about/board-of-directors/meeting-summaries/

Mick H

awkins

Mick H

awkins


The Finger Lakes Trail system is expanding its Onondaga Branch eastward to meet the CNY section of the NCT. The volunteers of the Onondaga Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club who are responsible for this trail building frenzy over the last several years have also brought home quite a few permanent trail easements from landowners! The biggest lesson to be learned from their success is that THEY ASKED THE BIG QUESTION. Up until now, only one landowner has ever called US to volunteer his place for an easement, so we must remember to ask!

—Editor

Pat and Scott Bowen live right on the trail as they are both landowners and trail stewards. As hikers they love to hike

right out their door onto the trail and through the woods to Spruce Pond. These generous and enthusiastic landowners have donated an easement on an FLT/NCT Onondaga section that will now be protected in perpetuity.

This section is located southeast of Syracuse, New York, on the Onondaga Trail portion of the Finger Lakes Trail. It is probably the best maintained in the Adirondack Mountain Club (Onondaga chapter) sponsorship as Scott has been the diligent steward there for about ten years. Scott was recognized in 2008 with NCTA’s Trail Blazer of the Year Award and received a giant engraved ax.

Scott and Pat are proud and thrilled to host a National Scenic Trail that spans from North Dakota to the Vermont

Landowners, Hikers and Trail Stewards Donate Easement

Mary Coffin

border. When asked why, they responded that they have met so many interesting and nice people. Yes, some were hiking without a map and lost, some were just interesting to chat with and others actually thanked them for the trail. They were right there to greet Joan Young and Marie Altenau when they hiked through on their way to finish the NCT.

The Bowens, married 38 years, enjoy country living and have brought their four daughters up in a log home Scott built. He cut the logs in nearby Morgan Hill State Forest (by permit) and three years later the house was complete. Their home is on the site of the historic Andrews cabin built about 1826. So the trail on the Bowen’s land is not only scenic but also historic.

Thanks Scott and Pat. We genuinely appreciate your generous donation of an easement on the NCT/FLT Onondaga Trail.

2

More Glorious Easements Along The Onondaga Trail

Trail through the Bowen property in spring.

Mary Coffin


It’s hard to convey with a picture just how steep a hillside is. The camera was held level for this shot, with obvious trail going away from us, and rising. However, there is another switchback leg in this shot, to the right of the big old maple, descending. In many places on this hillside, a group hike would have been amusing, with strings of people above and below us.

Sometimes it’s hard to make the “landing” where a switchback turns back on itself in the midst of such steep slopes. Here was one of several places where gravel-filled box-steps formed the needed flat spots. Great work!

The east hillside doesn't get a lot of sunshine, so this fungus the size of a dinner plate grows on a mossy log.

We’ve been reading in both the FLT News and in North Star over the last several years of the saga of building brand-new trail to extend the Onondaga Trail eastward to meet up with the NCTA CNY Chapter’s trail toward the Adirondacks, gradually creating FLT map O2. Repeatedly the point has been made that the ADK-Onondaga Chapter was determined to build the best possible trail for the topography, with good sustainable footing and endurable grades. We’ve also heard several times from Mary Coffin, leader of the new trail project, great news about permanent trail easements protecting some of this new trail.

During the 2011 Finger Lakes Trail spring weekend I was determined to see for myself some of the new trail on O2, and was fortunate to pick for my sample a segment south of New Woodstock, between Webber and Fairbanks Roads. What a treat it is! I walked east to west, and while I wouldn’t normally choose to go UP a nearly 600 foot hillside, this mile barely made me breathe hard. Everything the ADK-Onondaga chapter has said about their work on this new trail is true: they have taken the time to do it right, which is slow and careful, but the results testify. Wish I had realized how many long switchbacks would be required to render this steep hill comfortable to climb; I’d have counted them! I learned later that there are eleven legs, all patiently long and gradual, well laid out, and often benched into the hillside so that we have a narrow shelf to plant our feet upon rather than trying to play goat-boy. The new steward here will learn that benched sidehill foot tread has to be cleaned of branches and leaves each spring if the path is to remain worthy of the work committed to its construction, but that will come.

We pop out of the trees onto the edge of two abandoned ski slopes, according to the text on the back of the map, but I wish we knew more! This is the Hirt farm, whose family recently granted the FLTC a permanent easement on their long-held dairy farm, so there must be a story about ski slopes that look straight down into the barn yard! These are relatively new permitting landowners so their willingness to grant an easement is exciting.

A brief nearly level walk through forest graces the top of the hill, but we soon descend the west side a few hundred feet to Ham Armstrong’s property, another recent permanent trail easement, but one which required years of negotiation, and enjoy easy walking despite the swampy bottom. Wire mesh covers wood puncheon (narrow boardwalks in goopy areas), preventing slippery boards for us hikers, and the trail curls around a pond atop an old earthen beaver dam. Kingbirds guarded the trail here, flitting amongst the tops of small trees, and frogs leaping back into the water preceded me.

I was delighted with the quality of this addition to our trail system, all the more attractive because the route is PROTECTED by these generous landowners. Recent work was evident where fallen trees had been removed from the trail by the new steward, who somehow found a way to work there between this spring’s rain storms.

Onondaga Trail RevisitedStory and Photos by Irene Szabo


November 11, 2011

The American Civil War began 150 years ago. Our forest hike on this Veterans' Day along the North Country

Trail on Thomas Favell's post-war homestead here in Solon Springs reminds us of his new soldier's life in autumn of 1861. Of the 1,743 men who joined the Wisconsin 8th Infantry Volunteers during those four brutal years of war, Thomas was one of 427 remaining to “muster out” at war's end in 1865. By his count, Thomas and his regiment traveled over 14,000 miles during their four years of war, relying on rail, riverboats, and marching, more than half of that total covered on foot. How appropriate it is, nowadays, that a portion of the North Country Trail runs along the west side of this honored land.

By mid November of their first summer and fall at war, men and officers of his Company C, the “Eau Claire Eagles,” were engaged at the western war front in southern Missouri. Thomas Favell's letters home to rural Royalton tell his story as one of many enlisted farmers, lumbermen, and businessmen from Wisconsin who became soldiers, many for the duration of the war. Please see references below and the other parts of this series archived at www.superiortelegram.com for more background.

Thomas' letters to his younger brothers Amos and James Favell, written from Pilot Knob, Missouri, in November, 1861, tell of his company's initial skirmishes and battles, and the continuing confusions regarding their gray, not blue, regimental uniforms, a seemingly random, yet dangerous matter. They were likely leftovers from the Mexican-American War, while the company's rifles dated from 1848. The greater persistent issue was illness among the troops. In Thomas' November 1st letter, he writes “There are a great

many of our regiment sick in the hospital. The most of them are sick with the measles. The Royalton boys are all well.”

Measles were a common outbreak, among other sickness, with so many previously rural-dwelling, relatively isolated men now living in close proximity. Deaths from diseases in another unit, the Wisconsin Company A, were reported to outnumber deaths from combat by a ratio of 5 to 1. Thomas wrote home frequently from this dangerous world in which he had enlisted, yet he remained generally well and uninjured throughout all his years of frontline service. He contracted malaria later in the war, eventually becoming blind during his final years spent here in northwestern Wisconsin.

When Thomas Favell left for the Civil War, as was likely true with most soldiers, his family and community members missed him dearly. Folks at home were thinking of Tom, and he of them. He wrote letters every few days at first, forty of which survive today, then much less often as the war and constant marching wore on him. His dedication to writing was impressive, with his cost to send each letter equivalent to about what we spend now to send a specially-delivered package: three cents per letter for him, on his monthly salary of about nine dollars.

One of the girls back in Thomas' home community of rural Royalton wrote to “their boys” often. Angela Haste was the daughter of pioneer settlers, and treasured written and spoken words, as well as singing. She was 10 years old in 1861. Along with her friends from school and church, she saw it as her duty to write to the men from their area, helping to keep up their spirits. Young Angela and her family were deeply interested in their own sons and brothers who were engaged in this historic, heroic effort. Aaron Haste, Angela's brother, was killed at age 22 in the Civil War. We have some of her family stories from before his death, and Angela knew that letters to and from her soldier boys were essential to all.

Angela Haste and Thomas Favell were married in 1867. He was 29; she was 16. Tom had returned from his war years to his family farm and timber business in the Royalton area. As a Civil War veteran, he was able to support a wife and family. Thomas and Angela were the parents of Ernest and Mabelle, the two of their four children who lived into adulthood, apparently a fairly typical child-survival rate for pioneer families of that time.

In her ninth decade, around 1932, Angela wrote of her girlhood memories when “their boys” from home in rural Royalton and Waupaca were at war. A portion of her writings are transcribed below, exactly as she set them down in pencil by hand:

We girls used to get together evenings and sing war songs. These are some of them—“Brave Boys Are They,” “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, The Boys Are Marching,” “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” “We Are Tenting To Night On The Old Camp ground,” “Just Before the Battle Mother,” “Marching

A Quiet Patriot: Thomas Favell's Civil War LettersThomas Wayne King

In 1890, Thomas Favell relaxes outside his Solon Springs homestead with dog Jack. Picture taken by Angela Favell.


Through Georgia,” “Mother Is the Battle Over,” “Brave Boys Are they,” “A Thousand Years,” “Jimmie Has Gone To Live In A Tent,” “We Shall Meet, But We Shall Miss Him,” and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”

We also wrote letters to our brothers and other girl's brothers, hoping it would amuse and cheer them. I am sure now that it amused them. I think the southern girls had as hard if not harder time than we northern girls did. They too used to write their brothers and beaus. One of our soldiers said he found, in a dead southern soldier's Pocket, a letter from his sweetheart, and in it this verse: It's hard for you'ens to live in a tent, It's hard for you'ens to fight the Yanks; It's hard for you'ens and we'ens to part, But you'ens know you'ens have we'ens heart.

Thomas and Angela found each other sometime after he returned to Royalton from the war in 1865. Thomas and Angela would later homestead with their growing family several times in Wisconsin, eventually settling in Solon Springs and Superior. We like to think how secure great grandpa Tom must have felt here at home in this deep, tall pine forest, with his dog Jack, checking on their two cows in their small log barn.

But that is jumping ahead. Back to the war and camp. Thomas' next letter was written on New Years Eve, 1861. It was inspired, thoughtful, and touching. In it, he tells of men in his regiment, his new zither, and a nighttime sing-along in their decorated tent. They were doing their best to survive that first winter near the front, trying to enjoy the holiday season in their flapping, smoke-filled canvas tents, enduring constant cold and relentless rain—and striving to keep at bay their growing uneasiness about the intensified war to come in the spring.

Thomas Favell (1838-1918) became a Superior and Solon Springs resident and businessman in his many years of active life after the Civil War. He and his wife, Angela Haste Favell, with their children, Ernest and Mabelle, opened a small general store on the corner of Central Park in Superior. They also built and operated several small rental cottages and a boarding house in Solon Springs, where they kept a two-cow farm on ten acres, living at their log farmhouse they named Shore Acres. Thomas and Angela Favell's great

grandson, Thomas W. King, is the author of this series, and lives in Solon Springs with his wife Debra. Their home is on the south five acres of the original Favell farm homestead, and remnants of the Favells' two-cow barn and the barbed wire along their south boundary line can still be found, where Angela and Thomas Favell grazed their cows and grew potatoes over 100 years ago. A portion of the North Country Trail lies along the west boundary of their old-growth forest homestead.

Primary references: Civil War Years by T. R. Favell & J. E. Favell, 1976, archived at Wisconsin Historical Society Library, Madison, WI. Also, Angela Haste Favell's memoir & bio archived at WHS web site http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=954

This picture was taken by Debra R. King, March 2008: A view of Upper St. Croix Lake in Solon Springs, at sunrise. Taken by Debbi from out on ice just south of Thomas and Angela Favell's original home, Shore Acres, still here on lake shore in Solon Springs—approximately 2-3 blocks from where NCT passes along west boundary of Favell homestead, now along Railroad St. in Solon Springs.

Visitors…wonder out loud how we drive {hilly Duluth} in winter. I tell you, there's a weird satisfaction in seeing that the very streets of your city strike terror in a stranger's heart. But our secret is relatively simple: we stay home a lot. My grandparents, who spent most of their lives in West Duluth, had some very good friends who lived on the Heights. In order to visit them, my grandparents had to drive up Piedmont Avenue, which used to have a rope strung along the sidewalk so pedestrians could haul themselves uphill. “In winter,” my grandmother explained, “we never saw those people.” From Cold Comfort, Life at the Top of the Map by Barton Sutter

2011 New Years Day in northern Pennsylvania.

Vinnie Collins

NONPROFITU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDGrand Rapids, MI

Permit 340

North Country Trail Association229 East Main StreetLowell, Michigan 49331

north star

The Lowell office is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.229 East Main Street, Lowell, MI 49331

(866) HikeNCT • (616) 897-5987 • Fax (616) 897-6605The 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 trail-wide 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.

Come Visit Us!

See sights like this moose on next September's extended outing, sponsored by NCTA and led by Mary Coffin. Supported day hikes afford a good look at our intended route through the remote and wild Adirondacks of northern New York. To sign up, see page 7.

Mary Coffin

Documents

North Star Vol. 30, No. 4 (2011)